"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
God wants a family, so God made us to be His kids. He does not want us to act like babies, but He wants us to act like His kids. He wants us to depend on Him, rely on Him, lean on Him, love Him and let Him love us. He wants us to trust Him and to reach out to Him when we have a need. He wants to have a personal relationship with you.
Most of us take John 3:16 in too broad a scope. "Oh, yes, I know Jesus died for the world," but we are not just a group of general people down here that Jesus died for. He died for each one of us. He died for you!
If you had been the only person on the face of this earth, He would have died just for you. He would have gone through all the suffering for you. He died for you! God loves you so much. He loves you with an everlasting love.
You Are the Apple of His Eye!
One day I was driving down the road, and God spoke to my heart and said, "Joyce, you're the apple of My eye." I didn't even know that Scripture was in the Bible. The devil came in with a thought right behind that and said, "Well, isn't that a bunch of pride? Who do you think you are?"
And so I thought to myself, "Oh, I shouldn't be thinking like that." It goes against our carnal thinking to realize that we are special, that we are gifted, that we are different. Each one of us is an individual, created by our Father to be different from the person next to us.
I didn't receive what God has said to me because I felt condemned thinking such nice things about myself. About two days later I opened my Bible to Psalm 17:8, and there it was staring me in the face: "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings."
I said, "Oops, that was really God. I am the apple of God's eye." For the longest time, I felt so special every time I thought about it.
This is a very simple message to you: God loves you. But this is the basic foundation that God has to lay in you for you to understand everything else.
No matter what else you learn and how hard you study and seek the things of God, if you can't accept the fact that God loves you, you are not going to get very far. God's love for you in the foundation for your faith, for your freedom from sin and for your ability to step out in ministry to others without fear. Will you receive His love for you?
God loves you!
(Tulsa: Harrison House, 1998) All rights reserved. Used by permission.