God's love endures forever

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
To him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-4 (NIV)

At the end of a Passover meal, they sang a hymn. They sang the same hymn at the end of every Passover meal and they've done it for thousands of years. It is Psalm 136. 

The disciples sang this with Jesus. One of the Gospels says they sang a hymn and they went out. We know what hymn they sang because this the one you sing at the end of a Passover meal.

They sang, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of Lord's, his love endures forever. To him who alone does great wonders, his love endures forever.”

As we celebrate the fact the Jesus sets us free, let's, say this as a prayer to him:

You left your throne in heaven,
Your love endures forever.
You lived a perfect sinless life,
Your love endures forever.
You endured the humiliation of a trial,
Your love endures forever.
You went to a cross and willingly died,
Your love endures forever.
You were in the grave for three days,
Your love endures forever.
And on the third day you rose again,
Your love endures forever.

The celebration in heaven is going to be an amazing thing and Jesus invites you to be a part of it. How does that happen?  You accept the gift that he's given you, the gift of forgiveness and life.

by Tom Holladay

God Will Never Run Out of Love for You

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV)

"Since God's compassion starts new every morning, you will never reach a point where his supply of love is exhausted."

Years ago there was a television commercial that featured Jay Leno eating a snack chip. The premise was that the chips had become so popular there were people concerned that grocery stores would run out. Leno, biting into a chip with a loud crunch, says, “Crunch all you want; we’ll make more.”

God’s love is like that; you can’t exhaust the supply. It’s sort of like -- “Accept all you can of God’s love today; then he’ll still have more tomorrow.” God will supply more and more and more love today, tomorrow, and forever. The ancient poet-prophet Jeremiah says this merciful love from God never fails; it’s like an inexhaustible supply of fresh, loving-compassion each morning.

Since God’s compassion starts new every morning, you will never reach a point where his supply of love is exhausted. God will never run out of love and compassion. This means you can never blow it so bad that God will abandon you. He is the God-of-second-chances. If you’re uncertain that God can (or has) forgiven you for things you did in the past, ask him to help you replace your fears with faith.

God will make it so. The Hebrew word for faithfulness is related to the word amen, which means “so be it.” When you close a prayer with amen, you’re quite literally acknowledging that God is faithful to make it so. How would your prayers be different if you deeply believed God will make it so?

(This devotional is by Jon Walker, editor of the Daily Hope Devotionals and author of Costly Grace.)

Finding the Real Jesus Changes Your Life

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (HCSB) "Do I love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind and soul? Do I love my neighbor as myself?" When people enter a real relationship with Jesus, they are never the same. Partyers don’t want to party the same way anymore. Couples realize they don’t want to live together outside of marriage. Business owners decide not to cut corners anymore. And friends will be confounded because they don’t understand these new lifestyle choices. Your family will be changed because you will look at your spouse differently.  You’ll now see him or her as a precious child of God whose job it is of yours to serve -- regardless of whether they serve you in return. And you’ll see that your children are gifts from God and your goal with them is not to make sure they’re happy all the time; rather, it is to prepare them for an eternity with Jesus. You’ll also want to treat your parents with honor, not because of what they have or have not done in the past, but because God loves you. And, “we love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 HCSB by Geoff Surrat