Did you hear that? Someone's knocking...

Psalm 16:5 (NCV) "the Lord is all I need. He takes care of me."

A few years back I spent a great deal of time thinking about needs vs. wants. What is it I really need? When I identified something, I’d ask, “do I need this or is it just a want?” Have you ever found yourself wrestling with a question like this? As I pondered the difference, I found myself stopping dead in my tracks after reading Psalm 16, verse 5. My mind went back to the first time I visited the church I currently attend. As a child, I was raised in a Christian home and was in church every time the doors were opened…which usually meant Sunday mornings and evenings, and Wednesday nights. By the time I had reached my teens I stopped going to church on a regular basis and became a “C & E” Christian, attending church on Christmas and Easter ONLY.

I can remember the day I visited the church as an adult as if it were yesterday. The night before, my Dad called to invite me to the service. I’m not sure how many times they asked me to come and check it out but this time, I felt I just had to be there. At this time in my life I hadn’t been in or near a church since I had gotten married some years earlier. The relationship that I enjoyed with Christ when I was younger had become very distant. Throughout my childhood and into my early teens, I was very diligent about my relationship with Jesus. Reading my Bible and setting aside time to pray was a normal part of my everyday routine. In fact, it was a family thing. My parents, my sister and I would sit around the kitchen table reading and discussing the Bible. I fell out of the routine through my teens, twenties and into my thirties. The influences of the world caught my attention and led me on a path far away from the closeness I felt with Christ.

By the time I hit my thirties there was a huge God-shaped void in my life. I had tried to fill it with almost EVERYTHING this world had to offer. But I still felt empty, unsatisfied, restless. I knew something was missing. Little did I know it was the gentle knock of Christ calling me to come back to Him. He is what I needed to fill the empty places in my life and make me whole again. That Sunday morning as the worship team sang, I felt a warmth that I hadn't felt in so long. It was Christ wrapping me in His sweet embrace letting me know He was there and that He loved me even though I had ran so far away from Him. Tears began to flow uncontrollably as I continued to listen to the words of the song coming from the praise band. Breaking down a piece of the wall I had built, I allowed those words to wash over me.

“How deeply I need you my Lord…Like the morning needs the sun, I need you. Like the desert needs the rain, I need you. Like the ocean needs the streams, I need you.”

I need Christ PERIOD. He is my friend and confidant. He is the giver of everything good in my life. When I feel I can’t make it another second, He sustains me. When I feel unloved, He loves me with an everlasting love and will not leave me or forsake me.

My relationship with Christ continues to grow to this day. Each day I meet Him in the early morning hours. During that time, he fill the “holes” in my life with His love, mercy and grace.

Do you feel like something is missing in your life? Christ is knocking at the door to your heart. Will you let Him in?

What does intimacy with Jesus look like?

John 15: 9 – 15 (MSG) "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love. I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.

Just before Easter last year, I used my morning quiet time to reflect on Jesus and the last few days he spent with his disciples before he went to Calvary. One particular morning, my focus was specifically devoted to the fifteenth chapter of John. Reading through, I closed my eyes and imagined myself at the scene, trying to focus in on the tiniest detail. Entering the room, I envisioned the room’s décor. Inhaling, I wondered what smells would be lingering from within as my ears strained to hear side conversations.

Opening my eyes, I tried to visualize what was happening until my eyes met Jesus in verse nine. Suddenly I went from the upper room to my kitchen table. With compassion in his voice Jesus spoke.

“Sheri, I have loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourself at home in my love.”

“Um… wait… woah…” I was speechless and a wave of peace washed over me.

Jesus continued, “If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love.”

I must admit that “intimately at home” sounded so comforting especially that morning. I allowed the truth to wash over me feeling the warmth of His arms wrap around me like a comfortable blanket on a cold winter morning.

Picking up my dictionary, I thumbed through until I found the word “intimate”.

IN'TIMATE, n. A familiar friend or associate; one to whom the thoughts of another are entrusted without reserve.

He wants me to remain “intimately at home in his love” because he has remained intimately at home in the Father’s love by keeping his commands. He tells me “these things” (v.11) so that I (actually all of us) may have joy. Joy. Think about that. This doesn’t sound to me like he wants to bully me (or all of us) into keeping a bunch of rules that are out dated or are no longer relevant in today’s society. He wants to protect me from the pain and scars of this broken world. God sent Jesus into the world so that through him I (we) “can have real and eternal life, better than I (we) can ever dream of.” (The Message John 10:10)

Going back to the picture, I can see myself being “at home” with Christ. There in the picture, I feel loved, safe, at peace, and I can talk freely without reserve. All too often after conversations with people I try to analyze (over-analyze actually) everything by interviewing myself with questions like: 

“Did I say that the right way?"
"Did I sound stupid?"
"Is he/she going to look at me differently because of what just came out of my mouth?” 

Believe me, all of these questions have run through my head. But in this picture with Christ, I can see myself bringing him the broken pieces of my life and trusting him for restoration. I am without reserve because I am “intimately at home in his love” and it is the best feeling in the world.

What do you see as you look into the picture?

How great is Christ's love for you?

Like the ocean, His love is deep

Lamentations 3:22 – 23 (NCV) The Lord’s love never ends; his mercies never stop. They are new every morning; Lord, your loyalty is great.

Ephesians 3:18 (NCV) And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is.

God has blessed me on several occasions with little weekend getaways to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my closest girlfriends. These little getaways are always a much needed opportunity to relax, eat way too much, laugh, and stay up way too late. At the end of these weekends I am sleep deprived but that’s okay – we always enjoy ourselves and make the most of the time we have together.

I remember the last weekend we spent together in Kitty Hawk. It was the last morning of our trip, so set an early alarm to watch the sun rise over the ocean. The Master Creator did not disappoint. The sunrise was magnificent. The sun, a deep yellowish-bright orange ball gave increasing light to beautiful pale pinkish-blue sky as it continued to make its bold entrance on the morning. As I watched the incredible display of God’s design, I thanked him for waking us up in time to witness this glimpse of His beautiful creation. In that moment He reminded me of  3 things:
1 - His never-ending love
2 - His mercy (which is new each morning), and
3 - His grace (just one glance at the ocean and I can't begin to imagine how much water it  holds...just think about how much greater the vastness of His grace truly is)

God loved us so much that he sacrificed his one and only Son so that we could be forgiven, free, and spend eternity with him. I was also reminded that morning of the greatness of Christ’s love. Just as the sun reached over the expanse of the ocean, so too did Jesus stretched out his arms on a cross to pay the penalty for every sin we have committed or will ever commit.

For me, sunrises are a reminder of God’s mercy, grace and the deep, deep love Christ has for each one of us. Each time I see a sunrise or sunset, lyrics of two songs pop into my mind as a reminder of this truth and I find myself humming them throughout the day.

 “Mercies New” Nichole Nordeman

Your mercies are new every morning

So let me wake with the dawn

When the music is through or so it seems to be

Then let me sing a new song, old things gone

Every day it's true, You make all Your mercies new

“Your Love is Deep” Jami Smith 

Your love is deep,

Your love is high

Your love is long,

Your love is wide

Your love is deeper than my view of grace

Higher than this worldly place

Longer than this road I've traveled

Wider than the gap You've filled

"How He Love Us" David Crowder
We are His portion and He is our prize 
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes 
If his grace is an ocean, we're all sinking 
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss 
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest 
I don't have time to maintain these regrets 
When I think about the way 
He loves us 
Oh how He loves us, 
Oh how He loves us 
Oh, how he loves 

Have you ever felt unloved?

Ephesians 3:18 – 19 (NCV) “And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.”

Have you ever felt unloved by someone? Perhaps there have been angry words spewed and what was said has made you feel as if the person who is supposed to love you most (a friend, a parent, a spouse) could care less whether you live or die. Perhaps these feelings have gone on for years or they have gone on for just a few days and they are eating you alive. The voice in your head (which is Satan himself) tells you that no one loves you. You begin to believe the lie and are drawn deeper and deeper into a pit of despair and loneliness.

But the lies are simply not true. While human love may fail, run out or stop. The love of Christ never ends. In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul wants us to understand the greatness of Christ’s love. Christ’s love is long; it stretches the length of our entire life. He loves with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). Christ’s love is deep; it reaches down into to the pit of our despair and rises us up to soar on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31). Christ’s love is wide; it covers the breadth of our own experience and reaches out to the entire world. Christ’s love is high; it rises to heights of our celebration and so much higher than we can ever dare to dream or imagine.  

The next time you feel like you are unloved just remember that the God of the entire universe loves you and wants you to feel safe and secure in His love. To prove it, he sent his one and only Son to die so that you didn’t have to (John 3:16). There is absolutely nothing that will ever separate us from his love.

Isaiah 54:19, Jeremiah 31:3, 1 John 4:16, Romans 8:35-39