Jesus loves people. He loves all kinds of people, and in his earthly ministry Jesus…
What makes you think God loves you any less?
I grew up in a family that took spiritual things for granted, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that at a very early age I had a profound spiritual experience. When I was about 3 years old, I thought that Jesus had come to see me when I was sick. While I was having what I considered a personal time with Jesus I kept telling my mother, “Mommy, don’t come in the room!” When it was finally OK for her to come in, I told her, “Jesus came to see me, and he told me, ‘Eddie, I love you, and all the angels in heaven are singing a song just for you.’” Was that real? I guess you can decide that for yourself, but my mother was convinced it was real, I know that for sure. She was so convinced that when my dad came home she was crying, convinced that since I had such an experience with Jesus, I must have been close to dying!
Years later during a special revival service at our church, we were having a very extended time of prayer. As I was quiet before the Lord in prayer for quite some time, I felt as though God were reminding me of that experience when I was three years old—of how Jesus had personally told me that he loved me. The experience seemed very real to me as an adult, and I was in awe that Jesus would come and speak to me as a toddler! It was a wonderful thought. I just reveled in the warmth of the memory during my time of prayer that evening.
And then I felt as though God wanted to ask me a question, and the question was this: “Ed, what makes you think I love you any less now?” What a telling question! In my thinking, it was easy to see how God would love me as an innocent three-year-old, but I could think of a lot of reasons why God should love me less now.
I think that’s true of a lot of followers of Jesus: we underestimate the degree to which God loves us. He can love others, he can love the innocent children, but he couldn’t possibly love us in the same way, could he? We can know in our heads that he loves us, yet in our hearts have a tough time grappling with the truth of God’s unconditional love. He really does love us just as much today as he did before we lost our innocence. It’s really true. Maybe that’s part of the reason Jesus says we have to receive the kingdom of God like little children.
Revival is a time of making the love of God more real for us. Revival is a time that God drives the truth from our heads to our hearts. Do you need revival? It’s here for you.
Pastor Ed’s Notes
I think that’s true of a lot of followers of Jesus: we underestimate the degree to which God loves us.
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Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash.
God bless you Pastor Ed! You were brought into the kingdom for such a time as this. Keep writing and keep preaching! ????
When I was 5 years old my parents placed me into an Episcopal parochial school because they wanted me to start school with all my older friends. It was a very traditional Episcopal church and even had nuns! Every morning we had mass and we would rise, kneel, and be seated repetitiously. If we talked, one of the nuns had a long poll with a metal weight on the end and would bop us on the head. So, even a rather rambunctious boy like me learned some discipline and focus in worship.
One morning, while I was kneeling, I saw the feet of Jesus walking across in front of the altar. All that was visible was the hem of His garment and his sandaled feet, but I KNEW those feet were His. This was not the robe of a poor man as He was when He walked the earth before. This robe was embroidered at the bottom with a design that is vivid in my memory 60 years later, gold on both sides and scarlet in the middle. I can draw it but description fails me.
I have never been one to see visions – just that one – until the Lord asked me to do something extremely painful as an adult. In order to answer the call and go to ORU seminary, I had to leave my son, Ben, in Dallas. I loved Ben more than anything – likely the problem, an idol before God. For three months, every morning when I went to pray the Lord wrestled with me. In those days, I prayed 2-3 hours every morning. It was the same thing. Finally, one morning I surrendered and, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I saw Ben grow from a 4 year old to his mid-teens right before my eyes. Then a golden mist fell and enveloped him. I had a great peace!
That was a visual revelation, just like an audible revelation. For many years after that, I had to hang onto that revelation, reminding the Lord in prayer (mostly myself), due to circumstances that appeared contrary to what I saw in that vision. The Lord does that, giving you something to hang onto while you go through hard times in order for you to muster the faith necessary to overcome.