Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

Ephesians 3:19 - "And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." 

I read a magnificent story from Joseph Prince's book The Power of Right Believing. He tells of a minister from Oregon who was assigned to provide counseling to patients in a state mental illness facility.  When he arrived for duty, he was sent to a padded cell with a large group of deranged, barely clothed people.  The stench of human excrement filled the room.  When he tried to talk with the patients, they responded with groans, moans and demonic-like laughter.  

Then the Holy Spirit prompted him to sit in the middle of the room and sing the familiar children's song, Jesus Loves Me.  For a full hour, he sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to him belong.  They are weak but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  For the Bible tells me so". 

Nothing happened the first day, but he persisted.  For weeks he would sit and sing the same melody, but with greater conviction each time.  "Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!  For the Bible tells me so!"  Soon the patients began singing with him, one by one.  By the first month, 36 of the severely ill patients were transferred from the high-dependency ward to a self-care ward.  Within a year, all but two were discharged from the facility.   

No matter what challenges, failures and misdeeds you or I might face, the love of Jesus remains constant.  "Jesus loves me, this I know".  My question to you is, do you know that Jesus loves you?  Do you know how much He loves you?  How can we know?  The Bible tells us so.  So simple, yet so powerful. 

I challenge you, as often as you look in the mirror, say to yourself, "Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so".  And enjoy the forgiveness, freedom, healing and restoration that comes from truly knowing the love of Christ that passes all knowledge!    

 

Get the Crimps Out

Proverbs 4: 23 Amplified " Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance for out of it flows the springs of life."  There is nothing like Springtime, it's such a great time of newness of life.  The birds are singing, the leaves on the trees are turning green, flowers are blooming.  I enjoy this time of year so much.  Well, all almost everything about this time of year...

Read More

Older Women?


Titus 2:3-4 "The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children."  As I was giving some simple advice to a young mother several weeks ago, the thought occurred to me...
 

Read More

No Fault Relationships


James 5: 16 "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that ye might be healed".  Have you ever heard of no fault car insurance?  It means that your car insurance company will pay your bills if you get into a car accident, regardless of who was at fault for the accident.  Have you ever heard of "no fault relationships"?...
 

Read More

"Whatsup"

Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to Him, and I will SUP with him, and he with ME" (Emphasis mine).  "Whatsup" or "whasup", that's what my kids always would say to me years ago.   "Hey dad, WHASUP?"  It's a combination of two words, what's and up.  Recently  a beautiful family from a church that I had been privileged to preach at, invited me to their home for "supper"...  

Read More

Exhale

Genesis 12:2 (Amplified Bible) - “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you {with an abundant increase of favors} and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing {dispensing good to others}”. There's a really great song that says it all for me about grace, it's called Exhale by Plumb.  Listen to these powerful lyrics...

Read More

The Honeymoon is Never Over

Romans 5:8-9: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”  For those of you who are married, remember how wonderful your honeymoon was?  I hope so!  You and your spouse...

Read More

Adding Fuel to the Fire

1 Corinthians 15:56 – “The strength of sin is the law”.  Recently in the news was a story of a man that accidentally set fire to three cars while trying to get rid of bed bugs!  The New Yorker was hospitalized after dousing the interior of his rental car with...

Read More

Once Shaved, Always Shaved

1 Corinthians 1:8-9 – “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”  I know that beards are making quite the comeback these days, but every day, no matter what, like most men, I shave...

Read More

Bobo's Back!

Matthew 6:9 “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name”.  Some of you may remember me talking about Bobo in recent years, a dog in my neighborhood where I grew up.  He was chained up in the yard at his house, all day long, rain or shine, near the softball field where we played.  Bobo was a huge black dog with matted fur and very large teeth, and barked nonstop.  Unfortunately... 

Read More

Take What's Yours

Matthew 6:11 – “Give us this day our daily bread”.  Some of my favorite memories are of dinner time as a young boy in the Fortunato household.  Imagine five kids, mom, dad, around the kitchen table…a lot could, and often would happen.  People talked over one another, lots of hijinks, questions were asked that you were supposed to answer, it was really interesting.  But there’s one thing that none of us ever did...

Read More

The Naughty and Nice List

Romans 4:4 “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt".  Christmas brings back some really great memories for me from my childhood.  How about the lyrics to the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”?  We used to sing that song all the time, loved it.  But as I got older and really listened to the lyrics...

Read More

Absalomic Vinegar

2 Samuel 15:2 – “And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so , that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.”  I really enjoy a nice salad with my dinner…and my dressing of choice – balsamic vinaigrette!  Did you know that the name balsamic comes from...

Read More

"Thanks-given"

2 Peter 1:3 "According as his divine power has "given" unto us all things..."  My favorite holiday to celebrate has always been Thanksgiving.  As a child, I have great memories of our family going to the big rivalry football game on Thanksgiving morning and then...

Read More

The "Mess-terpiece"

Ephesians 2:10 (New Living Translation) “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”.  If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend the movie Moms Night Out for you and your family.  It’s a wonderful celebration of the “mess” that sometimes comes with parenting.  In the movie, when the moms go out for a much needed night out with the girls...

Read More

Have Your Logged Onto "Faith-Book" Today?

Romans 10:17 – “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”.  Did you know there are currently 1.32 billion monthly active users on Facebook?  That’s astounding to me.  Americans spend an average of...

Read More

Let Go of the Rope

Matthew 11:30 - "…My Yoke is Easy and My Burden is Light" 

The Oxford English Dictionary says that the phrase "tug of war" originally meant "the decisive contest; the real struggle or tussle; a severe contest for supremacy". Only in the 19th century was it used for what we know today as a contest between two teams tugging on opposite sides of a rope, determined to pull the opposing team across a designated line...

Read More