I just like to take a moment of your time to tell you that God loves you. Not just a little bit, but a whole lot. He reminded me this morning of what He spoke in Isaiah 43, so I’d like to share a some of those passages as they encouraged me, perhaps they will you as well. Let me start with verses 1-7 ERV: Jacob, the Lord created you. Israel, he made you, and now he says, “Don’t be afraid. I saved you. I named you. You are mine. ² When you have troubles, I am with you. When you cross rivers, you will not be hurt. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not hurt you. ³ That’s because I, the Lord, am your God. I, the Holy One of Israel, am your Savior. I gave Egypt to pay for you. I gave Ethiopia and Seba to make you mine. ⁴ You are precious to me, and I have given you a special place of honor. I love you. That’s why I am willing to trade others, to give up whole nations, to save your life.⁵ “So don’t be afraid, because I am with you. I will gather your children and bring them to you. I will gather them from the east and from the west. ⁶ I will tell the north: Give my people to me. I will tell the south: Don’t keep my people in prison. Bring my sons and daughters to me from the faraway places. ⁷ Bring to me all the people who are mine—the people who have my name. I made them for myself. I made them, and they are mine.”

Don’t be afraid! Regardless of what you see in the natural, look what God says; “I saved you. I named you. You are mine.” So he establishes that we belong to him and then he tells us that wherever we are, whatever we walk through, He will be with us and won’t allow the flames to burn us, the water to harm us. He didn’t say we wouldn’t go through the fire, he said he’d accompany us and we wouldn’t be harmed. 

Then He says, “You are precious to me, and I have given you a special place of honor. I love you.” Read that out loud so your ears can hear it and your spirit can leap for joy. We are precious to him! Special honor! He loves us!!!! I don’t know about you, but when I hear that it makes me fall more in love with the one saying it. When Walt tells me how beautiful I am, how special I am, how much he loves me, I melt! How can you not love someone who loves you THAT much.  Don’t think that because it was written so long ago that it is not for us now. We were adopted into his family, we are Gods very own and this was written for us today. When we accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives, we were ‘grafted’ in and became his very own.

If you would please indulge me for one last scripture reading, verses 10-13 really seals the deal: ¹⁰ The Lord says, “You people are my witnesses and the servant I chose. I chose you so that you would help people believe me. I chose you so that you would understand that ‘I Am He’—I am the true God. There was no God before me, and there will be no God after me. ¹¹ I myself am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. ¹² I am the one who spoke to you, saved you, and told you those things. It was not some stranger who was with you. You are my witnesses, and I am God.” (This is what the Lord himself said.) ¹³ “I have always been God. When I do something, no one can change what I have done. And no one can save people from my power.”

Does not that make you want to just scream out, “THAT’S MY GOD!” He’s always been God and when he does something, NO one can change what He’s done. Don’t mess with me, if you do, God will mess with you. He’s my protector, my savior, my provider, deliverer, lover, the steady arm I lean on, my shepherd and so much more. May I never forget who He is to me. May I never allow the things I see in the natural consume me or try to exalt itself against such a mighty deliverer. May I remember how much he loves me, what he’s done to give me the keys to the Kingdom. May I never live beneath what he has created me to be.