Follow-Up to “Identity Crisis”

Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. —I John 4:15,16

“Identity Crisis” is a long devotion—one of the longest we have posted.  Knowing your ops tempo we are surprised when the numbers come in as to its popularity.  That speaks to us of the need for spiritual material dealing with growth during deployment, and we are grateful to God.

We were already planning on a follow-up piece using JJ Heller’s “What Love Really Means.”  So we post it tonight with joy and anticipation for how God is going to use it to affirm you in your spiritual walk with Him during this time of war:

Did you hear the ending?   The man cries out from his prison cell, “O Lord, Forgive me!” and in his heart he hears God say to him, “I will love you for you. . . .Not for what you have done or what you will become. . .. I will love you for you! I will give you the love that you never knew!”

Re-read “Identity Crisis” from March 6th and see again how true it is that God loves us—not for what we have done or what we will become—but because He is a God who is a covenant-keeper, perfect provider and protector, forward-looking and forgiving, and Love!  Hallelujah!

Questions to Share:

1. In what ways can you relate to the first three people about whom JJ Heller sings?

2. In what way do you need God’s unconditional love?

Related Posts

Putting on the Armor
I don’t know about you, but as a soldier the thought that I might lose any ground to an adversary makes me dig deeper, ball up my fists and redouble my efforts to fight and win ... As bad as physical defeat is, Paul tells us in his letter to the Christians at Ephesus that the physical battles we face are a diversion. The reality is that the physical battles we fight are caused by the spiritual battle that is going on in the background. These days we are getting more and more accustomed to fighting a physical enemy that uses tricks, lies, ambushes, coercion and terror to try to destroy us. Our physical enemy is merely following the lead of our spiritual enemy---the difference being that our spiritual enemy can also penetrate our homes and directly target our families.
“Eloquent Silence”
Sometimes . . . when someone has experienced a tragedy, it’s best to sit with them in silence. Not always, but sometimes. Alistair Begg, senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, calls that “Eloquent Silence.” I remember one of our local chaplains telling us about a visit he made to a Navy family in the housing area whose baby had died. When he arrived, he sat with the couple on the front porch. Just sat with them. Later the couple told him that was the most helpful thing he could have done at the time. He acted according to Romans 12:15, “. . . mourn with those who mourn.”
Counter-Fear Tactics
As Sonja held down the fort while her husband Jason was deployed, she quickly saw the need to go on the offensive against spirits of fear, worry, resentment, anger and bitterness. Instead of waiting for discouragement to invade and occupy her home, she countered it at every turn by wielding the Sword of Truth: God’s Word.

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back To Top