To the One Whom Jesus Loves,

As you continue on your journey with Jesus, it is very important to know God loves you. This is something one needs to know deep within their being. However, it is not enough to intellectually know that God loves you – abstract truth is great fuel for discussions but has little if any value for the living of life. You must be personally experiencing the transforming power of God’s love.

You see as you journey with Jesus you will begin to learn more about yourself. You will begin to get in touch with your own sin, brokenness and capacity for evil. These new revelations can be very disturbing and depressing unless you are experiencing deep within your very being the extra-ordinary love of God, this unconditional, “nothing can separate you from” love God has for you. This is a love which declares there is no condemnation for those in Christ, a love which announces to the entire universe that God is your tender and caring parent and you are God’s dearly loved child – the one in whom God delights.

If you do not personally know this love, your journey with Jesus will stop short of all it could be – for your realization of your own sin, brokenness and capacity for evil will be too painful to bear. But paradoxically if you know God’s love for you, the realization of your own “stuff” will lead to a greater appreciation of the depth and reality of this love. You will be more aware of the grace, mercy, forgiveness and kindness which God continually demonstrates toward you. This awareness enables you to honestly look at yourself and accept yourself as you currently are and know that God remains with you and God’s desire is still for you. Then the “stuff” of your life becomes a doorway through which you experience the profound love of God and an invitation to personal growth and transformation.
So as you journey with Jesus make sure to take the time to explore, ponder and experience the profound love God has for you.


Below, you will find some verses to reflect on. Take 15 to 20 minutes each morning and sit with the words of one of these passages.

As you reflect upon the passage, allow God to bring a word or phrase to your mind.

Ponder this word or phrase and allow God to use it to lead you into a time of silent and verbal prayer.

When you are finished, purpose to take this word or phrase with you in order to think and reflect upon it throughout the rest of your day.

At the end of the day take a few moments to consider how well you did at taking and reflecting on your word or phrase considering how this word or phrase impacted you – your intentions, interactions, attitudes, and insights throughout the day. Close this time in prayer.

Here are some verses for your times of reflection:

John 3:16 (replace the word “world” with your name)
Romans 5:8, Romans 8:31-39 Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 3:14-20, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 4;9-10 and Psalm 103 (you might want to divide this Psalm into smaller sections).