Do you hear pulsating fear everywhere? Do you notice an underlying “what if…” in spoken words and unspoken thoughts? I had a close soul-sister friend who could notice. She was the type of friend who saw my underlying “what if” as I talked. Her cancer brought her into eternity with Jesus, but her words still ring true in my heart.
She would gently say, “You’re spiraling again. You know Who holds the future. That ‘what if’ thinking? It’s fear. You know His perfect love for you. He took all your punishment for sin and replaced it with Christ’s righteousness. His perfect love lives in your tomorrow too. In your forever, for eternity.” She would remind me that His perfect love casts out fear (I John 4:18a ESV). And I would experience peace as He graciously replaced “what if” fear with His perfect love, yet again. Because…if He loves me so much that He died for me, He certainly loves me in whatever happens tomorrow.
Let’s enter a praise interruption, singing of His love, replacing our “what if” today. He promises He will quiet you by his love (Zeph. 3:17b ESV).
O the deep, deep love of Jesus
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness over me.
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-19 ESV).
Your love is continual and forever
Underneath me, all around me,
is the current of thy love;
leading onward, leading homeward,
to thy glorious rest above.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16 ESV).
Your love never changes
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Spread his praise from shore to shore;
how he loveth, ever loveth,
changeth never, nevermore;
For I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers,
nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39 ESV).
You are loving me right now
how he watches o’er his loved ones,
died to call them all his own;
how for them he intercedeth,
watcheth o’er them from the throne.
Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them (Heb. 7:25 AMPC).
Help me to abide, obey, and rest in Your love
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Love of ev’ry love the best:
’tis an ocean vast of blessing,
’tis a haven sweet of rest.
I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [continue in His love with Me]. If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love. I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing
(John 15:9-11 AMPC).
Your love will lift me into all my tomorrows
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me;
and it lifts me up to glory,
for it lifts me up to thee.
O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (Francis, S. T., c. 1890)
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8 ESV).
What songs of His love can you sing to replace thoughts of “what if?” What songs remind you of His continual and eternal love for you as a believer in Jesus Christ? If you would like a playlist of hymns and spiritual songs chosen to help you remember and hope in His love, sign up below!
2 Comments
Sherry Ohrt · July 1, 2020 at 12:00 am
Amazing grace!
Lauri Hogle · August 30, 2020 at 3:30 pm
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!!! Amen!
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