God is great, God is GOOD!

I was listening to Chris Tomlin's song, "Good Good Father" on my way to work, and couldn't stop thinking of my friend, Lan Zarief. The Lord uses this precious woman to speak of His intimate and personal love to her neighbors in her home state of New York. I've never met Lan in person, but we've connected via phone conversations, letters, and emails through the ministry I serve called, Word Ministries.

Word Ministries is a non-profit ministry that gives away New Covenant Bibles - Bibles that were mainly compiled for the Jewish nation. I say this because the name Yeshua is used instead of Jesus, and it lists the Hebrew Scripture prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Furthermore, Word Ministries also gives away prayer books entitled, The Long Love Letter.  This beautiful book, written by the ministry's founder, Margaret Ruth Baker, is filled with Scriptures yet it's written as if the Lord were speaking them directly to you, the reader! And each Scripture focuses on the precious, meaningful, and infinite love of the Father.

Lan is one of our most dedicated ministry followers. She takes these prayer books and uses them to share the love of God. "People don't understand the Lord's great love for them," she explains. "They desperately need to know that they are loved. They need to know that they are loved by God who is, indeed, a good, good Father."

Lyrics to "Good, Good Father"by Chris Tomlin

I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like
But I've heard tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you're pleased

And that I'm never alone

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

I've seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we're all searching
For answers only you can provide
Cause you know just what we need
Before we, we say a word

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, it's who I am, It's who I am

You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are...

Moreover, I was reading in Brennan Manning's "Abba's Child," and was struck by something he shared... here, let's read it together:

     "Once, on a five-day silent retreat, I spent the entire time in John's Gospel. Whenever a sentence caused my heart to stir I wrote it out longhand in a journal. The first of many entries was also the last: 'The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus... He leaned back on Jesus's breast' (John 13:23,25). We must not hurry past this scene... John lays his head on the heart of God, on the breast of the Man whom the council of Nicea defined as 'being coequal and consubstantial to the Father...God of God, Light from Light, True God from True God.' This passage...can become a personal encounter, radically affecting our understanding of who God is and what our relationship with Jesus is meant to be. God allows a young Jew to listen to His heartbeat!! ...John was not intimidated by Jesus. He was not afraid of His Lord and Master... (Rather) John was deeply affected by this sacred Man... 

     "As John leans back on the breast of Jesus and listens to the heartbeat of the Great Rabbi, he comes to know Him in a way that surpasses mere cognitive knowledge... John experiences Jesus as the human face of the God who is love. And in coming to know who the Great Rabbi is, John discovers who he is -- the disciple Jesus loved. Years later the disciple would write, 'In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in love' (1 John 4:18).

     "...I sense this what happened in the upper room. Not only did the beloved disciple come to know Jesus, but the meaning of all that Jesus had taught suddenly exploded like a starburst. 'I first learned the Word of God when the Great Rabbi held me silently against his heart.' 

     "For John the heart of Christianity was not an inherited doctrine but a message born of his own experience. And the message he declared was, 'God is love!' (1 John 4:16)."

I pray we can each, "...being rooted and established in love...(will) have (the) power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18-19).

Because NOTHING can separate us from Christ’s love!

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

If you would like more information on Word Ministries, please visit our website at:

www.wordministriesinternational.org.  

If you would like to receive a FREE copy of the New Covenant Bible or Margaret Ruth Baker's A Long Love Letter, you can email the ministry at: wordministriesinternational@yahoo.com.