A Heart of Love

2 P&P Weekly blog for 15 - 21 February 2025

What a treasure it was to find this Iris, which served as a vessel for the recent rain. Did you notice that the puddle of water within the petals forms a heart? This image made me stop and admire its beauty and God’s handiwork. It’s not something I’ve seen before or since. I wanted to share it with you for several reasons. 

A Purple Iris speckled with raindrops

Rain—is a gift from God as it is His method of watering the earth. He’s caring for the things that He’s fashioned. Rain helps plants, flowers, and all other plants grow. It refreshes a tired landscape. It produces life. It’s a source of beauty. It can demonstrate a sense of calmness (like a serene lake) or a sense of power (like the mighty sea). 

The same is true of God’s love. It fills us, restores us, refreshes and replenishes our strength, and cleanses and baptizes us. When we become His sons or daughters, God places His Spirit and Living Water inside us. These gifts help us deepen our roots of faith. 

God’s love is invitational, gracious, forgiving, and merciful. It falls upon us and chases after us. It blesses and enriches our lives as we grow in knowledge of His Word and ways. And God’s love knows no end. It is everlasting. 

Let’s look to Scripture to capture a little of God’s heart toward us:

Psalm 103:11 (HCSB): “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him.”

Notice that God often uses creation to get His points across?

John 3:16 (ESV): “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

In place of “world,” insert your own name. Let this personalization be your invitation to know Jesus and His love. Welcome Him or deepen your relationship. 

Romans 5:8 (NIV): “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God gave His life for us, knowing that we are imperfect. Never let that stop you from coming to Christ or from sharing His love with others. A seeking heart actively pursues God, His Word, and to gain an understanding of His Will for our lives. 

Romans 8:37-39 (NIV): “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Nothing can separate us from God’s love!

1 John 3:1 (ESV): “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

Jesus calls us “children,” “sons/daughters,” and “heirs.” We are adopted into His family when we surrender our hearts to Him. 

1 John 4:16 (NASB1995): “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Abiding means walking with the Lord, praying, and seeking to please Him. It requires a daily connection and time in His presence. How are you doing in this regard? Do you rely upon Jesus or your own strength and wisdom? 

Ephesians 3:16-18 (NIV): “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

How beautiful to contemplate that Jesus loves us fully, completely, as far as the East is from the West and from Earth to the highest heaven. Let this truth sink in. Then, plant yourself at Jesus’ feet to grow into His likeness. 

From God’s Heart:

Happy Valentine’s Day, My child! It’s My desire for you to experience My never-ending, inexhaustible love for you. I was born with the sole purpose of bringing the Good News to earth and your heart. Will you let Me fill your heart with joy, peace, hope, and My goodness? Will you allow Me to teach you and help you grow and flourish into the person that I envisioned at your conception? Will you be My vessel, willing to be filled, poured out, and filled again—like the rain in this Iris? And will you love Me and others as I’ve commanded? I long to have a close and abiding relationship with you. I long to shower your life with blessings. See how faithful I am to My creation? I am the same to you. Trust this and Me to provide all you need. You are My beloved. 

Your Loving Abba Daddy

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