Thursday, March 31, 2011

Relentless
By Lisa Boyer

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.”
Romans 8:38-39


As I walked up to my front door a thought popped into my head for the 100th time… ok, possibly not the 100th but it sure felt like it.

It had started two days ago at a women’s conference. I had attended a workshop entitled “The Battle Within” where we learned ways to combat the lies that pop into our heads, attempting to steal our joy and freedom. I sat there listening and thinking, yes, I do that and it works. I left feeling pretty good about myself because I had that issue under control.

Then I headed off to my second workshop “Blessed are the Peacemakers” which was about conflict resolution. There was no doubt that I needed this workshop, but let’s just keep that between you and me. Anyway, as I sat there listening to the speaker talk about how God uses conflict and healthy ways to resolve conflict, a thought kept popping into my head about a time when I had had a conflict resolution conversation with someone. The fact was that it had gone well, but the thought popping into my head during that workshop wasn’t reflecting it like that at all. The thought was a lie. I spent the whole 45-minute workshop pushing that thought out of my head only to find it back just a few minutes later. Evidently, I was no expert at controlling “The Battle Within” after all.

So here it was two days later, with that lie back in my head again and I thought, “Wow! Satan is relentless!”

But then it hit me: Ultimately, Satan isn’t relentless… GOD is relentless; relentless in His love for us.

Our heavenly Father has let nothing stand in the way of us having a relationship with Him! He sent His only Son to die for us! Now THAT is relentless, relentless love! And He allows nothing to separate us from His relentless love: “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.”

The enemy may be persistent and most certainly annoying, but he’s not relentless… he’s defeated.

GOING DEEPER:
1. Today, will you take a moment to reflect on the relentless love your heavenly Father has for you?
2. With whom can you share your experience of relentless love?

FURTHER READING:
John 3:16; 1 John 4:4

Lisa has been married to Ted for 19 years and they have two teenage sons. She is a co-leader for a Junior High girls’ small group at Oakwood Church.