God continually reveals and confirms how important it is for us to experience and rest in His love and peace when standing for marriage restoration, so it’s very important for us to find and maintain a level of faith that leads to peace and confidence in God’s word. And two of the verses I always rely on are Jeremiah 29:11 (AMP), which says For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. and Proverbs 21:30, which says There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. These verses confirm and demonstrate how the Lord loves us and has nothing but good plans for us, and that He has the power to bring His plans for us into being, and that NOTHING can stop Him from doing that. Then the verse I ALWAYS rely on for reassurance and encouragement is Romans 8:28 (NKJV), which says And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. However, there are times when these verses don’t seem to reassure someone with deeply rooted issues of abandonment and rejection, because that makes it more difficult to feel and experience the love of Christ, so I appreciate the verse Charles Stanly reminded me of this morning in his TV message, Romans 8:38-39, which says 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. Since we know NOTHING can separate us from God’s love, I lift up this beautiful prayer from Ephesians 3:16-21 for anyone unable to experience and rest in the love and peace of our Lord and Savior, which is I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, 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. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Note: Charles Stanley’s awesome TV message today, Facing The Unknown With Confidence, May 7, 2006 is available here and I strongly urge anyone struggling with a lack of faith and confidence in God’s love and power to watch it.

Posted Sunday, May 7th, 2006 at 2:01 pm in Seeds Of Faith.