A Skechers Love: The Promises of God

The Promises of God

Greetings! I am honored to be back sharing with you my thoughts and devotional for the week. I am honored that you would take the time to read these devotionals and let the Spirit of God speak to your life. This year's series, we are going to focus on the promises of God and how we can receive them and see them in our lives. We hope you enjoy our time meditating of His promises. 

Week 1: The Promise of His Love
Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)



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.



There were these shoes I loved. They were these slide-in sketchers. Now I never thought I would love them. I was looking for some higher profile shoe, like Jordans or something. They weren’t at this store, but in looking around I saw these grey sketchers. At first, I didn’t want to even try them on because they are perceived as shoes for more senior people, and I didn’t consider myself that “seasoned”. But I decided to try them on, mainly because they didn’t have show laces which means I didn’t have to get down and tie the shoes on a regular basis. After trying them on, I realized that these shoes were the most comfortable shoes I had ever put on my feet. I absolutely fell in love with these shoes! And I wore them everywhere, all of the time. 

I had other shoes in the closet, but I always reached from my sketcher. I had more expensive shoes in my closet, but I wore the sketchers. I had more name brand shoes in my closet, yet I was always with the sketchers. The other shoes were probably jealous of the sketchers. The other shoes probably gossiped about the sketchers in the dark corners of the closet. They probably excluded my sketchers from the shoe party the other shoes had in the back of the closet. 



Nevertheless, I loved my sketchers. It was the first shoe I reached for. Rainy days and sunny days. Dress casual or dress down. Special Occasions or just around the house. I would put on these sketchers. I loved these shoes. My wife would talk about the appearance of my shoes. My children would laugh at my shoes. Over the time, they became worn and dirty. They were torn in some spots, but these were still my sketchers. And I loved them. And I wore them, until the day I couldn’t, until the day they couldn’t be my shoes anymore. For the entirety of my shoes’ life, I loved them. I cherished them. Nothing could every make me give them up. I was not ashamed of them. I loved my shoes. 



That’s the love God has for you. He loves you that much and more.



The promise that you and I have in our lives, the most important promise we have in our lives, is the fact that God loves us. It is the fundamental principle of our eternity. Everything in our relationship is based solely on this principle. God loves us. And when I mean us, I mean us ALL. People who are hard to love, God loves. People who are absolutely evil, God loves. There is no limit to His love for us. You are loved. 

Others may not love you. But God does. Others may use you and abuse you. God loves you.

Others may not see anything of value in you, God does. He unconditionally loves you. And just like my love for my sketchers, nothing will break His love for you. 



Every so often, my sketchers would get dirty, and I would take the time to put them in the washing machine and place them in the proper place to dry. I wanted to make sure that my sketchers were given everything that I could give them. I needed them to be taken care of. Why? Because love requires wanting the very best for someone or something and doing all within your power to bring it to pass. 



If God loves you, what will he not do for you? Think about that for a moment. When we doubt God, we are doubting his love. The sure fact that He is God and I accept Him as God means that I believe He has the power. But when I doubt God, I am really questioning his heart, not His power. I am questioning whether He really loves me. If my shoes doubted my love for them, it would break my heart. Imagine us doubting God after all He has done for us. That breaks God’s heart. Yet, His love still brings him to us.



This week, focus on His love. This week we confess the following:



Confession: I confess that God loves me. I believe that everything good in my life comes from His love for me. I humbly receive the fruit of that love. I humbly accept His love in my life. I am glad to walk in that love. I reject others that may not love me, and I ignore others that may hate me. I do not doubt the Lord and His will in my life, because I know it comes from His love for me. 

Take this time to confess His love for you and your love for Him. 



By the way, my wife mercifully took my sketchers and retired them. I loving relationship had come to an end. But she saw my pain, and introduced me to a sketchers outlet we have in Pearl! To be continued…