2. PARENTAL FAITHFULNESS . . . .

EVERY PROMISE OF GOD WILL BE FULFILLED. He is consistently loving. His heart motive remains the same through time and eternity. He never changes. He only desires to show love... and forgiveness.

DO YOU TRUST GOD? Our distrust hurts Him... deeply. What if I came home to my wife and children after a long journey, and they ran away from me when I opened the door and called their names? I would be terribly hurt.

YOU ARE GOD'S CHILD AND EVEN NOW He calls your name... but maybe deep in your heart you doubt His faithfulness. As a child you may have experienced the complete absence of a father because of death... or divorce. Maybe you were orphaned by the demands of your parent's career? Or is it just the childhood memory of broken promises... or neglect that haunts you? Some of you screamed for hours as babies but nobody came to relieve you of your discomfort and hunger. Some of you whimpered behind locked doors... a small child... forgotten and alone.

DO YOU HAVE AN INABILITY to sense His presence with you? Is your heart soft towards God... or hardened with cynicism and distrust? Look up into His eyes and see His love for you.

"I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU... I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS EVEN UNTIL THE END OF THE AGE" (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20).

YOU MAY SAY TO ME, "But if He has loved me so much, then why haven't I felt Him... or seen Him?" It isn't God who has failed you my friend... but I and those who know His love personally. Too many times we have failed to become His voice and His hands to those who do not know Him. Far too few allow themselves to be driven by the broken heart of JESUS into the dark corners of this world where the poor and needy wait. JESUS is not attracted to pleasant places... but to hurting people. He pursues us with His love... from our first breathing moment... until the day we die.

YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WAS THERE when you first walked as a child. He was there through hurts and disappointments. He is present now at this moment. You were briefly loaned to human parents who, for a few years, were supposed to have showered you with love like His love. But you are and always will be a child of God... made in His image. Your loving Father awaits even now with outstretched arms. What would keep you from Him?

FEW PEOPLE KNOW GOD IN ALL HIS LOVELINESS while living this brief life. Many of us are like the thief who died on the cross next to JESUS. Outwardly he saw a bloody... disfigured body... but soon he began to perceive the true nature of JESUS... and at the last minute, entered by faith into the family of God. We too must see past the religious... and the commercial mutations of JESUS... and behold the God of love who stands with open arms saying...

"I CAME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE LIFE... AND MIGHT HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY" (John 10:10).

"EVEN WHEN WE ARE TOO WEAK TO HAVE ANY FAITH LEFT... HE REMAINS FAITHFUL TO US WHO ARE PART OF HIMSELF... AND HE WILL ALWAYS CARRY OUT HIS PROMISES TO US" (2 Timothy 2:13).