Dwight Fletcher | God’s love and our authority

GOD’S VIEW of us must be understood in order for us to exercise the authority He’s given us, and walk in a way that pleases Him. God’s view of us is what matters, and if we take our cues from that, it will help to land us in the position and the mindset we need to walk in our authority in Christ. Ephesians 1:7 says that in Christ we are totally forgiven. When we accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and God looks at us, He sees us free of sin. Christ’s death paid for the sins of all who believe, and eternally releases us from the penalty and the earthly power of our sins.

Sin has no power over us as Believers and no longer defines us. “… I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you.” Isaiah 43:25 (GNT). It’s God’s nature and desire to forgive. God has forgiven us; He’s not out to get us. When we struggle with feeling forgiven, it might be because we don’t forgive others regularly. If we’re not forgiving, we cannot relate to God forgiving us.

This isn’t something we work for or deserve. It’s God’s gift to us who surrender to Jesus by faith. “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT). God spared no experience to rescue us. He traded the life of His Son,which means that to God we are valuable. We may think that we’re not, or may have heard it from others, but to God we’re worth the life of His Son.

If people have communicated that you aren’t valuable, the One who made everything says that it’s a lie. The value of an item is determined by what is paid for it, and God gave everything for us, therefore each of us is extremely valuable. “You are a people holy to the Lord your God ... his treasured possession” Deuteronomy 7:6 (NIV). We are God’s treasured possessions.

God says: “…You are precious to me” Isaiah 43:4 (TEV), so in Christ we can rest in the fact that we are loved unconditionally. When we were running from God, He pursued us and used His overwhelming love to draw us.

God says, “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” Jeremiah 31:3 (NLT). If you’ve felt unloved in your life, you might think there’s nothing to love in you and might not want to get close to people. In Christ we become a new creation, old things have passed away, everything is new. God loves us unconditionally and draws us close to shower His love on us. It’s not dependent on whether we get everything right or if we are perfect, it’s dependent on God’s nature and God is love. “I am writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father and in the care of Jesus Christ” Jude 1:1 (GNT). “The Lord is good; his love is eternal, and his faithfulness lasts forever” Psalm 100:5 (GNT).

Before He calls us to walk in His authority, God first loves us; and while we are walking in His authority, He still loves us.