Communion with God consists of two things: receiving the love of the Father and loving him in return. You might spend hours each day in prayer, telling the Lord how much you love him, but it isn’t communion unless you receive his love in return.
The psalmist encourages us to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4). Why are we given such a bold invitation and what is the reason for such thanksgiving and praise? It’s because we are shown the kind of God we are to come to: “For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (100:5).
God does not come to us as a hard, demanding father. Rather, he is kind and tenderhearted, filled with love and mercy toward us. His love is unconditional and he will never turn us down when we call upon him. He cares about everything concerning us but too few Christians have laid hold of this amazing love and grace. They live in fear and doubt, with little or no hope.
True love is manifested in two things: rest and rejoicing. The prophet Zephaniah writes: “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
God rests in his love for his people. In Hebrew, the phrase “He will quiet you with His love” reads, “He shall be silent because of his love.” God is saying, in essence, “I’ve found my true love and I don’t have to look elsewhere.”
God gets great pleasure from his people. Zephaniah testifies that God’s love for you is so great that it puts a song on his lips! To “rejoice” means to have joy and delight; it’s an outward expression of internal gladness. It’s also the highest expression of love.
God foresaw all your sins and failures, yet he still loved you with tender love. If God loved you enough to give his own Son to die for you when you were still deep in sin, would he remove his love when you stumble or fail? Absolutely not! His love is glorious and steadfast — unchanging and eternal.
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.