I Love You

I think I can speak for most of us when I say that I love to hear the words "I love you", "I appreciate you", and "Thank you". They help us to feel good about ourselves and let us know that we are special, appreciated and what we do is not taken for granted.  Now, don't we think that Jesus would love to hear those words from us??  How often do you tell Him; I love You or thank You? How often do we truly praise Him for who He is?  I would guess that we are more prone to thank Him for His blessings and things He has done for us than we are to tell Him we love Him or to praise Him.

Love is so important to God because He is love. 1 John 4:8 (NIV) 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  I think sometimes we assume that He knows we do because of the way we try to live our lives for Him. Possibly we don't even think about it like we should, but for us to verbally say those words out loud would mean so much more to Him.  The more we profess it with our mouths the more we feel it in our hearts and the more we feel it in our hearts the more our lives change for Christ. 

God lives in and on our Praise and worship of Him; Psalm 22:3 (KJV) 3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.  If we are giving Him thanks we are remembering all that He has done for us.  Praising Him is to hold Him at the highest regard; to recognize who He really is.  When we worship Him, He is always close to us and always on our hearts and minds.  This causes us to want to do better; not just for ourselves or those we love, but most importantly for Christ. 

Some times I go into what I like to call a "Thank you fit".  I stop and give thanks to my Heavenly Father for anything I can think of that I know He has blessed me with.  From waking me up that morning to the house I live in to the air that I breathe. I thank Him for sending His only Son to die for my sins, for the blood that was shed that washes me white as snow and for the troubles that I don't even know that He has kept me from.  I thank Him for the love that surrounds me in my family and friends and for His word that lives within me.  The list could go on and on and I would never truly be able to thank Him for all that He has blessed me with.

We truly do take so much in this life for granted, it's so important that God doesn't fall into that list too!  We woke up this morning; that alone should be enough to sing His praises and shout thank You the second we open our eyes. 

You're blessed because Jesus loves you!