“Don’t ever deny My power to change you. Don’t limit My desire to make you like My Son. Don’t underestimate the working promises that have been given to you at the cross. You see yourself, your sin, and how far you have to go, and you wonder why I would even desire to be with you. I only see you through the blood that was shed for you. You see what you are not. I, however, see what I have promised to make you. You stay away from Me after you have sinned, thinking that I don’t want to be near you because of it. I long for you to be clean. It is in those times that My love flows to you more, knowing your hurt; and I pursue you with zeal to restore Our fellowship.

"Don’t you see? The work that has been done on the cross is spiritual. It is eternal. It is complete. You have been brought next to Me forever. It was all My idea. I knew who you were. I know who you are now. I know who you will be. I brought you to Me when you were filthy in your sin and gave you Myself as your inheritance. Do you think that I would leave you now because of what you have done or may do? Never! I love you. That is My promise, and it lasts forever.”

Hebrews 13:5b AMP

…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

Rom. 2:4b AMP

Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?

Sometimes, when I feel that the Lord doesn’t want to be near me because I have failed Him for the millionth time, I remember the picture of Jesus carrying the little lamb on His shoulders. That lamb looks incredibly content.

Someone once told me that the lamb on the shoulders of the shepherd is probably the most rebellious of all the lambs. It is the one that’s always wandering in harm’s way. It is the one that probably couldn’t follow the others, continually going off on its own, oblivious of the pitfalls and peril that inevitably happen to the stumbling, slick-footed, weak creature.

In real life, I am told that the shepherd - knowing what’s best for the lamb - bruises, or even breaks the hind leg of that lamb so that it can no longer wander from the safety of the others. He then lifts the lamb to his shoulders and carries it until it is totally healed. During the time that the lamb is being carried, it becomes familiar with the shepherd as he feeds it, talks to it, and caresses it. The lamb, in its helplessness, can only receive the shepherd’s love. It is too broken to do anything else.

Once the lamb is healed enough to walk on its own, the shepherd sets it down next to him. The lamb - now familiar with the shepherd and his love - follows close, never wanting to leave his side.

No matter what it takes, Lord, create in me a longing to only want to be by Your side,

Jim Corbett