feast...

I read a devotion today that has me picturing the emotional state of far too many of us.  I began seeing humanity flooding the street corners of life, downtrodden and filthy, holding up tattered bits of cardboard that read, "will_________ for love."  The blanks are filled with verbs as diverse as the faces that hold them, expressing the desperate lengths that this love-starved population will go to for this precious and crucial commodity. 

I myself have panhandled for love.  I have crouched in gutters and approached perfect strangers hoping for crumbs of approval and acceptance, when just beyond my blurred sight, a banquet had been prepared for me. Perhaps you can relate. 

"Like beggars we go from person to person with our empty cup crying, 'can't you add anything to my life?' They might throw in a coin or two. But when we shake the cup, the tinny echo reminds us how empty we remain." (Beth Moore)
 
Today, we have this promise-- God is Love.  His love fills.  His love satisfies.  His love is freely given and ours for the taking- not as pathetic, scrounging paupers, but as His beloved sons and daughters who are invited to come boldly before Him and receive!

Hear His invitation, "Come to My banqueting table. My banner over you is love, see it waving wildly overhead?  It's there to cover you, to protect you, to provide and satisy you.  While here, get a good taste of who I am--have your fill!  See??? I AM GOOD.  My love never fails, never leaves, never disappoints, never ceases for you.  You are My Beloved.  That is your new name, your identity.  You are My Beloved, and I Am yours.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, can separate you from My love, so rest in that and allow Me to teach you to trust in that.  Turn from your former vagabond ways and let Me be your shelter."

Feast on Him today and find your fullness in Him. Raise your cup up to be filled with Living Water and thirst no more.  Raise your cup to be filled, and then turn to the needy and love-starved right next to you and invite them to do the same--rest assure there is plenty for everyone.  He is the Love that never runs dry!

"Until we allow Jesus to fill our cups daily, we simply subsist. Sooner or later, God will make sure we confront the poverty of living on the alms of others so that we may learn to feast on Him." (Beth Moore)

Let's toss the signs aside and feast friends...

^"He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love for love waved as a protecting and comforting banner over my head when I was near Him." (Song of Solomon 2:4 AMP)

"What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are." (1 John 3:1 MSG)

^" For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ( Romans 8:38-39 NIV)