I Want You To Know

...why I am writing this letter to you:

1) I want you to know what it took me over thirty years to understand: Jesus is Real. He is God in the Flesh. He is the Risen Lord and Messiah. He loves you, and He is right here and now (think about this). He understands what you are going through because He is fully human, and He knows what you are going through because He is fully God. "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." -Colossians 2:9-10 NIV

2) I want you to know that no matter where you are or what you are doing, if you ask Jesus Christ into your life with sincerity of heart He will hear you and change your life through the power of the Holy Spirit. You are never alone. He wants to know you. "Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name, 'Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'" -Jeremiah 33:2-3 NASB

3) I want you to know the "secrets" Jesus revealed for living an holy and abundant life:
a) "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His rightiousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." -Matthew 6:33 KJV,
b) forgive anyone and everyone who has ever hurt you,
c) "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and, d) "Love your neighbor as yourself." -Luke 10:27.

4) I want you to know that there is a difference between right and wrong, that good and evil do exist, and that there is a better way to live that leads to Life.

5) I want you to know that you have a friend and a redeemer in Christ. He will always forgive you if you ask Him, and He will move mountains to prove His love for you. "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." -1 John 2:1 NIV

6) Come what may, I want you to know that Mommy and I will always love you with all our hearts.

7) I want you to know how much love and happiness you have brought into my life, and that you are a wonderful and amazing gift from God.

I love you,

-Daddy

"...my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." -1 Chronicles 28:9 KJV

"As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." -2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NIV

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also." -1 John 4:7-21 NASB

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." -Colossians 3:1-17 NIV