Paul described God’s love. Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, no angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”

John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” The evidence of our love for Him is that His word is active in our hearts, and lived out through our lives.

Read these words out loud, but listen as though the Lord is speaking to you. Song of Solomon 5:1 in the Amplified says, “…Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love, O precious one (for now I know you are mine, irrevocably mine!…”

Now I encourage you to read Psalm 139:17. It says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”

John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world…” 1 John 4:10 says, “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.” Jesus bore the wrath of His Father for us. Through His mercy we can have a personal relationship, because our sins are covered in Jesus’ shed blood. Ephesians 1:7.

Let’s look at Jesus’ priestly prayer. John 17:24 says, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Verse 26 says, “And I have declared them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”  John 15:9 says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.” He gave it ~ we receive it.

Psalm 102:25 says, “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.” 

Everyone is created in the image of our Creator God for relationship. Acts 17:24 says, “God, who made the world and everything in it…” Verse 26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their reappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”

Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says the He had put eternity into every heart. We will all live forever…some in everlasting torment, but those who accepted Jesus as their Savior will live forever in His Presence.

Revelation 13:8 was written about the beast. It says, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” You can read the things He created for five days through verse 23. On the sixth day verse 26 says, “Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…”

Genesis 2:7 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” In verses 21-22 He created a woman from one of Adam’s ribs.

Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Ephesians 1:4 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

I was facing a long overdue colonoscopy. Since I don’t tolerate chemicals well, I opted to not do the sedation. The Lord gave me these two verses. I quoted them over and over days before. I made them like wallpaper on my heart.

Psalm 119:116-117 says, “Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually..” 

The attending doctor could not understand why anyone would not want to have sedation. I told her that I had a personal relationship with Jesus. He would help me. He did! I kept the verses in my thoughts the whole time. 

Anchor verses secure us when all is shaking around us. They ensure our hearts that He is Faithful to carry out His word. Titus 1:2 states, “In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.”

I love Psalm 119:89. It says, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” Our Creator is the Eternal Word.

As we go through our trials, the Lord is working to deepen our hope of eternal life. Romans 5:3-4 is the progression. It says, “…knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” Romans 5:5 says of our anchor-hope, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

I love the words to the hymn “When We See Christ.” Think of the moment we meet the Lord face to face. “…all sorrow will erase…so bravely run the race til we see Christ.” We are in a race.

We need anchor verses that will hold us firm through our trials, hardships, disappointments, etc. A good one to have when we face what seems to be insurmountable is Luke 1:37. It says, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Our intimate communion with the Lord anchors our hearts.

The children of Israel crossed over the Jordan on dry ground. Afterwards Joshua instructed them to build a memorial. 12 men each carried a stone from the midst of the Jordan. Joshua 4:2 says, “…where the priests’ feet stood firm…” 

They carried them on their shoulders ~ large stones! They were set up where they lodged that night. Verse 6 says, “That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you?”

Do you have ‘memorial stones’ in your life as a testimony of how the Lord delivered you? There is a great book. “Signs Of God Along The Way – Walking His Trail” by Steve and Ginny Saint. 17 stories from their memorial stones.

After my 2017 brain injury I couldn’t see clearly to read. I made memorial stones that I called my warfare art. I wrote a verse or phrases from verses that had sustaining meaning with a drawing in water color. 11 of them are in my memorial stone book: “He Drew Me Out Of Deep Waters: encouragement for hard trials.”

I was recounting when the children of Israel were at the Red Sea. Marveling before the Lord about His miraculous intervention. Exodus 14:21 says, ‘Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.” Underline dry land in your mind.

As the children of Israel walked across, verse 22 says, “…the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Can you picture it? Exodus 15:11 says, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”

Later they came to Jordan. Joshua 3:13 says, “…as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests…shall rest in the waters of the Jordan…the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off…they shall stand as a heap.” Note: verse 15 says that the banks overflowed. Verse 17 says that the priests, “…stood firm on dry ground…”

With ‘glory in tribulations’ still in my mind, I came to Psalm 119 in my daily reading. The writer of that psalm highlighted the rewards of afflictions or trials. Verses 49-50 say, “Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.” 

Verse 67 says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” Verse 71 says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I may learn Your statutes.” Verse 75 says, “I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”:

Verse 92 says, “Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.” Verse 107 says, “I am afflicted very much; revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.” Verse 143 says, “Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my delights.” 

Verse 153 says, “Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget Your law.” Note how God’s integrated word undergirds.

I have been thinking about what it means to glory in our tribulations. How do you picture it in your own life?. Have you really boasted about the trial you are in? To glory in our trials is to express our settled confidence ~ that inner unshakeable knowing in the Lord’s ability to fulfill His purpose in us through them.

Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of Hebrews 10:36. It says, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Jesus set the example. He endured the cross for us, fulfilling the will of His Father.

It is God’s will that we endure our trials. Paul did it by boasting, so that he lived in the power of Christ’s resurrection. 2 Corinthians 12:10 says, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Our trials are designed by the only One who knows what we need, in order to be conformed to His image.