Daily Affirmations - Day 7 - The Father Himself Loves You - He Loved First

Day 7: He Loved First

Loved in God the Father, kept for Jesus Christ

We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19 NKJV).

Father in heaven! You have loved us first, help us never to forget that You are love so that this sure conviction might triumph in our hearts over the seduction of the world, over the inquietude of the soul, over the anxiety for the future, over the fright of the past, over the distress of the moment.

But grant also that this conviction might discipline our soul so that our heart might remain faithful and sincere in the love which we bear to all those whom You have commanded us to love as we love ourselves.

You have loved us first, O God, alas! We speak of it in terms of history as if You have only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing, You have loved us first many times and every day and our whole life through.

When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You—You are the first—You have loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward You in prayer, You are there ahead of me, You have loved me first.

When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul toward You, You are the first and thus forever. And yet we always speak ungratefully as if You have loved us first only once.

~ Søren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments.

The Prayers of Kierkegaard, edited by Perry LeFevre, 1956.

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Children of the heav’nly Father

Safely in His bosom gather;

Nestling bird nor star in heaven

Such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish;

In His holy courts they flourish;

From all evil things He spares them;

In His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever

From the Lord His children sever;

Unto them His grace He showeth,

And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers:

Your Protector never slumbers;

At the will of your Defender

Every foeman must surrender.

Though He giveth or He taketh,

God His children ne’er forsaketh;

His the loving purpose solely

To preserve them pure and holy

~ Karolina W. Sandell-Berg ~ pub. 1858

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