Live Free with Josh Howerton - You Are The Apple of God's Eye | Ep. 94 | Thursday June 15, 2023

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

How do we combat feelings of loneliness in our lives? In today’s episode, Pastor Mike provides a word of encouragement on how to combat loneliness: Whenever we feel disconnected, remember we are the apple of God's eye. Our true identity is found in God. Seek Him to be firmly rooted in that truth. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Hope you having a great day. Hope you have a great summer.

Shout out to all you graduates, especially my granddaughter, Bryce, who graduates this week. Yep, I got a granddaughter that old. And we also have a one-year-old, and everybody in between. Man, we're having a fun life with those 10 grandkids of ours. And we're just spending a few minutes every day talking about who we are. And we're trying to allow God's truth to expose some of the lies that the original identity thief uses to hack into our hearts. And we're talking this week about how our identity can get robbed by relationships. We are all imperfect people, and as good as relationships can be, we are not capable of giving each other what we're really after.

In fact, to expect another imperfect person to, quote-unquote, complete you is setting the bar way too high. We just can't pull that off. Remember what Solomon said. What a man, what a woman desires, is an unfailing love. So I look through the Bible and I found that little phrase, unfailing love, appears over 40 times in scripture. And every time it is used, it is used in connection with the only one who can actually give it. Let me just read four or five of them to you. Psalm 32, verse 10.

Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord. Psalm 33, verse 5. The Lord loves righteousness and justice and the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 36, verse 7, how priceless is your unfailing love, both high and low among men and women find refuge in the shadow of your wings? Psalm 130, verse 7, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is unfailing love and an overflowing supply of salvation. Psalm 17, verse 7 and 8, show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways. You save me with your strength, those who seek refuge from their enemies. guard me as the apple of your eye.

Do you know that? Do you know that we were the apple of God's eye? Hide me in the shadow of your wings. In other words, wrap your strong loving arms around me. Gang, we all long to be loved with a love like that. We all long to be the apple of somebody's eye. We all long for an unfailing love. That is a constant love that will not disappoint, one that is compassionate, one that is

dependable, one that is unconditional, one that is perfect. And I know some of you're saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you, bro, talking all about this Jesus thing and all that. But, man, I need somebody. I need somebody in my life. You don't know how lonely I am since my spouse walked out since he or she broke up with me. Listen to what God says to you that are lonely and feeling like something's been ripped from your life. This is God speaking to you. Isaiah 54, do not be afraid.

You will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace. You will not be humiliated for your maker. is your husband. The Lord Almighty is his name. Some of you're saying, yeah, listen, man, but you're not in a family like mine. My parents don't give a rip about me. In fact, they even said before they wish that I'd never showed up. Or I have some pretty deep father wounds. I've got some mother wounds. Or maybe things just blew up at home and you don't see eye to eye anymore. There's constant tension and a pretty stressful split going on. Or perhaps you live alone in a city or on a college campus or

a lonely apartment, any sense of family feels really, really distant to you, or maybe you've been separated from your extended family for a long, long time? If that's true, here's a word for you. This is, in fact, my wife's favorite verse, Psalm 68, verse 5 and 6, a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in this holy dwelling. God sets, I love this, God sets the lonely in families. Nevea was baptized in our pool a while back. A group of ladies surrounded her. They were her mentors, my wife being one of them.

She was in a home for girls that have experienced being trafficked. And these women adopted her into their family, and they coached her and loved her and spent time with her. And as I watched that girl go down into the water of our backyard pool, and I listened to all the cheers. And I saw all their tears. I thought it's true. God sets the lonely in families. He does. He sets the captives free because, gang, that's what unfailing love does. And he's the only place you can get it. And he is where you find your true identity. See you next time. Hope you have a great day.

Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.

combe.combe slash daily drive.