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Category Archives: Encouragement

God’s Covenant of Love

Over the last few posts, I’ve been talking about God’s love. If we’re to love Him, we must first know His love.

So far, I’ve talked about some general aspects of His love. The Lord blesses us, He sows His Word in us, He disciplines us, and He gives Himself for us.

Today, I want to take it to a higher level. True love desires fellowship and sharing. But there has to be a commitment of sharing.

This is the first time in Scripture that the term, covenant of love, is used. We know that we serve a God of covenant. The fact is that entering into covenant is God’s desire.

The Lord doesn’t just talk about love. He wants a commitment to love. That’s why His faithfulness is emphasized in this verse.

That word, faithful, literally means firmness or certainty, like the arms of a parent holding a helpless infant. His faithfulness is long-lasting. 1000 generations, which equals about 20,000 years. That’s much longer than I need to worry about!

The problem is that in our society, we don’t understand covenant. We do agreements and contracts. These are based upon unfaithfulness and mistrust. If I don’t put it in writing, I have no guarantee you’ll fulfill your part in this.

A covenant, on the other hand, is based upon faithfulness and trust. You don’t enter covenant with someone, unless you know the one you are covenanting with. I have to unconditionally trust the one I’m in covenant with.

Job had it right.

That’s quite a statement of faith. He didn’t have the Bible like we do. Yet this was Job’s way of saying,”I don’t understand what’s happening to me. But, if God himself stood before me right now and took my life, I would die trusting Him.”

I look at that and then I think about how we react to God sometimes.

“God, I tithed this week, where’s the money I asked you for?”

We don’t really seem to understand love based upon covenant.

You have to understand that Jonathan and David were old army buddies. They had fought together. They knew that they had each other’s back. Their covenant formalized that bond. Men don’t think it’s “manly” to admit this bond today.

Historically, covenants were made for different reasons. Sometimes for mutual protection. Sometimes to increase their wealth, families joined in covenant.

But, ours is a covenant of love that we’re talking about. We’ve stuck together through victory and defeat. So, we want to officially declare our commitment to each other’s welfare.

This is the type of covenant that God is speaking about. He wants us to understand His commitment to us. It’s very important that we understand this concept. So, I’ll continue to explain more about it in the next few posts.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
 

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God’s Love and Giving

God’s Love and Giving

I’ve been posting about the love of God. In the last few articles, I talked about the Lord breaking the curse, sowing the Word, and His discipline. Today, I’ll move on to another important aspect of His love.

In God’s love we see the greatest example of giving. It’s not just any giving. He gave His very best. This is one of the most amazing aspects of His love.

But as I said, it should be an example to us.

According to the example of Christ, love knows no limits. There’s no holding back.

The world has no concept of this. Think about it. These days prenuptial agreements are very common. We’re basically agreeing that this is mine and that is yours.

The fact is that real love gives up all – there’s no “my” in true love. It reminds me of the parable of the Prodigal Son in Scripture.

In that story, the younger son took his inheritance early and left home. When he spent it all and became destitute, he returned home. At that point, the father welcomed him with open arms and restored him to his full status as a son.

The older brother wasn’t too pleased with this.

This older brother was upset because he never left the farm. In his mind, he acted like a slave, doing whatever his father asked of him.

Look at the words of the father to this son.

This son had no reason to be upset. He had everything he needed. He could have celebrated with his friends any time he wanted to.

It’s the same with us. Why do you feel so upset when things don’t seem to be going your way? Just remember how much the Lord has already given to you. More than that, there’s so much more that He has ahead of you.

There are some who think that serving God is such a chore. They begrudge doing anything for the Lord. They need to see the love of God in all of its beauty.

We need to meditate on His love as well. The Lord blesses and sows His Word in us. Yes, He disciplines us, but He also gives abundantly to His children.

We need to spend time in the presence of His Holy Spirit so we can walk in this amazing love.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on April 1, 2026 in Encouragement, The Gospel

 

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God’s Love – Sowing and Discipline

God’s Love – Sowing and Discipline

I’ve been posting about the beauty of God’s love for us. Since He loved us first, it’s difficult to love God without this knowledge.

In my last post, I talked about how God’s love overturns the curse into a blessing. Today, I’ll show you more important aspects of His love.

God enjoys being with you. He longs for you to remain in His presence. It should be a place of peaceful safety for us.

The Hebrew word for quiet, in the above verse, is hard to translate. It’s main definition is to plow. Secondarily, it also means to be quiet and meditate.

This tells me that two things happen in His presence. He plows, plants His Word in us, and we meditate. In God’s love we see the sowing of His Word.

The fact is that real love sows into someone else’s life. God is the great Gardener. He plows our hearts with His love. Then we must meditate on what we see in Him.

God’s love is poured out from God into our hearts. He’s sowing this love into us through the Holy Spirit. If we spend time with Him, then we’ll have the resources and ability to sow into the lives of others.

Of course there’s another aspect of God’s love that we may not readily enjoy.

This is probably the aspect we like the least. In God’s love we see discipline. Yes, that word, discipline – we all need it – but we don’t look forward to it.

The word, discipline, means to be trained toward maturity or mastery. According to this passage, it involves two things we find uncomfortable.

First of all it requires rebuke which means we must be told our faults and failures. Secondly, it sometimes involves punishment.

How is this accomplished?

Punishment is a short, temporary discomfort to remind you of the of the consequences of your actions. This verse makes it clear that there’s a present uncomfortable situation and an afterwards restoration.

In the natural, with every child it’s different. With some, if you talk sternly to them they’ll burst into tears. Others, you must take away phone privileges. God deals with us in the same personal way.

If we read the whole section, however, we see that the goal is a harvest of righteousness and peace. That means He wants our health, prosperity, safety, joy, fruitfulness, and fulfillment. It’s a temporary discomfort to aim your life at the goal.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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God’s Love Breaks the Curse

God’s Love Breaks the Curse

For the past couple of posts, I’ve been sharing about the love of God towards us. I want to continue this in today’s installment.

As I said, we’re looking at the love of God. We need to see that love so that we can truly love Him.

This verse shows us an important aspect of His love. This is the fact that God demonstrates His love – He exhibits it. We need to realize that true love can be seen.

It’s a positive participation in someone’s life. Real love is not just on the inside.

This verse is actually a poor translation of what the original Greek text says. John writes that we know by seeing what kind of love God has given us. In other words, God wants us to experience His love.

There’s a reason for this. He wants us to be recognized as His children. Because God’s love can be seen and experienced, we’re to show the family resemblance. How you see the world around you says a lot about how well you’ve experienced God’s love.

For instance, in the Old Testament there was a pagan spiritualist named Balaam who wanted to put a curse on Israel.

Because of God’s love, He turned a curse into a blessing. If we’re in God’s love, then we see blessing instead of cursing.

One of the greatest parts of love is the ability to bless someone. The verse says that God overturned the curse into blessing. Because of His love, God overturns curses.

I don’t have to worry about what someone says about me or my family. There is no curse that can touch us.

Because of God’s love I cannot be cursed unless I embrace it. It’s only if I believe what others say about me that it will affect me. It’s the same when it comes to my own thoughts.

I can’t let the lies of my mind, or the lies of the enemy, affect my future. Christ has redeemed me. He has overturned the curse into a blessing. That’s the only way I should be seeing my life.

Above all else, I need to be meditating on God’s Word. That’s where all of the blessings truly come from.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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God’s Unstoppable Love

God’s Unstoppable Love

In my last post, I started talking about the love of God towards us. It’s amazing and infinite. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we’ll never be able to fathom it. I want to continue with this today.

We’re told something interesting about the love of God in this verse. It says that God directs His love toward us.

That word, direct, means to command. It’s like a general giving orders to those soldiers under him. It literally says that God commands His love to reach us.

I think that there’s something incredible about it. The verse makes it clear that it’s by day that He commands his love.

I think about it this way…I have three daughters. When they were little, I remember seeing them while they were sleeping. The fact is that at night, while a child is sleeping, it’s very easy to look at them with love in your heart.

This verse tells us that He commands His love when we’re awake. It’s during the daytime while we’re doing whatever we happen to be doing.

These are great questions. What can possibly put a space between you and God’s love? Can pressure, hardship, or persecution? Can hunger, danger, nakedness, or the sword? Paul then answers his own questions.

The simple answer is – nothing! There’s no place or no one that God’s love cannot reach. Why? Because God commands it to be that way. The same command that created light, commands love to reach to you. When God commands it, nothing can stop it.

This is a prayer to God. It’s a prayer for power. This power can only come from God. That’s because it takes supernatural power to grasp God’s love.

I cannot understand His love, without His power to do so. I cannot love God without knowing God. (Because God is love) I cannot know God and His love without His power at work in me. He has to reveal His love to me.

This passage tells us why we need power to grasp the His infinite love. It’s because we need to grasp or literally lay hold of this love. With His power we can know this love that’s beyond knowledge.

How can you know something that goes beyond knowledge? How can something infinite fit inside something tiny? Only by the power of God.

We need a revelation of the love of God. The more time with Him – the more we know His love.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Understanding God’s Love

Understanding God’s Love

Now that I’ve finished my study in the epistle of Jude, I’m feeling led to take a small break from the New Testament series. I want to spend some time talking about our relationship with God. Specifically, His love for us, our love for Him, and the levels of our relationship with the Lord.

So let me start by asking; do you love God?

You may respond with; why would you even ask that question? Of course I love God!

The fact is that we need to understand what it truly means to love God. This series of posts will spend a few weeks exploring this subject.

Where do we even start to understand what it means to love God? He’s so vast, so infinite. The Scripture says that it’s not about our love for Him, but His love for us. So, to understand love, I have to understand Him.

That’s the basis, the foundation stone. If I want to know love, I must know God. The world talks about love, but it’s not the real thing they refer to.

We go to a wedding and see a couple who say that they have a love that will last forever. Five years later, they’re in court seeking a divorce.

At one point I heard a celebrity say in an interview, that they had attended a beautiful wedding. The reason was that in the vows, the couple said that they promised faithfulness “…as long as we both shall love.” It’s obvious that the world has no concept of what true love is all about.

That’s why I believe that before we say that we love God, we had better know what love is. So I’m going to start by taking a few posts to look at the love of God. Because God is love.

There are many believers who love to study the names of God given in the Scripture. Here’s an important one we need to know. In this Psalm, David calls the Lord Elohiym-Checed. That name literally means the God who loves me. It’s important to understand that God and His love cannot be separated.

At one point, the Old Testament saint, Nehemiah, prayed the following about Israel:

God is abounding in love. This means that God has an over abundance of love. It’s comforting to know that God has more than enough love for us.

God is love. God is infinite. Therefore, His love is infinite. He will never run out.

Even when we blow it, God is there for us.

This verse clearly says that under no circumstances will God ever reject your intercessions or turn off His love for you. You will never go past the reach of His love.

God’s love is amazing. We will need the help of the Holy Spirit in order to comprehend it.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on March 23, 2026 in Encouragement, The Gospel

 

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Don’t Be Unaware

Don’t Be Unaware

In this post we’ll finish our walk through the book of 1 Peter. In my last post he exhorted us to resist the devil.

We saw that the enemy is out to directly attack your calling in Christ. Peter is probably thinking back to his days with the Lord. Jesus gave him a warning.

Jesus knew that Satan desired to bring Peter (Simon) down. He wanted to put him in a position where his faith would fail. The enemy wanted an easy kill. In Peter’s case it was the accusation of a slave girl.

James tells us that if we resist the devil, he’ll flee (James 4:7). This should be our first response to the enemy.

According to Peter, it’s because we know something valuable. We know that our brothers and sisters in Christ are undergoing the same kinds of attacks.

That literally means that we know by seeing others going through the same stuff as us. Because of their examples of faith under pressure, we can follow in their footsteps. Along with that, we know where this road of faith is leading.

Praise the Lord, we serve the God of all grace! He has called us to eternal, unending glory. Yes, there may be a little suffering now. But soon we will be restored and strengthened. He will plant us firmly in our calling.

At one point in his ministry, the Apostle Paul pleaded this the Lord to remove the attacks of the enemy. He got this response from God.

The God of all grace was working in and through him. Yes, we have an enemy, but we also have a mission to complete, examples to follow, and a great God at work with us. Don’t become a casualty. Be a mighty, victorious warrior in these last days.

Peter ends his letter with some final greetings.

© 2026 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July

Fourth of July

I’m going to take a break from my 1 Peter series. Today, in the USA, is Independence Day – the day we declared ourselves an independent nation.

I love the Fourth of July. It’s one of my favorite holidays. Picnics with family, outdoor fun, not to mention fireworks at night. Even more than that, I thank God for a nation where I’m granted the freedom to do all these things without fear.

We’re called to be free. Freedom is something that God wants for all humanity. Unfortunately, what most people consider freedom isn’t the real thing.

Society thinks that freedom is the ability to do what I want, whenever I want. Their opinion is that freedom means that I can feel good all of the time.

That’s a very selfish definition. Freedom is not all about me.  Our founding fathers gave selflessly in the cause of freedom. It was definitely not about their personal good, but for the betterment of everyone that drove them to resist the most powerful nation on earth at that time. Many lost their lives to win this precious gift for us.

There are still those in the armed forces and public safety positions that lay their lives on the line each day so that we can continue to live free. Freedom is more of a responsibility than a pleasure. I have to put as much into it as I receive from it.

That’s what Paul was trying to tell us in the verse above. Freedom is not all about indulging my every desire, but the ability to serve one another unhindered. We need to listen to his exhortation. As believers, we’ve not only been blessed with our spiritual freedom in Christ, but our physical freedom in the USA.

Let’s live out that freedom responsibly. Not in the granting of our every desire, but in seeking the blessing of all through a life of service.

Live free. Be a blessing to all those around you. And thank God for the freedom we share.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 4, 2025 in Encouragement

 

Once For All Victory

Once For All Victory

We’re continuing our study through 1 Peter. The apostle has been talking about suffering because you’re living righteously. He gives us the conclusion.

Now he goes on to give us the example of Christ.

I love that phrase, “once for all.” Let me explain. I live in the Boston area. I have to admit that I was excited when the New England Patriots won the Superbowl year after year. That probably doesn’t sound very spiritual.

Actually, there’s a truth here that we need to understand. It hurts me to tell you this, but once the Superbowl is over, every team is tied for last place.

When you look at the world of sports, the game gets reset every year. What you did last season doesn’t mean anything during the next season.

From this point on it’s all about winning next year. In our society, championships are a temporary thing. You can be a world champion today and scraping the bottom the next season.

I’m glad Jesus wasn’t this kind of champion. The victory that He won was once and for all. There will be no rematch, no do overs, and no replays. It is finished.

Under the Old Covenant it was much different. The death of a bull or goat today had no power to help you a year later. The sacrifices had to be repeated over and over again.

The work that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross will never lose its effectiveness. It will never fade or wear out. The Lord is eternally victorious.

But there’s more to the story. Christ has passed this victory on to all who will trust in Him.

As I said before – I’m glad for the Patriots past victories. The problem is that their victory didn’t do anything for me. After the Superbowl, my health, finances, and attitudes were the same as they were before. They got the glory, and I got to watch.

Christ, on the other hand, allowed me to share in His victory. Even though there was nothing I could to do to help, I benefit from all that He did. All I had to do was to trust in Him as my Lord and Savior.

In one decisive act, Jesus Christ accomplished freedom, salvation, healing, and restoration for all. We just need to get in on it by faith in Him.

Spend some time with the Lord today. Let His victory spill over into your life. Don’t walk around as if you’re defeated, hoping to win the next round. You can walk in his freedom right now.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Born Into a Living Hope

Born Into a Living Hope

In my last few posts, I talked about Peter’s introduction to his first letter. He started by telling us as leaders, who we are in the world. We’re strangers, scattered, and chosen. Now he begins his message to us.

He starts by offering up praise to the Lord. The reason he gives is because we’ve been given birth into a living hope. That’s an incredible gift.

It’s clear to see that this living hope is given through the resurrection. Our hope could never be alive if not for the resurrection. If God could raise Christ, then I can be raised as well.

Peter also declares to us that the living hope we receive is birthed in God’s mercy. But we need to really understand this.

The problem I find is that many believers have no concept of what God’s mercy is. In our society we think of it as a “free pass” for something wrong that we’ve done. God can’t operate like that.

Every sin has to be paid for. That’s why Jesus had to go to the cross. Every sin, no matter how small it seemed, had to be laid upon Him.

Mercy is a whole different matter. If you do a word study of how mercy is used in Scripture, you’ll find a rich truth.

In actuality, mercy is the favor God shows to His obedient children. I’ve taught on this in the past. For the detailed teaching on the mercy of God, click here.

This truth was brought out in the book of Hebrews.

If I’ve been disobeying the Lord, then I definitely don’t have confidence in approaching His throne. But as I obey Him, He births in me a living hope. It will never die and never go stale. According to the Old Testament, His mercies are new every morning. This is something that helped the apostle Paul face his many trials.

In Christ we have a hope that’s birthed, brand new, each day. Why does God have to give us fresh hope each day? It’s important because…

This verse literally says that old hope wears out your heart. So God keeps His hope alive and fresh each day if you’re walking obediently before Him.

That’s good news. Not only did Jesus take my sin with Him to the cross, but He rose from the dead as well. That proves that He has the power to accomplish His will in my life. This should inspire a fresh hope in us each day, as we spend time in His presence – before His throne.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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