Just Tell Them that I Love Them by Millie Stephens

Just Tell Them that I Love Them
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2020 Millie Stephens
v3.0

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This book is dedicated to my mom,
Lillian (Tiny) Bland,

who demonstrated the love of God
through her lifelong instruction and actions.

Her love was about as perfect
as love could be on this earth.



Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................i
Just Tell Them That I Love Them ....................................iii
Prologue ...........................................................................vii

Love Letters from Above
For the Lord Takes Pleasure in His People
(Psalm 149:4 – NIV).......................................................... 2
I Love You Through Others............................................... 4
The Lord My Strength (Psalm 144:1-2 – NIV) ................ 5
It’s Allowed ........................................................................ 6
Perfect Love Casts Out Fear (1 John 4:18-19 – NIV) ....... 8
I Am God (Psalm 4:6 – NIV) .......................................... 10
If You Call (Psalm 145 – KJV)......................................... 11
I Can’t Stop Loving You ( John 13:27-38 – NIV) ............ 14
Those Who Are Strong.................................................... 18
God Is Love ( John 4:9-10 – NIV)................................... 19
How to Receive My Love................................................. 22
David Knew My Love (Psalm 6 – NIV) .......................... 24
My Assurances (Psalm 17 – KJV) .................................... 26
If You Knew Me ............................................................... 29

Tough…But Still Love
Regardless (Hosea 11:1-5 – NIV)................................. 32
Don’t Be Offended ........................................................ 34
My Perfect Love............................................................ 37
God Chastens Those He Loves
(Hebrews 12:7-11 – NIV)............................................. 38
Warnings…Blessings
(Deuteronomy 27:15-26 – NIV)................................... 40
The Rod and the Love (Proverb 13:24 – NIV)............. 44

Believe…Know…Receive
For God So Loved the World ( John 3:16 – NIV) ........ 48
You Are Worthy (Ephesians 3:16-19 – NIV) ............... 50
I Have Loved Thee with an Everlasting Love
( Jeremiah 31:3 – NIV).................................................. 52
Love Is as Strong as Death (Song of Solomon
8:6-7 – NIV) ................................................................. 54
In the Beginning (Genesis 1:1 – NIV).......................... 55
He Laid Down His Life for Us (1 John 3:16 – NIV)......56
Who Can Separate Us (Romans 8:35-39 – NIV)......... 58
Beheld and Loved (Mark 10:21 – NIV) ....................... 60
He Cares…He Knows (Luke 12:7 – NIV) ................... 61
The Prodigal God (Luke 15:20 – NIV) ........................ 62
Jesus Laid Down His Life ( John 13:27-38 – NIV) ...... 63
Free to Love ( John 1:3-5 – NIV).................................. 66

Amazon Mother…They Called Her Tiny
(Exodus 20:20 – NIV)................................................... 68
I Love the Sparrow…But I Love You More
(Matthew 10:29-31 – NIV) .......................................... 70
A Touch for the Untouchable (Luke 5:12 – NIV) ........ 72
Help Me (Genesis 19:24 – NIV) .................................. 74
Sing It, Stevie ................................................................ 75
No Conflict (Revelation 2:6 – NIV) ............................. 76
He’s Here (Psalms 139:1-24 – NIV)............................. 77
It Is There (Psalm 36:7-12 – NIV) ............................... 80
Cause Me to Hear Your Lovingkindness in the
Morning (Psalm 143:8 – NIV) ..................................... 82
I Love You, Lord (Psalm 11 – NIV) ............................. 84
Like Lois Lane and Superman ...................................... 86
Your Gentleness Has Made Me Great
(Psalm 18:35 – NIV)..................................................... 88



Introduction

I n 2006, while attending a course at the Lutheran
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, the professor
required each student to open class with some form of de-
votion to welcome the spirit of God into the session. At
the time, I was barely comfortable saying a public prayer,
let alone conducting an inspirational opening to a group
of seminary students. I admit this assignment initially felt
like it needed to be a religious production, complete with
music, instruments, and an “Amen” section culminating in
the “Hallelujah Chorus.” I was slightly petrified. Having a
few weeks before it was my turn, I sent up a quick prayer
asking God what I should do. In my spirit, I heard Him
say, “Just Tell Them that I Love Them.” I immediately be-
gan to write. It just flowed…clearly a message that was not
my own.

After reading it to the class on my assigned evening,
the professor and the class were moved enough to ask for a
copy, which I gladly provided. At the end of the course, the
writing was filed away with other seminary papers. Years
later, I stumbled across it and realized that this inspired
message was meant to be shared. I printed the message
on linen paper of various sizes, framed them, and gave
them out at my church’s Christmas Bazaar. I, again, filed
the writing away, only to find it a few years later, being
reminded that it was meant to be shared. Subsequently, the
writing was given as a gift to anyone I thought needed to
receive a message about God’s love.

.i,

ii , Just Tell Them That I Love Them

Like many, a key life question for me, whether spo-
ken or merely thought, is “What is my life’s purpose”? The
consistent response that I hear in my spirit is “Just Tell
Them that I Love Them.”

What follows this introduction is the original inspired
writing, Just Tell Them that I Love Them. This message and
the collection of reflections contained in this book are
meant to remind you of God’s love and how different it
is from human love. If you doubt that God loves you, this
book is meant to comfort and assure you that He does. If
you’ve never believed that God loves you, the hope is that
you accept this simple, yet powerful truth.

Just Tell Them That I Love Them

You have read in Scripture that my love is as great as
the heavens are high from the earth
And this is true

You have been told by your mother, your father, your
pastor that my love is deeper than the love received
from your most cherished family member or friend
And yes, this is true. You have been told through your
traditional teaching that my love is unfailing and

unconditional
And this is so
But, I made you
And I know that you need to hear these words

sometimes
I Love You!
I want you to seal it in the innermost recesses of your
heart that as my children, you can do no wrong that
will lessen my love for you
Do not confuse trial, conviction or even punishment
as diminished love
That’s me loving you even more
I love you because that’s who I am
In all my glory and power, my essence is love
I loved you before you even knew I existed
I loved you through your various stages of faith

. iii ,

iv , Just Tell Them That I Love Them

Yes, even through times when you had little to none
I love you for studying the possibilities of my
existence, for trying to get it right

I loved you enough to send a part of me to you in the
flesh of Jesus

And we loved you enough to send you a unifying,
transforming and sustaining spirit of ourselves, that

which is the Holy Spirit
I loved you enough to give you free will to choose to

love me back
I want you to see that I love you when you take in the
magnificence of this earth, the ocean, the mountains,

the trees, a flower
for there is still much beauty to behold
I want you to know that I love you when you
experience the gift and fellowship of your children,

family, friends, a stranger
I want you to feel that I love you when you need love
the most and receive it from expected and unexpected

sources
You won’t find it stated quite this way in the book

that you call the Bible
However, the sentiment is no less inspired or true

I loved you first
I’ll love you last

Just Tell Them That I Love Them . v

And I’ll love you best!
Be comforted by the truth that I am with you always
Speak for me when you need to hear it, because I am

in you
Whisper, “I love you”

Sing, “I love you”
Shout, “I love you”
It will be your voice that you hear, but me speaking
from inside of you
I made you, and I know you need to hear it from me

sometimes



Prologue

W hy would God, the creator of the universe and all
things within it, care that we know of His love for
us? Why would the mightiest spiritual Being, who knows
everything, everyone, is everywhere, care? Does He not see
how flawed we are? With some of us intentionally so? Does
He not see how deliberate we are in our choice to ignore
His existence or His life instruction? Is there not a divine
withholding of love due to our behaviors…behaviors that,
by any human standard, range from benign to ought-to-
be-struck-in-the-head-with-a-lightning-bolt severe? Who
loves like that? Why love like that?

Humanity was created to be in harmony with God,
to know His character…to know His essence. God’s es-
sence is Love (1 John 4:7-17). He wants us to live by a
standard that promotes harmonious living amongst one
another. This essence does not eliminate the corrective,
even punitive response when He deems it appropriate or
beneficial. Like the best possible parental guardianship, it
is a love that allows us to freely respond with love. It is a
love from which we can reciprocate and allow ourselves to
demonstrate unconditional love to others. It allows us to
live in a place of comfort and peace, with the knowledge,
experience, and covering of the ultimate love. His love is
free…a gift…independent of anything that we’ve done…
unearned. This book is not intended to address our love for
God. Although that is a natural response to knowing that
He loves us.

. vii ,

viii , Just Tell Them That I Love Them

A limited understanding of God may manifest itself
in ambivalence; however, if that were the case for you as a
reader, you probably would have no interest in this book.
Limited understanding may cause one to conclude that He
is only to be feared. Scripture tells us that the fear of the
Lord is the first step of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). One may
be offended by this instruction, as it goes against a primal
human tenet of pride and survival. By human standards,
fear is a weakness. The fear of any earthly individual is not
something we would want to accept or admit. But, the lack
of fear of the Creator, who represents all of the superla-
tives of a loving and just God, would be foolish. We are
not meant to camp on fear alone. Ultimately, there is a re-
sponse of reverence and appreciation that follows once we
understand God’s nature. Fear alone will stifle our progress
in developing a personal relationship with God. You have
to know that He loves you in order to move closer.

God has given us a gift of access to Him through His
Son, Jesus Christ. This gift includes forgiveness of our
sin…past, present, and future. It includes a gift of eternal
life. This promised life can start now, not in heaven or a
delayed paradise, depending of your concept of life after
death. It starts the day you believe that Christ is the Son
of God ( John 3:16). Jesus came so that we would have an
abundant life now…and always. God has offered us ben-
efits that we can have now. Knowing that God loves us,
that He is for us, is a starting point for those who are hesi-
tant to approach because of fear or a misunderstanding of
His nature. You may think that you’re not worthy of di-
vine love. He couldn’t possibly love me after what I’ve done…

Prologue . ix

or in my current state. The Bible tells us that God is not
man that He should lie. His thoughts are not like those of
man (Numbers 23:18-20). He is that forgiving. That’s His
promise. He is that loving. He is love.

I grew up in a family of seven siblings. My mother,
Tiny, was the antithesis of her name. Widowed at the
age of thirty-eight, she was all but tiny in her approach
to raising four girls and four boys in the urban neighbor-
hood of Philadelphia called Strawberry Mansion. She was
amazon-like in her defense and advocacy for her children.
Tiny was just as much of an advocate and defender of oth-
er neighborhood children. Without hesitation, she would
seek out those within City Hall or the Board of Education
for their intercession or support for community initiatives.
This included the provision of summer lunch programs for
the less fortunate, and establishing youth sporting teams
for the idle.

At the age of thirteen, I personally participated in a few
strategic meetings between Mom and the president of the
Philadelphia Board of Education, designed to get me into
the best high school in the city at that time. Her objective
was to avoid the usual containment scheme designed to
manage the movement of junior high school kids to grossly
inadequate neighborhood high schools. Tiny was not try-
ing to hear “no” for an answer. As a result of her efforts,
having the grades and meeting the universal test scoring
requirements, I was able to attend that desired high school.

Mom customized her advocacy for each of her chil-
dren. There was never a question of worthiness or fear that
we were not loved. Her love was as unconditional as one

x , Just Tell Them That I Love Them

could get on this earth. We knew that. We were also not
conflicted in our knowledge that, when appropriate, she
would “put us on punishment”or worse. I won’t define what
“worse” is here, as some may be offended by the corporeal
nature of Tiny’s punishment. I’ll leave the scripture-based,
spare-the-rod-spoil-the-child commentary for another
time. But punishment did not diminish our love for Mom
or cause us to question her love for us.

Many are blessed with unconditional love from par-
ents, family, and friends. It’s a beautiful thing. This love
is comforting, sought after, yearned for...transforming. In
its purest, most dynamic and pervasive form, it is the glue
that binds humanity, whether consciously or unconsciously
displayed. It is the innate necessity that keeps the scales of
humanity tipped toward good rather than evil.

With the pervasiveness of this innate love, and the ease
with which we tend to love personally, this human love is
substantially conditional. It can be flawed. It is finite. The
influence of our experiences and those of others perpetuate
the idea that cautious love protects us. We are tainted with
the belief that no one can love us completely. No one could
love us in spite of our inconsistencies or faults. We allow
the law of cause and effect to govern our relationships. I
love because I am loved. The love of others is diminished
because of who I am or what I’ve done. Thankfully, for
most of us, familial love is about as unconditional as you
get…if you can get it. But there is nothing absolute or per-
manent about human love. There’s no surprise here. Nor is
there real disappointment. We know and accept the range
of love to expect from people. This reality dictates how

Prologue . xi

we relate to one another. Unfortunately, this expectation is
often imposed on God. A common belief is that His love
is like everyone else’s love. Maybe even more conditional,
as He knows us to the core. It may be thought that, at its
best, God’s love is no better than the best unconditional
parental love. How fortunate are we that, unlike man, God
does not judge our worthiness before He loves us? You de-
serve to be loved like He loves us and you need to know
that He does.

This book of scripture-based reflection introduces you
to the ways the Bible tells us that God loves us. This col-
lection also contains personal messages that I believe were
inspired by the Divine. As you read through each literary
offering, the hope is that you listen with your heart. Allow
your spirit to receive the free, healing, and powerful love
of God.

I never doubted Tiny’s love for a second, but she’d be
the first to tell me that she couldn’t love me like God does.