God Loves YOU!

God Loves YOU!

               I’m glad you took a second, with all that is going on in the world to pause here with me today. Do you know God loves you? Like a depths-which-cannot-be-understood kind of love for you. If you are blessed enough to become a parent, godparent, aunt, uncle, you will be able to understand a portion of it, but it goes much further than that. Today I want to talk about His love for you, His love for us, His love for each person walking this planet – friend or foe. So grab a bible or pull it up on your device and lets expose some truths we can take to heart today. I’ll be using the NIV.

               1 John 4:7-8 says “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” We all have the capacity to love, God is love, therefore God resides in each of us and we should tap into that with our interactions with others so that we can love them as Christ first loved us. We can easily read John 3:16 and be dismissive. God loved the world, that doesn’t necessarily mean me. 1 John 4:9-11 takes it a step further, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Here it clearly states not only the depth of His love for us (who would you be willing to sacrifice your child for?), but it also reiterates the importance of loving one another. Romans 8:37 – 39 puts it this way “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, either the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” To make a defining statement like that in the face of all the author had lived is such a powerful statement. We are conquerors through Christ and we should walk forward each day in the love and light that He gives us. So maybe you are thinking “ok, great you threw some words that regular people spoke…but what about God directly saying it?” Isaiah 54:10 says it so beautifully “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you”. This is a promise straight from God that no matter how bad it gets that He will be with you, He will love you, and He will give you peace. Those shaking mountains are the obstacles you will face and the hills being removed are the times you will turn your back on Him. We all face those decisions and sometimes choose the wrong path but He will love you through it all! We know when you turn back around, choose God, He rejoices! “The Lord your God is with you, the Might Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17. Are you beginning to understand some of His love for you? Not only for you but your family too! “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9. What a beautiful promise to us, for us, for our children, and generations to come. No human love can have that much impact over that many generations. We must know the love of our Father, grow it in our hearts and sow that love back into the world to grow in our neighbors.

               I pray today that this message opened your eyes a little, opened your mind just a bit to the love that Jesus has for you. The depth and height of it, the endless bounds, the redeeming qualities that His love has. Take a chance, take a few minutes of your day inviting God into your heart and life. See all the great things He will do for you!! Can’t wait to talk to you next month!

*P.S. I recommend Good And Loved by Travis Greene featuring Steffany Gretzinger