The Wonder of His Love
Many believers don’t understand how much the heart of the Lord is delighted with them.
They have a mental understanding of “Yes, Jesus loves me,” but parts of their heart don’t really believe it. Instead, they believe that being in a relationship with God means being a “good person” and obeying all the rules.
“I need to be on my best behavior so I don’t get in trouble.”
“I need to do all the right things so God will be happy with me.”
“It’s bad to be upset or angry, because those are ‘negative’ emotions. I need to stuff them down and pretend that everything is okay.”
“God will love me more when I’m better.”
Does YOUR heart understand that you are the treasure of the Lord?
Is the inside of you fully convinced that you matter to Him because He loves you—not because you perform well for Him or have somehow “earned” His affection?
Those can be very good questions to consider during the Christmas season, as we celebrate Him and who He is.
God’s Love in Written Form
The Bible is filled with verses that talk about the love of God, but we don’t always “notice” them when we are convinced that He cares about our performance more than our heart.
In his book Growing in Love, Rick Sizemore writes that the Bible is God’s love letter to us.
The written Word of God is the surest way to discover His love. So we can’t allow His Word to become some stale, intellectual, theological resource—it is so much more than that. It was written with the purpose of expressing His massive love for us.
When you read God’s Word, do you start to sense His love for you? Does it become easier for you to connect with His heart and who He says He is?
If reading the Bible makes you feel ashamed or like a failure, it could be that your heart doesn’t really understand how much the Creator of the universe loves you. The Bible is not a rulebook. It is a love book.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal His love to you and to speak to you as you read His Word.
A Christmas Prayer
This Christmas season, let’s take the time to really get to know the love of God!
Let’s think about His love with faith—like it is absolutely, completely true and real for us, even if we don’t feel it or if we believe we are unworthy. Let’s spend time with the wonder of the love of God.
May Psalm 17:7 be a part of our heart song this Christmas:
Show me the wonders of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes. (NIV)
You are dearly loved, child of God. That will always be true, and there will never be any legitimate reason to doubt it.
Please join us for prayer every first Monday of the month! Our next online prayer meeting is December 4 at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.
We are praying for marriages because we are fully convinced that godly marriages change society and the world.