God’s
Everlasting Love
Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore
with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
My Experience, Strength
& Hope
What the world needs now
is love – sweet love. Does anyone remember that old song? It dates me but
that’s ok. What does concern me is the lack of love that Christians have
received from the Father in heaven – God who is love. He has done everything in
His power to prove His love for us. He gave us His Son to save us from
destruction and to provide an abundant life for us while we are on this earth.
He gave us His Son to show us His love in tangible ways. He gave us His Son to
show us how to love others as we receive His love. When we look into the life
of Jesus through the Bible, we are able to physically see what God’s love does
and looks like.
Many today are
struggling with addiction because deep inside their heart and soul, they need
love. When people do not think they are loved, they will turn to something to
try to ease the pain that lurks inside the heart. I remember thinking I was not
loved during the years I was raising my kids. Most of my life I was caught up
in a survival mode and didn’t give the matter much thought. I just tried to get
by the best I could with what I knew. There was so much I did not understand
about God’s love.
When I lived in a
loveless marriage, after having grown up in a loveless home, I began to really
feel the pain of it all. I was never physically addicted to anything during my
years of growing up. But in my thirties, I began to discover the comfort that
food and eating out would bring. It became a pacifier. I needed something to
hold on to. Food to the mouth is like a pacifier. In fact, anything we put in
the mouth is done to feel love. When a child is an infant they get that love
and nurturing at the mother’s breast.
As they are weaned from
her breast and begin to be able to understand a few basic things, they need to
be taught the love of a father. In a healthy family situation, a child will
learn about the Father God’s perfect love through the love of their earthly
father. Again, this is assuming a healthy family situation where the family is
a Christian family and the children are being raised in the word of God. Their
earthly dad has to know God’s love in order to display it to his children.
Many people grow up
without that ideal situation of love in their homes. Hence, we have a world
filled with addicts. They are looking for love and acceptance. They are looking
for something to numb the pain in their hearts. When we look at a person who is
overweight, like I once was, the first thing I think of is that they must be
hurting on the inside. For some reason they are out of control and they eat to
comfort themselves. Drinkers and druggers do the same thing. I have been
through that also. Even those addicted to pornography, sex, shopping or gambling,
etc. are looking for something to divert their attention from the thing that
really is bothering them.
At the root of it all
lies fear. Those fears come in many shapes and sizes. It is the fear that if
they stripped away the pacifier, they would be sitting there alone; naked and
hungry. But let’s think about the Bible that the Lord has written specifically
to speak to us while we dwell on the earth.
It is full of perfect
love from the beginning to the end. He has shown us over and over again that He
loves us by the actions He has taken. With God, His love is not mere empty
words. He backs up every promise of His with an action. Jesus came and
displayed it for all to see.
If a person is born
again and still battling with addiction, they need to understand God’s perfect
love. He has shown it, said it and demonstrated it over and over again. So if a
person who is saved still thinks they are not loved, in reality they are
calling God a liar. It is to say, “God, I do not really believe You love me. I
am just not sure. I need more proof.”
For that person, there
is a serious problem. We cannot look at His perfect love demonstrated in His
Son Jesus and ever wonder if He loves us. That is to make Him out to be a liar.
God is not a man that He can lie. If we had the faith to believe what He did
for us through Jesus to save us from going to eternal separation from Him, then
how can we not believe the love that these actions encompass? It makes no
sense. We can’t have one without the other. Love and action go together – and
God is love.
One of the things I have
come to learn about love more than ever in my life recently is that love has
nothing to do with feelings or emotions. It is “more than a feeling.” Love is
an action. True love is demonstrated by what someone does to or for someone
else. Gooey feelings in the pit of our stomachs when we are attracted to
someone are not feelings of love. They are emotional responses to the situation
or person we are dealing with. So if we carve out the human, ever fluctuating,
often unstable feelings and emotions, and plug in the truth of what God has
said and done, we can walk in absolute faith that God really does love us.
I think one of the
hurdles I had to jump over was feeling like God didn’t love me and was not
pleased with me when I messed up and sinned. Since then I have come to learn
that He always loves me and it has nothing to do with what I do or don’t do.
Does He approve of my sin? Of course not. But He still loves me. Think of a
loving parent (whether you have had one or not) and how much they (should) love
their kids. When the child blows it and does something wrong, does the parent
stop loving and caring for that child? No way! I have children and I can
honestly say that nothing they ever do or say will stop me from loving them –
nothing!
Well, if a human can
love a child like that, how much more does our Father in heaven who is perfect
love us? When we sin, His goal is to restore us and cleanse us from the
propensity to sin. He wants to bring us up to the best place - in the peace and
assurance of His love. He is good all the time, and His love never fails. If
you have thought for one minute that He does not love you – think again!
Meditate on the verses included in this lesson. Read and re-read the Father’s
love letter. Absorb the truth in your spirit.
We have looked at just a
few verses that show the love of God - how it comes and what it does. God is love. He is nothing but love.
Now our part is to receive that love. If you have had trouble with that, why
not go to Him in prayer right now and ask Him to forgive you for not believing
in His love for you. Ask Him anything you need to ask Him but take a moment to
thank Him for loving you so much. Keep walking in that knowledge and it will
bring you up to new levels of faith in your life.
Speak and think about
the words of God intently. Think of it like kneading some bread dough. Work it,
press it in, turn it over and keep pressing on it until it is thoroughly mixed
into your spirit and soul. Say it all the time. “God loves me. He is for me. He
will never leave me or forsake me. God is always on my side. God’s love will
never fail for me.”
That is how you can make
the promises in His word produce a harvest of this truth in your life. It will
bring you into the full assurance that He really does love you my friend.
Scriptures from This Message…
The word “love” is a
description of several actions. Think of it as a container filled with things
to do. In this container called love, we can look at the descriptions below. When
you see the word love, let’s replace it with God’s name – because God IS love.
Example, God suffers long, etc. Say it out loud.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NIV)
·
Love (God) is patient
·
(God) is kind
·
(God) love does not envy
·
(God) love does not boast
·
(God) is not proud
·
(God) does not dishonor others
·
(God) is not self-seeking
·
(God) is not easily angered
·
(God) keeps no record of wrongs
·
(God) does not does not delight in evil
·
(God) rejoices with the truth
·
(God) always protects
·
(God) always trusts
·
(God) always hopes
·
(God) always perseveres
·
(God) Love never fails
Ephesians 2:4-7
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages
to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus.
1 John 4:8
He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love.
Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are
killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I
am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:14-19 (NKJV)
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant
you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and
depth and height— to know the love of Christ which
passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Next, we are going to read the “Father’s Love Letter”
You
may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1 I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2 I am familiar with all your
ways. Psalm 139:3 Even the very
hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew
10:29-31 For you were made in my image. Genesis 1:27 In me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28 For you are my offspring. Acts 17:28 I knew you even before you
were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5 I
chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians
1:11-12 You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. Psalm 139:15-16 I determined the exact
time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26 You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 I knit you together in
your mother's womb. Psalm 139:13 And
brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6 I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. John 8:41-44 I am not distant and
angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16 And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. 1 John 3:1 Simply because you are my
child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11 For I am the perfect father. Matthew 5:48 Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. James 1:17 For I am your provider and I
meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 Because I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 My thoughts toward you
are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalm
139:17-18 And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40 For you are my treasured
possession. Exodus 19:5 I desire to
establish you with all my heart and all my soul. Jeremiah 32:41 And I want to show you great and marvelous things. Jeremiah 33:3 If you seek me with all
your heart, you will find me. Deuteronomy
4:29 Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 For it is I who gave you
those desires. Philippians 2:13 I am
able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. Ephesians 3:20 For I am your greatest encourager. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 I am also the
Father who comforts you in all your troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. Psalm 34:18 As a shepherd carries a
lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. Isaiah 40:11 One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Revelation 21:3-4 And I'll take away
all the pain you have suffered on this earth. Revelation 21:3-4 I am your Father, and I love you even as I love
my son, Jesus. John 17:23 For in
Jesus, my love for you is revealed. John
17:26 He is the exact representation of my being. Hebrews 1:3 He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against
you. Romans 8:31 And to tell you
that I am not counting your sins. 2
Corinthians 5:18-19 Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 His death was the
ultimate expression of my love for you. 1 John
4:10 I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. Romans 8:31-32 If you receive the gift
of my son Jesus, you receive me. 1 John
2:23 And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. Romans 8:38-39 Come home and I'll throw
the biggest party heaven has ever seen. Luke
15:7 I have always been Father, and will always be Father. Ephesians 3:14-15 My question is… Will
you be my child? John 1:12-13 I am
waiting for you. Luke 15:11-32
Love,
Your Dad – Almighty
God Your Abba Father
Father's Love
Letter used by permission Father Heart Communications ©1999
FathersLoveLetter.com
Absorbing God’s Love – Making It Real for You:
·
Whether you had good
parents or not, have you realized truly in your heart that the Father God’s
love for you is and always has been perfect?
·
Do you know that He
never wanted you to be hurt?
·
Do you know that hurting
people hurt people? If your parents hurt you and did not show you love, it is
because the same thing happened to them – probably more than you know.
·
Will you meditate on the
love God has proven for you shown in His word through this teaching?
·
Will you make it a point
to remember and believe that He loves you just like you believed in Jesus as
your Savior? It is all by faith – not by sight or feelings.
·
Take some time this week
to really mediate on these verses. Allow them to be absorbed into your spirit
man (the heart) and renew your mind with the truth of God’s perfect love for
you (the soul man).
**If you would like to join our weekly call, please send an email to the following:
The3rdJohn2Program@yahoo.com
Be blessed!
Hanny
Hanny
No comments:
Post a Comment