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The Love of God.....a few questions


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#1 Kevin Blankenship

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Posted 27 October 2014 - 09:37 AM

I hear and have heard many Christian talking about when they had a Divine revelation of the Love of God. I need that revelation.  It is not good enough that I simply say to myself: "God loves me."   A bit later in the day, I will have doubts that God loves me.  It seems to come in spurts. For instance...this morning, I have a strong sense of the nearness and love of God.  But I have had these times before. I LOVE this feeling of being loved. Especially by the ONE who created everything!!!

   But I cannot say that I have ever had a divine revelation of God's love for me. Yet I have heard so many Christian teachers state that this experience MUST be had. That we cannot merely manufacture feelings of love for God.

   Does anyone have a good testimony about how God's Love became a living, vital, reality in your life?? I would surely appreciate reading what you have to say.



#2 Julie Daube

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Posted 27 October 2014 - 02:41 PM

Kevin, thanks for introducing such a vital topic for the Body of Christ. I am becoming more and more convinced that the most important aspect of my Christian walk is knowing how much God loves me in Christ Jesus. For me, too, it wouldn't be enough to simply say, "God loves me." What helps me to sense the nearness and love of God is to meditate on and declare what His Word says about me as His beloved. I started writing such verses on index cards so I can read them out loud when I first wake up in the morning during my quiet time (I personalize them by using the words "I" and "me" in those verses). Also, at various times throughout the day (such as when I go on my daily walk), I reflect on those types of verses (and even declare them out loud over myself). This is how God's love became a living, vital reality in my life.

Another thing that helps me to be more aware of God's love is listening to and singing worship music. This is a big part of why church is so meaningful to me; worshiping Him in song with my fellow believers helps to affirm His love, mercy, and grace.

Having a revelation of God's love isn't a big mystery or something that has to be super complicated. Simply reading, meditating on, and declaring what His Word says about you as His beloved child will anchor you in His love.

Blessings to you, brother!
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#3 Charles Miles

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Posted 28 October 2014 - 07:29 AM

Kevin, brother, I wrote a reply to your post last night but it didn`t convey all I wanted to say, so I deleted it. This post probably won`t say everything I have in my heart about the subject of God`s love either, but maybe it will be a start. You are well versed in the Bible and you do a lot of reading, so I won`t even attempt to suggest any profound literature on the subject......except the Bible. I also cannot tell you about any sure way to get the assurance of God`s eternal love all the days of your life, even though it is there. I can only tell you what happened to me and the effect it has had.

I`m sure there are people out there who don`t have to get to the low point I came to for a revelation of God`s love to permeate my life and my soul, but I didn`t realize that I needed a personal relationship with the Lord. You see, I thought I already had one! When things hit bottom HARD, and you fall on your face utterly defeated, there is only one place to go....or else just lie there and die. Reading, singing, prayer groups, church services, and all those things ae good and I enjoy them, but a few hours alone with the Father, alone, on your belly, spilling your guts, telling Him that you need Him and His love, peace, and joy right now or you can`t move from that spot.....that did it for me. He said He would send a comforter....He did. God sacrificed Himself so that I could have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. He did it once for all and He has completed His part. Now it is up to me to recieve His gift and the obvious love that comes with it. I know He loves me and loved me before I even knew about it....why? Because He says so and He proved it with a sacrificial death that did nothing for Him, but did everything for me. Yes, days still get hectic and complicated, but I rest upon the fact that I am God`s own righteousness through the work of His Son, and Paul stated so well....."the righteous shall live by faith". I have faith that God is as good as His word, and His word is that He loves me as His child, a member of His family, and a joint heir with His Son Jesus. Although I do some things that don`t please Him sometimes, His love never fails.....NEVER. I occasionally tell Him that I don`t desire such love and He says, "I know, but you have it anyway". When I screw up, I ask Him to please forgive me and He says...."I already have".

Kevin, I am your brother in Christ Jesus, and I can tell you beyond any shadow of doubt.....God loves you to an extent that is indescribable by mere man! He loves you every day, all day, even when you falter, even when you are confused about it. He loves you and has you in His hand....He has never lost even one that He holds in His hand. Be confident brother, thank Him every day, He has already done all that needs to be done.

Peace brother,

Charlie
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#4 Kevin Blankenship

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Posted 28 October 2014 - 05:28 PM

Those replies where EXACTLY what I needed!!!!! Thank you Julie and Charlie!!!!! A thousand times......THANKS!!!  



#5 Candice

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Posted 28 October 2014 - 06:32 PM


evin,
I think today's Tozer devotional may, at least in part, address what you wish to search out further.l....here goes..

His Uncreated Being

In my creature impatience I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No short cut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: the man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted that is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy Church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train.

We would think of God, then, as maintaining the unity of His uncreated Being throughout all His works and His years, as ever saying not only, "I did," and "I will do," but also "I do" and "I am doing."

A robust faith requires that we grasp this truth firmly, yet we know how seldom such a thought enters our minds. We habitually stand in our now and look back by faith to see the past filled with God. We look forward and see Him inhabiting our future; but our now is uninhabited except for ourselves. Thus we are guilty of a kind of pro tem atheism that leaves us alone in the universe while, for the time, God is not. We talk of Him much and loudly, but we secretly think of Him as being absent, and we think of ourselves as inhabiting a parenthetic interval between the God who was and the God who will be. And we are lonely with an ancient and cosmic loneliness. We are each like a little child lost in a crowded market, who has strayed but a few feet from its mother, yet because she cannot be seen, the child is inconsolable. So we try by every method devised by religion to relieve our fears and heal our hidden sadness; but with all our efforts we remain unhappy still, with the settled despair of men alone in a vast and deserted universe.
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#6 Kevin Blankenship

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Posted 29 October 2014 - 08:47 AM

I tell ya what......Tozer has a way of communicating that simply drives the point home!!!!! Thank you Candace!!!!