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(Presented by Lisa Bishop)
I don’t know about you but I think we have a love problem.
In my personal experience and as I minister to hundreds of women, there is a common theme, a common underlying question that I think we are all trying to get the answer to. Does God really love me? Now I am not talking about being able to rehearse Bible verses about God’s love (although that is very important). What I am referring to is experiencing and receiving God’s love and affection to the degree that it seeps into the depths of your heart, soul, and mind. I am talking about being convinced to the core of your being that you are deeply loved by God. Are you absolutely convinced that God’s affections for you are great? I struggle to believe and fully receive Jesus’ steadfast love. I am guessing you do too.
I was celebrating a friend’s birthday this weekend and all of the guests went around the table and shared one thing that drew us to her. That was an easy answer for me…. My friend is absolutely convinced that Jesus loves her. She has such confidence in his affection for her, it is very endearing and inspiring. And by the way she lives her life, you can tell she receives God’s love, to her very core.
Why do we often fail to receive and believe in God’s love? I mean, evidence of his love is all throughout the Bible.
First John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
As a child of God, he lavishes his love on you. And you did nothing to earn his love. God’s greatest act of love towards you was sacrificing his son. Jesus’ death on the cross was the grandest display of love the world has ever seen. And yet, we have a hard time receiving.
One of my favorite prayers in the Bible is Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3. Receive these words as a prayer over you and open yourself up to allow them to penetrate your heart.
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).
Take time to just sit and be grateful to God. Tell Jesus, “Thank you that your love for me is so extravagant, help me to fully receive your love and help me be your love to those around me.”