God's love has been on my mind alot this month as I was challenged to pray Paul's prayer for the Ephesians for myself for 30 days. Chip Ingram from Living on the Edge Ministry says that "if we could truly grasp how much God loves us, it would change the way we live and transform our lives." I know that God loves me, but I think it's hard for us to understand the depth of His love for us. So... I've been praying Paul's prayer from Ephesians 3:16-19 for myself, my family and many friends and want to encourage you with it.
"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 saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
The life application from my Bible says:
"God's love is total, says Paul. It reaches every corner of our experience.
It is WIDE--it covers the breadth of our own experience, and it reaches out to the whole world.
It is LONG--it continues the length of our lives.
It is HIGH--it rises to to the heights of our celebration and elation.
It is DEEP--it reaches to the depths of our discouragement, despair and even death. When you feel shut out or isolated, remember that you can never be lost to God's love."
We need to remember that His love is immeasurable and inexhaustible. It's so hard for us to comprehend and yet how can we possibly question God's love for us when He was willing to sacrifice His one and only Son so we could have a relationship with Him. I John 3:16 says, "This if how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."
In the book, "God As He Longs for You to See Him" by Chip Ingram, Chip says: "If someone asks you how you know God loves you, there's no better answer than this one: Because Jesus died for me. God's Word even says it this way in Romans 5:8: 'But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' The value of God's payment for us tells us how much we are worth to Him. We are worth the life of His Son."
Whenever I start to feel sorry for myself, I am reminded of all Jesus went through--leaving His Father in heaven to come to earth to be ridiculed, misunderstood, tortured, and crucified out of obedience to His Father and love for you and me. In his book, Chip Ingram says, "Jesus is God's living expression of love, willing to walk every moment of every day with us, continually reassuring us of God's love."
There are so many other things that the Lord has shown me this month on His love--too numerous to share all of them here. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I would encourage you to get the book--"God As He Longs For You to See Him" by Chip Ingram and read more for yourself about our Savior's love for us as well as all of His other attributes. Jesus wants us to become more like Him in all we do. In order to do that we have to know Him. This book includes very practical insights from His Word that have helped me know and understand Him better.
I'll close with a few more thoughts about God's love from that book. "Everyone is looking for love. We may try to satisfy our need for love from other creatures like ourselves, but no one can give us the love our Creator can. He longs to meet our deepest needs. The God who created this planet and sustains it, the God who wove our DNA together in the womb, is the same God who loves us unconditionally, totally apart from our performance. God doesn't love you like anyone else does--like your wife, husband, mom, dad or your children. He loves you better. He loves you personally, specifically and individually. We don't provoke, trick, convince, earn, or win God's love. He doesn't love us because of who we are but because of who He is. His nature and character compel Him to express unconditional affection toward us."
I pray that you will bask in His love today and rest in knowing that His love is not based on anything that you do or don't do. It has nothing to do with your work or performance. Jesus loves you just as you are and wants to be your Savior and friend.
Zephaniah 3:17 says: "The Lord you God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." How encouraging is that? He delights in us, loves us and rejoices over us!!!
As you are reminded of His amazing love for you, I pray that you will respond by loving Him with ALL your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). During the last week of Ty's life here on earth, our son Yance ask him if he had any advice, and Ty told him many times to love God with all His heart, soul, and mind. He needs to be our everything. We need to deny ourselves and follow Him. As my Pastor said a few weeks ago: "Jesus does not want us to just be a fan but a follower."
The following song, "How Deep the Father's Love For Us" expresses very well what I've shared with you today. Let Him love you as you listen.
