A Personal, Loving God

Our God is Loving and Personal

Last week I shared about some trials I'm going through.  Today I want to share how personal our God is.  I believe I'm going through these trials for a reason - to mold me and get me ready for what He has planned in my life.  For that reason, I don't think what I'm going through is going to go away any time soon.  I'm  okay with that, even though it's hard, because I know God has the bigger picture in mind.

Some of the struggles I went through last week hit my confidence hard.  Really hard.  I felt like someone took a bat and swung at my self worth and knocked it out of the park.  Last week when I cried out to God He reminded me of who I am in Him and that my self-worth and identity are in Him alone.  I believe those truths, and I will continue to cling to them.

In the meantime, God sent me a personal message.  I don't believe in coincidences.  He knew exactly what I needed to read exactly when I needed it the most.  I'm going through Experiencing God with a small group from my church, and wouldn't you know that right after those moments of feeling down and struggling with my self-worth, our group started unit three.  The third unit of Experiencing God is all about how God pursues a love relationship with us that is real and personal.

I can't think of anything more real and personal about God's love for me than meeting me right here where I am at, where I needed His love the most.  I needed to be reminded of His love for me.  I needed to be reminded that he pursues me.  I know these things, and when I'm thinking clearly I can remember them and even encourage others with them.  But sometimes, when I'm down, I need to read them again.  And again.

Bible Verses about God's Love

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

From Experiencing God, "In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God forever convinced me that He loved me."

Boom.

Romans 8:37-39 - No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I posted this on Instagram the morning I read this passage in Experiencing God.  I've read these verses many times before and even have them memorized.  They meant the world to me when I read them last week after struggling so hard.  God loves me so deeply and personally that He led me to these words when I needed to read them the most.

Ephesians 2:4-5 - But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Because of His great love for us!  Highlight or underline that in your Bible, and read it over and over.

1 John 4:9-11 - This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

Not that we loved God, but that He loved us.

Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you,

                              the Mighty Warrior who saves.

                              He will take great delight in you;

                              in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

                              but will rejoice over you with singing.”

We serve a God who takes great delight in us.  Isn't that amazing?  Isn't that encouraging?!

Psalm 86:15 - But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

He is abounding in love for us.

1 John 3:1 - See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

He lavishes His love on us.

1 Peter 5:6-7 - Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

He cares for you.  He, the God of all the world, the Creator, our Savior, He cares for you and me.  So when you're down and discouraged remember, He cares for you!

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

He has plans to prosper me and to give me hope.

From Experiencing God, "This is the love relationship for which you were created - a God-centered love relationship.  Your walk with God (Father, Son, and Spirit) is the single most important aspect of your life.  If it is not as it should be, nothing else will function properly."

He loves me.  He is pursuing me.  He wants a personal relationship with me.  How can I give anything less than my best to Him?

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