The Lord has put on my heart to spread a message that He wants the World to know. Without it, it makes it hard to understand God, who He is and what He wants for us. He gave me this message years ago and after putting it off for far too long I am using this vehicle to pass it on. I will be posting weekly chapters to the book that I have written with this title. I hope it will bless you.
With anything from God, digest it, study it, verify it and live it. Unless we are doers of the Word we are not changed into who He wants us and has plans for us to be.
Be blessed!
What makes people want to devour movies and books about relationships? What makes people search the internet and bars for companionship? What makes people take their own life or someone else’s because of it?
What is love?
I think it is a question we always ask ourselves and how it pertains to our lives and how we can find it. It is that hole that we all feel in our hearts. It is why there is this search for completion, for fulfillment. We try to find it in so many different ways and arenas - drugs, sex, alcohol, power, money, fame, hobbies, jobs, marriage and family. Yet even with all these things, that hole is still there - that emptiness that we can’t seem to fill is still present, getting deeper and deeper. How do we find this fulfillment? How do we achieve this completion?
We find God. He is the answer. He fills that hole, completes that emptiness. How and why? He loves us. His love is pure, whole and True.
In this writing, I hope to share what the Bible shows me. It isn’t just a book of history. It isn’t just a book of great stories. I’ve heard it described as a love letter. But in this book, I hope to show you that the Bible is a love story. It is God telling us He loves us and how we can receive that love.
Let’s look deeper. God’s love is available, open and honest yet we are like the girl in the movie, the hero has a crush on, who is oblivious to his heart. We cheat on God everyday like a spouse who takes the love from their wife/husband and gives it to someone who hasn’t earned it or deserved it.
If we look at Jesus, we see the love of God. Jesus said “whoever sees me sees Him Who sent me” (John 2:45). We need to realize, Jesus did not come to bring us religion. Jesus came to show us God wants to have a relationship with us. It is not about rules and regulations or traditions. It is about His love for us and how we can live the best lives we can, while we are here on earth and that we have a place in heaven. He has given us everything and we seem to have a laisser-faire attitude towards how we should reciprocate that. We seem to believe that just accepting Jesus is enough. That now the rest is up to Him. We take the scriptures and say “He is in control” so whatever happens is what is supposed to happen. That is not what the bible says or what it tells us to do. I want these writings to be an awakening to our spirits to know how to love Him, remember why we fell in love with Him, how He feels about us and what He tells us to do to live the life He has promised us.
I hope you read this and fall in love all over again or for the first time. I pray your mind and spirit is open to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I hope it makes you reinvest your life and love to Him and to live the life He promised we could have.
I have often wondered why people don’t want to believe in God. Some think that believing in God is a crutch. They think to believe in God somehow makes them weak. We have been taught by society that we should be self-reliant. We can thank the devil for that little lie. He used it on Eve in the garden and it is still working today. Some choose not to believe because they don’t want to change their lifestyle. We as a society don’t want to have to do things that keep us from having “fun”. What is wrong with a little drinking…until we make our selves sick or worse get into an accident or die from liver failure? What is wrong with expressing yourself sexually…until we end up with a reputation as “easy”, getting an STD or an unwanted pregnancy or worse a terminal disease.
Some will use the history of how God has been taught as reason enough. I mean doesn’t God strike us down when we do wrong, doesn’t He make people sick to teach them something, doesn’t He hate sinners? God has not always been taught to be the loving God I know Him to be. How He truly is. This is not just my observation, but it is the Truth written in the Word of God.
Now in the Old Testament, maybe His love doesn’t seem as obvious as it does in the New Testament, but it is there and it is ever present and easy to see if you really look. And by look, I mean study, meditate on it and pray about it. The bible is a testament to God’s love. The only way to truly know that is to look it up yourself, to actually open the bible and read it. Not just when you’re in church and not just so you can say you read a passage or chapter or the whole bible in a year. But to find the answers to life’s questions. It is a reference and guide to how to live a full successful life and eternity.
If we look at the Old Testament, Adam and Eve fell into sin and in that fall everyone after that was also born into a fallen state. Which means that the devil has an ever-present influence in our development and decision-making. Because of that influence God had to show us what was right and how to follow Him. I look at it from a parent’s point of view. When we have children we love on them and give them everything they need but when the child’s will starts to show in behavior and actions that are not good for the child in a physical way and also a moral or behavioral way, we as the parent have to set boundaries to show our children what is appropriate and what is not. What is best for them and what is detrimental.
That is what God was doing for the Israelites, and what He continues to do for us today. God was letting them/us know how we are to behave to live the life He created for us. He was also putting in place the course that would bring about Jesus’ coming. God shows in the Old Testament that there are consequences for our choices. There is life and death in the choices we make. He even tells what to do - choose life! (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Having said all that, I believe for the most part, people who don’t know God, do not really believe that God loves them. They might say that “God loves everyone” but it doesn’t really mean them. They will use the circumstances that go on in the world to prove their point. They see all the death and destruction, from natural disasters and famine and the hate and brutality that people do to each other and the sadness of sickness and death, and they believe that God is out to get us for any mistake.
I also think that there are people who know God “loves” them, but don’t really know what that love means. I hear Christians all the time say they can’t fathom God’s love. They ask how He can love us because we are so unworthy. I believe that barrier is part of the reason people are not seeing all that God can do in their lives and the capacity He has to forgive the most heinous and love them as much as He loves Jesus, much less those of us who think our lives are quite tame.
I also hear Christians minimize God’s love because they think to talk about it, is like saying His love is - as some put it, “Santa Claus” like. The misconception is that those, who don’t like to focus on His love, think those who do are saying it is a “happy, happy nothing bad happens” love. God never said life would be easy. He told us their would be trials and tribulations - not because He was going to send them but because Satan is ever present and looking for those to destroy (1 Peter 5:8). However, I think we need to look at that in a parent’s perspective. We love our children but we still discipline them when they do things that are wrong. We are disappointed in them but we still love them. We can give them things they want but choose things and ways that won’t spoil them. It is our job to teach them right from wrong - to follow Jesus not the devil. God is our true Father and His love is unconditional. He has a plan for each of us that is good but by our choices we alter that path and there are consequences for the paths we choose.
But in Him, we know that He gives us a way to get back on the right path, we just have to choose to do it and know that we are forgiven and loved.
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