Love
All I need is love. "for God is love." 1 John 4:8
I have been super under attack lately, and the battle is wearisome. Even just this morning I have been asking God if He really does love me. I feel like in the past 24 hours the attacks have been intensified. As soon as I get with God, and I get alright, here comes something else.
Last semester, my dad suggested that I get the book God as He longs for You to see Him by Chip Ingram just so I could read the chapter on Love. And it radically transformed the way that I look at God and His love. This morning as I was questioning whether God really loves me, I decided that it might be time for me to read that chapter again.
Here are some quotes from this chapter:
"When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection....Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the 'Beloved.' Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence."
"God doesn't love you like anyone else does - like your wife, husband, mom, dad, or one of your children. He loves you better. He loves you personally, specifically, and individually. His holy disposition, attitude, and choice is to know you by name and lean toward you."
"Since God's love is merciful, anytime you're hurt, struggling, discouraged, or just having a bad day, God's love wants to step in and help you. He takes pity on you, hurts for you, and then He does something about it."
"Although He is the infinite God of the universe, your pain causes Him pain, your joy give Him a lift, your hopes bring excitement to His heart, and when there is tragedy in your life, He weeps with you-just as He wept with His friends at the death of Lazarus. It's an amazing thought that though the self-existing God needs no one, He has chosen to be so emotionally identified with your ups and downs, your dreams and hopes, that your happiness actually affects His."
"Even if you had never done anything since you were born, God would take pleasure in you simply because of who you are. Think for a moment about someone who delights you - whose eyes you love gazing into, whose conversation you enjoy, whose company makes you happy. That's how God feels about you. He feels that way when you're obedient, godly, disciplined, and righteous, and He feels that way about you when you're irritable, sarcastic, selfish, and evil. In Zephaniah 3:17, God tells a rebellious people that He actually stands over them singing and rejoicing. The next time you feel like a failure, read that verse and enjoy the God who sings about you regardless of what you've done."
Zephaniah is one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. It is a short book, only three chapters, and most of it is telling the Israelites how God is going to punish them. But at the very end of chapter 3 there is this beautiful picture of the future of Jerusalem. Zephaniah 3:17 is one of my favorite verses, so I'm going to post it in a couple of different translations.
"The Lord your 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." (NIV)
"The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love; He will rejoice over you with loud singing as on a day of festival." (NRSV)
Not only does God delight in me and rejoice over me with loud singing, but He renews and quiets me with His love. He is a warrior, and He gives me victory. He is mighty to save me. His love is better than life, and it is greater and far more vast and far deeper than I could ever imagine.
All I need is my Love.
I have been super under attack lately, and the battle is wearisome. Even just this morning I have been asking God if He really does love me. I feel like in the past 24 hours the attacks have been intensified. As soon as I get with God, and I get alright, here comes something else.
Last semester, my dad suggested that I get the book God as He longs for You to see Him by Chip Ingram just so I could read the chapter on Love. And it radically transformed the way that I look at God and His love. This morning as I was questioning whether God really loves me, I decided that it might be time for me to read that chapter again.
Here are some quotes from this chapter:
"When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection....Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the 'Beloved.' Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence."
"God doesn't love you like anyone else does - like your wife, husband, mom, dad, or one of your children. He loves you better. He loves you personally, specifically, and individually. His holy disposition, attitude, and choice is to know you by name and lean toward you."
"Since God's love is merciful, anytime you're hurt, struggling, discouraged, or just having a bad day, God's love wants to step in and help you. He takes pity on you, hurts for you, and then He does something about it."
"Although He is the infinite God of the universe, your pain causes Him pain, your joy give Him a lift, your hopes bring excitement to His heart, and when there is tragedy in your life, He weeps with you-just as He wept with His friends at the death of Lazarus. It's an amazing thought that though the self-existing God needs no one, He has chosen to be so emotionally identified with your ups and downs, your dreams and hopes, that your happiness actually affects His."
"Even if you had never done anything since you were born, God would take pleasure in you simply because of who you are. Think for a moment about someone who delights you - whose eyes you love gazing into, whose conversation you enjoy, whose company makes you happy. That's how God feels about you. He feels that way when you're obedient, godly, disciplined, and righteous, and He feels that way about you when you're irritable, sarcastic, selfish, and evil. In Zephaniah 3:17, God tells a rebellious people that He actually stands over them singing and rejoicing. The next time you feel like a failure, read that verse and enjoy the God who sings about you regardless of what you've done."
Zephaniah is one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. It is a short book, only three chapters, and most of it is telling the Israelites how God is going to punish them. But at the very end of chapter 3 there is this beautiful picture of the future of Jerusalem. Zephaniah 3:17 is one of my favorite verses, so I'm going to post it in a couple of different translations.
"The Lord your 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." (NIV)
"The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love; He will rejoice over you with loud singing as on a day of festival." (NRSV)
Not only does God delight in me and rejoice over me with loud singing, but He renews and quiets me with His love. He is a warrior, and He gives me victory. He is mighty to save me. His love is better than life, and it is greater and far more vast and far deeper than I could ever imagine.
All I need is my Love.
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