Reality #2 God Pursues a Love Relationship with Us
Matthew 22:37-38
"And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.'"
God Himself pursues a love relationship with You! He is the One who takes the initiative to bring you into this kind of relationship. This relationship is why You were Created! It is the purpose of Your Life. This Love Relationship can and should be real and personal to You.
However it is not a one-sided affair. God wants you to know Him and Worship Him, but mostly He wants you to Love Him. Jesus said, 'Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.' John 14:21
If you want God to reveal Himself to you, you must love Him and obey Him.
When you obey Jesus (obedience), you show that you love and trust Him. It is an outward expression of our Love! Our reward for Obedience is that God will show Himself to You, Jesus will manifest Himself to You. Jesus was the perfect example when He said, 'but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.' John 14:31
A love relationship with God requires that you demonstrate your love by obedience. However, this is not just a following of the 'letter' of the law, it is a following of the 'spirit' of the command as well. If you have an obedience problem, you have a love problem!
Question: If you were standing before God could you describe your relationship to Him by saying, "I love You with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength?"
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Mark 12:30
'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
This heart-cry of God is expressed throughout Scripture! Everything depends on this! Everything in your Christian life, everything about knowing Him and experiencing Him, everything about knowing His will depends on the quality of your love relationship to God. If this relationship is not right, nothing in your life will be right!
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
John 3:16
For God So Loved the World
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
John 14:21
"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
Romans 8:35,37,39
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us...[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 John 3:16
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
1 John 4:9-10,19
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins...We love because he first loved us."
Jesus Christ didn't just give you your life, He IS your Life! Jesus laid down His life for you, even before you came into this world, Jesus died upon the Cross for You! He has drawn you to Himself, to a love relationship with Himself! God loves you, and wants you to love Him as well! You have 2 options:
1. Life: Listen to His Voice, hold fast to Him, believe in His only Son Jesus Christ, obey His commands and teachings, and be willing to lay down your life for your Christian brothers and sisters.
2. Death: Pretty much the opposite!
When you love God, He responds with His blessings and you can never be separated from His love.
Question: What is the one thing that God wants from you?
Is it not your love? What did Jesus say was the greatest Commandment? Check above it was Mark 12:30
Do you really want to love the Lord you God with all of your Heart? God will allow no competitors!
Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Deuteronomy 6:11-12,15
"When you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD...for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God."
Matthew 6:31-33
"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
The entire Bible is is witness to the fact that God is in Pursuit of You!
Check out the Stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, In love God fellowshipped with them, and they with Him. God took the initiative for each and every person in the Old Testament to experience Him in a personal fellowship of Love, and this is also true for the New Testiment as well. Jesus came to the disciples and chose them to be with Him and experience His love. He came also to Paul and He also comes to You as well!
Sin is what keeps us from this Love relationship!
Romans 3:10-12
"As it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'"
Sin has affected us so deeply that no one seeks after God on his own initiative. To have any relationship with Him or His Son, God must to the initiative and come to us. And this is exactly what He does. God draws us to Himself.
John 6:44-45,65
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me--And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
Jeremiah 31:3
"The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."
Hosea 11:4
"I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love,and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them."
Paul: Acts 9:1-19
Disciples:
John 15:16,19
"You did not choose me, but I chose you...you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world."
Jesus talking to Peter: Matthew 16:13-17
God takes the Initiative!
Deuteronomy 30:6
"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."
Luke 10:22
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
John 15:16
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
Philippians 2:13
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
1 John 3:16
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us."
Revelation 3:20
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."
God always takes the initiative to establish a love relationship with you!
In Christ,
David
"And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.'"
God Himself pursues a love relationship with You! He is the One who takes the initiative to bring you into this kind of relationship. This relationship is why You were Created! It is the purpose of Your Life. This Love Relationship can and should be real and personal to You.
However it is not a one-sided affair. God wants you to know Him and Worship Him, but mostly He wants you to Love Him. Jesus said, 'Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.' John 14:21
If you want God to reveal Himself to you, you must love Him and obey Him.
When you obey Jesus (obedience), you show that you love and trust Him. It is an outward expression of our Love! Our reward for Obedience is that God will show Himself to You, Jesus will manifest Himself to You. Jesus was the perfect example when He said, 'but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.' John 14:31
A love relationship with God requires that you demonstrate your love by obedience. However, this is not just a following of the 'letter' of the law, it is a following of the 'spirit' of the command as well. If you have an obedience problem, you have a love problem!
Question: If you were standing before God could you describe your relationship to Him by saying, "I love You with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength?"
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."
Mark 12:30
'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
This heart-cry of God is expressed throughout Scripture! Everything depends on this! Everything in your Christian life, everything about knowing Him and experiencing Him, everything about knowing His will depends on the quality of your love relationship to God. If this relationship is not right, nothing in your life will be right!
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
John 3:16
For God So Loved the World
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
John 14:21
"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
Romans 8:35,37,39
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us...[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 John 3:16
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
1 John 4:9-10,19
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins...We love because he first loved us."
Jesus Christ didn't just give you your life, He IS your Life! Jesus laid down His life for you, even before you came into this world, Jesus died upon the Cross for You! He has drawn you to Himself, to a love relationship with Himself! God loves you, and wants you to love Him as well! You have 2 options:
1. Life: Listen to His Voice, hold fast to Him, believe in His only Son Jesus Christ, obey His commands and teachings, and be willing to lay down your life for your Christian brothers and sisters.
2. Death: Pretty much the opposite!
When you love God, He responds with His blessings and you can never be separated from His love.
Question: What is the one thing that God wants from you?
Is it not your love? What did Jesus say was the greatest Commandment? Check above it was Mark 12:30
Do you really want to love the Lord you God with all of your Heart? God will allow no competitors!
Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Deuteronomy 6:11-12,15
"When you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD...for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God."
Matthew 6:31-33
"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
The entire Bible is is witness to the fact that God is in Pursuit of You!
Check out the Stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, In love God fellowshipped with them, and they with Him. God took the initiative for each and every person in the Old Testament to experience Him in a personal fellowship of Love, and this is also true for the New Testiment as well. Jesus came to the disciples and chose them to be with Him and experience His love. He came also to Paul and He also comes to You as well!
Sin is what keeps us from this Love relationship!
Romans 3:10-12
"As it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'"
Sin has affected us so deeply that no one seeks after God on his own initiative. To have any relationship with Him or His Son, God must to the initiative and come to us. And this is exactly what He does. God draws us to Himself.
John 6:44-45,65
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me--And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
Jeremiah 31:3
"The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."
Hosea 11:4
"I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love,and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them."
Paul: Acts 9:1-19
Disciples:
John 15:16,19
"You did not choose me, but I chose you...you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world."
Jesus talking to Peter: Matthew 16:13-17
God takes the Initiative!
Deuteronomy 30:6
"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."
Luke 10:22
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
John 15:16
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
Philippians 2:13
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
1 John 3:16
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us."
Revelation 3:20
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."
God always takes the initiative to establish a love relationship with you!
In Christ,
David
posted by Mark 1:17 at 3:51 PM
1 Comments:
What a blog! Thanks for commenting on my blog. Good analogy! God's Love is NOT a love story, a fable, or a pretty poem... it is a active reality. He is Love. So, if He is Love, then everything He does must be out of Love, also. What an awesome friend we have!
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