GOD’S LOVE FOR US

Posted on by

God’s love for us should be the motivation that drives our life. Paul was able to say that the love of Christ controlled him, and other believers, and he gave us the reason why it did.

“For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all … and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Let me add the other major reason: Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell our Spirit to be our counsellor, teacher, and comforter. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). He also provides all nine gifts of the Spirit for ministry.

“God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” Hebrews 2:4

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

If you do not know the truth about God’s love for you, then you are missing a single most powerful force that has driven every man and woman of God who has ever walked this planet. When you realize how much God loves you, you will never lack for motivation to serve him with all your heart.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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.” 1 John 4:7-9

Note what Paul prays that our Heavenly Father will provide for us: that the Holy Spirit will enable us to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ so that we are filled with the fullness of God.

“He (Heavenly Father) may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.“

Paul understood this when he prayed this prayer for all the believers. Then they would be filled up to all the fullness of God so that the Spirit would work in them to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that they had ever asked or imagined. Of all the doctrines described in God’s Word, if you miss the doctrine of love, you have missed God.

You can download the ebook “With all my love, GOD” from Jim McCotters website http://www.jimsbookstore.com

DOES GOD LOVE YOU?

Posted on by

I decided to do this post after reading this quote from Mike Bickle:

“We will never have more affection or passion for God than we understand He has for us. We will never be more committed to God that our understanding of His commitment to us.“

Let me start with what Jesus told us about our Heavenly Fathers’ love for us.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” John 15:9

“I (Jesus) in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:23

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and He in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:15-16

“We love Him because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

“Now hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:8-9

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Romans 8:35

I could add more but surely, what you have read should convince you that God loves us, those He created in His image to be in fellowship with Him.

What about God’s love for His nation Israel? During Jesus coming Millennial reign, He will transform their hearts and minds.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!” Jeremiah: 31:3

“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.” Deuteronomy 30:6

“I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33

“And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.“ Hosea 2:18-20


CAN WE KNOW GOD IS REAL?

Posted on by

Nabeel Qureshi, ex-Muslim turned Christian apologist, died in 2017 after a year-long battle with stomach cancer. The 34-year-old left behind a wife and two-year-old daughter.

Qureshi published three books, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity, and Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward, and No God but One: Allah or Jesus? A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity.

Qureshi made the official announcement of his cancer diagnosis August 2016.

“This is an announcement that I never expected to make, but God in his infinite and sovereign wisdom has chosen me for this refining, and I pray he will be glorified through my body and my spirit. My family and I have received the news that I had advanced stomach cancer and the prognosis is quite grim,” he said in a Facebook post.

Qureshi continued to share the gospel and updates on his treatment through videos on his social media page.

In the last video before his death, he said he hoped he leaves behind a legacy of love.

“As you consider my ministry, I hope it leaves a message of love, of peace, of truth, of caring for one another,” he says. “Our God is a God of love.”

Listen to Nabeel on “Can We Know if God is Real”.