God Pursues a Love Relationship

Monday, October 17, 2011

God Pursues a Love Relationship

God takes the initiative.  He chooses us, loves us, and reveals His eternal purposes for our lives.

In our natural human state we do not seek God on our own initiative:

Romans 3:10-12:  10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

If we are to have a relationship with Him and His Son, God must take the initiative.  This is exactly what He does.

John 6:44-45, 65:  44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.  65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

Personalized:  The love God focuses on my life is an everlasting love.  From that love He has pursued me.   He has drawn me with cords of love when I was not His friend but His enemy.  He gave His own Son to die for me.  To firmly anchor my experiencing God and knowing His will, I must be absolutely convinced of God’s love for me.

Personalized:  Jesus came to Saul and revealed the Father’s purposes of love for him.  This is also true in my life.  I do not choose Him.  He chooses me, loves me, and reveals His eternal purposes for my life.  

Romans 8:29-30:” 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

This passage in Romans is written about me!  I am one of the ones He foreknew!  I am predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His son!  I am firstborn among many bothers!  I am Called!  I am Justified! And I will be glorified!  Wow how exciting, how humbling.  It is one thing to read the scriptures and be in awe of them, it is quite another to realize that God is indeed talking about me!  How awesome, how humbling!  But it still isn’t all about me it is about Him.  He foreknew me, He predestined me, He conformed me, He bore me, He justified me, He will glorify me!  You know it is great to personalize the scriptures but it is foolish, reckless and just plain stupid and self-centered to only look at what is being done for me and not look at the most important part, the One who does it for and to me, my God and King!  This thought is perfectly illustrated by Jesus in John 15:16, 19: 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

From the workbook…

Do you realize God determined to love you?  Apart from that, you never would have become a Christian.  He had something in mind when He called you.  He took the initiative.  He opened your understanding.  He drew you to Himself.  When you responded to His invitation, He brought you into a love relationship with Himself.  You would never know that love, be in the presence of that love, or experience that love if God had not first reached out to you.  You cannot know Gods activity unless He takes the initiative to reveal it to you.

Summary Statements

·        God always takes the initiative in this love relationship.

·        I do not choose Him.  He chooses me, loves me, and reveals His eternal purposes for my life.

·        I cannot know God’s activity unless He takes the initiative to reveal it to you.

What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture I read today?:

Do you realize God determined to love you?  Apart from that, you never would have become a Christian.  He had something in mind when He called you.  He took the initiative.  He opened your understanding.  He drew you to Himself.  When you responded to His invitation, He brought you into a love relationship with Himself.  You would never know that love, be in the presence of that love, or experience that love if God had not first reached out to you.  You cannot know Gods activity unless He takes the initiative to reveal it to you.

My Prayer is:

Daddy, I realize that you determined to love me and apart from that love I never would have come to You.  I was not saved because I wanted to be forgiven for my sins.  I responded to Your invitation because You loved me.  I have nothing in my life that compares or competes with Your love.  Thank you for loving me.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

What does God want me to do in response to today’s study?

I believe God wants me to rest in the love He has for me and to trust Him with all other areas of my life.

The Memory verse for this unit is: Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind.”.  ‘This is the first and greatest commandment.’”  Mathew 22:37-38

Walking With God

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Walking With God

Personalized: When my relationship is as it ought to be, I will always be in fellowship with the Father.  I will be in His presence expecting and anticipating the relationship of love.

Jeremiah 7:13: While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.

I have found this to be true in my walk with the Lord:  I keep that time alone with God, not in order to have a relationship but because I have a relationship.  Because I have that love relationship with my Lord, I want to meet with Him and spend time with Him.  Time with Him enriches and deepens the relationship I already have with Him.

People who struggle to spend time with God don’t have a scheduling problem; they have a love problem.  You have quiet time because you know Him and therefore love Him, not just because you want to learn more about Him.

Personalized:  I will learn much about God, His Word, His purposes, and His ways as I spend time with Him.  I will come to know Him during the day as I experience Him working in and through my life.  But learning about Him is not why I should want to have quiet time with Him.  The more I know Him and experience His unfathomable love, the more I will love Him.  I will want time alone with God because I love Him and enjoy His fellowship. 

I want my life and ministry to be like a Father and son business.  I want Comforting Hearts to be my Father’s business where He runs it and I follow His instruction and plans, but where I am not just an employee I am a son and I have a share in the profits.  (I hope I said that right).

From the workbook:  After your walk… write about your feelings:

1. How did you feel as you walked and talked with God?

·        I felt humbled and free at the same time.  I felt privileged like I was alone with my Father and we communed.

2. What aspect of your love relationship with God did you become aware of?

·        Just the ability to be at ease and free to share my heart.

3. If this was a difficult or an emotionally uneasy time, why do you think it was?

·        It was not difficult because I am finally in true fellowship with my Dad.

4. What happened that was especially meaningful or joyful?

·        He set me free from something I have held onto for 11 years.  He showed me how to forgive myself as He has forgiven me!

A Love Relationship with God

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A Love Relationship with God

To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the highest achievement, and the highest position in life.

Personalized: My walk with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the single most important aspect of my life.  If it is not as it should be, nothing else will function properly.  This is one of the truest statements I have ever heard.  And lately I have found the truth in it as I struggle everyday to accomplish God’s purposes in my life without having spent any significant time with Him.  Today I will put this to the test.  I am spending what I believe is quality time with my Lord, let’s see how the rest of my life falls into place!

We are a doing people.  We feel worthless or useless if we are not busy doing something.  Scripture leads us to understand that God is saying, “I want you to love Me above everything else.  When you are in a relationship of love with Me, you have everything there is.”  Am I putting the ministry that I love, which the Lord has given me, above my relationship with Jesus?  This is an important question that I must answer for myself.

Personalized:   That does not mean that I will never accomplish anything as an expression of my love for God.  He will call me to obey Him and do whatever He asks of me.  However, I do not need to do something to feel fulfilled.  I am completely fulfilled in a relationship with God.  When I am filled with Him, what else do I need?

From the workbook:  Read the following hymn by Rhea Miller and circle (highlight) everything that may compete with Jesus for a person’s love and attention.

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold,

I’d rather be His than have riches untold;

I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands,

I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause,

I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;

I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame,

I’d rather be true to His holy name.

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom,

He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb;

He’s all that my hungering spirit needs,

I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.

Refrain:

Than to be the king of a vast domain

Or be held in sin’s dread sway;

I’d rather have Jesus than anything

This world affords today.

I must be honest I only struggle with to of these statements.  They are “men’s applause” and “worldwide fame”.  These are difficult for me because I am sometimes insecure and need that pat on the back.  And I truly believe that your life is wasted if you are forgotten.  But my spirit agrees with God’s Spirit and I know that He is more important than either of them.  So it is my prayer today that the Lord will show me how to love Him more than applause and fame.

Personalized:   I do really want to love the Lord my God with all my heart.  I know He will allow no competitors, not money and things, not fame and popularity, and not power or authority, God says:

·        I cannot serve two masters.  Either I will hate the one and love the other or I will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  I cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24)

·        When the Lord my God brings me into the land He swore to my fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give me—a lind with large, flourishing cities I did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things I did not provide, wells I did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves I did not plant­­—then when I eat and am satisfied, I will be careful that I do not forget the Lord, who brought me out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  I will fear the Lord my God, and serve Him only and take my oaths in His name.  I won’t follow other gods, the gods of the people around me; for the Lord my God, who is with me, is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 6:10-15).

·        From His love for me, God will provide everything else I need—when I love Him and Him alone (See Matthew 6:31-33: 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.)

I know that I have stretched the Deuteronomy passage, but if you think about it, figuratively speaking, God has:

1.    Brought me into the land he swore to my fathers, that is the Bible is filled with promises of God bringing me into a relationship with Him, that’s not just a way to live, it’s a place or being. 

2.   He defiantly provided me with things I did not earn, not the least of which is salvation, redemption and relationships with Him and the wonderful wife He, Himself has provided.

3.   And he brought me out of my own Egypt, the sin that so easily entangled me.  I was a slave to sin and He redeemed me.

Personalized:   God did not create me for time; He created me for eternity.  Time—my lifetime on earth—provides the opportunity for me to become acquainted with Him.  It provides occasions for Him to develop my character into His likeness. Then eternity will hold its fullest dimensions for me.  If I live only for time—the here and now-I will miss the ultimate purpose of creation.  If I live for time, I will allow my past to shape my life today.  My life as a child of God ought to be shaped by the future—what I will be one day.  God uses my present experiences to mold me for future usefulness here on earth and in eternity.  

This is now true of John C. Mac Iver:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

·        I will let my present be molded and shaped by what I am to become in Christ.

·        I will make sure I am investing in things that are lasting (Matthew 6:19-21, 33: 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Personalized:   This is why a love relationship with God is so important.  He loves me.  He knows what is best for me.  Only He can guide me to invest my life in worthwhile ways.  This guidance will come as I walk with Him and listen to Him.

What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture I read today?:

My walk with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the single most important aspect of my life.  If it is not as it should be, nothing else will function properly.

My Prayer is:

Daddy, I realize that Your relationship with me is the most important thing in my life.  Help me to seek you first, everyday, because I know that if I don’t cultivate my relationship with You, nothing else in my life and efforts will work.  Guide me dear Lord.  In Jesus name, I pray, amen.

What does God want me to do in response to today’s study?

I believe God wants me to be cultivate and put first my relationship, that I now have with Him.

The Memory verse for this unit is:

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38

Created for a Love Relationship

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Created for a Love Relationship

Personalized: A love relationship with God is more important than any other single factor in my life.

Personalized: I’ve made a determination: no matter what my circumstances, I will never look at my situation except against the backdrop of the cross.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God forever convinced me that He loved me.  “Father, don’t ever let me look at my life and question Your love for me.  Your love for me was settled on the cross.  That has never changed and will never change.”  Our love relationship with the Heavenly Father sustains us through extremely difficult times.

Reality 2:

God pursues a continuing love relationship with me 

that is real and personal!

Can you describe your relationship with God by sincerely saying, “I love You with all my heart”?  YES!

Personalized:  Everything in my Christian life, everything about knowing Him and experiencing Him, everything about knowing His will depends on the quality of my love relationship with God.

If I tried to summarize the entire Old Testament, it would be expressed in this verse, Deuteronomy 6:4-5: 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Mark 12:30: 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.   

Also known as the Shema (sha-ma)

 

Personalized:   What is the one thing God wants from me?  He wants me to love Him with all my being.  My experiencing God depends on my having this relationship of love.

Read the following Scriptures, which describe a love relationship with God.  As you read, highlight the word love (or any form of it, such as loves) each time it appears.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20: 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

John 3:16: 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.

John 14:21: 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

Romans 8:35,37,39:  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  39 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.

1 John 3:16: 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 4:9-10,19: 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  19 We love because he first loved us.

What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture I read today?:

Personalized: I’ve made a determination: no matter what my circumstances, I will never look at my situation except against the backdrop of the cross.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God forever convinced me that He loved me.  “Father, don’t ever let me look at my life and question Your love for me.  Your love for me was settled on the cross.  That has never changed and will never change.”  Our love relationship with the Heavenly Father sustains us through extremely difficult times.

My Prayer is:

Daddy, I pray that the determination I have made today will permeate my whole life that I may never again judge my circumstances in any other way then through the backdrop of the Cross and please may I never again question your love for me.  In Jesus name, I pray, amen.

What does God want me to do in response to today’s study?

I believe God wants me to see the big picture and to remember that He has a plan for my life and that He loves me dearly!

The Memory verse for this unit is:

“Jesus replied:’ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38