Love of God – Hope for Complete Healing

Have you noticed the huge deficit of love in our world? Hate seems to dominate our politics and our families. Why? The answer is simple, Satan kills, steals, and destroys all that God called good. Because God is love, and we are made in His image, we need love in our lives. Satan causes dysfunction, abuse, discord, and separation in families to destroy love. Many of us grew up in homes where love was not shown or if it was shown, it was selfish. As children, we develop the wrong belief that we must earn love or be a certain way to be loved. This false belief affects our view of God’s love for us. We get married, wanting to be loved sacrificially but not knowing how to give sacrificial love. Often, we marry equally wounded people and then pass on our unhealthy beliefs about love to our children. God’s love is perfect.

Trying to grasp how much God loves us is like trying to understand how He made the Universe. God’s love is so vast and immeasurable, yet 1John 4:12 states, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” This post is not about how to love but how we display the love of God to others. I have written many posts on love because love is the holy grail of Christianity. If you are interested to learn more, read LOVE Issues.

Love is why God sent His only Son into the world to die for our sins and to give us liberty from our sinful nature. Ephesians 3:17-19 states, “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” How awesome is that? And Romans 8:38-39 states, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Satan may put wrong thoughts in your mind like, “If God loved you, you wouldn’t be going through this,” or “What kind of Father would let his child go through something this hard?” “God doesn’t love you because you disappoint Him.” When we question God’s love, we can’t trust that He has our best interest in mind. Isaiah 54:10 states, “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.:” God lets us go through hard things, to refine our hearts and strengthen our faith. Read my posts called Being Thankful During Hardships and 2— God Promises to Deliver Us from Our Troubles.

God’s Love Is Everlasting and Steadfast

But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children. ̶̶̶ Psalm 103:17

In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer. ̶̶̶ Isaiah 54:8

The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. ̶̶̶ Jeremiah 31:3

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ̶̶̶ Lamentations 3:22-23

But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ̶̶̶ Genesis 39:21

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. ̶̶̶Deuteronomy 7:9

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! ̶̶̶ 1Chronicals 16:34

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. ̶̶̶ Nehemiah 9:17

Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD! ̶̶̶ Psalm 25:7

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. ̶̶̶ Psalm 36:5

The English Standard Version records God’s steadfast love in 193 verses. We can trust God’s love has no end. The Apostle John said in 1John 4:8 that “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” How is your love toward those around you? 1John 4:11 states, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” We know we are abiding in God by how we love those around us. 1John 4:16-17 states, “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. ¹⁷By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.” Never forget that there will be a judgment, and we will have to give an account of all we did while in the flesh, whether good or evil (2Cor. 5:10).

Conclusion

Love is the central theme of God and Christianity. How do you rate on the love scale? Are you patient with everyone? Are you kind to the unkind? Are you gentle with the harsh? Are you self-controlled when tempted? If you struggle with loving others as God loves them, please read my website book; it will help you identify what controls your unloving thoughts and actions. We can trust that nothing will separate us from God’s love, but nowhere in the Bible does it say His love is unconditional. I will explore that truth in my next post.

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POSTS about God’s Promises

All verses are from the English Standard Bible. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share the links with your friends and family, hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected, and no part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

Check out my first book called Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. I would love to hear what you think. To learn more about my book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Many times, people have predicted the rapture would happen on this date, but it never happened. Why did they get it wrong? They were so sure they had it figured out. How could they be wrong? The Bible says in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” The next time you hear someone say, I know for sure that Jesus is returning on this date; ignore them, but be ready. Matthew 24:44 states, “Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” 1Thessalonians 5:2 states, “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

How should we be ready for Christ’s return? Over the next several blog posts, I will explore the meaning of each statement listed in 1Peter 4:7-10, which tells us what we must be doing when Christ returns.

1Peter 4:7-10 (NIV) states, The end of all things is near.

―Therefore, be alert (ESV says, be self-controlled; NAS says, be of sound judgment) and

―of sober mind so that you may pray.

―Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

―Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

―Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

What did Peter mean when He said the end of all things is near? First, let’s review the context of this chapter. Chapter four begins by explaining Christ’s suffering and how our purpose is to suffer in the flesh (also means tempted) until we cease from sin and live for the will of God. Hebrews 2:18 states, “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” God will help you to endure your suffering. The chapter ends by elaborating again on how suffering will test our faith.

These posts explain how to suffer well: Example of Suffering Well and God’s Response: Part 2 of Suffering Well and 7 Ways to Suffer Well: (Part 1).

This next Scripture passage explains how we are to live our lives and how to keep from being distracted from running our life’s race. For me running is suffering, so I think it is fitting that a race is a metaphor for suffering. Hebrews 12:1-2 states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Each of us is running the race of life in different lanes. My lane may require I suffer persecution and hardships; your lane may require suffering afflictions. We each need to keep our eyes on Jesus and encourage one another to love and do good deeds. Hebrews 10:24-25 states, “And let us consider how to stir up (encourage) one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day (of Christ return) drawing near.“

Jesus’s lane was not easy. He was born in a smelly, cold stable only to suffer persecution for speaking the truth that God was His Father. Then He paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross to save us from the wrath of God. 1Peter 2:21-23 states, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

The next Scripture passage encourages us to entrust our souls to God, who is faithful and to do good. 1Peter 4:16-19 states, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

“And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’”

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

Read the posts on what it means to do good. Part 1: How to Achieve Genuine Goodness? and Part 2: How to Overcome Evil with Good.

Jesus warned us that the world would hate us because it hated Him, so expect it and don’t be surprised. John 15:18 states, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” Then John 17:14 says, “I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” And 1Peter 4:14 states, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Finally, Romans 8:16-18 (ESV) states, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Nobody wants to suffer unless you volunteer to join the military. But when you do suffer, keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith (Heb. 12:2), and He will help you endure to glorify you with Him. Matthew 24:13 states, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Be encouraged by the truth that nothing can separate you from the love of God explained in the following passage. Romans 8:35, 37-39 stares, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, 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. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I hope you will keep your eyes on Jesus and the truth of God’s Word and not be distracted by your suffering, the problems in the world, and the allurements of your sinful flesh. We do not know when Christ will return but we need to be ready and watching. I am praying for you, please pray for me. I would love to know what your thoughts are.

Unseen Battle With The Secular World

What Will Cause You to Lose Your Inheritance

How the Devil Causes Trouble

Forgiven and Saved? Now Renew Your Mind (Part One)

Three Steps to Renew Your Mind (Part Two)