W@W WRAP - Week 93 - Women at Work

God is love!

Read:

1 John 4:7-10 (NIV): “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”.

Act:

Let us be determined this week to believe that GOD IS LOVE:

The dictionary defines LOVE as “a strong or deep feeling of attachment or affection” – and is described by words like fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, devotion, adoration, idolization, worship, passion, desire, yearning, compassion, care, regard, goodwill, kindliness, passionate about, and the list goes on… Do we believe these words to be true when we think about God’s attribute as the GOD OF LOVE, or do we look at ourselves and think: “I’m not worth it, God couldn’t possibly love me like that? I wrestle with sin and so many issues… Why is life so difficult, and why does God allow me to struggle, suffer and worry if He truly loves me that much?”
But God doesn’t love us because we do good, live holy lives or because we are worthy of His love. He also does not withhold His love because we sin and struggle and worry – He loves us because of the essence of who He is – He is LOVE (1 John 4:8)!

Let’s believe wholeheartedly that:

God loves us unconditionally and He showed us this through the greatest gift possible. 1 John 4:9-10 (TPT) reminds us: “The light of God’s love shined within us when He sent His matchless [only begotten] Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: He loved us long before we loved Him. It was His love, not ours. He proved it by sending His Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins”. Because of Jesus, we can experience the fullness of God’s extravagant love toward us – we do not have to doubt it or strive for it. The gift has already been given to us!

God’s love will never fail or run empty on us. God’s love is not a feeling or an emotion that changes. The Bible teaches us that God’s love is everlasting. God’s love endures forever (Psalm 136); it’s unfailing (Isaiah 54:10) and steadfast (Lamentations 3:22-23); it’s tender and kind (Isaiah 63:7); it’s loyal (we can depend on it) (Deuteronomy 7:9); and it’s more than enough (Psalm 103:8).

Because God completely loves us, He longs for us to spend time with Him. Let’s be determined to prioritise an intimate relationship with our Father. Our understanding of love and extending love to others, is based on our relationship with our Heavenly Father – it’s based on knowing Him and experiencing His love toward us first-hand. Our scripture for this week highlights this: “Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because GOD IS LOVE – so you can’t know Him if you don’t love…”

Pray:

Heavenly Father, we love You more than words can express. Thank You that no trouble, hard times, hatred, hunger, homelessness, bullying threats, backstabbing, not even the worst sin can separate us from Your extravagant, never-ending, abounding love. We bow in wonder and love before You, our holy God! You have crowned us with love and mercy. Lord, You are kind and tender-hearted – even if we don’t deserve it. Your love is like a flooded river overflowing its banks with kindness. Your greatness and loyal love are far beyond anything we can imagine. Lord, your endless love stretches from one eternity to the next, unbroken and unrelenting toward those who fear You and who are in awe before You. We bless You, we praise You and we love You, Lord! Amen. (Paraphrased Psalm 103 and Romans 8:38-39 (TPT & MSG))