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Gods Love for me and for you A few years ago I was feeling like God was not near to me, like I couldn't be forgiven for my sins. But I prayed desperately and asked God to speak to me in a dream, I think I persisted and asked for about two weeks and then I got this dream.... I was escorted to a door by a man in a white suite, he told me that God wants to see you, besides the door to where God was there was an escape route. I remember thinking, that I must be in trouble if God wants to see me, so i was about to run through the gap and away from God when something inside of me said "you can't escape God you will have to face him eventually" so with that I decided to walk in the room. Inside the room, it was like outer space, i wasn't on a floor but I also did not fall or walk, there was a throne in the room but i remember looking down in shame. I don't remember any actual words being spoken, but I remember that God could speak to me without words, he could read my mind and my soul, it was as if being completely naked, he could see all of me to the very depth. It was so wonderful because I didn't show God love or anything when I went into that room, but he choose to show me love, he reached into the deepest part of me and gave me what i needed. It was really amazing, i felt like a complete being, it was like nothing I have ever felt or think I will feel again till I go to heaven. If simply being with God is that great, how much greater will it be when i'm in his beautiful kingdom and surrounded by other being's who love him just as much... I can guarantee you that heaven will be indescribable.
Is this dream related to love? yes, because he choose to show me love, it wasn't anything that I did to deserve it.
This verse describes how i felt in front of God, when I said being naked i meant this:
Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
so that leaves me with point 1
1. His love for us isn't based upon us, its not based upon how good we are, or our love for him. He still loves us. before I move on I feel I should also back this up with scripture:
2 Timothy 1:9-10 who has saved us and called us to a holy life-- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
MORE ON GODS LOVE FOR US!!!:
John 3:16-18 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned......
God was willing to die for us,
in Matthew 26:53 Jesus said:
"Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
then he says:
"Matthew 26:54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"
Jesus was willing and obedient to death on the cross, Jesus wanted to die for you and me. He even sweated blood and you can't sweat blood unless under extreme stress. And this was even before judas had come, he is divine, he knew exactly what he was about to go through even though it had not happened yet. God I believe is out of time, I believe he already knows everyone that will be in his kingdom. You can also see Jesus’s love for people and us during his life on earth, he healed many and showed his divine powers through many miracles, yet he never did anything out of selfish motivation, he had complete love for everyone. He wanted us to be with him, and he was willing to go through death that we might live with him. To stop at his death though would not be the whole story, because after three days Jesus rose from the dead, and claimed victory over it. Jesus now is alive in the heavenlies and we have a great priest who is now able to understand our weaknesses. We have been brought with a price, through his blood. This makes us children of God through faith in Jesus.
1 John 3:1-3 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
point 2
2. Jesus showed his love for us by choosing to die for us on the cross and raising again, he is able to understand our weaknesses.The Love of God is so great, I wish I could write better about it, but what a better love story then God dieing for you and me....
So what should my response be to this GREAT LOVE that Jesus(God) has for me? First thing I'd like to say is, often people might think that giving their life to God is in a way losing it. They think they need to be religious and go to Church because they have to, and be good because if they are not they won't go to heaven. But as you can see in point 1 that I raised, God's acceptance of you is not based on what you have done. God is bigger then that. Actually God wants to have a relationship with you, a loving nurturing relationship with you. He wants you to love him back as well but he won't force you to love him, he will show you his love and patiently wait for you. Lets see how we can respond to God's love for us....
We have to realize that in order to have a relationship with God, we need to be made alive spiritually, because without God we are spiritually dead. This is what is called being born again. For our physical body, death means the separation of our soul/spirit from our bodies, being spiritually dead means the separation of our spirit from God. Sin is the cause of our spiritual death, and it started from Adam when he disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God said to Adam that on that day he would die. God didn't mean he would die physically although that did happen because of sin, but he meant that he would be spiritually separated from God. This is the essence of sin, anything that separates us from God. But we have forgiveness and redemption through the blood of Jesus.
Colossians 1:13-17 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Romans 3:22-26 his righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
point 3
3. We can have a relationship with God, in response to his love for us. We admit we are sinners, we repent and believe that Jesus is God, that he came and he rose from the dead for you. here is a prayer I found at
http://www.christianity.net.au/questions/how_to_become_a_christianDear God,
I know that I have not lived as you want me to. I have not loved you as I ought nor loved the people who live around me. I am sorry and want to change.
Thanks you for Jesus. Thank you that he lived and died for me and rose again and is now the Lord.
Please forgive me and help me to live as you want me to.
Amen.
If you prayed this prayer and really meant it, you are now a child of God, you are in Christ.
Our response to God love doesn't stop here, from this point on it gets better. The more you Grow in your love for God, the more you love others and yourself.
Its pretty late now, I feel like there is more to be said but its almost 3am.....
I am leaving some verses below, they where ones that I looked up but didn't end up including them in what I was saying... But they focus on loving God and how we can show him we love him.
John 14:23-26 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you
1 John 3:10-11 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
1 John 3:18-20 ear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
