Love is a common word that we use every day to express our deepest affection for someone who we care about and someone who is dear to us. In a family setting, we expect love from each other and usually hope that the significant other will understand how to express that love in a way that is meaningful to us. Inability to express it in a way that is meaningful to the other person, therefore, is usually a source of discord in a relationship because we might be expressing love from our viewpoint and not the other person’s and will be wondering what we are doing wrong. The important thing therefore is to understand the other person’s love language and express it that way provided that love language aligns with the word of God.
As a family of God, our father in heaven first loved us in a way that is meaningful by sending His only begotten son The Lord Jesus to die on the cross for us, to redeem us from our sins, reconcile us to God thereby granting us access to God and eternal life. Most of all, He is always with us to guide, protect, preserve and provide for our needs. His love is all encompassing, everlasting and nothing can be compared to it and having access to it is predicated upon our accepting the Lord Jesus as our Lord and personal savior.
Now, our father wants us to love Him because as Christians we are in His family and love is expected among family members especially Him that has sacrificed so much for us, saved us from our sins, given us eternal life ,protects, preserves and provides for us. But, our question will be how do we love Him? Fortunately, He, has provided a way to do that in His Word the Bible. In Mathew 22:37-38; 37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. In Deuteronomy 10:12. Moses enjoined the children of Israel to love God with these words; And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, In John 14:21(NIV) the Lord Jesus Himself tells us that “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.†The commands the Lord referred to here are His words and teachings on many subjects based on which Christian principles are derived. He also emphasized that ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone 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’†John 14:23–24(NIV).
The above passage has informed us that we express our love for God by obeying His words as expressed in the Bible. And it is not about merely following rigid rules and regulations but because our hearts has been transformed to love Him by the Holy Spirit, we naturally and sincerely desire to see His will done in our lives. Obedience to His word keeps us in His will and protects us from the fiery darts of the evil one. But in order to start doing that, we must first know our father in Heaven because for your love of God to be meaningful, you must know Him, and He has to know you. You do not love someone you don’t really know. We might be in the family of God and answer His children and yet do know him. And on the last day He will tell us also that He does not know us. Because if you know him, you will be known by Him. Do you know Him as your father, and does He know you as His child because all His promises are available to His children.
So, the first topic in our Loving God series is:
Loving God by Knowing Him.
We are created by God and within each of us lies a strong desire to know God and also to have a relationship with him. A distinct desire that fame, wealth and the pleasures of this life cannot satisfy in a way that truly knowing God through our Lord Jesus can. And hence a void exists when that area of our life is unattended to and unsatisfied. But we can know God and have a personal relationship with him because he made the provision for knowing him through the Lord Jesus who said, in the Gospel of John 14: 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Therefore the first Step in knowing God is accepting the Lord Jesus as your Lord and personal savior.
1: Accepting the Lord Jesus as your Lord and personal savior.
It is vital to understand that we cannot truly know God and have a personal relationship with him because of our sinful nature inherited from the first man Adam and therefore do not meet the standard of holiness needed to communicate with God. And the consequences of this sin is eternal death but the gift of God is eternal life through the lord Jesus. Romans 3:23(KJV). 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23(KJV)For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, God made a provision to cleanse us from our sin and from all unrighteousness, deliver us from eternal death and condemnation by sending the Lord Jesus His only begotten son to die on the cross as a penalty for our sins. John 3:16 (KJV) states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life†Hence when you believe by faith in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ, God places the righteousness of the Lord Jesus on you and adopts you into His kingdom and the kingdom of His dear son as His child. So this the first step in knowing God -receiving the Lord Jesus into your hearts as your Lord and personal savior. The Bible stated in John 1: 12 “As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” Irrespective of what your sin is, God is calling on you today to accept the Lord Jesus and become a child of God. Because this forum is a practical application platform we encourage you to say the sinners prayer below and start journaling your process of seeking and knowing God. We are all on that journey together by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, God, I come to you today to ask you to forgive my sins because I am a sinner. For in 1 John 1:9 You said that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” and also in Hebrews 8:12 you said “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.†I do understand that I cannot be saved by my good works and my my sins will lead me into eternal death. I believe that the Lord Jesus died for my sins on the cross and today, I repent of my sins and turn from all of them. Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart as my Lord and personal savior and give me the grace to live for you. Thank you for forgiving my sin, accepting me as your child and giving me eternal life. Amen.
When you have done the above from your heart sincerely, believe it in faith that your sins are forgiven and that you are now a child of God. Simple things that can help you stay on course after this decision include:
Start praying to God daily for grace, strength and guidance by the Holy Spirit. It is not about feelings because feelings always come and go but a committed decision to live a committed life that pleases God and our Lord Jesus. If you have joy and peace etc that is fine but it is a faith work where you trust and believe God to help you daily to please Him and He will give you the grace to do so.
Pray and receive strength to turn away from your former ways that do not align with the word of God by making conscious effort to forsake them.
Study the word of God the Bible. Buy a bible and start reading it from the Gospel of John. You can buy a bible that is easier to understand like:
New International Version, New American Standard Bible or English Standard Version
Join a Bible believing church
Do not follow friends that will cause you to go back to your former ways but surround yourself with people who sincerely follow The Lord Jesus so that they will encourage you.
Be mindful of where you go, what you do, what you watch, what you listen to and people that you hang out with. It is not a rule of do’s and don’ts, but the Holy Spirit will help your taste to change but you still need conscious efforts to depart from your former ways and gradually you will become better and better by the grace of our heavenly father, God.
For believers in Christ who have backslidden due to one thing or the other, this is an opportunity to reconcile with God and re-consecrate your life to the Lord Jesus and start the journey afresh. The Lord Jesus is the good shepherd and states in John 6:37-40 (KJV)
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
A Reminder: What you nurture grows into a healthy state but that which is unattended to dies and falls away. May the Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you that will make this decision and to us all In Jesus Mighty Name Amen.
