Experiencing God's Love!

By
Bobby Allen

"I love you with an everlasting love. I knew you before the foundation of the world, and in your mothers womb I poured out my love to you." Psalm 139.

Do you long to know the love of God deep within your heart and soul? Is there a yearning within you to experience an intimacy with Him that runs deeper than every other experience in life?

When you think about being loved by God what does it look like to you? When you think about being loved by God what does it feel like to you? Do you feel like you do not deserve His love? Do you think that you need to earn His love?

Steve McVey a wonderful author on many books on the grace and love of God encouraged us in His book, "Divine Invitation,"to imagine a different type of life for a moment. A life in which God requires nothing from you to get His love. In this life, His purpose is not that you should try to give Him anything. He, on the other hand, intends to give you everything for you to experience His complete fulfillment. In this life there is nothing you could ever do to make God love you or like you any more or any less than He does right now."

Imagine that nothing you could ever do could change the way God feels about you, even to the slightest degree. Hmm.. sound to good to be true?

Often times this kind of thinking is scary to believers. We’re afraid that this will encourage people to sin more. Or offer them a license to sin. But, if you think about it we don’t need a license to sin we do find without one. The world, the flesh and the devil are encouraging us to sin all the time. If anyone chooses to sin it will happen with or without a license, living under law or living under grace. So how do we experience God’s love?

One way to experience His love for you, is to let God love you. Allow Him to melt down any barriers we may have put up to protect ourselves. God says, "I love you with an everlasting love. I knew you before the foundation of the world, and in your mothers womb I poured out my love to you." Psalm 139. Enjoying His love for you will give you more love for Him.

Another way to experience His love for you is by appropriating Jesus as our life. The bible says that "in Him we move, exist and have our being." Acts 17:28 By the cross, God has put to death the old life we had and has now given us the very life of Jesus Christ to be our own. We live from the life of another! In other words God loves you so much that He has brought you to Himself, where you will stay safely in Christ, for all eternity.

I’m reminded of an insightful story Steve McVey told. There was guy who needed to learn how to swim, so he asked his friend a swimming instructor to teach him. The first thing to know, is that you don’t need to be afraid of sinking or drowning, his friend told him. If you relax your body will float.

So he laid back in the water, attempting to do what he had said. However every time he laid back and felt the water filling his ears, he would lift his head. Then he would begin to sink. "Don’t lift your head," his teacher encouraged him. Just relax and let your ears go under water. You won’t sink. Again he tried to do what his instructor said, but only would get scared when feeling the water, and soon would begin to sink.

Finally his instructor said, "Lie back in my arms and I will hold you on top of the water so that you won’t sink. I began to lie back and true to his word, I felt his arms underneath me holding me up. Soon I began to relax a little as I felt the support of his arms. Now he said, "I’m going to move my arms from your back so that you won’t feel me touching you, but they will still be beneath you, and I will catch you if you start to sink. Do you trust me?

Finally this guy for the first time in his life began to float. He said that he felt no fear because he knew that underneath him, were his instructor arms. He knew that he had his guarantee that he would not sink.

What kind of arms does God have my friends? The bible says that God has outstretched, strong and loving arms. Arms that will undergird you and rescue you when you feel like you are sinking. When the apostle Peter found himself in water over his head and was beginning to sink, he cried out to Jesus, "Lord save me". Immediately Jesus stretched out His arms and with His hand took hold of him. Matthew 14:30-31

Do you want to know and feel God’s love for you? Then rest in His loving arms. They are there for you all the time, no matter what, regardless if you can feel them or not.

(I credit Steve McVey's and his book "Divine Invitation" for the writing of this devotion.)