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Sunday, June 21, 2009

God is love

this weekend, we headed out of town again. this time it is for a baseball tournament in danville, il. it only took two hours to get there. jacob was wonderful on this trip. we were all so glad about that. josiah, my oldest son is our baseball player. i love to support him as he enjoys the talents that God has blessed him with. we had a great weekend.

i wanted to sum up my thoughts from the "fearless" conference that i went to last weekend with this post today. for any of you who may have missed it, i have been posting a little each day, since monday, about what God was speaking there and how it has ministered to me and my family. and if you have not stopped to check out because of Jesus ministries or lifestream ministries, please do so. you will be so blessed by what they have to offer.

i was so honored and privileged to be able to speak at this conference as well. God lead me to speak on I John 4:16 and Ephesians 1:4. it was a real pleasure to lean on Him and allow Him to speak through me. i pray that many people's lives were touched as much as mine was by the other speakers.

knowing that the theme for the conference was "fearless" and the main Scripture was I John 4:18, "perfect love casts out all fear," i felt the Lord leading me to speak on what perfect love was and how we miss so much of what He has to offer us because we do not understand the intensity or the quality of His love for us. i think there are several reasons for that. one, is because we only understand love to the degree that we have experienced it or have given it and we associate our understanding of love with God. when we hear that God loves us, we think He loves like we do, with conditions and expectations. but, God's love is perfect agape' love defined as; chosen, self sacrificial action and acceptance given without conditions or expectations of anything in return, a love that is always looking to move on behalf of the one that is beloved, never self serving, and always acting on behalf of who He is. it is unending and unfailing. it is not the human kind of love that has to be returned in order to continue.

another reason it is hard for us to understand God's love is because we have an enemy who tries his hardest to keep us from really knowing and believing the kind of love that God has for us. he deceived eve in the garden by convincing her that God really did not love her as much as He said that He did and that He was really holding something back from her that was wonderful. he is a liar! the only thing God was holding back was the destruction of sin. the enemies lies are still the same. he is still trying to convince us that God is not thoroughly in love with us and might not be there for us when we need Him. deception! it is the only tool he has to use on us anymore.

I john 4:16 tells us, "God is love." that is who God is. the entirety of who God is. everything He does or says is the result of who He is. the absence of love is sin. we could say that God is righteous because God is love! God is holy because God is love! God is awesome because God is love! if God ceased to love, He would cease to be. to understand this is to know that everything that God thinks and acts toward us is originated out of His love for us. Ephesians 1:4 tells us, "...He chose us, in love, before the foundation of the earth..." agape' love is chosen love. Love chose US! He chose US! He chose us to be the beneficiary of all that He is. we are what God is all about. we are the ones that make God continue to be who He is. He created us to love us. we were born for no other reason but to be loved with the perfect love of a holy God. when we begin to fully recognize the love that God has for us, we will love Him back. We love Him because He first loved us. our love for Him is the result of knowing His love for us. and, when we are in the midst of difficult circumstances or huge storms in our life it is easy to trust the One that we know loves us and has our best interest at heart enabling us to live fearless. no matter what!

21 comments:

Daveda said...

So good Christy, so true. God is Love. I think the revelation of love is an unending one. As we continue to get to know the father we will continue to learn about love as a Person, how to receive it...Him, give it...Him, and live it...I mean HIM!

You were absolutely a blessing, to many I am sure. I know you are always a blessing to me!

I am going to post the blog award you gave me. The post I have up now was stirring me, so after that. And, thanks again my friend.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this wonderful reminder of God’s love.

♥Hope

Mich said...

Thank you for sharing such encouragement and reminding me of the power of God's love.

I love the song playing. Zeph 3:7 is one of my favorite verses (in fact it is in the title of my blog)

God is mighty to save!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing from your talk at the conference..this line was great "we only understand love to the degree that we have experienced it or have given it"

In a recent post on hope I wrote of how my father used to tell me that it is not just that God chooses to love us. He is love. I always found that so comforting!

Jennifer W. said...

Beautiful, Christie. I love seeing your heart because it is filled with the Lord! Thank you for sharing this message with us.
Jen

Miss Charlene said...

This was such a blessing to read. I enjoyed it a lot! If only we could grasp the love of God, it'd change everything wouldn't it? :)

Kelly L said...

Great post! God is love and because of Him we can love.
Love,
Kelly

Denise said...

Learning to love as my Father loves me - every minute of every day. I am beloved and I am coming to grips with what that means.

This sounds like a wonderful conference.

Shalom,
Denise

Lori at JOY Unspeakable said...

Great post! God's love is mind-blowing, isn't it? It's more than our little finite minds can fully comprehend...and I'm so thankful. It is my heart's desire to have a deeper understanding of Him each and every day.

amanda said...

something i needed to read this morning! thanks. :0) thanks for the award too. :0)

RCUBEs said...

Amen. He is the Source of love, even human love that spreads like fire. In loving His children, He kindles a flame in our hearts. In turn, we love others who are warmed by His love through us. May I live that life, letting Him fill me with His love so that I can love others unconditionally. Thank you for sharing what you learned from that wonderful conference. Even if I wasn't able to go, it felt like I was there because of your writing. To God be the glory! God bless sister and have a wonderful day. "Love" you in Christ. :)

Tracy said...

Awesome!

Joyeful said...

Christy, what a wonderful post on the love of God--his agape love!! I never thought of the fact that God is holy because He is love!! Wow! What a wonderful revelation that God is who He is because He is Love!!

Love you!

RCUBEs said...

Hi sister. Came back to let you know that I want to share a blog award with you. When you get a chance, come and visit me and pick it up if you want to. God bless.

E @ Scottsville said...

Ahhh, yes! GOD IS LOVE! Thank you for reminding us of that.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded of some of the truths of God's Word!

Sharon Sloan said...

God is love.
So simple and pure. So amazing and profound.

Warm blessings,
Sharon

momstheword said...

I love how you said that we expect God to love how we love. That is so true sometimes. We put our own expectations on God and we limit God.

Fortunately He is not limited to our expectations or defined by or confined to them.

He truly exceeds them all!

Lisa said...

Thank you SO much for the word of encouragement you left on my blog today. It was sorely needed for a sore heart. I'm gonna make it -- and only because of Him!

Hugs,
Lisa

Jennifer @ JenniferDukesLee.com said...

Isn't that something that God IS love? Such a profound verse! I think we grow up hearing it so often that its significance can erode. This was a great reminder.

One of Beth Moore's studies, Loving Well, addressed this verse, and I was so blessed by that.

I'm blessed again here today, Christy Rose! Thank you for sharing.

Also thank you for your kind comments lately on my blog. I haven't been able to check others' blogs lately because of my vacation, so it's nice to get back over here and see what you've been up to!

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

You said it in your last sentence...

agape love is a "best interest" kind of love. A love that exceeds personal preference to include the preferences of others.

I'm so glad you had the occasion to share your heart with others. You do such a beautiful job of it here on the blog; I can only imagine listening to your witness in person.

peace~elaine

Warren Baldwin said...

I would like to have heard this talk! Your overview of it is very good. I like these verse in 1 John, also 4:4 - The one who is in us is stronger than the one who is without. I take great comfort in that.

We did have a great time at the ballpark! Josiah is 15, so he must be in Babe Ruth? Age 15 was Wes' best year in Babe Ruth. He struggled the first two years but got it together his 3rd year of BR and made it to the All Stars. Our family loves baseball and softball. Our youngest daughter is a softball player. I had some pics of her on back during the school year.

You don't have your talk on cd by any chance, do you, that you could put on MP3 and email out?

wb