3 Benefits of God's Love

 

by Barbara Latta @barbaralatta

Love is the foundation upon which all biblical doctrines rest. It is the cement that holds all other revelations together. How can we trust our heavenly Father to save us, provide for us, or heal us if we question the depth of His affection?

We may not feel His heart at times, but that doesn’t change the truth. We should believe He is passionate toward us because He said so.

We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19 NKJV). We can’t love God first because there isn’t anything in us to love Him with until we receive for ourselves the life He extends to us.

Herein is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). We don’t deserve His mercy, but He gives it to us because of His grace.

God's love gives us more than we can ever count, but here are 3 benefits we can live out daily.

Happy Valentine's Day From the One Who Loves You Most

 

Happy Valentine's Day From the One Who Loves You Most

by Barbara Latta @barbaralatta

Chocolate, roses, fancy dinners, and stuffed animals are the primary gifts given for Valentine’s Day. These are physical reminders of affectionate feelings for another person. But after the day is over, do we revert back to old ways and forget the loving things said and done because of a special holiday?

Our tokens of love are emotional. Feelings aren’t wrong, but we can’t depend on them to guide our lives. Sometimes we don’t feel like being loving, we would rather be grumpy or rude. 

But real love does the action without the feeling.

5 Ways to Transform Your Thinking

 

 by Barbara Latta @barbaralatta

A young girl sat alone in her room fighting teenage depression and feelings of worthlessness. Lies flew through her mind with voices of self-hate telling her she would never amount to anything. Tears were her only companion and a heavy heart paralyzed her thoughts. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she be liked by others and successful at making friends?

The Real Face of Love

 

by Barbara Latta 

The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, languages more precise than the English most of us are familiar with. Scripture uses a variety of words to indicate different relationships, whereas we throw around several uses of love, sometimes flippantly, and the word loses the impact we intend.

We love chocolate.

We love our spouse.

We love our dog.

We love our car.

We love a certain book or movie.

We love God.

We use this same word to indicate a variety of emotions and attachments. We don’t (or shouldn’t!) love chocolate with the same feelings we have for our spouse.

5 Ways to be Deeply Rooted in the Love of God

by Barbara Latta

We celebrate Valentine’s Day with expressions of love. We give gifts, dinners, chocolate and flowers. But no matter what we do for each other, our love cannot compare to the love God shows to the world. He sent the valentine of heaven to us in the form of Jesus.

God doesn’t deal with us the way we deal with each other.  He doesn’t just display love, He is love. Love is His very being. He created the world because of love.

It’s not supposed to be hard, but our minds get in the way. Every time we mess up we think we need to run from God until we clean ourselves up and become worthy to approach His throne again. But if we could clean ourselves up, we wouldn’t need a Savior. The best place to be after committing sin is in the arms of the Father.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20b).

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).

God’s unconditional love was shown to us while we were still dirty, rotten sinners (Romans 5:8). He showed the one and only kind of real love when he gave Jesus to us as a gift wrapped in a little baby to grow into the man who would have all the foul sin of the world placed upon him.

That was action, not emotion.

Because He loved us, we can love Him (I John 4:10). And because He loved us, we can love others. Not with a feeling, but with a showing, a doing, a becoming what He made us to be.

Here are 5 ways to to be deeply rooted in the love He has for us:

• Find the scriptures about God’s love and write them down.
• Meditate on these verses every day saying them out loud. 
• Make it personal by inserting our own name as they are read.
• No matter how we feel, it is important to believe the Word is true.  God doesn’t lie and when He says he loves us, it means he loves us. His love is not dependent upon our works. This is important to remember when emotions say otherwise.
• Stay in communication with Him. When we go days or weeks without praying or reading His Word, the culture we are surrounded with will take over. Listening to God should be our priority.

The Bible is full of favorite verses, but this one says so much:  For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, not depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).

The valentine of heaven wasn’t a card sent through an angelic mailbox. It was blood running down a wooden cross to soak into the cursed earth. One drop would have been enough, but He used it all to show us He goes over and beyond and does much more than we need.  He paid the highest cost and we were given the freest gift.

What does this love mean to you? Join the conversation and share your thoughts.

The valentine of heaven wasn’t a card sent through anangelic mailbox (click to tweet)

5 ways to be deeply rooted in the love of God (click to tweet)

The True Nature of God is Love, Not Judgment

by Barbara Latta

Chocolate, roses, fancy dinners, and stuffed animals are the primary gifts given for

The true nature of God is love, not judgment.

Valentine’s Day. These are physical reminders of affectionate feelings for another person. But after the day is over, do we revert back to old ways and forget the loving things said and done because of a special holiday?

Our tokens of love are emotional. Feelings aren’t wrong, but we can’t depend on them to guide our lives. Sometimes we don’t feel like being loving, we would rather be grumpy or rude. But real love does the action without the feeling.

The true nature of God is unconditional love, not judgment. He loved us while we were still dirty, rotten sinners (Romans 5:8). He showed the one and only kind of real love when he gave Jesus to us as a gift wrapped in a little baby to grow into the man who would have all the foul sin of the world placed upon him. He placed the judgment of His wrath upon His own Son so it wouldn't fall upon us. 

That was action, not emotion.

Happy Valentine's Day from Jesus

Because He loved us, we can love Him (I John 4:10). And because He loved us, we can love others. Not with a feeling, but with a showing, a doing, a becoming what He made us to be.

Our works don’t bring us into a relationship with God. Faith does that. Receiving grace does that (Ephesians 8-9). But to bring someone else into that grace requires showing them the love of the Father. And that is where the action comes in. When we don't retaliate against someone who has mistreated us we are reflecting the true nature of God because that is what He did for us. He doesn't give us evil when we display evil. He empties Himself and pours out a love we can not experience through human emotion.

The valentine of heaven wasn’t a card sent through an angelic mailbox. It was blood running down a wooden cross to soak into the cursed earth. One drop would have been enough, but he used it all to show us He goes over and beyond and does much more than we need.  He paid the highest cost and we were given the freest gift.

Happy Valentine’s Day—from Jesus.

What does this love mean to you?

The true nature of God is love not judgment (click to tweet)

Happy Valentine's Day from Jesus (click to tweet)

Jesus is the only baby born whose destiny was to die

by Barbara Latta

Jesus was born to die.

The incarnate Christ was forever changed when the Word of God became flesh. The second person of the Trinity laid aside the benefits of His deity to subject Himself to the creation He had made so He could redeem that same creation from sin. When Jesus was resurrected, He had an immortal body with scars He will have forever. …Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into my side…(John 20:27).

God’s plan for the ages was redemption for His creation.

For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (1 Peter 1:20 NKJV).

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel (Genesis 3: 15).

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the

propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).

Jesus really is the REASON we have the SEASON, for without Him not only would we not have Christmas, but we wouldn’t have Resurrection Day. And Resurrection Day is the reason He was born.

May your Christmas be blessed and happy!

Feel free to share your joy in the comments section below.

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Jesus is the only baby born whose destiny was to die (click to tweet)