#LavishLove

Guess what?  God loves you. And He loves you lavishly.

You need to believe this.

Why?  Because beliefs determine feelings.  It’s true.  #preachit

People throughout history have believed wrong things. These wrong beliefs, in turn, led to wrong feelings.  These wrong feelings produced dishonor, disunity, and disorder. Sincere feelings do not guarantee honorable activity:

Let’s start at the very beginning…

Think Eve. Or Hitler. Or Jim Jones.  How about Osama Bin Laden? #howboutyou

Or how about in literature?  Romeo and Juliet? Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, feels distraught and kills himself.

How about in everyday life?  Do you ever believe something that isn’t true?  Sometimes I believe my husband doesn’t care about me, so I feel like he’s not a good guy.  But that’s not true.  He is a good guy and has my best in mind.  I must believe the truth.  Because my beliefs determine my feelings. #feelingslie

It’s like that with God, you know.  You don’t feel his lavish love for you because you don’t truly believe He’s good.  You don’t fully trust He’s got your best in mind.  You can pin as many “Jesus thinks I’m a princess” memes on your Pinterest board as you want, but until you think rightly about God, you will not feel treasured.  #truth

So, what will change us?  What will help us believe what is actually true?  Choosing to use that transformed mind the Lord has so graciously given you (Romans 12:2) and making your feelings align with the powerful Truth of God.  When you say, “I have faith in you God,” you are saying, in essence, “My belief is based in what you say is true, God.”  That’s why it is so important to have a Biblically-based worldview.  Much of what you see, hear, even feel, in this world is a lie, but what you read in the Bible is truth. #allthetime

When you have solid theology, it primes your mind to think rightly.  Good books that challenge your thinking and make you have a broader view of God are belief-building.  When God gets bigger in your mind, you hunger for more of Him.  AW Tozer says “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  If you feed truth into your mind, your believing will be accurate and your feelings will follow. #itsscriptural

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  Luke 6:45

That’s why God makes such a big deal about faith in the Bible.  Faith defined is complete trust and confidence in someone or something.  That’s why, when Mary and Martha believed Jesus was too late to help their now-dead brother, Lazarus, they felt grief stricken and hopeless.  But Jesus showed up, said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? (Matt 11:40)  God shows His glory to us when we surrender our wrong beliefs to Him. #hesamazing

Want to know HOW God loves you?  Read the Bible.

Want to know WHY God loves you?  Read the Bible. (Spoiler: It’s not because you’re so great)

God has no needs.  He doesn’t love us out of need.  People have needs.  People love out of need.  People have trouble loving other people when those people don’t meet their needs.  God is not a person. #hallelujah

Here’s the scoop guys; God is able to meet ALL your needs according to his riches in glory (Phil 4:9).  But, you don’t believe that do you?  You think someone with skin  here on the earth will be able to meet all of your needs. That is wrong thinking, and it is leading to wrong feeling.  If you believe rightly that God is your need-meeter, feelings of contentedness will follow.  Spiritual laws are no different than natural ones.  If something is true (gravity always pulls me downward), it is always true. It doesn’t matter if you believe it. #trusthim

What can you do to feel loved by God? 

1. Believe that God loves you #hediedinyourplace

2. Stop trying to prove your worth by what you do #youwillneverbegoodenough

3. Believe that you are saved by His grace #freegift

4.  Trust Him enough to give up control #yourlifeisnotyourown

5.  Surrender your identity. Your worth is not in what you do, but in what He has already done #itisfinished

Believe Him!  Enjoy Him!  Let Him Love you Lavishly!

#andlovehimback

#withallyourheartmindandsoul

 And I pray, that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19