Do I love God?

[smartinez1984]

What does it mean when one says "I Love God"? How does one know when one loves God?

I know I love my wife because I would do anything to ensure her happiness, anything I can do obviously. I love her because I've come to know her in the 19 plus years that I've been married to her.

It wasn't always that way. We were married much to young thinking we were doing the right thing after having a child out of wedlock. I wasn't in love nor was she. But I've grown to love her over the years and I cannot imagine living without her.

Does one immediately love God when he/she accepts Jesus as his/her personal saviour? How do you know? I cannot honestly say that I would die for him right now and there are probably countless "christians" in the same boat, although they wouldn't all admit it.

How can I come to love him to that level?

God Bless,

-Samson

[PawnRaider]

Very good question!

Do I love God?  

Remember the Bible says "the one who was forgiven much loves much."  

I am fully aware of my old man and how trashy I would have been had God not called me from a very young age...  I love Him more now than I used to when I was younger.  I have found the reality of "transformed from glory to glory" in the continuing relationship with Jesus, the Living God...  

However, My wife is well aware that, that while I love her very dearly and very intensely, she holds a distant second place in my heart.  the One who died on the Cross has first place.   He has not asked me to die for Him, yet HE asks me to LIVE for Him every day...  this, I think, is the true test, and it appears to be the more difficult challenge.  Dying well would be a single successful incident, while living well is an unending series of challenging incidents and opportunities for compromise.

[Lance]

It is a very good question smartinez1984..  Do I love God ?

Start with your analogy of your wife and how you have grown to love her after a poor beginning.  Ask yourself why you love her.  Is it because you have grown to love her little ways, her habits, the way she smiles at you and provides little comforts ?

Well God is like that too only infinitely more so.  You probably praise your wife and have noticed how she loves it.  Well praise God too and feel his Holy Spirit at work in your heart, softening it and making it acceptable to him.  Repent of your sins and be willing to change.  Note that I said willing because nobody can change themselves; only God can do it.  You will find youself going from a harsh world into a green meadow full of peace; the peace that passeth all understanding.

God bless.

 Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[Raphu]

I pray that I love God in truth and not just with lip service, but the evidence mounts against me as live goes on. Living a dedicated life to God, and denying oneself is not easy - especially for one born with spots and wrinkle.

MATT. 7:21 It is NOT those who say to me "Lord, Lord" who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who DOES the will of my Father in heaven.

MATT. 25:31-45 When the Son of Man comes in his glory....He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.....Then he will say to those on his left,'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil & his angels. FOR I WAS HUNGRY & YOU GAVE ME NOTHING TO EAT, I WAS THIRSTY & YOU GAVE ME NOTHING TO DRINK, I WAS A STRANGER & YOU DID NOT INVITE ME IN, I NEEDED CLOTHES AND YOU DID NOT CLOTHE ME, I WAS SICK AND IN PRISON, AND YOU DID-- NOT LOOK AFTER ME.". "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

I JOHN 3:16-19 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can. the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS and TRUTH. This then is how we KNOW that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.

[smartinez1984]

Feel? Isn't this really all about faith? I strive to love God, I worship him, I seek him constantly, I read his word, but these are all actions I take in hopes that I can someday REALLY know him and love him.

It's different with my wife. I can see her, I can feel her, she responds immediately to me when I call, I hold her hand and its warmth lets me know she's really there.

I can't see God but I can see his creation. It takes faith to know he created it. I can't feel God although many times I cry with joy because a song, a tragedy, a special moment lets me reflect on him and my hope arises that God is there and he's watching, listening, caring.

Faith. That's the secret to all this, isn't it? I can't love God without unending faith. That's the struggle, even when we listen and read his word. Human nature... the sights, the smells, etc. get in the way...

God Bless,

-Samson

[Lance]

Right Raphu,
You sound like a real bowl of cheer.  This is the old chestnut of triers over trusters.  You know Raphu,  God really doesn't need us at all.  It is a nice thought but why should an infinite Holy God put his reliance on unworthy sinful man ?  Well it is because we have to "prove ourselves in the field."  If we can't be compassionate to one another here then I doubt if we would be fit for a life in eternity.  Being kind and considerate shouldn't be a hardship but a pleasure but if dog eats dog, what hope is there for humanity.

Let us put our trust in the one who shed his blood for our sins, Christ Jesus.  If we are worthy for heaven then following Jesus will be a pleasure.  Let us trust in what Jesus has done for us and stop trying to be worthy.

 Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.

Amen

[Lance]

Well smartinez1984, if its faith you want—pray for it.

 Mr 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

[smartinez1984]

Hello Lance,

Pray for it? Don't we all have it? I pray for increase on a daily basis, many times over during the day.

What is your faith based on, out of curiosity? On reading or hearing the word of God? Or has he done something in your life that you just knew, without a doubt, that it was the work of God? Is your faith a result of an effort put out on your part? In other words, do you just simply say "I'm gonna believe" and then do it?

I ask because I see many folks who are adamant about their great faith in God but their works nowhere reflect that faith or LOVE of God...

-Samson

[Lance]

It may surprise you to learn that my faith is not based on Bible reading or other reading smartinez1984.  They are by-products of my faith.  No, my faith is based on the inner workings of the Holy Spirit in my life who came to dwell in me when it pleased God to reveal his truth to me and I repented of my sins.

Yes I was lost but now I'm found; blind but now I see.  Praise the Lord !

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

Click here for the music and words

[smartinez1984]

Hmmm... that's really interesting. I was under the impression that God reveals his truth to us through his Word and that the Holy Spirit guides us to understand God's word. But you're saying that the Holy Spirit revealed God's truth to you OUTSIDE his Word thereby leading you to repent of your sins.

Are there other truths that we need to be made aware of outside of God's word that was left for us? That would seem to make his word incomplete.

God Bless,

-Samson

[ollie]

1 John 5:1.  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
 2.  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
 3.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
 4.  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
 5.  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
 6.  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.



1 John 4:20.  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
 21.  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

[gamblefish]

Hmmm... that's really interesting. I was under the impression that God reveals his truth to us through his Word and that the Holy Spirit guides us to understand God's word. But you're saying that the Holy Spirit revealed God's truth to you OUTSIDE his Word thereby leading you to repent of your sins.

Are there other truths that we need to be made aware of outside of God's word that was left for us? That would seem to make his word incomplete.

God Bless,

-Samson

I tend to agree with you, Samson, that the Holy Spirit reveals the truths contained in God's Word.

John 16:13-14  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.  

I am always very wary of someone claiming truth outside of God's revealed Word. At the very least, such truth must line up with and never contradict the Word of God.

[Lance]

Hmmm... that's really interesting. I was under the impression that God reveals his truth to us through his Word and that the Holy Spirit guides us to understand God's word. But you're saying that the Holy Spirit revealed God's truth to you OUTSIDE his Word thereby leading you to repent of your sins.

Are there other truths that we need to be made aware of outside of God's word that was left for us? That would seem to make his word incomplete.

God Bless,

-Samson

Well Samson, look at it this way, when a person is first drawn to God, he knows little or nothing of scripture.  God does indeed speak to us through his word but until the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, it is a closed book.  When the Comforter comes, he opens the book to his teachings and the words of scripture seem to leap off the page at him.  It is a wonderful feeling and it creates a hunger and longing for God's word.  Of course God can speak to us in other ways too but not all Christians accept this.  The thing to remember is that when he does, he never contradicts his written word.
God bless.

[Petro]

Since we have never seen God, it is difficult to love God, the same way, one loves his wife, since married persons have one another physically to care for each other, on the other hand, if we believe God, we understand that it is only of his hand, that we recieve all that we have need of.

Just, To know the Creator of the universe has an interest in us, should cause us to respond in a way, which would show our gratitude, and appreciation, love is not something that comes to individuals imediately, it is only when one considers the price which Jesus paid at the cross, for sinners.

He died that we who put our trust in Him that raised Him from the dead might live through Him.

We can only love God, when we consider that He loved us first;

These verses, can sure get one to thinking about what love really is;

Eph 2
4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

1 Jhn 4
10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13  Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14  And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15  Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Rev 1
5b , Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

I am not sure we can ever love Him, as much as He lovers us.

Jesus said;

If you love me, Keep my Commandments"

One way to show Him love, is to keep His commandments..



Blessings,

Petro