Studies

Loving God

Is This How I Really Love God?

Truly - Sincerely; genuinely. Sincerely; honestly; really; faithfully; with sincerity; without pretense; in fact; in deed; in reality; in truth.

Madly - in a desperate manner, extremely, in a wild manner; frantically, insanely.

Deeply - profoundly; thoroughly; not superficially; in a high degree; intensely; at or to a great depth; far below the surface; to a great depth psychologically.

1. Do I love God truly? This isn’t just about a general type of love. This encompasses all the meanings of the word truth. How do I love God truly? Where am I lacking in my love of God?
Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
James 2:14 - 25 Faith - Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Loyalty to a person or thing. Complete confidence in a person or plan.
To truly love God, I need to be faithful. Without faith I am a dead woman walking. So the question remains, am I faithful? Do I have complete confidence in God, really? In every area of my life? My finances, my marriage, my discipleship, my friendships.
Romans 12:12 - Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Am I faithful in prayer? Do I pray every day about every thing with the expectation that my prayer will be answered?
Deuteronomy 11:13-15 - So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Am I faithful in obedience? Do I obey quickly, without delay, without complaint? Is it a struggle to accept discipling.
Revelation 2:10 - Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Am I faithful in suffering? When I suffer, who do I look to first? Am I trying to solve my own problems or do I pray and let God handle them?

2. Am I madly in love with God? Am I desperately, insanely, wildly in love with Christ? Would I do anything to please him? Does my life reflect that desperation?
Deuteronomy 6:5 - Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength Do I love God like this? Mary Magdalene loved Jesus this way.
Luke 8:1-3 - After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Mark 16:9-11 -When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
Why do you think Jesus appeared to her first? Here is a woman who was possessed by seven demons. Imagine what her life was like. I think Jesus went to her first because of her desperate love for him. Her faith in him and how he could change her life, how he had changed her life. She followed him everywhere, supported him from her own resources.

3. How deeply do I love God? Do I love God superficially? Superficial means, "Concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; shallow." Do I only love God in obvious ways? Am I focused on small things?
1 Peter 1:21-22 -"Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."

How do I show my love for God? Do I even know what God wants from me?
Micah 6:8 - "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Deuteronomy 8:6-" Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him." (Read 6 &11)
Deuteronomy 11:13 -" So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul--"
Deuteronomy 11:22 -"If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow--to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him--"
Deuteronomy 10:12 - "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul," Joshua 22:5 - "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."
Psalms 9:1 -" I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders "
Matthew 22:37 – Jesus replied: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"
Mark 12:30 -"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength "
Mark 12:33 - "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

By Natasha A. Svansson