Believing and Abiding in His Love

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. I John 4:16 (New King James Version)

To know and believe God really loves us is to think it to be true, to be persuaded it is true, and to place confidence in its truth. Nearly four years ago, I came to understand that God’s love is not dependent on what I am doing. In other words, my actions and behavior are not the basis for His love. That had a profound effect upon me. It shook up my belief system and caused me to take a hard look at the many misperceptions I had about God and the Christian life. It birthed changes in me and broke through self imposed limits and walls. My “box” mentality gave way to spacious places in which I was free to move about and explore. It opened up honest dialogue between myself and God. Knowing that He required truth in the inward parts changed my prayer life. Secure in His love, I could begin to voice questions, doubts, and misgivings. True feelings and honest thoughts could now be shared with Him.

Taking in the truth of God’s love is one thing but God invites us to go further. He wants His love to become our place of abiding on a daily basis. To tarry in the knowledge and have it become our continual reference point. Come what may, it must be our plumb line that keeps us centered and focused on Him. Without it we drift and become victims of difficulties, rampant emotions, and tactics of an enemy who wants to devour and destroy us. Physical, financial, emotional, spiritual, or relational hardships must continue to be placed under the canopy of God’s love for us. We must anchor our souls to it, fix our minds on it, and live within the reality of it on a continual basis.

Easier said than done? Absolutely. But worth it! It is what strengthens me when I am weak, wounded, or weary. It is what renews my hope when I am floundering. It is what assures me of forgiveness and mercy when I have really blown it. It is what redirects my steps when I have wandered. Each time I crawl into the truth of His love and embrace it for myself, I am anointed with a security that no one else can give to me.

I am still learning and still growing but it is being done in the context of God’s love, heart, and thoughts toward me. Whether I am in valleys or on mountain tops the truth continues to set me free!

Father, thank you for a love that never changes, never walks away, and never diminishes. I open my arms and my heart to all You give to me. Amen.