God’s Love For You

Have you ever thought or felt you weren’t loved? Many of us may at some point in our life entertained the suggested thought. What caused us to think like that? Perhaps we had a fight with our parents or a sibling when we were younger, or felt ostracized for some reason at school or work by others. There could be a number of reasons our thinking led our emotions to feel unloved which led to further negative thinking on our part.

What we fail to recognize during a time of detachment is no matter what has transpired in our life, no matter who may have said hurtful words to us, no matter how we responded or felt, God’s love for us didn’t change. Why? Because God’s love is steadfast and sure, always present even when we don’t feel like it is or recognize His love.

Many times we’ve changed our perception of knowing we are loved. Notice I said “we’ve” changed our perception because we only see through eyes of hurt, not through the truth of God’s love and Word. Sadly in these times it may even lead us to change our perception of God because we don’t see Him as a loving Heavenly Father.

Isaiah recorded a profound statement of God’s love many years before Jesus read it openly in the synagogue in front of the priests and elders. You’ll find it in Isaiah 61. Specifically in verse 1 He told them “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”

It was and is a picture of God’s love for man. It broke the Old Testament barrier of trying to be good enough for God to love you. God wanted His people first of all to see and know His great love for them, for them to embrace, receive, and accept His son who would be their deliverer, their savior.

God wants you to understand how much He loves you. Read these verses to yourself aloud and make them personal. You can say: Jesus brings good news of His provisions to me because He is my provider. He knows my needs, and I rest (trust) in Him for meeting my needs. Say: He is healing my broken heart. He is filling me with His love. Say: He has given me new freedom in His love, salvation, grace, and love. I am no longer in bondage or held captive to anything that would keep me from His goodness and blessings.

Look ahead and see God’s great and overwhelming love surrounding you each day this New Year.