Receiving Gods Love
You can walk in love continually by receiving God’s love personally!
1 John 4:19 (NCV)
We love because God first loved us.
If there is one word that describes the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, it is the word “Love.” At this time of year, people express their love in the form of giving thanks and giving gifts. The foundation for giving thanks and giving gifts is receiving God’s love personally. Until we receive God’s love personally, sharing God’s love fully is a sporadic experience.
The intimation here is that unless we receive God’s love personally, we will never be able to love God and others fully. Receiving God’s love happens when you are born again because when you are born again, you become a new creation and the Holy Spirit fills your heart with God’s love. Now, the objective of your life as a born again Christian is to express the divine nature that resides within you. A born again Christian has God’s love (agape) within them, and now they are expected to express it by walking in love.
When we talk about expressing the divine nature, we are talking about expressing agape love. Agape love is proactive and unconditional; therefore, when we talk about expressing the divine nature we are talking about walking in love proactively and unconditionally. The challenge of walking in love proactively and unconditionally occurs when we fail to receive God’s love personally.
Receiving God’s love personally includes 2 things: How you see yourself and how you feel about yourself. Genesis 1:26 states: “Let Us make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness…”
The word “image” refers to self-image; how you see yourself. The word “likeness” refers to self-esteem; how you feel about yourself. How you see yourself and how you feel about yourself are two of the biggest influencers when it comes to your overall success in life. Receiving God’s love personally equates to seeing yourself the way God sees you and feeling about yourself the way God feels about you.
Image and likeness equate to worth and value. If God created you in His image and in His likeness, then your worth and value are based on how God sees you, not on what people think about you. If God created you in His image and in His likeness, then your worth and value are based on how God feels about you, not on how people treat you.
As a kingdom citizen, you are expected to embrace your worth and value from the fact that you are the righteousness of God in Christ. You must believe that God loves you apart from your performance, behavior, and achievements. As a child of God, your self-image and self-esteem are found in knowing who you are in Christ. Your worth and value should reflect the unlimited potential that is yours because the life, nature, and ability of the Creator of the universe reside within you.
Here is a positive affirmation (based on God’s Word) that will help you receive God’s love personally: “God loves me unconditionally because I’m the righteousness of God in Christ.” Make this confession every day this holiday season and you will find yourself receiving God’s love and sharing God’s love more fully.
You can learn more about receiving God’s love personally by ordering the CD series: Expressions of the Divine Nature. Click here to order