Dec 26, 2020 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

Unloved by God

(I love God but…Part four)

Have you ever felt not loved by God? That you were failing in expressing your love for Jesus because you did not feel loved by Him? Oh, to be loved by God and to love Him back, what a wonderful experience that could be, but you are not there.

Have you ever entertained these thoughts? It is not easy staying in love with God with the passion and determination you felt a long time ago. God just seems too distant to love Him 24/7. To love people, seem a lot easier than loving God with the same amount of enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and desire. Dogs, babies, children, and my wife give me a much better return on my love for them than God does. God is not listening anyway, and he does not talk to me like people do. I just do not love Him like I am supposed to, and He makes it too difficult to love Him—so many rules to keep.

Nevertheless, the only question that needs to be answered is, “How much do you love Jesus?” Are you failing in your effort to love God like you love people or how you use to love Jesus? Do you no longer feel the energy to love God, and you do not ‘take the time’ to tell Him “You love Him”? Do you ask yourself, “Where are you, God?” Did you know that Jesus had the same feelings as you do?

When Christ was on the cross He said, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus felt alone, unloved by God, and rejected from God’s presence. Yes, He was doing God’s will, but God left Him—God could not look upon sin and Jesus was carrying the sin of the whole world—the sin that God His Father placed upon His Son, Jesus. What a predicament!

God could have done things differently (we know this by the prayers Jesus prayed), but was this a test? Would Jesus still love God through all that He suffered? Would Jesus love His Father no matter what? The answer to all three questions is YES!

You and I will fail; our love for God will fail. God warned us about our love growing cold; we would forget to do those things that express our love for God. It is many things, whatever they may be, that separates us from our love for the Father. What is my answer to this dilemma? It lies in front of us all, Book of Revelation chapters 2-4:

1. Realize that you do not love God as you use to, and then do your past ‘acts of love’ that expressed your feelings for God. Do them even though you do not have those old feelings.

2. Do not fear Satan! The Bible says, “Perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18)”, so when fear comes into your life allow the love of/love for God to remove that fear. This love Christ found, used, and depended on through His crucifixion and while in hell.

3. Get rid of any doctrine that is evil and comes from Satan. Usually, it is doctrines/philosophies/laws that say the opposite of Biblical truths of love. The Bible is always correct and truthful, do not let what the world dictates its’ interpretation of love replacing what Jesus says is love.

4. Do not accept the world’s standards that states ‘love & sex’ are the same thing. Sex is only good when sex is under the guidelines of Scripture, wholesomeness, and holiness. Pure love does not violate God’s guidelines about sex.

5. We must continue to wash our hearts, minds, soul, and actions in the blood of the Lamb. Without repentance, forgiveness, cleansing ourselves from sin and worldly ways, we cannot love God with our feelings nor do the works of love.

6. We must express and act with the patience of Jesus. We are to wait on God and continue to love even if we feel that we are barely holding on. This is the true test of love and this test will come to us all.

7. Last, of all, we must never give up by admitting that we are not perfect and do not always exercise the ‘tools of the Spirit’ to love God faithfully. We know God loves us if He chastises us and tells us where we are going wrong or have sin in our lives. Repent, repent again, and then repent some more. It is in all the repentance, crying, feeling sorry, and asking for forgiveness that we will find the love we so dearly need—a love that loves God through it all!

I love people through all their flaws, mistakes, and offenses. God wants you to love Him with the same amount of passion. God’s love is a love that does not give up. “Lord Jesus, give us the same love that you had for your Father so I can love God too!”—this is my prayer.

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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