Happy Valentine's Day: Go from talking about God's love to experiencing it..

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!
My post today is taken from a book called "Finding Calm in Life's Chaos", by Becky Harling. Below is a two step process taken from her book (intertwined with a couple of links for you to get an extra bang for your buck, and a couple of my own tidbits) for anyone who wants to move beyond hearing about the love of God, and getting to the point of FEELING the love of God. As someone who has struggled with depression I have had to come to terms with the fact that I cannot base my spiritual life simply off of my feelings. I do believe, though, that a long bout of depression left unchecked can lead to a whole host of other problems, and that is why the Bible speaks against and it and tells us instead to live a life of gratitude and thankfulness. If you think you might be struggling with depression it is possible that a prayer and song is not going to pull you out of your "funk". If you need more information on depression, and things of that nature, you can go here. All of us, whether we struggle with depression or not, need to know and experience the love of God. When we know that God loves us and we let it dig down into the depths of our being it will transform who we are and it will change the way we interact with other people. Take a moment to allow God love on you today. It is His great pleasure to do so.

LOVE LETTER

"YES! God wants you to feel the PLEASURE of His love. Bring Him your hunger. He doesn't just want you to know about His love, quote scriptures about His love and simply admit with your head that He loves you. His overwhelming desire is for you to EXPERIENCE His love. But, remember, when you don't feel loved that doesn't mean His love isn't truth."

"Our emotions don't dictate the reality of God's love. But God wants the reality of HIS love to PENETRATE our emotions!"

"He wants you to feel the joy of being loved. He wants you to receive His love personally and powerfully in a way that is life changing."
So, the question becomes "How do you, and I, in our brokenness, discontentment, insecurities, self-hatred, etc., etc., move the head knowledge of God's love into the deep crevices of our hearts?
1. Worship.
Can we force ourselves to say, and sing, the songs that remind us of God's love? He will bless it, if we do. Click here for a link to the posts on this site that have songs in them that you can jam out to anytime you want.

"Praise increases our faith as we pray."

"When you and I worship Christ, the Holy Spirit quickens our hearts and infuses us with more faith to be able to comprehend 'how wide and long and high and deep is the loved of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18-19)

"Worship becomes a love exchange. The more we express our love and adoration to God, the more His Spirit enables us to experience His love for us."

2. Meditate on and memorize scriptures that remind us of God's love.
As you run, walk, bike, drive, or whatever, commit to memorizing verses that uplift and pour into your heart and spirit.

Pick your verse(s). Write them down. Put them in your pocket, purse, or wherever you'll pull that thing out until you wear that thing out! Stamp that verse into your heart until it becomes part of your heart!

You can go to this post to find a stack of verses worthy of committing to memory to build up your faith in God's love for you, or go here for a short video that does a fantastic job of reminding you of your importance to God, in my opinion. You will find as you say the words of the verses over and over they will sink in and become seasoned in your mind. Your understanding for the verses will develop with time and you will appreciate the truth behind each one more and more as God makes it personal between you and Him.

Pick the verse that speaks to you and repeat it over and over and over again, memorizing so that the verse comes to you randomly throughout your day. Don't start your run, your coffee, your line up of vitamins, your herbal shakes, whatever it is you do to start your day...DON'T do it... until you have picked up your verse and repeated it to yourself. Pray over that verse as you blend up your shake, or as reheat the leftover pizza (mmm...pizza) from last night or whatever it is you do in the morning to get yourself going. :)
Below is a picture of Becky Harling, Author of the book I referred to in this post, "Finding Calm in Life's Chaos". You may go here, to get your own copy of her book.