God is Three in One

The Trinity

The sovereign God wants to be loved for Himself and honored for Himself, but that is only part of what He wants. The other part is that He wants us to know that when we have Him we have everything -- we have all the rest. – A. W. Tozer

Under the subject who God is we must first talk about the Trinity.  This is one God revealed in three persons for all eternity.  We cannot properly conceive of three in one with perfect unity.  The idea is an oxymoron for us, it is itself contradictory.  I like A. W. Tozer’s idea on this, “The doctrine of the Trinity is truth for the heart.  The spirit of man alone can enter through the veil and penetrate into that Holy of Holies…Love and faith are at home in the mystery of the Godhead.  Let reason kneel in reverence outside.”¹ 

We must endeavor to grasp this on some level in order to attempt to think properly about God.  So put your faith and love into motion and ask God for illumination of the tri-unity of God.  Here are several belief statements we would do well to emulate in our thinking:

That there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(Deut. 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; Matt. 28:18; Luke 3:22; John 14:16)²

“There is only One True God–revealed in three persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (commonly known as the Trinity).”³

There is but one living and true God.  In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power and eternity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The Father is one, neither begotten or proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Hoy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.⁴

Scripture itself reveals this tri-unity in several places.  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him”  John 14:23.  “I and the Father are one" John 10:30.  There are a number of instances where the Bible records the three Persons of the Godhead in evidence at the same time.  Jesus is baptized and the Holy Spirit descends and God the Father speaks from heaven in Matthew 3:16 and 17.  Jesus is speaking to His disciples at the last supper and says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16) and again He says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26).  The great commission, again spoken by Jesus says “…baptizing them in name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

“It is most important that we think of God as Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.  Only so may we think rightly of God and in a manner worthy of Him and our own souls.”⁵   “In this Trinity, nothing is before or after, nothing is greater or less: but all three Person coeternal, together and equal.”⁶

“The Persons of the Godhead, being one, have one will.  They work always together, and never one smallest act is done by one without the instant acquiescence of the other two.  Every act of God is accomplished by the Trinity in Unity.  Here, of course, we are being driven by necessity to conceive of God in human terms.  We are thinking of God by analogy with man, and the result must fall short of ultimate truth; yet if we are to think of God at all, we must do it by adapting creature-thoughts and creature-words to the Creator.  It is a real if understandable error to conceive of the Persons of the Godhead as conferring with one another and reaching agreement by interchange of thought as humans do…..That instant, immediate communion between the Persons of the Godhead which has been from all eternity knows not sound nor effort nor motion.”⁷

“A popular belief among Christians divides the work of God between the three Persons, giving a specific part to each, as, for instance, creation to the Father, redemption to the Son, and regeneration to the Holy Spirit.  This is partly true but not wholly so, for God cannot divide Himself that one Person works while another is inactive.  In the Scriptures the three Persons are shown to act in harmonious unity in all the might works that are wrought throughout the universe.”⁸

So there is one essence, three distinct persons, eternally revealed as one God.  I know I fall into the trap often in my thinking that Jesus was separated from the Father or that the Holy Spirit dwelling inside me is somehow separated from the Father and Jesus.  This does a huge dis-service to whom God has revealed Himself to be.  God has given us Himself in the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and given Himself at the cross for our sins.  Kind of changes your perspective, doesn’t it?  Wow, God lives inside us.  God went to the cross for us.  It is difficult, but not inaccurate, to see all of God doing these things.  He is a unity of three persons revealed in different ways.

Unity of the Trinity⁹

	Father	Son	Holy Spirit
Creation	Gen 1:1	Col 1:16	Job 26:13, Ps 104:30
Incarnation	Luke 1:35	Luke 1:35	Luke 1:35
Christ’s Baptism	Matt 3:16-17	Matt 3:16-17	Matt 3:16-17
Atonement	Heb 9:14	Heb 9:14	Heb 9:14
Resurrection	Acts 2:32	John 10:17-18	Rom 1:4
Salvation	1 Peter 1:2	1 Peter 1:2	1 Peter 1:2
Indwelling of man	John 14:15-23	John 14:15-23	John 14:15-23

Footnotes

¹ Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. 20. Print.

² From Statement of Beliefs of the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies at http://www.fcaoc.org/belief_s.html

³ From the 16 Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of God at http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_Fundamental_Truths/sft_short.cfm

⁴ From http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/

⁵ Tozer. 20.

⁶ Tozer. 21.

⁷ Tozer. 22.

⁸ Tozer. 23.

⁹ Tozer. 23.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Print.

God loves you as much as He loves Jesus

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”¹ – A. W. Tozer

Do you love your enemies?  Do you love them the same as you love your spouse, children or parents?  God does.  In fact, He commands us to do like wise in Luke 6: 35 and 36 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  It doesn’t take Jesus to lash out at those who hurt us.  It takes Jesus to love our enemies unconditionally like He does.  You were once the enemy of God, remember?  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We talked last time about how God’s love is unchanging and unconditional.  God loves everybody the same, regardless of what they do or don’t do.  Would it surprise you to know that God loves you as much as He loves Jesus?  Do you really believe that?  I have to confess I’m still in awe of that one, but I’m working on it.  Okay, so your wondering just how I came to such a grandiose conclusion.  Well, He tells us so. 

But before we look at that, let’s think about what we know to be true of God.  He has no favoritism.  His love is unconditional.  He does not change.  Therefore, the level of His love could not change.  He is faithful and true.  All these could lead only to one premise.  God loves you the same as everyone else.  Yes, including Jesus.  If He did not, His love would be conditional on who you are.  God is no respecter of persons.  He loved you before you trusted in Him for salvation, while you were His enemy, a sinful person. 

Let’s think about what else we know about God.  He gave up Jesus for you.  He sent Jesus to die in your place.  He sent the most precious thing He could to be sacrificed on you behalf.  Why, because He loves you the same as He loves Jesus.  That should speak volumes about how much He loves you.  Look at Romans 8:31-32,  “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

One more time let’s look at this from another angle.  Father calls us His children and co-heirs with Christ.  Father calls us his children (Rom 8:12, 1 Jn 3:1, Eph 1:3, Gal 4:4-7, Luke 20:35-36, Eph 5:1).  Father also calls us heirs (Rom 8:17, Gal 3:29, Gal 4:7, Eph 3:6, Tit 3:7).  We are co-heirs with Christ and one of the Father’s children.  Father loves all His children the same.

Lastly, and most importantly (for man’s reason is fallible, especially on matters of God), God’s word tells us that He loves us as much as He loves Jesus. OK, here it is: John 17:23 Jesus is praying to the Father (one of the few recorded prayers of Jesus), “I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  So God loves you as much as He loves Jesus.  Jesus said so.  It’s pretty hard to argue with that.  God help our unbelief.

 Father, please help me to understand and apprehend, to eagerly lay hold of, and count as my own, the truth that you love me unconditionally, as much as you love Jesus.  Give me the Spirit of revelation and understanding to strengthen me in my inner man that I might know and experience as my own the height, breadth, and width and deepness of your unconditional love.  For once I understand even a little of your love for me, I cannot help but give it away to those around me.  (See Ephesians chapters 1 and 3).

Footnotes

¹ Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. 1. Print.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Print.

God is Love

“The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” – A. W. Tozer¹

Haven’t you done something you’re delighted with only to find yourself secretly thinking that others should admire you for what you’ve done, that somehow you deserve to be loved?  Come on now…fess up.  What about the time you shipped a perfect quality batch, or the time you finish shingling the roof minutes before the rain?  What about the job you got done in the time-frame they needed it when everyone else thought it was impossible and gave up?  Or when you brought the new guy up to speed and now their working on their own?  Haven’t you ever felt that way toward God?  After this accomplishment, He should love me…look at all I did…

Or what about the other side?  Have you ever done something so bad that you got that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach?  You know like when you were a little kid and had to tell your parents you broke Mom’s favorite vase playing hide-and-seek or lost Dad’s favorite tool in the woods playing gun-spy?  How about the time you crashed into that parked car or “totaled” the car because you were not paying attention to driving?  Be honest, weren’t you just a little (or maybe a lot) afraid that Mom and Dad wouldn’t love you quite the same after this one…???  Have you ever felt that way toward God?  After this sin there’s no way He could still love me….I’m such a failure…

Well…I’ve got good news: God’s love is immutable (unchangeable). Rom 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This means nothing we have done, are doing, or will do in the future can change how much God loves us.  The most heinous sin, the most righteous behavior bares no affect on God’s love for us.  He already loved us in our most sinful state.  God never changes.  He never grows or learns something that changes His thinking or His love for us.  There is “no shadow of turning” in Him.  We don’t have to worry about waking up one day to find out He’s angry with us, or frustrated about something we have done.  His love for us is pure and undefiled.  It is untainted by negative thoughts in the back of His head.  (He has no negative thoughts.)  His love is steady and unchanging – UNCONDITIONAL!  No condition “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39)

“Anything not rooted and grounded in the unconditional love of God eventually leads to legalism and bondage. Your human effort does not get God to love you more.  It is not based on what you have done.  It is based on the benevolence and goodness of God.  It is not based on how clean you are, it is based on what Jesus has done.  Walking with God is not about anger, duty and discipline; it is about love.” – Jack Frost

You are His child and He eagerly chooses to love you, wholly, unchangeably, and unconditionally.  God loves you as much as He loves Jesus (Jn 17:23).  God looks at you and smiles!  I think He’s talking to you right now, “You are my child in whom my favor rests!  I LOVE YOU!!”  - Dad  (See Ps 30:5)

Oh great God of love, come and fill us now.  We give our hearts to you.  Fill them as only you can.  Smooth over the cracks, repair the broken places.  Be our Father and let your unconditional love surround us as we trust in You (Ps 32:10).  Amen! 

Footnotes

¹ Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. 3. Print.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Print.

Who is God?

"What comes into our minds when we think about God,

is the most important thing about us." - A.W. Tozer¹

Ever feel like you want to know more about God but don’t know where to start?  How do you think about God?  What is he like?  Where do we begin when thinking about God?  I mean it’s not like you can flip open your Bible and go to the section marked “all about God.”  I hope to talk about who God is here in these articles and I would like to suggest some extra reading.  A. W. Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy is excellent reading on whom God is.  I read somewhere recently that you could get a great deal of understanding who God is by looking at one of my favorite Psalms.  Let me encourage you to sit down for a few minutes and read through Psalms 103.  While you are reading, consider the following questions and write down your answers.  These are good questions for you to ask any time you are reading a passage of scripture from the Bible.

Bible Study Questions:

How does God reveal Himself in this passage?

Are there commands to follow, actions to take or to avoid?

Are there promises to claim?

How can I apply these truths to my everyday life?

Write out your answers and then compare them to the ones I found below.

How does God reveal Himself in this passage?

Lord	Healer	Righteous	Slow to anger	Knowledgeable
Holy	Redeemer	Just	Merciful (does not treat us as our sins deserve)	Eternal (from everlasting to everlasting)
Benefactor	Crowner	Compassionate	Abounding in love	Faithful
Forgiver	Satisfier	Gracious		Sovereign (Ruler over all)

Are there commands to follow, actions to take or to avoid?

Praise the Lord, O my soul

Fear (revere) Him

Are there promises to claim?

Forgiveness of sin

Healing of diseases

Redemption of life

Satisfaction with life

Righteousness and justice on our behalf

God would make Himself known to us

God treats us with grace, not as our sins deserve

God has great love for us if we revere (fear) Him

God has removed our transgressions from us

God has compassion on us

God’s love is with us for eternity if we fear Him and keep His commands

God rules over all

How can I apply these truths to my everyday life?

Ask Him to forgive your sin and fill you with love.  Ask Him to purify your desires and fulfill them.  Ask Him to make Himself known to you.  Ask Him for healing He has promised you.

Thank you, God, for revealing yourself to us in your Word, the Bible!  Help us come to know you better every day.  Help us to find You, follow You, claim your promises as our own and apply Your truths to our lives.  We trust in you.  Amen!

Footnotes

¹ Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. 1. Print.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV).

Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Print.

Physical Posture in Worship

When we talk about worship in Charismatic or Pentecostal circles, what are the first things that pop into our thoughts: Music (what kind of music), Lyrics, Instruments (which ones should be allowed, how many), physical expression (physical posture in worship), etc.  There seems to be a biblical tie between our physical posture in and our attitude in worship.  Look at the third commandment in the scriptures in the NAS, NKJV, and the NIV.

Exodus 20:5-6 NAS

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,  but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 

Exodus 20:5-6 NKJV

you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:5-6 NIV

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 

The first word translated “worship” in the NAS is Shackah typically meaning “to bow down, to prostrate oneself.”  Of the 171 times this word is used in scripture 83 times it is translated as some form of the word “worship.” Sixty-four times it is translated as some form of “bowing down” and 17 times it is translated as “lie down” or some form of “prostrate”.

The word translated as “serve” in the NAS is Abad and can also be translated as “worship.”  This word normally means “to work for another, serve another by labor.”  It is most commonly translated as some form of the word “serve.”  This happens 200 times of the 290 it is used in the scriptures.  A total of 16 times it carries the connotation of being a “slave” or “laborer.”  Where it is translated as some form of “worship” only13 times. 

The point is clear.  Imagine God Almighty giving the ten commandments on Mt Sinai.  As the third commandment He shares with Moses, He gives the command to worship (bow down, prostrate, pay homage) and serve (worship, slave, labor) no other god but Him.  Remember, these are the words God Himself chose to describe the relationship He desires us to have only with Himself.  There should be a very real connection between our our desire to worship and an attitude of servant hood.  Equally there should also be a very real connection between our attitude of worship and our physical posture in worship.  God has equated them here with bowing down and prostrating ourselves before Him. 

Picture if you will, the servant of a great king entering into his presence and bowing down to paying homage to the king and then asking him how he would like to be served.  Here is our place in worship as God describes in the third commandment.  Now we must ask ourselves, do I desire to submit to God or just sing to Him?  Am I willing to show God my servant attitude by the way I physically worship Him?  These questions are a challenge to all of us.  Let us remember to treat God as the High, Holy King of All that He is!  Let's remember our humble place of servitude in honoring the Great King of Heaven not just with our songs but with our physical bodies and our lifestyles of servant hood!

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Spiritual Act of Worship

 

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” - Romans 12:1 

Paul wrote this to a people who understood sacrifice.  They saw it daily and participated in it often.  They understood the need for sacrifice and how to do it.  Let's take a moment and look at this.  In view of God's mercy, His pardoning of our sin and His declaration of righteousness on our behalf, we should offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.  We must understand the nature of sacrifice if we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices as an act of worship.  First let's look at the verbs use to describe sacrifices: to slaughter (done by the worshiper), to present (to bring near) a present, to prepare, to bless, to offer up, to burn up, and to vaporize.  Are we worshiping God as living sacrifices?  Are we asking Him to prepare us?  Are we bringing to death those things in our lives which do not please Him?  Are we presenting ourselves to Him as a present?  Are we a blessing to God?  Would others say our life is being spent in pursuit of God, that it is being burnt up (vaporized) pursuing Him?  Is our life a suitable offering to Him?  Remember the animal for sacrifice had to be without defect, blemish or spot. 

Let's look at the types of offerings in the order they were to be presented: sin, guilt, burnt, cereal, drink, peace, wave, thank, votive, free-will, and ordination.  The sin offering was given for the unintentional braking of the Lord's commands.  The guilt offering was given for braking the law concerning the treatment of God's holy things.  This offering was also given for unfaithfulness, deceit, lying, cheating, stealing, extortion, or losing someone's property and required the full payment and a 20 % return above that.  The burnt offering was a voluntary act of worship, an atonement for unintentional sin or as an expression of devotion, commitment and complete surrender to God.  The cereal and drink offerings were given as voluntary acts of worship in recognition of God's goodness and provision.  They also were used to show devotion to God. 

The fellowship offering was also a voluntary act of worship that was used to convey the desire for fellowship and to express thanksgiving.  This sacrifice included a meal to be eaten in fellowship with God.  These sacrifices were also called offerings of peace, wave offerings, thank offerings, votive offerings (given upon taking a vow), free-will offerings and ordination offerings (used in consecration to divine service).  Here is the pattern for approaching God through the sacrifices demanded in the Old Testament: asking forgiveness of unintentional and intentional sin, expressing our  devotion to Him, committing and completely surrendering to Him, recognizing His goodness and provision, desiring His fellowship, thanking Him, choosing to follow Him of our own free-will, living at peace with Him, vowing to serve Him, consecrating ourselves to His service. 

These are the spiritual acts of worship Paul had in mind when he urged us to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices” as our “spiritual act of worship”.  Are we following the pattern of sacrifice which God has prescribed?  Ask yourself “Is this really how I come to church ready to worship or am I trying to work through all of this during worship?  More than that, am I continually presenting myself to God as a living sacrifice as an act of worship to Him?”

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

God's Dictionary: Love

If God had written a dictionary, the entry for Love would look like this:

(NOTE: Roll your mouse over the scriptures to read them!)

Origin:

Comes from God - 1 John 4:7-10

Is who God is - 1 John 4:7-10

Quantifiers:

Abounding - Exodus 34:6

Abundantly poured out - 1 Timothy 1:14

As strong as death - Song of Solomon 8:6

Better than life - Psalm 63:3

As great as the distance between the heavens and the earth - Psalm 103:11

Reaching to the heavens - Psalm 57:10

Enduring Forever - Psalm 100:5

Eternal - 1 Kings 10:9

Ever before me - Psalm 26:3

Everlasting - Jeremiah 31:3

Goodness - Psalm 69:16

Great toward us - Psalm 117:2

Greater than faith and hope - 1 Corinthians 13:13

More delightful than wine - Song of Solomon 1:2

Priceless - Psalm 36:7

Rich - Psalm 145:8

Surrounding - Psalm 32:10

Unfailing - Psalm 51:1

Unquenchable, of great wealth - Song of Solomon 8:7

Wonderful - Psalm 31:21

Described:

Faithful - Psalm 89:24

Life-giving - Ephesians 2:4-6

Gracious - Ephesians 2:4-6

Forgiving - Ephesians 2:4-6

Comforting - Psalm 119:76

Covenantial - Deuteronomy 7:9

Patient - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Kind - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Rejoicing with the truth - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Protecting - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Trusting - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Hoping - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Persevering - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Conquering - Romans 8:37-40

Preserving - Psalm 119:88

Protecting - Psalm 40:11

Our breastplate (protecting the vital organs of who we are spiritually speaking) - 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Quieting - Zephaniah 3:17

Restful - Deuteronomy 33:12

Satisfying - Psalm 90:14

Sincere - Romans 12:9

Supporting - Psalm 94:18

Fruitful - Hosea 10:12

Hearing - Psalm 119:149

Higher than the Heavens - Psalm 108:4

Clinging to good - Romans 12:9

Binds all virtues together in perfect unity (Love is the root cause of all virtue see Gal 5:22 fruit of the Spirit is Love.  See also I Cor 13:4-8) - Colossians 3:12-14

Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23

Fearless:

Has no fear - Colossians 3:12-14

Drives out fear - Colossians 3:12-14 

Living in fear is NOT living in love - Colossians 3:12-14 

Fearless - I John 4:13-19

What it is not:

Hating evil - Romans 12:9

Never fails - I Corinthians 13:4-8 

Not envious - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not boastful - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not proud - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not rude - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not self-seeking - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not easily angered - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not forsaking - Psalm 37:28

Not withheld - Psalm 66:20

Not Hidden - (See Rev 3:19) Proverbs 27:5

Keeps no record of wrong - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Does not delight in evil - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Knowability:

Knowable and reliable - Colossians 3:12-14

Surpasses knowledge - Ephesians 3:16-21

Roots us (to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded,  to become stable) - Ephesians 3:16-21

Establishes a foundation in us (to lay the foundation, to found) - Ephesians 3:16-21

A three-dimensional tangible yet immeasurable object (profundity, that is, [by implication] extent; [figuratively] mystery, [metaphorically] deep, extreme, poverty, of the deep things of God) - Ephesians 3:16-21

Our Possession:

Maintained toward us - Exodus 34:7

Nothing can separate us from His love - Romans 8:35

Our possession - Romans 8:38-39

With us from everlasting to everlasting - Psalm 103:17

Redeeming Nature of:

Sacrificial - 1 John 4:7-10

Sacrificial - John 15:13

Christ laid down His life to explain to us what love is - 1 John 3:16

Compelling- Compelled God to send His Son to die so we might live through His Son - 1 John 4:7-10

Covering all wrongs - Proverbs 10:12

Covers a multitude of sins - 1 Peter 4:8

Delivering - Psalm 60:5

Saving - Psalm 109:26

Keeps us from the pit of destruction - Isaiah 38:17

Redeeming - Isaiah 63:9

Rescuing - Psalm 91:14

Appointed to protect - Psalm 61:7

Made us alive with Christ while we were dead in sin and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms - Ephesians 2:4-6

Giving of eternal life - John 3:16

Demonstrated; while we were His enemies, He loved us and died for us - Romans 5:8

Appeared as a Savior - Titus 3:4

Proof we are God’s:

Proof we are born of God and know God - 1 John 4:7-10

How God sees me because of:

Calls us His children - 1 John 3:1

A banner over me - Song of Solomon 2:4

Crowning - Psalm 103:4

Directed toward me - Psalm 42:8

He finds me pleasing - Song of Solomon 7:6

He loves us as much as He loves Jesus - John 17:23

He is pleased with us - Matthew 3:17

His desire is for me - Song of Solomon 7:10

Betrothing - Hosea 2:19

Loved by God the Father - Jude 1:1

Extent of worth without:

Without love, I am nothing - I Corinthians 13:1-3

Without love, my giftings do not matter - I Corinthians 13:1-3

Great sacrifice without love is worth nothing - I Corinthians 13:1-3

Motivational:

Our motivation to love Him in return - Colossians 3:12-14

Motivation for all we do - 1 Corinthians 16:14

Commanded:

New Commandment - John 13:34

Greatest Commandment - Matthew 22:37

Chief aim of mankind - Deuteronomy 6:5

He expects us to live our lives in love - Ephesians 5:2

Test of if we live in God - Colossians 3:12-14

Disciplining:

Desire to love is 250 times stronger than His desire to punish - Exodus 20:5-6

Disciplining - Proverbs 3:12

Disciplining, accepts us as a Son - Hebrews 12:6

Rebuking and disciplining - Revelation 3:19

Effects of:

God gives us a spirit of love - 2 Timothy 1:7

Promises us a crown of life if we love him - James 1:12 See also PS 103:4

Predestines us to adoption as sons - Ephesians 1:4-5

Helps His saints grow and build each other - Ephesians 4:16

The only way faith can really express itself - Galatians 5:6

Leads us to find life, prosperity, and honor - Proverbs 21:21