Feeling Unloved is Painful
At some point in our lives, many of us have experienced the pain of opening our hearts up to another person, only to find our vulnerability met with apathy or rejection. Ouch, this is real pain, it hurts to feel rejected by someone. Rejection has caused many bruises on our hearts and it often prevents us from experiencing the love that God has for us. It's often starts in early childhood. I can remember a time when I was in grade five and I told a friend a secret just to have her blab it to the entire class. That hurt, I had trusted her!
Our bruised hearts become calloused and over time, callouses build up and our hearts harden. We vow that we won’t ever let ourselves get hurt like that again. It hurts to feel unloved and unwanted. The enemy loves to play on our vulnerabilities and works hard to sell us the lie that God doesn’t really care about us, that we don’t really matter, that we aren’t worth loving.
Your Value is Determined by the “ONE” who Loves You
If I’m selling something on Steinbach online and no one wants it, I must lower the price in order to make the sale, but if I’m selling something on Steinbach online and a hundred people all want it then I could up the price or maybe even there would be a bidding war, eBay was built upon this principle. What makes something valuable? – The fact that someone wants it! Value is determined by desirability, wouldn’t you agree, makes sense right! And who desires you? You have great value because you are desired by God. Luke 15 speaks of this desirability using three parables: • The lost sheep – the shepherd goes out and searches for the lost sheep
• The lost coin – the women goes to great lengths to find her lost coin
• The prodigal son – (the lost son), the Father runs out to meet his lost child
These parables are all pictures of God’s heart towards you, the length that He goes to be with you, they show His love for you. He loves you, He really loves you, even in your weakness and failure and rebellion, He loves you. Yes, God hates sin and can never look with pleasure upon iniquity, but where you seek to do God’s will He responds in genuine affection. We must get a deeper understanding of His love because a person who feels the love of God is empowered by that love to overcome sin and pursue holiness. We can’t conquer the sin in our lives without a deep understanding of the love God has for us. We are defined by the “One” who loves us, who wants us, who desires us. His Love meets this deepest need in our hearts, the universal need to be loved.
Isaiah 62:5b And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. (NKJV)
We are not made merely for human love, but to receive the love of God and to love Him back! Only the infinite love of God can fully satisfy this desire in the human heart
How to Grow in Experiencing and Feeling God’s Love:
• Pray for it, tell Him you want to feel more of His love for you, in tangible ways
• Meditate on scriptures about the love of God, ask God to imprint them on your heart
• Soak in worship songs that focus on the love of God
• Practice listening in prayer, ask the Lord to show you how He feels about you by giving you a word, thought or picture about it, then wait for Him to speak to you
• Join a church small group that is balanced and seeking the Lord wholeheartedly
• Remove the barriers that are in the way of experiencing His love by attending an Encounter God Retreat, going to After Service Prayer or booking a Personal Ministry session – all available at Southland Church www.mysouthland.com
No comments:
Post a Comment