{"id":136,"date":"2014-01-21T22:43:10","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T22:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihsteps.com\/wordpress\/?p=136"},"modified":"2014-01-21T22:43:10","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T22:43:10","slug":"qgods-love-stuck-in-our-heartsq-by-tammy-maseberg-january-21-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/?p=136","title":{"rendered":"“GOD\u2019S LOVE STUCK IN OUR HEARTS” By Tammy Maseberg, January 21, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 (John 3:16, NIV)<\/em> <\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

The familiarity of this verse and the frequency in which we\u2019ve heard it almost causes the truth of it to pass right over us.\u00a0 The implication is clear and, yet, do I really grasp the power behind this passage?<\/p>\n

Many years ago a friend told me during a difficult time in my life, \u201cGod loves you so much.\u201d\u00a0 I wondered\u2014does He really<\/em>?\u00a0 Her statement made a lasting impression on me.\u00a0 I went back to it many times and found comfort in that maybe, just maybe God does love me.\u00a0 The above verse certainly says it\u2019s so.\u00a0 But, comprehension of this wonderful promise may take a long time and can be challenging.<\/p>\n

This is how we\u2019ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us . .\u201d<\/em> (I John 3:16, The Message) <\/em> <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em> <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

God has been tenderly, persistently reminding me that He loves me just for who I am.\u00a0 And, that He cannot possibly love me any more or any less no matter what I do or say or what has transpired in my past or will happen in the future.\u00a0\u00a0Period.\u00a0\u00a0He loves us unconditionally.\u00a0 This can be new territory for some of us because the world is very good at putting stipulations on love.<\/p>\n

I have still struggled with thinking that if I messed up, even one time, God would leave me and\/or stop loving me.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s just not true, because it\u2019s not in His character.\u00a0 And, we can have the assurance of that from His word.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c. . . <\/em>because God has said, \u2018Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.\u2019\u201d<\/em> (Hebrews 13:5, NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n

So, in this new year, one of my resolutions is to be mindful every day, throughout the day, that God loves me.\u00a0\u00a0He loves me more than I can even hope to comprehend in the feebleness of my human brain.\u00a0\u00a0My part is to accept His love for me and to put my trust in Him.\u00a0\u00a0 One of my favorite verses on this subject is Ephesians 3:14-19:<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor this reason I bow my knees before the Father,\u00a0from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,\u00a0that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,\u00a0so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;\u00a0and\u00a0that you, being rooted and grounded in love,\u00a0may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,\u00a0and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0(NAS)<\/em><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it awesome to know that the Maker of the Universe and of everything in it, loves us so completely that He would die for us?\u00a0 Read John 3:16 above over and over until the assurance of God\u2019s love gets stuck in your heart.<\/p>\n

\u00a92014 Tammy Maseberg All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 (John 3:16, NIV) The familiarity of this verse and the frequency in which we\u2019ve heard it almost causes the truth of it to pass right over us.\u00a0 The implication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-word-from-tammy-maseberg","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}