The Most Important Journey of Your Life |
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I knew God loved me. At least in my head I did. I mean, He has to, right? But I did not have an experiential knowing of the real, running-at-full-speed love God has for me.
I believed God is love, that Jesus came and died for those He loves, and even that His Spirit is moving me in love toward Himself. I have been in public ministry for fifteen years. I lead a nonprofit called Spoken Gospel, whose mission is to show the good news of Jesus on every page of the Bible. I am committed to and convinced of God’s love for the world. But something clearly was missing.
My heart had not learned how to be loved by such a huge love. I couldn’t accept that God just might be running after me like a star-crossed lover at the end of a rom-com. I couldn’t feel God chasing me down just because He wanted to hold me. I couldn’t relish the fact that God was hot on my heels pursuing me like a bachelor wooing his crush. If God was running after me, it was because that’s just who He is. It’s just what He does. Maybe He feels sorry for me. Maybe He is rescuing me because He’s just good. Maybe He is just overflowing with grace and His overfilled cup happened to splash on my life. Whatever I thought in that moment, I was struck by my sober reflection. I did not know in my heart that God truly loves me.
But this experience also opened up a desire in my heart that was not there before. I wanted to know that I was wanted by God. I wanted to feel Him running after me. I wanted to revel in the unshakable and experiential knowledge of His love for me. And in spite of it all, I believed that that kind of love is possible. |
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The love God has for you is so intense and resilient that you can’t discourage it by one degree. |
The love God has for you is so intense and resilient that you can’t discourage it by one degree. |
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Learning to Be Loved The most important thing you will ever do is learn to be loved by God. The Bible says,
God so loved the world, and
God is love. We’ve heard these statements before. I know God loves me, at least in my head. The problem is that, most days, I struggle to believe it. Do you? I believe it is possible to be treasured by the ultimate treasure of the universe. I believe it is possible that the greatest pursuer in existence has determined in His heart to pursue me. I believe my feelings of being an imposter, being inadequate, and being tolerated really are lies. I believe that there is a God who not only loves me but likes me. A God who can’t get me out of His head. A God who has been thinking about me for millennia, stretching back into a time before time. I believe it is possible that -
the God revealed in Jesus really is who He said He is: a God who loves me so much that He died to make me His own.
What about you? Do you believe God loves you? If you know it in your mind, do you know it in your heart? Has the overwhelming reality of his love marked you and every part of your life? Do you carry the warmth and passion of His love with you?
Or do you feel condemned? Do you question where you stand with God? Do you find yourself spending more time negotiating your way out of guilt and coping yourself out of shame than you do feeling the delighted approval of your maker? |
A New Obsession
Do you want to be free from anxious thoughts, second-guessing, and a lukewarm faith? Then you, like me, need to make learning to be loved your obsession. You need to unlearn the lies you believe about how God sees you; you need to learn who you really are to the Father. You need to unlearn what you think God feels about you when you fail; you need to learn that the love God has for you is so intense and resilient that you can’t discourage it by one degree.
- We know God is love. The problem is we don’t know how to receive that love.
We have convictions, beliefs, worship songs, and doctrinal statements that all agree with the truth that God loves us deeply. But we don’t know how to be loved that deeply. We know God has said you are Mine. The problem is we don’t know how to be His.
We have an intimacy problem with God. I don’t mean intimacy in a romantic or physical way. I mean that we have a problem of being known by God and knowing God. We cover up, hide, pretend, and fake it. We struggle to let God into the secret, broken, sensitive places in our lives. And we block ourselves off from the deep, unbelievable, and category-breaking ways God loves us. This is our intimacy problem. We need to develop intimacy with God. We need to learn to let ourselves be known by God and explore the God who wants to be known.
This is a journey. There’s so much hurt to heal from. There are so many lies to stop believing. There’s so much truth that needs to seep into the hard parts of our hearts. There is so much of God’s love we need to discover. But all of us have the desperate need to learn to be loved by God. |
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We have an intimacy problem with God. We need to not just know who He is in our heads intellectually, but in our beliefs and in our way of operating. He loves us! Let’s live knowing that to the depts of our beings! ~ Devotionals Daily |
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Spiritual growth starts not with our giving but with our receiving |
Learning to Be Loved: The Everyday Believer's Guide to a Rich Relationship with God |
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+ Extra 20% off $50 with code BIBLE |
+ Extra 20% off $50 with code BIBLE |
Are you feeling spiritually stuck? Release that frustration and discover a more natural way to relate to God in this biblically grounded, transformative book about how our passionate and creative God offers us gateways--that are already in our lives--to draw us closer to him.
What if intimacy with God doesn't begin with us knocking at God's door but with God knocking down ours? In Learning to Be Loved, author and Spoken Gospel CEO David Bowden and Hobby Lobby's Mart Green remind us that spiritual growth starts not with our giving but with our receiving.
Combining David's careful study and poetic voice with Mart's decades of wisdom about the simplicity of a life lived toward God, Learning to Be Loved unites biblical rigor and personal experience to show that intimacy with God isn't based on our ability to connect with him--but on all the ways he is constantly connecting with us. |
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This unique and freeing invitation to respond to God's initiative explores: - Common misconceptions that can hold back our spiritual growth
- Practical "doors"--such as dreams, wounds, and generosity--that are already in your life as ways for you to organically connect with God according to how he has made you
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A vision of the Christian life that isn't about doing the right things but learning how receiving God's love moves us toward the right things
- Practices to help you partner with God in living your own spiritual story rather than always comparing yourself to other people
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When God Isn't There: Why God Is Farther than You Think but Closer than You Dare Imagine |
| Rewire Your Heart: Replace Your Desire for Sin with Desire For God |
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| Reach your spiritual goals in 2025 |
Discover resources to support your goals in just a few clicks |
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Reach your spiritual goals in 2025 |
Discover resources to support your goals in just a few clicks |
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this devotion with someone who needs it today |
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