God Speaking

“He will love you and bless you…”

(Deuteronomy 7: 12)

When my youngest daughter was about 6 years old, I was giving her a big hug before she left for school and said jokingly, “Have I ever told you I love you?”  She came back with a quick retort, “About a thousand times!” This story has become a favourite one in our family and told over and over with much laughter. Some of my granddaughters are now young ladies, and if they are visiting me, before they leave my home I always say, “Have I ever told you I love you?”   And they always reply with much laughter. “About a thousand times!”

Our Heavenly Father tells us over and over how much he loves us, but sometimes we take that for granted and neglect to acknowledge the beautiful gift this is and just expect it. His love is so permanent and powerful he tells us that we will be loved though the earth be shaken. Nothing can destroy God’s love.

“Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed.” (Isaiah 54: 10)

Just in any relationship, love needs to be returned to the lover and so it is so important for us to return the Lord’s love to him. Too often in our prayers we concentrate on ourselves and our needs and problems and of course the Lord wants us to share our lives with him, but we also need to return love to him, who is so generous in his love towards us. Praising him is one way to do that, while we are going through experiences where we have been so aware of feeling his love, such as

• When we needed it the most
• When we felt unloved
• When we were ashamed of what we had done and came to him for forgiveness
• When we were grieving, sad or lonely

Just stopping to allow that love to cover us and tell him how much we love him, builds a loving relationship with our Heavenly Father.

In human relationships, one of sweetest ways of acknowledging another’s love is to simply say, “Thank you for loving me.”  I am very much aware of that at this time of my life as I grow old and am so grateful for my family who love me and show that in so many ways. I try not to ever just take their love for granted but thank them for loving me.

Jesus reminds all of us that loving our Heavenly Father is the most important part of being part of his family and if we remember his words, we won’t take God’s love for granted, but tell him over and over how much we love him and thank him for loving us.

“Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22: 37 – 38)