God loves you so much

Dear Christian friends,

here is an article I've compiled years ago on a different website that I thought could help you understand how God feels about you. I hope that the truth herein will change any misconceptions or lies from the enemy.

“In Him also we have received an inheritance [a destiny—we were claimed by God as His own], having been predestined (chosen, appointed beforehand) according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11; Amplified Bible)

“Moreover, because of what Christ has done, we have become gifts to God that he delights in, for as part of God’s sovereign plan we were chosen from the beginning to be his, and all things happen just as he decided long ago.” (Ephesians 1:11; Living Bible)

God chose you

God foreordained us. He has chosen and appointed us according to His design. To be foreordained means to be predetermined, planned, premeditated, and purposed. You were not just something that happened. God chose to create specifically you, among many other choices that He discarded. He meditated on it before choosing you. That means He thought it through, being careful to make the right choice and had very specific reasons for you to exist.

The earth is approximately 4,5 billion years old. Since the beginning, even before God made the earth, over 4,5 billion years ago, He planned you. He purposed for you to be part of His creation even before He made anything else. That is how important you are and how much He wanted you. Isn’t that marvellous?

Now, think about it differently. Of all the millions of combinations of your mother’s egg cells and your father’s sperms, God chose those specific two to come together to form you. The body could have just as well excreted those specific egg and sperm cells. God wanted you. He planned specifically for you to come into existence and be part of His creation. And because of that, you have the privilege to have eternal life with Him if you have accepted Him as your Saviour. God could just as well not have chosen you, you would never have existed as a result, and therefore never had the privilege of living forever. Isn’t it marvelous that He chose YOU? Aren’t you privileged? It is almost too amazing to comprehend. Think about this privilege and thank God that He chose you to be part of His creation.

Lord Jesus, Father God and Holy Spirit, I thank you for choosing me. I’m so privileged to be part of your creation and to live forever in heaven with you, a place that is too wonderful for an earthly mind to comprehend. Thank you Lord.

God planned everything about you

“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands and territories.” (Acts 17:26; Amplified Bible)

God planned where and at what time you should exist on earth. The era He chose for you is exactly the right time for specifically you to live in according to the way He has designed you. He planned even the place He has given you to live on earth according to what He considered as the right place. Our God is so caring that He is even concerned about our physical place and time on earth.

“And in Your book were all written The days that were appointed for me,” (Psalm 139:16; Amplified Bible)

God even planned how many days you are going to live on earth. He made the effort to write up all these days in His book. That takes time, planning and careful thinking. It can be compared to us as parents, journaling about our children. We want to write and paste photos and remember all the days of our children’s lives, because they are so precious to us. God feels the same and even more.

Lord, thank you so much for caring so much about me. You took time to plan every important aspect of my life. I am so grateful for your love.

God knows everything about you

“1 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do]; You understand my thought from afar. 3You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And You are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken], Behold, O Lord, You know it all.” (Psalm 139:1-4; Amplified Bible)

“1 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought. 3 You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. 4 You know what I am going to say before I even say it. 5 You both precede and follow me and place your hand of blessing on my head.” (Psalm 139:1-5; Living Bible)

God knows everything about you – your heart, your thoughts, what you say, what you do, the path you follow – basically EVERYTHING about your life. If we had punitive and even abusive fathers or parents on earth, it might incline us to think that God watches us to see what we do wrong so that He can punish us. But this is not the way of a loving father. Loving fathers are very interested in the lives of their children. They want to be involved. They want to help. They want to do things out of love for their children. If you don’t care about something or someone, you wouldn’t be the least interested in that thing or person. You will pay no thought or have any time for such a thing or person. But God loves us so much that He wants to know everything about us. He is sincerely interested in this amazing creature He has created. Isn’t it wonderful that God cares so much about us, He spends the time to get to know all of us in detail?

Thank you Lord, that You are so utterly mesmerized by my being and life that You pay all this attention to know me. I’m so privileged to be loved by such a wonderful, caring Father.

You are valuable to God

“29 Are not two little sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered [for the Father is sovereign and has complete knowledge]. 31 So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31; Amplified Bible)

“you shall be My own special possession and treasure” (Exodus 19:5; Amplified Bible)

“31 What then shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be [successful] against us? 32 He who did not spare [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32; Amplified Bible)

“10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [that is, the atoning sacrifice, and the satisfying offering] for our sins [fulfilling God’s requirement for justice against sin and placating His wrath].” (1 John 4:10; Amplified Bible)

If something is precious to you, you take care to know every aspect. God cares so much that He even considered it important to know how many hairs you have on your head. The number of hair on our head is generally considered as being of the least importance (unless you have very few and continue losing more of it :)), when our existence on earth is taken into consideration, but still God considers it important enough to know that number. That is to show how precious you are to Him. He knows when even just one hair falls off your head and if He is interested in that, wouldn’t He also be concerned about your life, the difficulties you go through, your needs and wants? God wants to tell you that even though He is concerned about a sparrow’s life (and a sparrow is worth but a penny or two), you mean so much more to Him. So much more that He knows when the next hair will fall from your head and a new one grows in its place, or not. Isn’t His loving care for us just wonderful?

God the Father loved you so much that He didn’t even consider sparing His own Son’s life to save you from eternal damnation. How much will it cost you to sacrifice the life of your child for another person who may not even care about Jesus and is still living in sin? Would you consider giving up your child to be murdered for the sake of someone that doesn’t even care about you? I wouldn’t. I would never give up my daughter to be killed by another person. So how much does God love us to give up His son? Think about it.

You are God’s treasured possession!

Thank you Lord, that you consider me and my needs so important that you even know how many hairs are on my head. Thank you for giving your Son to die in my place so that I can live eternally with You. Your love is too amazing to fully comprehend.

You are made in the image of Almighty God

“Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness];…” (Genesis 1:26; Amplified Bible)

When someone is a very important person, with real public status, his or face will usually appear on important documents, even money. Think about the embellishments of important people on coins or the printed faces of presidents on notes. The image of that person is transferred to something that carries the importance of the person. Now, can you imagine how important God is? His power and greatness can’t be described. It knows no limits. Our earthly minds are incapable of understanding how big He is. We get a glimpse of Him in the heavens – all the planets He made. But still, we will never be able to fully comprehend how great and big He is. The nearest we could come to understanding his greatness is for you to think of the most honourable, influential and powerful person on earth. Now let’s say that this person has the power to change and influence you to become like him or her in character. Would you feel honoured? Would you feel like the exception? Would you feel set apart and blessed by such a great privilege? Of course you would. God is so much more than any man or woman walking the face of this earth. We can't comprehend Him in totality because he has so many facets. He is so powerful, He can do literally anything. He just speaks and things spring into existence. How fantastic is that! He can create anything He likes. ANYTHING! And yet He made you in this wonderful image of who He is. You have the same spiritual personality that He has and you are like Him morally. There is so much likeness in us that comes from God, we will only one day in His presence in heaven fully comprehend how much we are like Him. But isn’t it wonderful that we are made to be just like such a fantastic God?

Thank you, Lord, that you considered me so important that you gave me the same likeness that You have. How spoiled I am to have these qualities implanted inside me that represent an almighty, ever living, loving God.

You are always on God’s mind

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.” (Psalm 139:17-18; Amplified Bible)

When someone is very important to us, we spend a lot of time thinking about that person. This happens especially when you are in love. You cannot help yourself. Whenever you catch yourself, you are thinking about that person again. That is how God feels about you. He is totally head over heels in love with you. He cannot stop thinking about you. Isn’t that great?

Now, dear friends, I’ve conducted a brief experiment, if you can call it that. I took a pinch – just a small pinch – of sand and spread it on my desk to count the grains of sand. I wanted to determine approximately how many grains were in that pinch of sand. And you know what, it was nearly impossible. I looked through a magnifying glass while counting the grains, and in the little heap to the left (indicated by the red arrow) are approximately 100 grains of sand.

So what do you think? How many grains are there in the whole pinch (photo in the middle)? Maybe tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of grains? Now try to imagine how many grains of sand there are on the beach near your house or where you go on holiday or just in a photo of a beach. Now think of all the sand on all the beaches in the entire world. And maybe even sand that is not on beaches. Wow! It is uncountable. There will be no existing number to show how many grains that would be. Mind-boggling, isn’t it? That is how vast God’s thoughts towards you are. It is too great to comprehend with our earthly minds, but still a fact. He loves you that much.

Thank you, Lord, for thinking about me continuously. Your thoughts towards me are so many, a human cannot count it. How much you must love me!

God made you carefully with His own hands

“For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was being formed in secret, And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were appointed for me, When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].” (Psalm 139:13-16; Amplified Bible)

You know, sometimes when we design something we rush and create something in a haphazard, unthoughtful way. This happens when we don’t really care that much about the outcome. We just want to get it over and done with so that we can say it’s finished. God never does that with anything He creates, especially not you. He took time and carefully, patiently put you together in just the right way that He designed. And the outcome was wonderful!

I don’t know if you have ever embroidered something or watch someone do it. It takes forever! It is a slow process that takes time and patience. Embroidery work is also an intricate art. Intricate means complicated, elaborate and tricky. That is how God made you. Like a colourful embroidered piece of art, He wove you together with skilful hands, taking His time and being very careful with the result. He considered you so special that He took the time to make you just as wonderful as you are. An authentic piece of art!

Thank you Lord, for taking the time to make me. What a wonderful job you did with me. I am so privileged that an Almighty God who made the universe also made me with His very own hands.

God loves you so much that He adopted you as His own child

“See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are!” (1 John 3:1; Amplified Bible)

When a couple cannot have children, they often choose to adopt a child. After all the legalities have been completed, they accept that child as if he or she was their own. They love that child and do everything for that child just as what they would have done, should the child have been born from their bodies. Such adoption gives a child a new life, with a better future many times. A child is privileged to be adopted into a good family.

God Almighty adopted us, just the way we are, into His heavenly family. We are now called His children and we have all the privileges just as when we would have been born as His own. When Father God adopts us, we inherited the same privileges as His Son Jesus. We are just as important and we are just as much loved and cared for as He loves His Son. For a God of the universe to grant us that privilege, is an honour beyond understanding.

Thank you, Father God, for adopting me as your own child. That means that I will inherit everything that You have planned for me, just as Your Son Jesus inherits everything. I am so privileged.

God cares deeply about all your needs

“If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.” (Matthew 7:11; Amplified Bible)

“For the Lord your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you,” (Deuteronomy 4:31; Amplified Bible)

“Gracious is the Lord, and [consistently] righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate.” (Psalm 116:5; Amplified Bible)

“for the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father.” (John 16:27; Amplified Bible)

“7 casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].” (1 Peter 5:7; Amplified Bible)

Matthew 6:25-34

“He who did not spare [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32; Amplified Bible)

As an earthly father or mother, you would want to provide for all the needs of your children. You would go out of your way, sacrifice time and money, do yourself short and fight for your children to be safe, healthy and cared for, won’t you? God loves us the same and even more. He is merciful, compassionate, cares for us with deep affection and watches over us very carefully, just like we are towards our children. To be compassionate means to have tender feelings, to be sympathetic, understanding and warmhearted. That is how God cares about you. He loves you so much that He will allow nothing bad to happen to you. Even though it may feel bad in the moment, He knows the beginning from the end and may allow certain things for your good and because He has a plan to turn things in your favour to make it even better than you could have imagined yourself. He will never not take care of you. He’s always there to attend to your needs.

Thank you, Father, for loving me so much that You take care of even the littlest need of mine. You are truly a magnificent Father.

God stands ready to help you in times of trouble

“3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble …” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4; Amplified Bible)

“17 When the righteous cry [for help], the Lord hears And rescues them from all their distress and troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the heartbroken And He saves those who are crushed in spirit (contrite in heart, truly sorry for their sin). 19 Many hardships and perplexing circumstances confront the righteous, But the Lord rescues him from them all.” (Psalm 34:17-19; Amplified Bible)

When we as mothers and fathers hear or see our children suffer or when they are in trouble, there is almost nothing that will prevent us from helping them and saving them from their troubles. There is no amount of effort, time, or resources we wouldn’t sacrifice to see them happy and comforted. Even more so with God. He loves us deeply. He is not a mere bystander looking into our situation and the troubles we experience and just say: “Ah well, I’ve given him the means to get out of it on his own. Let he work it out by himself. Maybe he will learn his lesson then.” He also is not a God who says: “You deserve this. This is the consequences of your wrongdoing. Sort it out on your own.” (All ‘he’s and ‘his’es can be interchanged with ‘she’ and ‘her’.) No, although He may allow certain consequences to be enforced in your life, it is never done in a vindictive, spiteful way. God doesn’t want to test you until you break. He wants to help you, encourage and comfort you, even though the trouble lingers longer, so that you can become stronger and rise to new levels.

So many times, we assign human attitudes to God. We think He will be angry and stay angry at us for what we have done, or we think He folds His arms and refuse to help because He is spiteful, or He wants to take revenge for our wrongdoing and therefore He doesn’t want to help, or our troubles are too insignificant for Him to take notice. This is what we as earthly parents sometimes do, but it is definitely not characteristics and attitudes that God portrays. He is always good, always ready to help and comfort and encourage. He is always eager to lift us up and make us strong. He is always the perfect Father, showing His love for us.

Thank you, Father, for always being there in times of trouble. I can truly rely fully on You to help me, because You love me so perfectly.

God wants to give you a wonderful future

“For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11; Amplified Bible)

Sometimes when we as parents are angry at our children, we say things like ‘you will never amount to anything’, or ‘you are worthless’. Although we should never say things like this to our children, we sometimes think that God also gave up on us regarding our future. But God looks at us differently than we, as earthly parents, look at our children. He sees the potential that He created in each human being. He sees the uniqueness and what we can become if we follow Him and apply our gifts. From the beginning, He knows what will happen. He knows everything about us, even our futures He has laid out according to His plan. Now, we can mess that up and, as a matter of fact, we can amount to very little and become quite useless if we follow our own will and not obey God. But when we surrender fully to Him, oh how wonderful the things that He can accomplish through us. He has designed a magnificent future for each of His children. A future filled with peace, well-being, and hope. And aren’t those things the most important things to have in order for us to be happy? Who wants to live in turmoil and unrest, feeling physically and emotionally sick, and have no hope? That sounds like hell to me. No, God says that He has designed something way better. In fact, He died so that we can have exactly such wonderful futures.

Just as we as parents invest or save our money for our children to study after school, and make sure they gain all the knowledge about careers to make the right choice and provide for them until they are self sustainable, our Heavenly Father also makes sure that in all He has planned for us, it leads to something great in our futures. He wants to see us happy and fulfilled in what we do every single day, and everything He allows and creates in our lives leads up to this goal.

Thank you, Father, that you did and are still doing everything possible to give me the best future that I could possibly have or dreamt of. Lead me in Your paths so that I can possess all You have planned for me.

God will never leave you without support

“for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” (Hebrews 13:5; Amplified Bible)

When someone deserts you, they in fact betray you by breaking a promise, or they don’t keep to their word. Or the person may get so fed up with you he/she gives up on you and walks out, leaving you on your own, sometimes even helpless. Earthly parents do this. There are many deserted children in the world going through lots of suffering because of parents quitting and forsaking them.

But God says: "No matter what happens, no matter what circumstances you are in, no matter what you have done, I will never desert you. I will stay with you, help you and support you. I will keep a firm hold on you." It’s not in God’s nature to desert His creation. He takes responsibility for what He has created and He stays faithful to it and especially the people until the end. He is faithful. He cannot be unfaithful, because He is love and love is faithful. Know this, no matter what, He will always be there. That you can rely on based on His endless love for you.

Thank you, Father, that I do not have to fear anything and that no matter what happens in my life, You are always there. I can always rely on You being faithful.

God’s love for you cannot stop

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;” (Jeremiah 31:3; Amplified Bible)

“For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39; Amplified Bible)

Nothing can stop God’s love for you. No matter what sin you were involved in, no matter what happened in your past, no matter what circumstances you are in, His love stands firm. Nothing can sway it. And the best part is this love of God will never end. It is everlasting and unlimited. Paul mentions all the things that humanly spoken can separate love, but don’t:

· Death – when a loved one dies, it separates us from going on showing and experiencing love for and with that person. Not even death can sever God’s love for you.

· Life – there are many things in life that can separate our love from someone else. God says nothing in this life or hereafter will be able to separate us from His love.

· Angels – angels are powerful beings and they can manifest with a lot of power, even though we cannot always see that. There are also evil angels – the fallen angels or demons. Not any demon or even Satan himself can separate us from God’s love. They are just not as powerful as God to stand in His way to love us.

· Things present and threatening – there are many horrible and frightening things going on in the world today. War, political unrest, murders, destruction, corruption, name any evil thing you can think of. None of these, no matter how fierce or wrong or evil, can stop God’s love for us. His love is much much bigger than any of these things.

· Things to come – no matter how bleak the future looks, God says that nothing in the future, whatever may happen, can separate you from His love. He will love you no matter what comes next.

· Powers – there are many extremely strong powers operating in the world. You can name them one by one. None of them can stand up against God’s love for you. He overpowers these forces with His love.

· Height or depth – no matter where you go – up into space or down to the bottom of the ocean – everywhere there God is and His super powerful, everlasting, unlimited love for you.

· Any created thing – there is not anything created on earth or even in heaven by God, who can separate you from His love.

So if God is almighty, and He is love, then it means that because of His unsurpassed power and might, there is absolutely nothing that is stronger and bigger than His love for you. Nothing can come up to God and say I stand between this person and Your love for him/her. Nothing. God says there is absolutely nothing any human or other principality can think of that can stand between you and God’s love for you. Isn’t that wonderful?

Thank you, Lord for your almighty, unsurpassed love for me. Nothing can stand between me and Your love for me.

God is so excited about you

“He will rejoice over you with joy; He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins], He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (Zephaniah 3:17; Amplified Bible)

You know when a couple expects a baby, they can get so excited about it. They make all kinds of plans for the new baby – a baby room fitted with just the best, baby clothes and accessories, packing a hospital bag months or weeks before the birth, letting everyone know when the baby is coming, having a baby shower with all the trimmings, etc. There is nothing a parent will oversee to prepare for this new life entering the world. God was just as excited for you to be born.

When you were born, I’m sure God was sitting at the edge of His seat eagerly waiting for you to give your first squeal and as He saw and heard this, He clapped His hands together and laughed and said: “Oh, how magnificent. I’m so glad [your name] is born. Look how beautiful he/ she is.” Then He would gather the angels and have a big party singing and shouting His joy over you - this beautiful creation of Him coming into existence on earth.

Thank you, Father God, for creating me and being so excited about my existence on earth.

God will never stop being good to you

“I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will do them good and not turn away from them;” (Jeremiah 32:40; Amplified Bible)

Because God created you and loves you so much, He wants to shower you with His goodness. Even though we may not always understand life’s circumstances and the hurtful things happening to us, know that God cannot be anything else but good to the things He has created. It’s in His nature to do good all the time. Because He is pure love, He is good. And He will never stop showing you His goodness. That is His heart and intention with everything He does. I mean, who can show His goodness more than dying for you so that you can experience the most perfect eternity with Him?

Thank you, Lord, that no matter what happens, I can know that You are always good. There is no bad in You. You are incapable of doing bad things based on your great love for me.

God loves you just as much as He loves Jesus

“and [that You] have loved them, just as You have loved Me.” (John 17:23; Amplified Bible)

Jesus is the perfect son any father could wish for. He is obedient and respectful. He portrays the same outstanding characteristics as His Father. He will sacrifice whatever the Father asks in total trust that His Father only does what is right. There is no better example of a wonderful son. God must love Jesus so much. He must be so proud of Him. But the strange thing is, God says He loves us just as He loves Jesus. Jesus is perfect, so it’s understandable that God loves Him, but we are sinners and yet God loves us the same. Wow! Isn’t that astounding? We can be so grateful for God’s immeasurable love for us.

Thank you, Father God, that You love us just as you love Jesus. It is above my mental capabilities to comprehend how this is possible, but in faith, I accept this based on Your Word.

God protects you

“But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep [the protector and provider].” (John 10:2; Amplified Bible)

“In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as owned and protected [by God].” (Ephesians 1:13; Amplified Bible)

“Faithful and absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you [to Himself for your salvation], and He will do it [He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, and protecting you as His own].” (1 Thessalonians 5:24; Amplified Bible)

“[born anew] into an inheritance which is imperishable [beyond the reach of change] and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected and shielded by the power of God through your faith for salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:4-5; Amplified Bible)

“And now I commend you to God [placing you in His protective, loving care]” (Acts 20:32; Amplified Bible)

When you accept Jesus as your Saviour, His protection immediately covers you. You are no longer an open target for Satan to do with what he pleases unless you let him. You are then owned by God and the evil one can do nothing do snatch you from God’s hand. You are forever God’s child. That is so wonderful to know, isn’t it? God watched over you and guards you, just like a loving father on earth guards and watches over his child.

Thank you Father that I belong to You only and that You protect me from the evil one.

Because God loves you, He disciplines you

“Therefore, know in your heart (be fully cognizant) that the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you just as a man disciplines and instructs his son.” (Deuteronomy 8:5; Amplified Bible)

“He who withholds the rod [of discipline] hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines and trains him diligently and appropriately [with wisdom and love].” (Proverbs 13:24; Amplified Bible)

“But when we [fall short and] are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [by undergoing His correction] so that we will not be condemned [to eternal punishment] along with the world.” (1 Corinthians 11:32; Amplified Bible)

“For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves, And He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes [to His heart]. 7 You must submit to [correction for the purpose of] discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 Now if you are exempt from correction and without discipline, in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate children and not sons [at all]. 9 Moreover, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we submitted and respected them [for training us]; shall we not much more willingly submit to the Father of spirits, and live [by learning from His discipline]? 10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for only a short time as seemed best to them; but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose]. ” (Hebrews 12:6-11; Amplified Bible)

Discipline. Nobody likes this word and yet it is essential to become and inherit what God wants for us. Just like when you need to correct your child, God needs to correct us. Why do we correct our children? Because we love them. We don’t want to see them getting hurt or mess up their lives. We want to see them prosper and be happy and living a fulfilled life. When our three-year-old child wants to ride his bike in the street, we don’t allow it, because we don’t want the child to be run over by a car. The child doesn’t understand it, but the parent does. Why do we instill godly values in our children, like not attending wild parties? Because our sons can be introduced to drugs and our daughters can be raped. We know these things happen when you get involved in the world and we know the consequences can be dire, sometimes leading to destruction or even death. A teenager thinks a parent is unfair, nasty and strict without reason. We know better as parents, though.

It’s the same with God. We do not always understand why God prevents certain things in our lives, but He knows what could have happened should He have permitted it. His laws and rules are there to protect us. There’s a reason He says don’t be sexually immoral, or greedy, or slander, or covet, or whatever His commandments say we shouldn’t do. There are dire unnecessary consequences when we get involved in the things of the world. Things that are terrible for us. Things that can ruin a wonderful future. We should always surrender in totality to God and if need be, we must allow and be grateful for God’s discipline, because He loves you so much that He doesn’t want to see you get hurt, have an unfulfilled life and live with consequences that can sometimes never change. He wants the best for you. To achieve that, He needs to correct you.

Thank you Lord, that even though I do not always understand your ways and why you sometimes say “No” or “Not now”, I can trust that You want only the best for me, because of your immense love for me. Teach me how to accept Your discipline with a heart that wants to learn to become the best person who You’ve designed me to be.

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End note

And even taking all of this together, as though it’s not enough, we will never be able to fully comprehend God’s immense love for us. Only when we meet Him in heaven one day, we will experience the fullness of His perfect love.

In the meantime, even though the world, suffering, troubles, trials and tribulations scream differently about God’s pure love for us, we need to stand in faith, not leaning on our own understanding, that God loves us so much. That’s it. He loves you. Just accept His great love without reason, knowing that He is love. He loves you, it will never change, and it is impossible for Him to make a mistake.

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