Hannah • Believe That You Are Dearly Loved
Have you heard that God loves you, but your brain is telling you, “No way!” Or maybe you know in your head that God loves you, but you just don’t feel it in your heart. God wants you to really KNOW it, to allow yourself to FEEL it, and to GRASP it. In the last blog, we learned from Naomi and Ruth that life should not be lived along. This is blog #8 in the “Fear to Faith” series. In this post, we will learn that God loved both Hannah and Mrs. Manoah and that you, my friend, are also dearly loved by your God.
Listen to this blog as a podcast from our Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study:
The stories of Mrs. Manoah in Judges chapter 13 and Hannah in 1 Samuel chapters 1-2 involve two women who share many of the same circumstances in life. Both are loved by their husbands but experience the pain and shame of childlessness. Both live at a time when their nation Israel was badly in need of some godly leadership and direction. God noticed both of them, saw their faith, and met their needs because He loved each of them.
Insecurity About God’s Love
One of the top internet search phrases is this question, “What does God think about me?” That could be a natural question for anyone to ask who does not already know the Bible’s teachings. But a lot of times, that question is wrapped up in mega insecurity, even among Christians. Perhaps this question is constantly rolling over in your mind. “What does God think about me?”
If you look at stuff on the internet and read some devotionals and Bible studies, you will run across teaching that focuses constantly on our sinfulness. Yes, every human is prone to sinfulness. But what is often left out is the good news of God’s grace toward us and His life in us. It drives me nuts when I see application questions in women’s Bible Studies that focus only on avoiding sin in your life.
No wonder many women look at their lives, which may be very messy compared to others, and think to themselves, “God must not like me as much as He does her.” Have you ever thought that way? Then, you resign yourself to your “fate” because you do not deserve better. Or you do as many good deeds as you possibly can to try to get back into God’s good favor so He will love you again. Stop it! Grasp the fact that as a Christian you are dearly loved by your God. That is what God thinks about you. And, God loves all of His children equally.
Grasping the Truth That God Loves You Dearly
Your God loves you, and He wants you to know it, to grasp it. He wants you to never let go of that truth. If you did our study of the book of Ephesians, you would see that Paul wrote about this in Ephesians chapter 3. It is a prayer rich with the truth about God’s love f
“I pray that … [God] may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power … to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love. (Ephesians 3:16-19)
Christ already lives in the heart of every believer through the Holy Spirit. That word “dwell” means that Jesus is so at home in your heart that He is the dominating factor in your attitudes and behavior. That will be evident as you live each day.
And Jesus wants you to be rooted and established in love. That means to be grounded in it, stabilized by it. That means to firmly grasp the immensity of how much you and I are loved! Jesus wants this to be deeply rooted in you. You can know this love intimately and experientially. It is not just head knowledge. As a believer in Christ, you are an individual recipient of God’s personal love for His children.
Through God’s power in you, you can GRASP God’s love for you. God enables you to overcome your insecurities and doubts and comparisons in order to know and experience His love.
So, what does God think about you? You are dearly loved.
You are dearly loved by God
Just to make sure you know how much you are loved, he wrote in Ephesians chapter 5 these powerful words:
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children. (Ephesians 5:1, NIV)
“Dearly loved children.” The Greek word used there is the same one used by God to His own Son and means “beloved.”
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11 NIV)
And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7, ESV)
Beloved. Dearly loved. What does God think about you, dear Christian? You are beloved. You are dearly loved by God!
I found a quote about this that I really liked. It says,
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is Unconditional, Impartial, Everlasting, Infinite, Perfect!” (Richard Halverson)
Wow. You are loved like that! God is not stingy with His love. The moment you believe in Jesus Christ, He loves you dearly just like that.
Have you heard that God loves you, but your brain is telling you, “No way!” Or maybe you know in your head that God loves you, but you just don’t feel it in your heart. It is okay to feel God’s love for you. God wants you to really KNOW it, to allow yourself to FEEL it, and to GRASP it. You can ask for this. Romans 5:5 says this,
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)
God pours His love into your heart. It is there for you to know.
The Power of God Overcomes What We Have Heard from Others
Dear readers, I know that many of you struggle with believing that God loves you. Perhaps your concept of a Father’s love has been corrupted by someone who should have shown you God’s kind of love. What if your parents did not love you like that? That affects your view of God and His love for you, especially if you only know performance-based love.
Performance-based love says, “I will give my love to you if you meet a certain standard of performance. Otherwise, I will be disappointed in you and withhold my love.” That hurts. That breeds insecurity and fear. Has that been your experience? That is not true love. That’s not how God’s love works.
Remember our definition of fear:
Fear is a normal human emotion designed by God to alert us to danger so that we will take action against it.
Take action against the fear that God will hurt you rather than truly love you.
Think of the best father in any book, or movie or TV show. God is even better than that. God’s love is unconditional. He loves you for who you are now. He loves you for who you are becoming because He sees you perfected through His Spirit working in you. He looks upon you with love because you have trusted in His Son. His love allows things in your life that will strengthen you and mature you as you learn to rely on Him more. The Bible says that you are “dearly loved.”
What God Says About You
Dear friends, write this phrase on your mirror. “You are dearly loved by your Father God.” And put Ephesians 5:1 and Colossians 3:12 below that. The next time you ponder what God says or thinks about you, remember this truth. It does not matter how many mistakes you have made in the past or what is in your bank account. Whether you have been a Christian for 3 weeks or 30 years, you are dearly loved by your Father God—equally, no more, no less than every other Christian alive today or in the past.
Remember our four truths for walking from fear to faith.
- God loves you.
- He knows what is going on in your life.
- He can do something about it.
- You can trust His goodness in whatever He chooses to do!
That first truth is believing that God loves you unconditionally. If that is a struggle for you, ask Him to help you really know His love. Christian, you are a dearly loved child of God. Grasp it. Allow yourself to feel totally wrapped up in His arms of love. Thank Jesus for that. Maybe today will be the best day of your life!
That is how you walk from fear to faith.
Learn more about God’s love for you from the Seek the Treasure study of Ephesians.
In the next post, we will see that Abigail had a wise heart and learn how to recognize the differences between wise women and foolish women.
Let Jesus satisfy your heart with His faithfulness, so you will choose to trust Him with every fear.
All of the above information is covered in the Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study or the shorterThe Walk from Fear to Faith Bible Study.
- The Walk from Fear to Faith Bible Study on Amazon.com
- Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study on Amazon.com
- Satisfied by His Love Bible Study on Amazon.com
- Satisfied Series 1 Podcasts (Old Testament women)
- Seek the Treasure Bible Study of Ephesians on Amazon.com
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