Have you ever thought you just did not love God enough? Well, don’t let it get you down because no one really does. We can only love God to the measure that we ourselves have been loved or to the extent that we understand His love for us. Remember the woman who barges in the dinner party to bathe Jesus’ feet with tears? Jesus said the she loves much because she had experienced God’s love and forgiveness (Luke 7:36-50).
We love because He first loved us. If you want to love God more, then you need to first receive more of His love. When we place all of our focus on ourselves to generate the loving feelings for God, it will lead to striving and religion—trying to earn God’s favor.
What Keeps Us From God’s Love?
First of all, it is not God. He has bent over backwards to show us that He loves us. Sending His Son to die on the cross is a huge sign. “He who did not spare 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)
While it is true that no one seeks God without the Father drawing them. No one would blatantly reject the love of Christ if they really knew it.
Therefore misinterpretations of events and lies in our hearts block our view of his love. Knowing that they were deceived allowed Jesus to say from the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). When we really know in our hearts the love of God, we would come running, weeping, and rejoicing into the arms of our Father.
Do Christians Believe Lies?
There can be multiple lies, but I will walk through a typical one for many.
Many people grew up in a busy family where your parents did not have much free time to play with you. Or, maybe your parents were divorced limiting your time with one or both of them. Whatever the causes, many people have developed a lie that we are not important enough for those we care about to make time for us.
Simplify this lie down, and we live life as if we are unworthy or we do not measure up. Therefore we live our lives either trying to prove to others and ourselves that we actually do measure up by our efforts and striving, or we give in and stop trying altogether and resign ourselves to being a burden on others.
So we come to a place in our lives where we decide to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. For the first time in our lives we start to receive a different interpretation about ourselves.
Then trials hit and we go back to the patterns that have always made sense to us. We say, “God is so good and kind that He wants everyone to go to heaven, but now that I have received Him, He does not have time for me. There are more important people for Him to attend to.” And then, we go back to same patterns of living.
Either we try to earn God’s favor in order to get His attention, or we resign ourselves to not going to a God who does not have time for us. Both ways are motivated by a fear of rejection. If I try too hard or care too much, I am just going to be let down. Can you see how lies are keeping us from going to God? Can you see why lies are keeping us from prayer?
Lies Christians Believe
First of all, we need to repent of the lies we believe. Dear Jesus, I confess that I believed the lie, that …
- No one will love me for who I am.
- I must isolate myself from others so I don’t get hurt again.
- I am not worthy to receive anything good from God.
- If people knew the real me they would reject me.
- I have messed up so badly I have missed God’s best for me.
- My value comes from what I do, not from who I am.
- Even when I give my best, it is not good enough.
- If I take time off to relax, God will be upset.
- I must keep my thoughts and feelings to myself because they are not important.
- Authority figures cannot be trusted to care for me.
- I am not competent as a man.
- I will always be a failure.
- My wife would be better off without me.
- God loves others more than me.
- I will always be on the outside looking in.
- If I can’t stand out, I am a nobody. I am second-rate.
- I cannot trust God or feel secure with Him, because He has let me down.
- It is a mark of failure to be tempted.
- God would not choose to speak to me.
- I blend into the crowd; I am nobody special.
- Things never work out for me.
- I cannot receive complements.
- Someone else could do a better job than me
- Whatever else God is showing you…
You Are Believing Lies
The secret is each one of these is it’s a lie. They need to be confessed and repented of so that you can receive God’s truth. God created you. He does not create failures. To live out of any of these lies is to not live the life you were created for.
Each one of the lies listed above is a lie that I have believed. Is it any wonder that I could not fully give myself over to God. I needed God to reinterpret the grid in which I was living my life. I needed to receive more of His love before I would ever be willing to love Him more, much less anyone else.
We need to see loving God as we do tithing. We give God a portion of our wages as an act of thankfulness for the provisions that He gave us. If He did not give us the money, we would have nothing to give back to Him. Loving God is the same. We can only love God with the love we have first received from Him.
If you want to love God more, start asking Him to show you what is keeping you from receiving what He so willingly wants to give.
This is really a nice work! Thank you for helping us LOVE the beloved ONE. God is the only One to be loved Most. God is the creator of LOVE, which shows the best way to HIM.
Sorry for the delayed response, but because this is coming from you, this comment makes me very happy. Thank you.
Hello Prayer Coach,
Yes, the phrases you mentioned apply to my thinking. Because people say they are lies, I tend to call them lies, too, but in my heart I feel that they are true for me. It’s too hard for me to completely switch my thinking, when circumstances, my experiences, and other things keep “proving” that they are true. Will you pray for me? Please?
Thank you.
I want to see God’s love and affection…for me.
Thank you for praying.
Rachel
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