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Do You Believe The Love?

1 JOHN 4:16 ESV
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

 It is one thing to mentally assent that God loves you. It is another thing entirely to know and believe it. Do you truly believe that God loves you? If not, you should meditate on God's Word until it becomes clear to you. You should think about the great price God paid to redeem you.

 This is foundational. You need to believe the love that God has for you. God delights in you! God rejoices over you! He truly loves you! And you need to believe it! Because people act on what they believe. What you truly believe is what you are acting on. For example, if I tell you the building is on fire, you may say a thousand times that you believe me, but I know you don't believe me unless and until I see you leave the building.
 Regardless of what people say, or what games we may play with ourselves, the truth is that we act on our beliefs. The reason people sin is because they believe that by doing so they will be benefited. Once a person sees the truth that sin is harmful instead of helpful, they can repent (which means a change of thinking which results in a change of behavior). Why do people not believe that God loves them?

Two reasons. First, because they know they are not perfect. Second, because their life experience has not been better. Can God love imperfect people? YES! Does He? YES!
 According to Scripture, all people are imperfect. Yet God loves us enough to die for us! Can we accept our experience as valid evidence that God does not love us? NO! We can believe that our mother still loves us even when we have had a bad day. Why can't we believe God loves us even when we have had a bad day?

 EPHESIANS 3:18-19 NLT
 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. SAY THIS: I choose to believe what the Bible says: God loves me!

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