How do I love God back?

[John4111]

Hi all.  It's me again.  I'm still reading my Bible each day.  And each time God rewards me with his presence.  While I appreciate this, my understanding is that I am supposed to form a relationship with God.  I guess I don't know how to do that.   Right now it seems one sided.  God gives his love to me, but I have no idea how to give it back. What I am supposed to do?

[Lefein]

Ask him to help you love him back.  Ask him to show you ways you can show your love for him.

And if I can be really simple about it, sometimes its just a good idea to say - God, I love you - throughout the day.  Love isn't a feeling, its a choice. :)

Talk to him, and just...tell him how good he is, how cool he is, how lovely, how awesome, how strong, how mighty, how glorious, how wonderful, how precious, how appreciative you are, how thankful you are, how much you love him...

God didn't call you to do works to show that you love him, he called you to do works as he loves you through them.  If that makes sense.

[jabcat]

Praise Him, thank Him, talk to Him just as if He were really there - because He is!   :bigGrin:

[willieH]

Praise Him, thank Him, talk to Him just as if He were really there - because He is!   :bigGrin:

:thumbsup:

willieH  :2thumbs:

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: Amen. I talk to Him everyday, ask Him questions, ect. He's as real as you will allow Him to be in your life.

[shawn]

Jesus said, if you love me you will obey what I command.  The first and greatest act of worship and love is obedience.  It starts there.  By loving your neighbor and even more so "the least of these", you love Christ.  Jesus has to be your first love.  That didn't happen overnight for me.  Only through a process of revelation about who he is, how much I need him, and how I can not love or enjoy my wife or children without him...did he become my first love.

[micah7:9]

Praise Him, thank Him, talk to Him just as if He were really there - because He is!   :bigGrin:

:thumbsup:

willieH  :2thumbs:

:thumbsup: :HeartThrob:

[Beloved Servant]

Jesus has to be your first love. ...he become my first love.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1lTJUFHiOE&feature=related



...wow!

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: Amen.....man's love is imperfect at best. What we seek is to allow HIS love to come thru us, and His love is His Spirit, His Spirit is love.  :thumbsup:

[thinktank]

Jesus said, if you love me you will obey what I command.  The first and greatest act of worship and love is obedience.  It starts there.  By loving your neighbor and even more so "the least of these", you love Christ.  Jesus has to be your first love.  That didn't happen overnight for me.  Only through a process of revelation about who he is, how much I need him, and how I can not love or enjoy my wife or children without him...did he become my first love.

Interesting. That's how I see a relationship with God a dance between us and God, some christians prefer to be slaves or servants of God that's ok, but I prefer to be friends with God, it is a higher way, which few christians strive for, but the door is open for all.

[John4111]

Thank you all for your wonderful advice.  You've given me some good stuff to work with.  I appreciate it!

[willieH]

Jesus said, if you love me you will obey what I command.  The first and greatest act of worship and love is obedience.  It starts there.  By loving your neighbor and even more so "the least of these", you love Christ.  Jesus has to be your first love.  That didn't happen overnight for me.  Only through a process of revelation about who he is, how much I need him, and how I can not love or enjoy my wife or children without him...did he become my first love.

Interesting. That's how I see a relationship with God a dance between us and God, some christians prefer to be slaves or servants of God that's ok, but I prefer to be friends with God, it is a higher way, which few christians strive for, but the door is open for all.

More than just ..."OK",  ...Tank -- He who seeks to be a SERVANT follows in the MASTERS footsteps:

Matt 20:27-28 --- and whosoever will be CHIEF amongst you, let him be YOUR SERVANT.... even ...AS... the Son of man came NOT to be ministered unto [served], but to minister [serve], and to give His life as a ransom for many.

To serve others because GOD says to love them first -- 1 John 4:20 -- is to gain His "friendship"... :nod:

:Peace:

willieH  :HeartThrob:

[Lefein]

Just remember John4111, this truth.

"It is not about your do, it is about your who."

The very fact that you've aligned your will to desire to show him that you love him, because he has loved you so much (and even acknowledging the truth of his love for you first), is showing to God that you love him.  It is in his eyes the love of a child, the love of a child he wants, and is receiving from you, because children also ask; "How can I show my love to my father?".

You've shown your love, God will take care of the rest.  It is not about doing or being a servant, or a slave, or a friend, or even about showing your love by doing what he commands - you could not do or be anything apart from God anyway...rather your love is about your Who.

Who are you?  The answer; A Christian in God, who is Love, and Love is in you - who are you?  Individual Full of Love.  Simply let the love of God in you, flow back to him through you - simply...Be, who you are, and you will show God ample amounts of Love indeed.

Be blessed, in Love, in Jesus' name - Amen.

[John4111]

Just remember John4111, this truth.

"It is not about your do, it is about your who."

The very fact that you've aligned your will to desire to show him that you love him, because he has loved you so much (and even acknowledging the truth of his love for you first), is showing to God that you love him.  It is in his eyes the love of a child, the love of a child he wants, and is receiving from you, because children also ask; "How can I show my love to my father?".

You've shown your love, God will take care of the rest.  It is not about doing or being a servant, or a slave, or a friend, or even about showing your love by doing what he commands - you could not do or be anything apart from God anyway...rather your love is about your Who.

Who are you?  The answer; A Christian in God, who is Love, and Love is in you - who are you?  Individual Full of Love.  Simply let the love of God in you, flow back to him through you - simply...Be, who you are, and you will show God ample amounts of Love indeed.

Be blessed, in Love, in Jesus' name - Amen.

Thank you for the kind words.

[Lefein]

You are most welcome, I am excited to hear what you experience when you've let love flow.  Do tell me when you have?

[shawn]

Jesus has to be your first love. ...he become my first love.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1lTJUFHiOE&feature=related



...wow!

Thank you for that link.  It was an answer to my morning prayers.

This morning I was having a problem with a poor attitude.  I prayed that my thought life be brought in line with God's will and spirit.  That was healing.

It also confirmed in me what God has placed on my heart this week.  Why is a Christian man is loyal to his wife?  Is it because there is a check list of do's and don'ts?  Or is it because he truly loves his wife?  In a similar way, when we deliberately sin, we commit an act of adultery.  Relationship isn't a list of do's and don'ts.  It's not a check list, or a poster board where we can fill stars beside our name.  We stay loyal to Christ because he is our first love.  We don't prostitute ourselves out to the world because we adore him. 

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: When He said "ye can do NOTHING without Me", He meant it. That includes loving Him and especially loving someone else. Ideally, when your heart has been opened up to His love, He can then love your mate thru you. It's far different from OUR loving them, and it's totally independent of conscious thought or your will to display it at the moment; it raises up in you in a tangible, discernible way. For example, when they do something really wrong, you can feel it raise up and diffuse your anger over it, until all you can do is tell them you love them. Ask me how I know  :winkgrin: My  :2c: Blessings....