What does the Bible say about loving God?
This is probably one of the biggest areas that I struggle with and I’m tired of it! I hate not loving God the way I’m supposed to love God. I hate waking up without giving God the love that He deserves. We don’t cry enough to the gospel message.
We will cry when we read books or watch emotional movies, but when it comes to the gospel the most important message, the bloodiest message, the most glorious message, and the most beautiful message we treat it like just another message.
I can’t live like this. I have to cry for God’s help. Do you have a passion for God?
Have you sat down and thought to yourself I can’t live like this? I can’t live without you. I’m tired of words. I’m tired of emotion.
Lord I have to have you or I’ll die. I’m tired of reading about your presence. I want to truly know your presence. We always claim that we love God, but where is our zeal?
I have to cry out for tears for the Lord and a greater appreciation and love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t want the world. You can have it. I don’t want it! It leaves me dry and low. Only Christ can satisfy. Only Christ and nothing else. All I have is Christ!
Christian quotes about loving God
“My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.”
“Loving God – really loving Him – means living out His commands no matter what the cost.”
– Chuck Colson
“The true measure of loving God is to love him without measure.”
– Assorted Authors
“A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.” Leonard Ravinhill
“God gives salvation to the needy, but gives the deep things of His heart to the hungry who refuse to live without them.”
“God desires to be loved by men, although He needs them not; and men refuse to loveGod, though they need Him in an infinite degree.”
“To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness – especially in the wilderness – you shall love him.” Frederick Buechner
“If loving God with all our heart and soul and might is the greatest commandment, then it follows that not loving Him that way is the greatest sin.” R. A. Torrey
“To serve God, to love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world.”
”Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?” Francis Chan
“Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God’s dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquility under every circumstance.” Aiden Wilson Tozer
Losing your love and passion for God
One of the worst things in the world is when you first get saved and you can’t stop thinking about Christ. Then, out of nowhere your thought life changes. You go to play basketball with your mind on Christ and then you leave with your mind on the world.
The scary part is that it becomes hard for you to get that love back. Thinking about things other than Christ becomes your life. It becomes so common. I can’t live like this. I can’t live when my mind is not centered on Christ.
Many of you know what I am talking about. You go to do one thing and you come out and your zeal for Christ decreases. We have to cry out continually that our minds be put back on the gospel of Christ.
1. Colossians 3:1-2 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
2. Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Losing your first love Bible verses
You know when there is a new song that you love so much so you replay it over and over again. Then, it becomes too common. It becomes boring and dull after a while and you don’t play it that much.
When you first met your wife there was so much spark. You wanted to do things for her just because. Then, you got married and you got too comfortable. The things you would do for her you stopped doing them and these little things will bother any spouse. You don’t have to say it, but it is like with your life you’re saying, “oh it’s you again.”
This is how many of us treat God when love gets so common. You’re not what you once were. You can obey everything, but still not love God and have a passion for God. In Revelation God says you lost that love and zeal you once had for me. You have been too busy for me that you haven’t been spending time with me. It’s either you start spending time with me or because I love you I will make a way for you to spend time with me.
3. Revelation 2:2-5 “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. You also possess endurance and have tolerated many things because of My name and have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
Some of you are wondering, why you don’t love God like you used to.
It is because the world has got your heart. Your love for God has died so your love for the lost has died as well. You have lost your fight. Someone else has taken God’s place in your life. Sometimes it is sin. Sometimes it is the TV.
You lose the love of God little by little until it is nothing. I must tell you there is no such thing as an ordinary Christian. You must repent and He is faithful to forgive. “God I don’t want this. I don’t want these desires. I want you.” Pray for a renewing of your mind and set your heart on seeking God.
4. Jeremiah 2:32 “Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.”
5. Proverbs 23:26 “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.”
Do you thirst for Christ?
Do you long to know Him? Do you hunger for Him? God I have to know you. Just like Moses said, “show me your glory.”
Some of you reading this have read the Bible front and back, you always go to Bible study, and you know so much of the Word. But, are you seeking Him? You can know everything of God, but truly know nothing of God. It’s one thing to know the facts, but it is another thing to know God intimately in prayer.
No one wants to seek God anymore. No one wants to wrestle in His presence until He changes you anymore. I want an invasion of the Almighty God. Are you seeking Him with all your heart? Are you living and breathing without God? Are you desperate for Him? Is this important to you? Are you truly looking for Him? Don’t tell me you’re looking for Him when you’re spending hours in front of the TV and you give God a cheap leftover 5 minute prayer before bed!
6. Genesis 32:26 “Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
7. Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
8. Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
9. 1 Chronicles 22:19 “Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the LORD.”
10. John 7:37 “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”
11. 1 Chronicles 16:11 “Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.”
Can God share His heart with you?
Do you want to know His heart?
God will speak life, fill you with the knowledge of His heart, tell you special things that no one knows, and allow you to know what bothers Him.
He wants all of you. He wants to talk to you daily. He wants to guide you. He had special things planned for you, but many people don’t seek God for it. Nothing can be done in the flesh.
12. Proverbs 3:32 “For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.”
13. John 15:15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
14. Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
Loving God: Do you have time for God?
You have time for your friends, shopping, watching TV, surfing the internet, but when it comes to God you don’t have time! Your life says He is not important. Are you reading Scripture to get to know Him in His Word and to conform into the image of Christ?
Are you spending time with God in prayer? Busy, busy, busy! That is all I hear from Christians today. These are the same Christians who say that they want a change in their life. It’s all words. What does your life say? God wants to spend time with you. His heart beats faster for you. Before the world was created He saw you and said, “I want you,” but you neglect Him. Your life says He means nothing to you, but yet He still sees you as His precious child.
15. Ephesians 1:4-5 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love. he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
16. Colossians 1:16 “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
Forgetting the Lord
One of the easiest times to forget God is when God has just delivered you from a great trial.
God has delivered some of you and you have lost the love you once had for Him. You started thinking everything was done in the flesh. Satan starts to lie and say it was just a coincidence. You became prosperous. You became spiritually lazy and you have forgotten God.
Some of the godliest people can only talk about how they used to go to the throne of God and how God used to reveal Himself in great ways. It’s terrible. It’s terrifying. God has to warn people. He says, “I know what happens when I bless people. They forget me. Be careful that you do not forget me.” God can take everything back. Sometimes breakthroughs and victories are so dangerous. When God gives you a victory you have to seek His face more than you have ever done in your life.
17. Deuteronomy 6:12 “then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
18. Deuteronomy 8:11-14 “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.”
Forgetting the cross of Jesus Christ
When is the last time that you have cried to the gospel of Jesus Christ? You sing songs like God is holy and you read these verses in Scripture, but you don’t really grasp what they mean. Don’t you understand? God can’t forgive you if He is good and just. He has to punish you because we are wicked. You know what you were before Christ. You know!
You even know your worst moments as a Christian when you fell so short. You know! Christ looked at you in your worst moment and said,” I’m going to take his/her place.” His Father said, “if you do that I’m going to have to crush you. Jesus said, so be it. I love him/her.”
It pleased the Father to crush His sinless beloved Son for you. In your worst moment He became a curse for you and He no longer sees you as a wicked sinner, but a saint. Jesus came to make dead men live. Don’t you know that you are nothing and your life means nothing apart from Christ?
Sometimes I ask why me? Why choose me? Why save me and not others in my family or my friends? You don’t realize how blessed you are. Set your mind on the gospel of Jesus Christ and that will rejuvenate your devotional life.
19. Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
20. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
We should be like David who was a man after God’s heart.
21. Psalm 119:47-48 “I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.”
22. Psalm 119:2-3 “How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways.”
Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. No works!
Evidence that you are saved by faith in Christ is that you will have a new relationship with sin. You will be regenerate. You will be a new creation. Love is not just doing what is right. You will have a new zeal for Christ your Savior. The sins you once loved you now hate. It burdens you. You’re not the old person anymore you are new with new affections. The God you once hated you now long for. Are you regenerate? Does sin burden you now?
Are you growing in your hatred for it and your love for God? I’m not talking about sinless perfection and I’m not saying that there isn’t struggles, but don’t tell me you’re Christian when your life hasn’t changed and you’re living in rebellion just like the world.
You know that God loves you, but the question is do you love Him? We don’t obey because obeying saves us we obey because God saved us. We are new. It’s all grace. We are so thankful for what God has done for us on the cross. We love Him and we desire to honor Him with our lives.
23. 1 John 5:3-5 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
24. John 14:23-24 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
Are you longing to worship God in Heaven?
Do you ever just sit and wonder about the joy and the blessing that is waiting for you in Heaven? Do you ever just sit outside at night and glorify God for His beautiful creation and think about the omnipotence of God? One glimpse of Heaven and you will never go back to your old life.
25. Philippians 1:23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.
Bonus
Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
Readjust your spiritual life today. Do you desire God? Cry out for more of Him today!
