Revealing the Father's Heart

My question is, How can we know how wide and long and deep and high the Father's love is if it truly surpasses knowledge? (Eph. 3:17) I have been on a journey to learn of the Father's love. My Bible is now full of little hearts everytime the word love is mentioned and I have spent countless hours pondering God's love for me. The Bible gives me a few clues, such as the fact that God is love, so knowing Him will help me to know his love. Another clue is 1 John 4:10 which says, This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." So this led to several more hours of pondering what Jesus did on the cross for me. However, the knowledge still has not seemed to make the massive leap from my head to my heart.   What I do know is that knowing the love of Christ seems to be the answer to all of life's problems. If we truly believed in God's love for us, we would have no trouble loving others, fear would ...

Psalm 33:18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.  Fear and love have always been thought of as complete opposites, but in a way they also go together.  1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in love, but that perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The word that is used here for fear is phobos, which comes from the word to flee or withdraw, especially when one feels inadequate. So then, how are we supposed to both love and fear God at the same time?  A simple definition of love is that it draws us to someone or something, while fear causes us to withdraw. It is  most healthy to have a balance of these two qualities in our lives when it comes to our relationship with God because love causes us to be close to Him, while fear causes us to reverence Him and realize how holy and great He truly is.  Someone put it well when they used the example of two fathers. One f...

So on a whim I decided to start this blog today. Although I question the need for another blog when there already so many on the web, I am doing this primarily for my own benefit. Many times, when my thoughts are swirling around in my head, it is incredibly helpful for me to get them out on paper or talk to someone about what I am thinking. The purpose of this blog is based on Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us to believe" I pray these things for anyone who happens to come across this blog. While these verses have often been used as verses to describe what happens at salvation, I believe that the ulti...