How Can I Experience God’s Love?
I want to tell you all that when we are captivated by Jesus we look like these little bean plants. When we meet Jesus, we are uprooted from our sin and the tragedy of our fallen world and we are planted into His love. If you have asked how can I experience God’s love? How can I grow like this bean plant? Paul shows us one way that we can grow in God’s love is through prayer:
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
(Ephesians 3:14-17)
What were the first things you all did when you moved into your home? Maybe you painted the walls or put up LED lights, or bought new furniture. Andrew and I put up pictures of families, hung some art, got a TV for movie nights, and bought chairs for people to sit in during game night. Our home in Germany is not the same as it was when we first moved in to a sad empty little apartment. Some of our friends who came to visit us while we lived in Germany, and who used to come over to our house in the States all the time, walked into our apartment and said, “This feels like your house in Huntsville.” Why did our apartment in Germany seem just like our house in Alabama? It was because Andrew and I live there and as a result, our home grew to reflect our lives.
When you meet Jesus and begin to trust Him, He moves in permanently. As He makes a “home in your hearts” and you learn to trust Him, you change! You change because of God’s love inside of you. Just as mine and Andrew’s love for having others in our home impacted how we decorated our house, God’s love in your heart impacts how you live.
Unfortunately, I think many of us at times simply do mot feel like we are experiencing God’s love. I asked friends on instagram to describe how they experience God’s love, here were their answers:
God’s love can be experienced in all kinds of different ways. You may not resonate with some of these, but I want you to know that if Jesus is in your heart, you should be growing in His love. If you don’t feel the depth of God’s love I want to encourage you to be like the bean sprout and dig your roots deeper into Him. You can’t outgrow God’s love, you can’t ask outsin His love. His love is greater than everything you can ever do. Think back to the video, what direction did the roots grow first? Down. They dug deep down, then the bean grew where? Every direction. Paul continues His prayer for believers:
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. 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.
(Ephesians 3:18-19)
Some theologians have described God’s love this way: is wide, no matter where you go, you will not get away from it. It is long, forever lasting, never changing, never running out, never stopping. It is high, it is heavenly, it is the most beautiful, royal, special kind of love. It is deep. It sees the deepest part of your heart, and it goes there.
God’s love is offered to you up and down, stretched side from to side, just like Jesus’ body on the cross. If you dig in deep to see who God is when you study the Bible, when you hear in science class about our creation, when you are in choir and the song is sung beautifully, I promise you that you will not be disappointed. Just as we saw the bean sprout growing, no matter how much you seek God’s love, use it, abuse it, forget about it, try to turn away from it, it will still surround you.
So I want you to dig deeper and see that God’s love is there for you. Ask Him for His love. He wants to show it to you. He wants you to feel it. He wants you to be rooted deeper in Him. When we are rooted in Him, we start to bear fruit! As we grow deeper, we grow closer to Heaven, we grow up! Just like the bean sprout growing its flower and leafing. When we experience God’s love for us, we can’t help but want to share it with others. When someone is deeply rooted in God’s love they love others. If you want to experience God’s love, pray! Ask Him for it. Remember that ultimately, we can only grow through Him. It isn’t our efforts, that’s why we ask Him to help us grow.
Through Him.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21)
What does Paul say God can accomplish? Infinitely more! More than we ask, so ask away! More than we think, think of all the good things God has done and can do- He can do more! Look at all the ways God can answer your prayer and you can experience His love, through creation, through conversations with friends, through music!
My prayer today is that each of you would have Christ at home in your hearts, that you would be rooted in His love, dig deeper, growing in Him and bearing fruit- just like the bean sprout.
