Choose love

You know you are to choose to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. You know you are to choose to love your neighbor and your enemies. But today I want to talk about choosing to let yourself be loved.

We want to be loved. Actually we desire greatly to be loved. Yet we have become really good at convincing ourselves we do not deserve to be loved or that no one really loves us. As crazy as it may sound, the reason we feel so unloved may be because of our own choice. (Now if you are in a mentally or physically abusive relationship, it is not your fault and you do not deserve it. You need to get of it and get help from family, friends and authorities if necessary.)

One choice that hinders us from feeling loved is choosing to only focus on how another does not show love to us. They may climb the highest mountain for us most days, but we only remember the time they left us in the pit. Be careful not to be good at only remembering the negative parts of your relationship. Choose to remember the times you know without a doubt they loved you.
In the movie, "Enchanted," a couple is going through a nasty, bitter divorce. Once someone else points out how sad is it that they have forgotten about their love, they finally remember that they love each other and why. Have you become like that couple in a relationship? Do you start to only see their faults in loving you that you stop letting them love you or let yourself be loved by them?

Another choice that hinders us from being loved is choosing to believe the lie of the enemy that we are unlovable. Your past is so bad and too many mistakes have been made that no one can ever really love you. My friend, that is a lie. Yes, you may have made mistakes. You need to seek forgiveness from those affected by your mistakes. But others will still love you. We are all sinners saved by grace. And part of that grace is love.
I want you to hear this loud and clear. No sin can separate you from God's love. He already showed you how much He loves you. Christ paid the price for your sins. He paid the price because He already knew you would make mistakes. He loved you so much that He was willing to take your punishment. He loved you then and loves you today and will love you tomorrow. Choose to believe God over the enemy. You are His daughter/son and He loves you.

When we do not get what we want, we sometimes choose to believe that God or some person does not love us . It may be infertility, finances, unemployment, losing your house or losing a loved one that keeps us from believing God loves us. All of those things are horrible. I am sorry you are facing those trials. Again, it is not because God does not love you. If God did not love you or me, he would have never died for us. God would let us take the punishment of death for our sins. We will face trails and challenges in this life, but those challenges do not reflect His love for us. A Heavenly Father who will comfort the brokenhearted, provide for those in need is how He reflects His love. You may never get the answer you want, but you have to choose to trust in Your Father's love and will for your life. Instead of denying His love, open yourself to receive His love that will help you through your suffering.

1. Choose to see how others love you even in little ways.
2. Choose to remember how much Christ loved you when He hung on the cross.
3. Choose to find strength in His love when facing trials.
4. Choose to feel your Father's arms around you.

Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

"1 O LORD, you have searched me

and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake, I am still with you."

"35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39