God’s love for us an encouraging teaching

            Here I am sharing some verses on God’s love for us, a love so powerful and steadfast, and scriptures to support it. The first of these scriptures is that psalm of praise, Psalm 136 which details of God’s love for us

(Psalm 136:1)  Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

(Psalm 136:2)  Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

(Psalm 136:3)  Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:4)  to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:5)  to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:6)  to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:7)  to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:8)  the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:9)  the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:10)  to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:11)  and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:12)  with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:13)  to him who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:14)  and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:15)  but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:16)  to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:17)  to him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:18)  and killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:19)  Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:20)  and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:21)  and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:22)  a heritage to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

(Psalm 136:23)  It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:24)  and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever;

(Psalm 136:25)  he who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.

(Psalm 136:26)  Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Here is a key message that God loved the world so much that He sent His Son that whoever believes in Him- Jesus, would have eternal life with Him

(John 3:16)  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:17)  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

(John 3:18)  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

In John chapter 13 Jesus tells His disciples then (and now) to love one another as He loved them

(John 13:34)  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

(John 13:35)  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Jesus strengthens the point with these verse in John chapter 14

(John 14:23)  Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

(John 14:24)  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

(John 14:25)  "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.

(John 14:26)  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

(John 14:27)  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

(John 14:28)  You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

(John 14:29)  And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

(John 14:30)  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

(John 14:31)  but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

And also in these four verses in John chapter 15 which further enhance the point that Jesus making about His love and that Jesus commandment is to love one another as He has loved us

(John 15:9)  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

(John 15:10)  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

(John 15:11)  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

(John 15:12)  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

The first nine verses of Romans chapter 5 speak of our hope and the love of God through Jesus, who died for us as a manifestation of God’s love towards us

(Romans 5:1)  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

(Romans 5:2)  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

(Romans 5:3)  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

(Romans 5:4)  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

(Romans 5:5)  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

(Romans 5:6)  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

(Romans 5:7)  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--

(Romans 5:8)  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:9)  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Next I put in the love chapter in 1 Corinthians for God often shows His love to others using people and our loves to others as stated testifies of our love for God, and this is a powerful chapter

(1 Corinthians 13:1)  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

(1 Corinthians 13:2)  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

(1 Corinthians 13:3)  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

(1 Corinthians 13:4)  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

(1 Corinthians 13:5)  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

(1 Corinthians 13:6)  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

(1 Corinthians 13:7)  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

(1 Corinthians 13:8)  Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

(1 Corinthians 13:9)  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

(1 Corinthians 13:10)  but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

(1 Corinthians 13:11)  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

(1Co 13:12)  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

(1 Corinthians 13:13)  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Again these verses in 2 Corinthians state how God’s love for us is through (and by) His Son Jesus death for us and now we are new creations in Christ because of being in Christ.

(2 Corinthians 5:14)  For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

(2 Corinthians 5:15)  and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

(2 Corinthians 5:16)  From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

(2 Corinthians 5:18)  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

In Ephesians chapter 2 even though we were dead in trespasses God’s love towards us is such that He raised us up again in mercy together with Christ, in the gift of salvation that nobody can earn but it is a gift

(Ephesians 2:1)  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

(Ephesians 2:2)  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--

(Ephesians 2:3)  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

(Ephesians 2:4)  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

(Ephesians 2:5)  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--

(Ephesians 2:6)  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

(Ephesians 2:7)  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

(Ephesians 2:8)  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

(Ephesians 2:9)  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

(Ephesians 2:10)  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

In Ephesians chapter 3 Paul prays that Christ’s love be made manifest on those whom he is writing the epistle to

(Ephesians 3:14)  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

(Ephesians 3:15)  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

(Ephesians 3:16)  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

(Ephesians 3:17)  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

(Ephesians 3:18)  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

(Ephesians 3:19)  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

(Ephesians 3:20)  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

(Ephesians 3:21)  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul in 2 Thessalonians wishes the Thessalonians the love of God and steadfastness of  Christ for the Lord is faithful

(2 Thessalonians 3:3)  But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

(2 Thessalonians 3:4)  And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.

(2 Thessalonians 3:5)  May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Here in 1 John chapter 3 it speaks of  Jesus laying His life down for us, and not close our hearts to a needy brother but God is greater than our heart and that we can abide in God keeping His commandment.

(1 John 3:16)  By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

(1 John 3:17)  But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

(1 John 3:18)  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

(1 John 3:19)  By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;

(1 John 3:20)  for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

(1 John 3:21)  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

(1 John 3:22)  and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

(1 John 3:23)  And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

(1 John 3:24)  Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

In this passage in 1 John 4 it speaks of God’s love for us so much that He did send His son to be a propitiation for our sins and that because of God’s love towards us we really ought to love one another

(1 John 4:6)  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

(1 John 4:7)  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

(1 John 4:8)  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

(1 John 4:9)  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

(1 John 4:10)  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

(1 John 4:11)  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

(1 John 4:12)  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

(1 John 4:13)  By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

(1 John 4:14)  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

(1 John 4:15)  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

(1 John 4:16)  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

(1 John 4:17)  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

(1 John 4:18)  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

(1 John 4:19)  We love because he first loved us.

(1 John 4:20)  If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

(1 John 4:21)  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

In 1 John 5 those who keep His(God’s) commandments for this is indeed the love of God to do so,and all those who believe in Jesus.

(1 John 5:1)  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

(1 John 5:2)  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

(1 John 5:3)  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

(1 John 5:4)  For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

(1 John 5:5)  Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Jude encourages us to keep in the love of God in these verses

(Jude 1:20)  But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,

(Jude 1:21)  keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

(Jude 1:22)  And have mercy on those who doubt;

Here are these verses to the Laodicean church in Revelation chapter 3 reminding that the Lord does indeed discipline those whom He loves as He strongly urges the church to repent of its luke warmness towards Jesus

(Revelation 3:19)  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

(Revelation 3:20)  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

(Revelation 3:21)  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

(Revelation 3:22)  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

And the same message is in Hebrews chapter 12 that we are to accept and welcome the Lord’s correction and chastisement which is done in love

(Hebrews 12:5)  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

(Hebrews 12:6)  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

(Hebrews 12:7)  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

(Hebrews 12:8)  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

(Hebrews 12:9)  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

(Hebrews 12:10)  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

(Hebrews 12:11)  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

And these verses in Hebrews chapter 13 state that He promises never to leave or forsake us

(Hebrews 13:5)  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

(Hebrews 13:6)  So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

In this passage in Romans 8 Paul reminds us if God is for us really nothing can be against us or separate us from the love of Christ

(Romans 8:31)  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

(Romans 8:32)  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

(Romans 8:33)  Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

(Romans 8:34)  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

(Romans 8:35)  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

(Romans 8:36)  As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

(Romans 8:37)  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

(Romans 8:38)  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

(Romans 8:39)  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s love for us is awesome and cannot be compared, for He did not spare His only Son Jesus, but sent Him to the earth to be a propitiation for our sins. Jesus gladly went too, for His love is great for us too. He does want and commands us to love one another for often that is how God’s love is made manifest and that the people will know of God’s love when they see us love one another. God did send His Son Jesus to die for us so we can have eternal life and that His love for us is that great, and also to reconcile us back to Him when our own sins had separated us from Him. God did this because He did desire the love relationship with us and that there is nothing that can compare with this love relationship with God, absolutely nothing at all. I am now including a prayer which will invite Jesus in your heart and begin this love relationship which only God made possible through sending His Son to die for us at Calvary’s cross. Please pray this prayer with me

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin. You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess Jesus as our Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved. Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved. Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself. Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.

Amen.

God bless you and yours