Watch the video version of this here!

Doing this peer counseling thing I do…even with some very spiritual people. When I ask them, “Do you know how much God loves you? Do you know he’s really crazy about you?” Most of us struggle with this.

For good reason.

We live in a fallen world characterized by relationships that are transactional. While we may talk as though we value “unconditional love,” we certainly do not act that way.

In other words, if someone is good to you, you are good them. If you do a job at work you get praise or raise.

As a child, if you did it right, momma gave you a cookie. If not…well, you know the various forms of disapproval you received.

This form of love, transactional love, seeps deep into our soul.

Therefore, we take it unknowingly into our relationship with God.

But we shouldn’t…

Loud Singing?

We should be cautious about applying just any Bible verse to our life. I would make the case, though, that a verse from your favorite book of Zephaniah (I know, its one of those I usually look up in the index to find) that does apply–for a specific reason.

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Although this was said specifically through the prophet Zephaniah to the tribe of Judah-we need to recognize that it is also a statement of the nature of who God is.

Was God playing favorites with Judah, or does he love all of his children in such a way…that he sings loudly over them?

Think about it, a few hundred years later he would send his son to earth as a small child, birthed from a mother just as we all were, and he planned from the get-go that his Son who was fully God, fully man, would die for everyone.

But in case you doubt, try the following four steps to increasingly be convinced of and be overwhelmed by God’s love for little ole you:

1. Look Back. 

How did you come to be reading this, today, wherever you are? For some reason at the very least, you are considering spiritual things, and perhaps even more.

Think back to the very special people and events that steered you to this moment in your walk with God, even if it just an investigatory moment.

I have numerous people and events that took me from being a naturalistic evolution-believing atheist to being a son of the Creator of the universe.

Was I lucky?

No, it was the hand of God.

Look back on how you came to be here and now and recognize God’s hand on your life.

2. Look Now.

If God intervened in your life to get you to this moment, look for what he is doing now. Jesus says in John 5, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

If you understand where Jesus is standing in history, it is likely that most of the religious elite did not perceive the Father working all around them very much at all. They had made a religious practice that emphasized what they did morally and in “service” to God-what we might call “formal worship.”

God did not have much of a role in their lives.

But prayerfully consider the grace and providence of God in your life now. 

3. Look Forward

Since the Lord has been with you in the past and all the way up until now, wake up tomorrow and spend the first moments of your day with him. Ask him to give you eyes to see what he is doing and the courage to join in that work.

I call this “walking with expectancy.” It has transformed my joy and purpose in life.

If you will do this, you will be amazed by how our God will show you people that he is working on, and he will work through you-it is truly an “abundant life” (Jn. 10:10) you will enjoy.

4. Construct Memorials

When Israel was crossing the Jordan river they were directed to send one person from each of the 12 tribes into the dry river bed and pick up a rock. They would pile these rocks up in a common place as a memorial.

This would be a way to remember how God had taken them through the river at flood stage, among other things, in their journey to the promised land.

My home office is filled with pictures and mementos, nearly all of them are reminders of the amazing way in which God has worked through me in his love.

Yes, God Loves You Really Big!

If you can’t quite grasp this you are not alone. It took me years of walking with God and following these four steps-but eventually I was convinced of his lavish love upon me.

Even me.

Let’s do this.

Want the book? Get Freefall: God’s Path to Courage and Boldness here!

(Image by Wiresstock/IStockphoto)