God IS Love
Again, let’s start with prayer. You can pray these words, or choose your own, always speaking from your heart right to God Himself.
“Father God, be with me as I learn more about You. Help me to know you—your character, your personality, your love. I want to be more like You, to think more like you think, to love like you love. Open my heart to receive from you as I study this lesson. I have committed myself to you and will follow you. Lead me on, Lord. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
God is LOVE
In the New Testament Greek, the word for God’s kind of love is agape. Agape is different from other kinds of love. God’s love for us is unique in that it is self-sacrificing and completely pure in motiva- tion.
It was the motivation of this godly love that caused God to sacrifice His only Son, Jesus Christ, and send him into the world to die on a cross for our sins. Christ died so we might have life. No one has ever loved so much. This is the standard by which all other love is measured.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16, NLT
The willingness of God to send His Son, and the willing death of Jesus Christ demonstrates His love and His desire to redeem and liberate us. God continually causes good to triumph over evil, and He promises that nothing can separate us from His love.
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.’) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35-39, NLT
No one doubts the personhood of man, and according to Genesis 1:26-27, man is made in God’s image. So let’s consider God as a person, with a definite personality, and the characteristics of per- sonality.
All through the Bible, the personal pronouns, He, Him and His are used to describe God. Nowhere is he referred to as, “It.”
When we say that God is a “person,” we do not mean that He is human—far from it. We mean that God is a rational being with a mind, will and emotions.
MIND
God has intelligence. Now that may seem like a redundant statement, since earlier in this lesson we talked about God being “all know- ing.” But now we are talking about his intellect in terms of personality.
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!”
Psalm 139:17, NLT
WILL
God has a will. He makes decisions, and He has desires and preferences.
“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.”
1 Corinthians 1:1, NLT
“I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.”
Hosea 6:6, NLT
EMOTIONS
God has emotions. The emotions of God are clearly seen throughout the Bible
- He loves
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16, NLT
- He hates.
“The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence.”
Psalms 11:5, NLT
“‘For I hate divorce!’ says the Lord, the God of Israel.”
Malachi 2:16a, NLT
- He can be pleased.
“And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”
Matthew 3:17, NIV
- He can be displeased, annoyed, and angry!
“Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.”
Psalms 78:41, NLT
- He feels compassion.
“[…]for the Lord was merciful.”
Genesis 19:16c, NLT
“For the Lord will give justice to his people and have compassion on his servants.”
Psalms 135:14, NLT
- He can be angry.
“But God was angry that Balaam was going[…]”
Numbers 22:22a, NLT
- He feels joy.
Nehemiah 8:10
. . for the ______ of the LORD is your strength.”
For God so __________ the world . . .
- He grieves
Genesis 6:6 (NLT)
So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.
- He rejoices.
Isaiah 62:5
. . . as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God ______________ over you.
- He feels jealousy.
Exodus 34:14
Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a ______________ God.
- He has desires.
II Chronicles 9:8
. . . Because of the love of your God for Israel and his ____________ to uphold them forever, . . .
The Desire of God
God knows us – and he wants us to know Him. He placed us on the earth at the specific time and the geographic location where we were born. As you’ll see in Acts 17:26, He did this for a purpose – so that we would seek Him and find Him.
Acts 17:26
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this ____ ________ they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to ________ humbly ________ your God.
I love that this verse tells us to walk with our God! This relationship we have with Him is a journey— an on-going, life-long journey.
God does not hide from us. He says all we need to do is seek Him and we will find Him. He has plans for each of us – to do us good. He listens to us when we speak to Him. Why not call out to Him, ask Him questions, and listen to see what He will speak to us?
Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the __________ I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will ____________ to you. 13 You will ________ me and ________ me when you seek me with all your heart.
THINGS TO DISCOVER
Consider and meditate upon the characteristics of God taught in this lesson. How did you view God prior to this lesson?
Has your view of God changed as a result of this lesson? If so, how?
Can you think of any other characteristics to add to this list?
Has your view of yourself changed as a result of knowing God better? If so, how?
Have you begun your personal relationship with God? If so, how would you de- scribe your relationship?