dang, gina – this week of teaching was a-mazing.
Jeff Pratt was our speaker and taught us about the Father Heart of God. i’m going to try to recap from my notes.
first we talked about passion. passionate people change the world. our hearts need to be completely His. not only is it the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-38), but Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Jeff told a story of man who was enthralled with his adopted daughter. absolutely adored her. they were sitting on a dock in Cape Cod and his daughter had a fishing pole (and…she was fishing…needless to say). the man’s sitting there next to her, just gazing at her and overwhelmed with love for her. out of no where, a shark comes up out of the water and rips the girl’s arm off. immediately, the father jumped in the water and pried open the shark’s jaws to retrieve the his daughter’s arm. long story short, the surgeons were able to reattach her arm. Jeff used this story to back up 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” i liked the illustration (it was a true story) because it made that verse come alive to me with a real life example of what it looks like.
we all have 3 needs:
1 – to be loved
2 – to be needed/wanted
3 – to have significance
when we look to others to fulfill these needs, we easily become insecure and dependent on other’s affirmations. the beautiful thing is – all of these needs can be fully met by God. to be loved and to have significance can definitely be proved by Jesus’ death on the cross to save us from eternity apart from Him. there are so many verses that prove it as well. Psalm 139:13-16, for one. and as far as being needed/wanted by God – how about Jeremiah 29:11 and Matthew 28:19-20 for starters.
unfortunately, and i am guilty of this, we are too often more affected by the affirmation of others than we are by what God says about us.
Jeff talked about 5 love types. Husband, Friend, Lover, Mother, Father. i have explanations for all of them, but i’m trying to keep this concise (HA – yeah right – like i’m capable of that). so if you want any explanations, let me know. but unless we learn to receive these types of love from God, we’ll manipulate others to meet our need to be loved - when God is the only perfect Lover.
one thing i will mention, in regards to receiving love from God the Father, is that “Father” is used as a metaphor for God over 178 times in the Bible. i love the Truth that no matter how i fail, God loves me because I am His daughter. He loves me with unconditional love. He loves me as I am, not as I should be. and His love is for you too!!
ahhh – so that recaps all week. PSYCH! (yeah, i just pulled that word out – goin’ old school) that was just day 1. but in order to keep things interesting and not uberly long, i’m going to leave this as it’s own post.
oh how God loves us!!! i feel so loved, so beautiful, so full of worth, so…joyful! i wish i could bottle how i feel and sell it – i would make a fortune. i’d have my trip to Norway paid in no time! ;)
keep it real.
~jen
OH – PS! yesterday i got my first financial support for Norway! i got 3 checks in the mail, totaling $400! Praise God!
1 comment:
oh, how i love you!!!!
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