Know the Loving God through the Love of His Son

For the believer, who desires to live up to the holy standards of the Word of God, we can spend our entire lives trying to make ourselves OK.

"Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers," (1 Timothy 1: 9)

If we are members of the Body of Christ, however, then we have been made THE righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21). We are not motivated by punishment and fear, but rather by love.

In fact, Jesus' death on the Cross perfected everyone of us:

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

"And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 10: 14-17)

One of the worst discrepancies, therefore, in the Big Book is as follows:

"When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory." (AA, pg. 10)

Then Bill writes:

"We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, "a design for living "that really works." (AA, pg. 28)

This is an utter contradiction. God does not give us a way to live, but Life itself in the form of His Son, Jesus (John 14: 6).

Then:

"My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" (AA, pg. 12)

I had come to the point in my life where I was looking more at myself and my thoughts. I was taking my inventory so much, that I just did not want to leave the house. I was so depressed, so scared that God would be angry with me.

Years later, even as I am learning that I am totally accepted in God's eyes because of what Christ Jesus did for me at the Cross, the old habits of checking and prepping and making myself sure and acceptable will rear up. But by God's grace I am being transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

I had not received the full revelation of God's love for me, one which has nothing to do with anything that I have done, but everything that He has done.

Bill W. was always talking about a "loving God", and a God who is love.

There can be no talking about God and His love for us if we neglect or negate the Cross:

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

and

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

That is love, people! There is no point to talking about a loving God who  saves

It has been a long journey for me, but this journey is becoming a good journey (3 John 2). Pastors like Joseph Prince, Andrew Wommack, and even Bob George of Oregon have helped me to break free from this bondage of trying to make myself OK before God. He has done everything, yes everything, and therefore it is a perversion for me to keep looking over my shoulder to make sure that I am OK in Him.

The trick for me, and for all of us, is that we must resist the devil's onslaught by resting in who we are in Christ. Today, I am learning that I do not have to keep confessing something in order to make it true. I am not forcing myself to believe something, to believe anything.

Jesus is our rest, He is the one who rests us. It is not our job to bat down the upsets in our lives, but to keep receiving the good that He has for, for He works within us both to will and to do for His good pleasure,