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A women's free Bible study on God's love
with commentary, homework, and
audio devotions
posted 6/5/2009
Dearest Ladies,
When I first decided to do this study on God's love some years back, I was going to look up every Bible verse on love and go from there. However the Holy Spirit made it very clear to me to write about God and what He has done for us. This is because God’s actions scream of His love for us!
In reality true love, which is God’s love, doesn’t depend on what a person does or who she is but on the one loving. In this study I felt getting to know the One who loves us so very much and His actions of love towards us was a must. So the purpose of this study on God’s love is to enable you to get to know Him and His acts of love. One of the ways we will do this is to study God’s characteristics.
Why is it so important as a Christian, to truly know God and His love? It is because God asks you to have faith in Him and love Him. And how can you possibly trust in and love someone whom you don’t know? God also asks you to believe that He loves you so very much! And how can you believe that He loves you if you don’t know that He does? As Christians, the more we get to know God and comprehend His love through His Word and what He has done for us, the more passionately we will want to trust and love Him. In reality the more we trust and love God, the stronger and more mature Christians we will be.
As you will see in this study the foundation of God’s love is Jesus Christ! So you will study Jesus Christ and what He has done for you. You will hear about His love starting before eternity past, how He created you to love you, how His love stood unyielding even after the first sin, and how and why He was born, lived and died for you. You will understand why He pursued and loved you to be His. You will see that He died for you when you were His enemy. You will learn how His love gave you eternal life and made you His Bride. You will hear how and why He redeemed you from slavery to sin to make you His Father’s beloved daughter. Rejoice ladies, you are truly His loved princesses!
because of God's love - Gini
Course outline
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Devotions for women
Sacrifice - the cost of freedom
originally posted 7/2/2008
re-posted 6/27/2009
As America is about to celebrate its Independence Day my thoughts turn to the many sacrifices people have made to make our country free. There were our founding fathers who sacrificed their well-being, their wealth, even their lives for our freedom. Our men and women are over in Afghanistan and Iraq as I write this, yes, to keep our country free but also to give their lives so others can have the freedom we cherish. Some of you who visit this site are from another country, and I would imagine even if your country doesn’t have much freedom, you could still tell me some stories about the sacrifices people have made to bring freedom.
Below is an email I wrote to my son in April 2004, who at the time was a Marine officer in Iraq. This note exemplifies the cost of freedom.
I had no idea how many of your fellow Marines had been lost until I saw the “USA Today” newspaper article, on Friday. You must be very saddened but proud of what all of you have given and accomplished in Iraq this month. All of you were willing to give the ultimate, your lives, to protect each other. All of you were willing to give the ultimate, your lives, for people who are your enemy and don’t even understand or want in some cases the freedom all of you are giving your lives for. All of you exemplified what Christ did for us. He died for us, when we were His enemies and not wanting or even understanding the freedom He had to offer. (Romans 5: 7-11) I am proud of you! I am sure you exemplified “Semper Fi “ in every situation and did your best. You and your battalion have been an example to me, to live my life more fully for other Christians and for the lost. We Christians need to make “Semper Fi” our motto. I love you son, Mom.
Throughout the ages people have given their lives for another, and in many cases the underlining reason the sacrifice took place was for freedom. They died so another could literally have the freedom to live free. They sacrificed themselves so others could have the freedom to believe in what they felt was right and so on.
to continue go to:
Sacrifice - the cost of freedom.
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Jesus Christ reveals God to us!
6/27/2009
I love birds. They show me God’s desire for beauty and creativity in His creation, with their many colors and appearances. Some birds even show us God’s sacrificial love and care by how they unselfishly care for their young. Remember how sacrificial the penguins are in the movie, The March of the Penguins? As I write this, we have a flower pot, with a mommy (maybe it is a daddy) quail stubbornly sitting on her nest - Tucson heat and all. Romans 1:20 tells us God can be seen in His creation. Yet there again, God is so much more than His creation.
I think we try to understand God in human terms, but we fall short of who God really is when we do this. God is God, so we can’t put Him into a box that our human reasoning invents. Isaiah 40 makes it clear we can’t compare God to ourselves - His power, His understanding, His knowledge, His justice and so on are far beyond ours. How can any of us comprehend God?
John 1:18 tells us, it is Jesus Christ who has explained God to us!
No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. NASB®
In Exodus and in other scriptures, we are told that no one has seen God the Father on this earth. Yet, John the Apostle in his gospel, very plainly teaches that Jesus has revealed God to us. This is because He is God in bodily form or flesh. Jesus Himself said clearly in John 14:9, “he who has seen Me has seen the Father.” We can know God (even physically touch Him) through Jesus Christ. If Jesus reveals God to you, I think you should be learning about Jesus. What do you think? Read Isaiah 53, Matthew 1:18-25, Romans 8 and Revelations 1 –to get a glimpse of Jesus - Who loved us so much He died for us, so we could be free from our sins.
Because of Jesus love, Gini
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