Loving God: Getting at the Heart

How shortsighted are we when it comes to "good"? Very, I would say.

"For those who love God" is a large key to our frame for understanding.

Is your faith a "place" you constantly dwell?

Is God a just God?

Who defines "love"?

We easily make the Christian life about less than it must be: it is life or death.

A feast beyond compare. We are invited. And yet, we are unworthy to be there.

We have no actual desire to visit a place that we know nothing of.

There is a man who has conquered death.

If love is something to be known, how do we come to actually have a knowledge of God's love? What is it like, and how is it displayed?

"Terror accomplished no real obedience."

Every person believes somewhere within that they can master the religious “system” and somehow manipulate God into what they want, ultimately gaining eternal life.

As believers, we all know people who have seemed to truly believe at a time and yet no longer follow Jesus. For us who believe, how do we keep ourselves in the love of Christ?

In this episode I deviate from the norm with this short story of a man discovering God's love.

The words about loving God's law in Psalm 119 seem like a stretch, at best. At worst, we just don't agree with the wording. So, what's going on in Psalm 119?

Jesus confronts hypocrisy, but is it only the Pharisees?

How does a person obey the command to love God?

What is your war horse? And what's better?

What is a human response to the praiseworthy, and how do we respond to God?

If God desires for us to love him from the heart, then the topic is worth some further thought (and maybe, yes definitely, a lifetime.)

We trust what we know to be trustworthy. Have you ever thought about the words in Scripture that describe trusting in God's love?

What most characterizes those who know God's love?

What does it really look like to be "all in" in a life lived for God?

For us to call God's love "my steadfast love" is exemplified in Scripture. What does that mean?

At its core, what does it mean to be "blessed"? How is it opposite of being "cursed"?

Does the term "festal shout" sound odd to you? Let's think about what it means.

Can we deceive God with our words, and how do we possess a heart that produces true words?

Words mean things, and given that they do, in this episode we explore the words "fair" and "beauty" in terms of how we know God.

Is God's love merely a concept in your mind, or it is a reality that governs everything about you?

We all find ourselves thinking of God only in terms of our own experiences. In this way, we incredibly limit our knowledge of God.

We often ask God why. So does the writer of Psalm 80.

Light is the most simple comparison, but the depth of its meaning is worth the effort of our minds.

Psalm 27 offers us some of the most pointed language in terms of relating to and trusting in God that we find in all of Scripture.

What does God's eternal love mean for our own problem of focusing on ourselves? Everything.

Have you ever been actually rescued? Spiritually, our rescue is something we simply cannot get over.

What is your first thought of God? Do you teach yourself to consider all that is true of God and make this the focus of your love for him?

When everything hangs in the balance, where do you find yourself? If Jesus is all that he claims (and I certainly think he is) then recognizing the importance of our faith in him cannot be understated.

Sleep, anxiety, and peace are the focal points of this episode. "Trusting God" is easy to speak about, but difficult for us to do every day.

Psalm 9 offers us a simple but deeply important practice for sharpening our faith in God and our love for him.

Looking at Psalm 63 and Matthew 11, this study looks at the way our souls experience a "thirst" and need something to satisfy.

Psalm 25:1, like several others, challenges us with the words of lifting the soul. So, how are we to think about this?

Do we actually have a right understanding of what God's love is? This episode challenges us to ask that question and seek to derive our knowledge of God's love from the correct sources.

How are we comforted? And, what does full comfort look like? This episode delves into both our need for comfort and a future comfort.

Thoughts about thinking are at the core of this episode: what happens to us when we do focus our minds on God's love?

Looking at part of Psalm 51, the focus here is our sin and a God who knows us through and through. If our heart is known perfectly by God, how does this affect our thoughts of him and our worship of him?

The Shema is a title given to the words of Deuteronomy 6. The instruction contained therein that is the topic of this particular episode is the instruction to love God with all one's heart, soul, and might. Later in time, Jesus quotes these words, calling them the first and greatest commandment.

The question is a pertinent one: do we actually need to think about the topic of loving God?

"Goodness" is a difficult word for us to get excited about. Here the topic gets examined, and the word gets some love. Quotes in this episode come from John Frame, Andrew Peterson, Rich Mullins, and Helen Howard Lemmel.

With the focus on the source of our love, the question is raised as to whether we can love without God's love.

In this initial episode, the topic of loving God is explored from the aspect of what we treasure and what we delight in.