Soak in God's Love to Reduce Stress

Remember the song from Sunday School: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong, Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.

I can almost hear you singing it along with me as you read the words.  Why is this such a classic song? Because of its profound message in simple language that even a child can understand it.

So, when did you stop believing the message?

• When you asked for something in prayer and didn’t get it?
• When someone was abusive to you and you wondered why God allowed it?
• When your spouse said they no longer loved you?

Or maybe you would say, I still believe it, I know Jesus loves me.  If that is the case, may I ask you why you have stress, worry and fear?  Do you really believe He loves you or is that just some kind of automatic, you know it’s the right answer, kind of answer?

For I would like to propose to you that if you really knew God loved you,  you’d also know there isn’t a thing in the world He wouldn’t do for you.

Knowing the love of God is one of my pillars of stress busting.  You won’t get far in your efforts to have a more joyful life of rest and peace if you aren’t solid on this truth.  

Here’s why it matters:

1. It’s His very essence.  The Bible doesn’t just say God has love, it says He is love. (1 John 4:8 ESV)  It is at the very core of His being.  This means that everything He does is love, every thought He has is love, every motivation is love.  It’s not something He turns on and off at will.
   
   When you don’t know that love is God’s very essence, you really aren’t sure what He is going to do next.  You aren’t sure if He’ll answer the prayer request or how He’ll answer it.  You aren’t sure if it is His will to heal you.  You aren’t sure if He has compassion for your situation.  You don’t know if He’ll love you today but leave you tomorrow like everyone else in your life has.  But when you know it is His essence, you can know that He will always be true to Himself. God is not a liar and he never changes.  
   
   When you know that love is God’s very essence, you can know His will. You can ask, "What would love do in this situation?"  In a situation of pain or sickness, love would heal if it had the capability.  Since we know God is love and He has the capability, we can know that healing is ALWAYS God’s will.
   
   
2. Love never fails. (1 Cor 13:8 NIV) Or we could say God never fails since God and love are the same thing.  
   
   Since love never fails, we can know or we can have faith that we have the need that we have requested of God when we prayed. (Mark 11:24 ESV) We can know that God is going to come through this time.  Not win a few, lose a few. We can know that when we do things God’s way or love’s way, there is nothing to stress about because love’s way is failure proof.
   
   
3. Well-formed love banishes fear.  There is no room for fear in love. Fear is crippling, but love is freeing.  Fear makes you live a small, self-centered, meaningless life.  Love allows you the freedom to live a large, others-focused, meaningful life.
   

When we really believe that God loves us we can know His will, His ways and His freedom. In His presence of love is fullness of joy! (Psalm 16:11 ESV)  Take time each day to let God minister His love to you and just soak in His love.  His love will wash the stress, worry and fear away.