The Father’s Love

EPHESIANS 3:17-19 NLT
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.
Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And
may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should,
how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you
experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand
fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and
power that comes from God.
4 Basic Needs of Humanity:

1. Acceptance: Knowing you are loved and appreciated
2. Identity: Knowing who you are and that you are significant
3. Security: Knowing you are protected and provided for
4. Purpose: Knowing the reason why you were created
   JOHN 15:5-8 NKJV
   “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in
   him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone
   does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and
   they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If
   you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you
   desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that
   you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
   JOHN 15:9 NKJV
   “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
   When You’re Dependent on People to Meet Deepest Needs:
   • Your inner security depends on someone you cannot predict or
   control.
   • Your life is filled with an atmosphere of disappointments and
   failed relationships.
   • You have unrealistic expectations of others that drive people
   away.
   • Your ability to give love depends on your ability to get love.
   When You Make the Great Exchange:
   • Your inner security depends on God, who is totally faithful with
   unlimited resources.
   • Your life is filled with an atmosphere of optimism and blessed
   relationships.
   • You have realistic expectations of others, which allows you to
   forgive them and keep moving forward.
   • Your ability to give love flows from God, who never gives out.
   ROMANS 8:31-39 NLT
   What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for
   us, WHO CAN EVER BE AGAINST US? Since he did not spare even
   his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us
   everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his
   own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with
   himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died
   for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of
   honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. CAN ANYTHING EVER
   SEPARATE US FROM CHRIST’S LOVE? Does it mean he no longer
   loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry,
   or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the
   Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being
   slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming
   victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. AND I AM CONVINCED
   THAT NOTHING CAN EVER SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE.
   Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears
   for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of
   hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in
   the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to
   separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our
   Lord.
   4 Important Things to Know About the Father’s Love:

1. You are acceptable to God.
   ROMANS 8:31-33 CEV
   What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be
   against us? God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for
   us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? If God
   says his chosen ones are ACCEPTABLE TO HIM, can anyone bring
   charges against them?
2. You’re significant because you belong to Him.
   GALATIANS 3:26-29 NLT
   For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all
   who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like
   putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or
   free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now
   that you belong to Christ, you are the TRUE CHILDREN of Abraham.
   You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
   GALATIANS 4:6-7 NLT
   And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son
   into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “ABBA, FATHER.” Now you
   are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his
   child, God has made you HIS HEIR.
3. Your Father will always take care of you.
   ROMANS 8:32 CEV
   God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God
   did this, won’t he freely give us everything else?
   All Worry Is: Forgetting who your Father is!
4. Nothing can stop you from fulfilling your purpose.
   ROMANS 8:35 CEV
   Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble,
   suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and
   death?
   ROMANS 8:37 CEV
   In everything we have won more than victory because of Christ who
   loves us. I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—
   not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future,
   and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can
   separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!