January 26 Devotion - God is Love

 

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

 

وَمَنْ لاَ يُحِبُّ لَمْ يَعْرِفِ اللهَ، لأَنَّ اللهَ مَحَبَّةٌ

1 John 4:8

Meditate on Bible verses that illustrate God's love for you. Make it a project to grasp how much God loves you. Read the following verses slowly and prayerfully and ask God to make them real to you.

The Lord appeared to me from ages past, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.

ظَهَرَ لِيَ الرَّبُّ قَائِلاً: «أَحْبَبْتُكُمْ حُبّاً أَبَدِيًّا، لِذَلِكَ اجْتَذَبْتُكُمْ إِلَيَّ بِرَحْمَةٍ.

Jeremiah 31:3 AMP

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

لأَنَّهُ هكَذَا أَحَبَّ اللهُ الْعَالَمَ حَتَّى بَذَلَ ابْنَهُ الْوَحِيدَ، لِكَيْ لَا يَهْلِكَ كُلُّ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِهِ، بَلْ تَكُونُ لَهُ الْحَيَاةُ الأَبَدِيَّةُ.

John 3:16

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends

لَيْسَ لأَحَدٍ مَحَبَّةٌ أَعْظَمُ مِنْ هذِهِ: أَنْ يَبْذِلَ أَحَدٌ حَيَاتَهُ فِدَى أَحِبَّائِهِ.

John 15:13

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love

مِثْلَمَا أَحَبَّنِي الآبُ، أَحْبَبْتُكُمْ أَنَا، فَاثْبُتُوا فِي مَحَبَّتِي.

 

John 15:9

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved

أَمَّا اللهُ، وَهُوَ غَنِيٌّ فِي الرَّحْمَةِ، فَبِسَبَبِ مَحَبَّتِهِ الْعَظِيمَةِ الَّتِي أَحَبَّنَا بِها، 5 وَإِذْ كُنَّا نَحْنُ أَيْضاً أَمْوَاتاً بِالذُّنُوبِ، أَحْيَانَا مَعَ الْمَسِيحِ، إِنَّمَا بِالنِّعْمَةِ أَنْتُمْ مُخَلَّصُونَ،

Ephesians 2:4-5

Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God

وَاسْلُكُوا فِي الْمَحَبَّةِ عَلَى مِثَالِ الْمَسِيحِ الَّذِي أَحَبَّنَا وَبَذَلَ نَفْسَهُ لأَجْلِنَا تَقْدِمَةً وَذَبِيحَةً لِلهِ طَيِّبَةَ الرَّائِحَةِ.

Ephesians 5:2

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit

وَلَكِنْ، لَمَّا ظَهَرَ لُطْفُ مُخَلِّصِنَا اللهِ، وَمَحَبَّتُهُ لِلنَّاسِ، 5 خَلَّصَنَا، لَا عَلَى أَسَاسِ أَعْمَالِ بِرٍّ قُمْنَا بِها نَحْنُ، وَإِنَّمَا بِمُوجِبِ رَحْمَتِهِ، وَذَلِكَ بِأَنْ غَسَلَنَا كُلِّيًّا غُسْلَ الْخَلِيقَةِ الْجَدِيدَةِ وَالتَّجْدِيدِ الَّذِي يُجْرِيهِ الرُّوحُ الْقُدُسُ،

Titus 3:4-5

 

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins

وَقَدْ أَظْهَرَ اللهُ مَحَبَّتَهُ لَنَا إِذْ أَرْسَلَ ابْنَهُ الْوَحِيدَ إِلَى الْعَالَمِ لِكَيْ نَحْيَا بِهِ. وَفِي هَذَا نَرَى الْمَحَبَّةَ الْحَقِيقِيَّةَ، لَا مَحَبَّتَنَا نَحْنُ لِلهِ، بَلْ مَحَبَّتَهُ هُوَ لَنَا. فَبِدَافِعِ مَحَبَّتِهِ، أَرْسَلَ ابْنَهُ كَفَّارَةً لِخَطَايَانَا.

1 John 4:9-10

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your unfailing, deep, everlasting, and inseparable love for me. LORD, I pray that You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith, and I can feel Your love for me, and to follow Your commandment to love others as You have loved me. Help me Father God to feel as a conqueror over all things that displease You through Him who loved me. I pray that I, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide, long, high, and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. In Your holy name Jesus, I pray. To Jesus be the glory, the majesty, the power, and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

In Him,

Wagdi Henein