{"id":3186,"date":"2018-02-16T21:06:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T02:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christskingdom.org\/staging\/8402\/?page_id=3186"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:20:08","slug":"keep-love-god","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/christskingdom.org\/staging\/8402\/articles\/keep-love-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Yourself in the Love of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Keep Yourself in the Love of God<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Article 39<\/em><\/p>

By Steven J. Hogan

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One of the most important subjects for the Christian is the love of God. \u201cFor God so loved the world\u2026 God demonstrates His own love toward us\u2026 Your love is ever before me\u2026 Your lovingkindness extends to the heavens\u2026 The love of God has been poured out into our hearts\u2026 Who will separate us from the love of Christ?\u201d<\/em> (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Psalm 26:3, Psalm 36:5, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:35). These are just a few verses, but there are hundreds of verses that speak specifically about the astounding and immeasurable love that God has for His children.

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What an awesome and most wonderful subject is the love of God, and a most necessary one for the Christian. But it\u2019s not just a subject, for we are talking about your personal relationship with your heavenly Father, with Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit. God knows you and you know Him, and comprehending the love He has for you is essential if you are to grow in your relationship with Him. And your relationship with God is foundational if you are to have a good relationship with anyone on earth. How can you love another person if you are not first experiencing the love God has for you? \u201cBeloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love\u2026 We love because He first loved us\u201d<\/em> (1 John 4:7-8, 19). My focus in this article is your relationship with God, and specifically helping you grow in knowing His great love for you.

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Let me ask a couple of questions. Can you say as David said, \u201cYour love is better than life?\u201d<\/em> Can you say as John said, \u201cI have come to know and have believed the love that God has for me?\u201d<\/em> Isn\u2019t it true that God wants you to be 100% confident of His divine love for you? Of course, this is what God wants for you. I am so thankful to God for the 46 year journey He has given me with Him, and especially for how He has expressed His love to me, the kindness, patience, forgiveness, compassion, gentleness, and faithfulness that He has shown me over that entire time. I am so thankful God has loved me the way that He has and has given me assurance of my relationship with Him.

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My favorite book in the Bible is the book of Psalms. Without a doubt, this is the number one book in the Bible to help you grow in your relationship with God. One of the main reasons I like it so much is because it goes into great detail about David\u2019s relationship with God, and in particular how he was strengthened, revived and motivated by the love God had for him. And I want to learn what David learned. That\u2019s why I read Psalms every day of my life. I don\u2019t want to miss a day because God\u2019s love means so much to me – I want to learn about His love, and be reminded of His love. I know I can\u2019t make it without the love of God. Indeed, it is what has strengthened, sustained and satisfied me through all the years.

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O, how the love of God needs to flood our minds, overwhelm our souls and sink deep into our hearts. But way too many Christians are only skimming the surface, and are not diving into the depths of God\u2019s love for them. Way too many Christians are not believing, knowing and experiencing the love God has for them. O, how sad. We have a heavenly Father who greatly loves His children, but yet, many of them aren\u2019t being satisfied and sustained by His love. Might this not be. The truth is that God loves us, and this truth needs to get into our hearts and then be lived out in our lives.

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God has done His part in saving you through Christ dying on the cross for you, and the Spirit regenerating your life. God has also given you His Word, His grace and the church, and even placed His Spirit into your heart. There\u2019s nothing else you need, but to do your part. You are instructed, \u201cwork out your salvation with fear and trembling.\u201d<\/em> How does this relate to our subject about the love of God? Jude 21 gives us the answer, \u201cKeep yourselves in the love of God.”\u00a0<\/em>I personally believe this is one of the most important commands in the Bible. This is essential, this is what you must do everyday of your life. But what must you do? What are the means God gives you by which you can keep yourself in His love? Listed below are a number of things that God has taught me over the years, and things you need to learn to keep yourself in the love of God.

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Make sure you are a Christian. <\/strong>The first and most important step in knowing God\u2019s love is being assured and confident that you are forgiven, that you are a child of God, that He has saved you from sin, Satan, death and hell. But it\u2019s not just remembering that you are saved, that you are a Christian. It\u2019s daily believing and being thankful of this reality, that you are a child of God, that God is your Father, and that you have eternal life. \u201cBeloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God\u2026 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.\u201d<\/em> 1 John 4:7, 10

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Take time to be with God. <\/strong>You need to get time alone with God if you are to more fully know God and His love for you. Take time to read the Word, God\u2019s love letter to you, and meditate on verses that speak about His love for you. In particular, take time in the morning, before the day starts, to be refreshed by the presence and love of God. \u201cO God, You are my God; I shall seek you earnestly\u2026 Your lovingkindness is better than life\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 63:1, 4). \u201cSatisfy me in the morning with your lovingkindness.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 90:14

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Believe that God loves you. <\/strong>You can read 100 verses about God\u2019s love, and can even memorize them all, but you need to believe them, you need to believe that God loves you. Faith is how you get saved and first know God\u2019s love, but it is also a key to keep experiencing His love for you. \u201cI have come to know and have believed the love that God has for me.\u201d <\/em>1 John 4:16

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Think about your salvation.<\/strong> The salvation God purchased for you is the single, greatest, and most important expression of His love for you. Think about and consider the particular details of your salvation – that He chose you, foreknew you, predestined you, suffered for you, died for you, called you, adopted you, redeemed you, justified you, forgave you, and gave you the Holy Spirit. Think also about how He is presently saving you in that He is sanctifying you, and that in the future, He will glorify you, thereby completing your salvation. From beginning to end, your salvation is a marvelous demonstration and display of God\u2019s amazing love for you. \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life\u201d <\/em>(John 3:16). \u201cIn love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.\u201d<\/em> Ephesians 1:5

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Confess your sins to God.<\/strong> Confession is a necessary means in experiencing God\u2019s love. If you have knowingly sinned against God, then you need to openly and sincerely confess your sin to Him, and then you will freely and freshly experience His forgiving love. Only as you are open with God about your sin will you be able to more fully bathe in God\u2019s love for you. \u201cBe gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness, according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 51:1, 1 John 1:9

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Stay in the word of God.<\/strong> God\u2019s Word is essential if you are to grow in God\u2019s love, for it is His primary means to describe His love to you. Hundreds of times in God’s personal love letter to you, He tells you that He loves you. Keep reading and thinking about God\u2019s word, and you will learn more about His precious and marvelous love for you. And keep believing it. \u201cConsider how I love your precepts; revive me according to Your lovingkindness.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 119:159

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God\u2019s love is freely given to you.<\/strong> You don\u2019t deserve, and can\u2019t earn, buy, or trade for God\u2019s love. The love God has for you is not dependent on what you do but on what God has done and is doing for you. God\u2019s love for you is unconditional, is based solely on His mercy and grace. God\u2019s love is not gained or given to you because of your good works but because of Christ\u2019s good and perfect work on the cross for you. \u201cBut God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.\u201d<\/em> Ephesians 2:4-5, Hosea 14:4 – \u201cI will love them freely.\u201d

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\u00a0Worship the Lord.<\/strong> One way to know and experience God\u2019s love is by worshiping Him, by praising Him. You have a personal relationship with God and you are to communicate your love to Him, and when you do that, then He will reciprocate and express His love to you. God is not silent when you worship Him, but is most pleased and blessed when you express your love to Him. Tell God that you love Him, and He will tell you that He loves you. \u201cI love you, O Lord, my strength.” <\/em>Psalm 18:1

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Obey God.<\/strong> Obeying God is one of the most important ways to keep yourself in His love. Christians who faithfully obey God will experience His special and personal love, a closeness with Him, an abiding and intimate friendship with their heavenly Father. \u201cHe who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him\u2026 If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.\u201d<\/em> John 14:21, 23; John 15:9-11

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Love others.<\/strong> You are like a channel, like a pipeline, and God wants His love to flow freely through you to others. The more God\u2019s love flows through you, the more God will show His love to you, and then you will be able to love others even more. This is the way God\u2019s love works, through His people, from one person to the next. \u201cGive and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.\u201d<\/em> Luke 6:38, 2 Corinthians 9:8-11

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Don\u2019t go by how you feel. <\/strong>God\u2019s love for you isn\u2019t dependent on how you feel. Yes, you may feel tired, overwhelmed, lonely, anxious, distant from God, and unloved. You may not even feel like you love God. But don\u2019t question God\u2019s love for you. In spite of your feelings and emotions, just believe what God says in His Word about His love for you. \u201cWho will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?\u201d<\/em> Romans 8:35-39, Psalm 13

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Be devoted to the saints. <\/strong>Being closely connected to other Christians, and having fellowship with them, results in mutual kindness, caring, giving, compassion, gentleness, forgiveness, forbearance and patience. Only as you are with others in the body of Christ can you know these aspects of God\u2019s love in the way He desires for you. More than you realize, God loves you through people. But don\u2019t seek to be loved by people. Love people, and seek to be loved by God, and then you will be loved by God. \u201cI pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.\u201d<\/em> Ephesians 3:17-19

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Expect God to show His love to you today.<\/strong> God loves you every day of the week, and He wants you to believe this, and to expect Him to love you today, and in very specific, visible and tangible ways. Get up in the morning, believing that God will love you that day and, then going through the day, you will see His love for you. And before you go to bed, think back over the day, and you will be most encouraged by how many times and by the different ways God specifically and personally showed His love to you. \u201cSurely, goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life\u2026\u201d<\/em> Psalm 23:6, Psalm 92:2

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God shows His love to you in all kinds of ways.<\/strong> Realize that God\u2019s love for you is revealed to you in many different ways. It is seen in His word, through people, through creation, through His provision, through trials, through the church, through His protection of you, and in other ways. Be alert and take careful note of how God loves you as you go through life, and then you will be more encouraged, and will then be reflecting His love to others. \u201cThe earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 119:64, 145:8-9

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Be thankful for all that God has done.<\/strong> Being thankful is an important and necessary way to remind yourself of how God has loved you in the past. Being thankful for past relationships, situations, trials, victories and events crystallizes in your mind the love that God has for you. When you get discouraged, think back over the past, and be thankful, and then your heart will be revived as you remember specific ways that God has loved you. \u201cGive thanks to the Lord, for He is good.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 136:1, Psalm 77:10-14

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Trials are a means to know God\u2019s love.<\/strong> One of God\u2019s purposes for trials is to help you draw close to Him, and to more fully and intimately know the wonderful love He has for you. We too easily get dependent on fleshly and worldly things, but they are but flimsy and fake substitutes for God\u2019s love. Knowing this, God will give you trials so you can know His true love. Don\u2019t be distressed by trials, but rejoice in them, knowing that God, the source of real love, will then fill your heart with His love. \u201cI will rejoice and be glad in Your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul\u2026 Let Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your unfailing love\u2026 Praise be to God for He showed His wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 31:7, 16, 21

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When God disciplines you, then He is loving you. <\/strong>Your heavenly Father corrects you, spiritually spanks you when you are doing what is wrong. This discipline is done in love so as to draw you back to Him so that once again you will know and experience and be satisfied by His love. \u201cMy son, do not make light of the Lord\u2019s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.\u201d<\/em> Hebrews 12:5-6

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Don\u2019t be deceived by the world or the flesh.<\/strong> The world is a worthless substitute for God and His love. Your heavenly Father longs to show and express His love to you, but way too many believers are tricked, and look for love in the wrong places and in the wrong things. Don\u2019t love the world, and don\u2019t look for love in the world. Don\u2019t be fooled by the \u201clove of people\u201d, <\/em>by \u201clovely\u201d <\/em>women or \u201chandsome\u201d<\/em> men. True love is a godly love, and God is the source of that love. \u201cWhat fault did your fathers find in Me, that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves\u2026 My people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.\u201d<\/em> Jeremiah 2:5, 11-13; Psalm 115:1

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Knowing God\u2019s love is a spiritual battle.<\/strong> Don\u2019t believe it when the devil says God doesn\u2019t love you. Believe what God says, and not some lie that the devil floats into your mind, saying you are no good, you are not forgiven, that God doesn\u2019t love you, or that God doesn\u2019t care about what you are going through. \u201cI write to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.\u201d<\/em> 1 John 2:14, Job, Lamentations

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God loves you through people.<\/strong> More than you realize, God shows His love to you through the saints, through the body of Christ. You may question God\u2019s love for you, but oftentimes it’s because you fail to see how He has been loving you through friends, family and fellow church members. It is important to think of the many ways God has loved you and is loving you through the people He puts in your life. \u201cSince you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.\u201d<\/em> 1 Peter 1:22

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Be with mature Christians.<\/strong> Older, mature Christians have known and seen the love of God over time, through good days and bad, through thick and thin, through \u201cmany dangers, toils and snares.\u201d<\/em> They are given to you to be an example and a reminder of God\u2019s great love. Get with them, listen to their stories, find out how they have seen God\u2019s love through the years, and be encouraged. \u201cGreet Epanetus, my beloved\u2026 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved\u2026 Greet Persis, the beloved.\u201d <\/em>Romans 16:5, 8, 12; Colossians 4:7-17

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Have hope.<\/strong> Hope speaks of how God will show His love to you in the future, and you should be excited about this, and be looking forward to this. You can\u2019t imagine the amazing plans God has for you, the incredible and wonderful ways He wants to show His love to you in the ages to come. For then you will be perfect and be perfectly able to know and experience all the love God has for you. \u201cNo eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.\u201d<\/em> 1 Corinthians 2:9, 1 Peter 1:13, Ephesians 2:7

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God\u2019s love is radically different and infinitely better than man\u2019s love.<\/strong> Man\u2019s love is fleshly, flattering, selfish, superficial, shallow, short-lived, fake, fickle, temperamental, hypocritical, two-faced, conditional, disappointing and empty. Don\u2019t look to be loved by people in the world, for that is foolish and disappointing. Look to be loved by your heavenly Father. \u201cYour love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 26:3). \u201cBecause your love is better than life, my lips will praise You.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 63:4

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Remember the many kinds of love. <\/strong>Like a diamond with many faces, so too the love of God has many faces, and therefore, is seen in a variety of ways. God\u2019s love is kind, compassionate, gentle, good, faithful, patient, forbearing and forgiving. Take time to think about God\u2019s working in your life, and specifically how He expresses His love to you in so many marvelous and incredible ways. \u201cThe Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.\u201d <\/em>Psalm 145:8, Psalm 40:5

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God\u2019s love is continuous and eternal.<\/strong> The love that God has for you is all the time. It is continuous and has no breaks. It\u2019s every day, and all day long. It\u2019s every week, and all month long. It\u2019s every year and for the rest of your life on earth. And it\u2019s forever. No matter what you think, no matter how you feel, no matter the trials you face, or no matter what you are going through, God always loves you. To know in your mind that God loves you all the time and loves you forever is the best news there is. But to actually know in your heart that God loves you is infinitely better. \u201cHis lovingkindness is everlasting.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 136

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In all this, you must remember the great commandment, that your primary purpose in life is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And you are to love one another. But these two great purposes God has for you aren\u2019t going to happen if you are an unloved person. I encourage you to keep yourself in the love of God, and then you will love God and love others, and be able to fulfill the plans God has for you. \u201cWe love because He first loved us.\u201d<\/em> 1 John 4:7-21

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What does all this have to do with prophecy? As you know, this blog site is primarily about prophecy, is about the future God has for you, for me, for all the Christians, and for this planet earth. As you also know, we have talked about how life will become more difficult the closer we get to the return of Christ and the rapture of the church. There will be birth pains. Lawlessness will increase. There will be great apostasy. The Antichrist will rule the world. There will be great persecution. You may even be betrayed by your own family members. But what does God say you need to know to spiritually survive, to be victorious, to be able to endure to the end? Without a doubt, knowing the love of God is the main thing, the most essential thing for your life. This lesson about keeping yourself in the love of God is critically important for your life today, tomorrow and yes, in days of great tribulation. My desire is to help you grow in knowing the great love of God, at this time, and in the days and years leading up to the coming of Christ.

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As you know, Paul suffered greatly for the Lord \u2013 he went through so many extremely, difficult trials. He warned us, \u201cThrough many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God\u201d<\/em> (Acts 14:22). But what was it that kept Paul going? It was the love of God that filled him, encouraged him, sustained him and fired him up. Might this be true for each of you as you live for the Lord, this love of God affecting, transforming, strengthening and revitalizing your life, and then overflowing and wonderfully affecting the lives of others.

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Here are Paul\u2019s words which clearly proclaim this important truth about knowing and being sustained by the love of God. \u201cWho will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword. Just as it is written, \u2018For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.\u2019 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d<\/em> Romans 8:35-39

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“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”<\/em> 2 Corinthians 13:14<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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