The Love of God: A startling revelation of Paul's letter to the Ephesians

You think you know God loves you; or do you really? If you truly believed The Love you would never hesitate asking anything in prayer; even when you haven't been acting all that great. And if you still want/need something (God never separates the two...even though we are absolutely certain that He does) then confess/repent and try to overcome the guilt of 'manipulating' God before daring to ask again. Ok...maybe you've never been (or won't admit being) through this cycle. But if you're honest it is at least one of the reasons you have resisted pursuing or deepening your relationship with God (often mistakenly referred to as 'religion'). That's why THE LOVE OF GOD had to be written. Our 'religious' or 'traditional' understanding of who God is and how He interacts with His Creation has created a vague mystery at best and a cruel monster at worst. To circumvent this notion, the God of Creation repeatedly uses the metaphor of 'Family'. He calls His Covenant People, "Children". He refers to Himself as 'Father' only a few times in the Old Testament but Jesus brought the full revelation of 'God the Father' in His earthly ministry. And ultimately the Holy Spirit refers to the 'Church' as the 'Bride of Christ'. If your memory of 'family' is not altogether pleasant then that tragedy needs to be overcome with a new 'startling revelation' of who God really is...and how He really feels about you and the heartbreak you have experienced. I cannot solve that problem in a phrase. But I believe with all my heart that this message is a revelation that can bring change to you and any who will open themselves to the heart of God. Let me explain God's dilemma with a Sunday School lesson. We've been taught from our early years (Sunday School) that praise and worship is God's highest priority; and serving Him is right up there in second place. And while worship and service are extremely important they're not in first place. Think about your own children (if you're blessed to have any). Did you decide to have children so they could say nice things about you (worship / praise) or to help with the dishes and mow the lawn (service)? I hope not. No, we have children so we can love someone like us who was actually begotten from ourselves. You may not have thought about it in exactly that way, but that's why dogs and birds and horses or whatever animal species you're drawn to cannot fill that need. God is like that. He had an untold number of angels (to provide service and worship) of untold varieties (and He still does). But He, being Love, wanted more. A family created (begotten) in His image and likeness to love. And the phrase He uses, "...in Our image, after Our likeness..." is of course a metaphor...or is it? Read on a bit to chapter five. This is the record of Adam's generations starting with Seth. And I quote, "And Adam...begat a son IN HIS OWN LIKENESS, AFTER HIS IMAGE and called his name Seth..." The picture of FAMILY from God's perspective is much stronger than we've ever imagined. So why did God want YOU as family? Read for yourself from Ephesians chapter 2, "...God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us...raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places...so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us..." In other words instead of us bowing before Him for eternity (which still wouldn't be enough), He is spending eternity showing off His family...His kids! In God's own words by His Holy Spirit, He is excited to have YOU in His family! He wants more for you than you could have ever even imagined for yourself. And He wants you "...to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God...who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think!" Ephesians 3:19-20 That's what THE LOV