{"id":2374,"date":"2020-05-17T22:31:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T02:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2374"},"modified":"2020-05-17T22:31:53","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T02:31:53","slug":"open-up-your-heart-experiencing-the-freedom-of-gods-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2374","title":{"rendered":"Open Up Your Heart (Experiencing the Freedom of God&#8217;s Love)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Opening up our hearts to God\u2019s Love\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4wuJrSjleRM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the 60s my dad fashioned a pool with cement around chicken wire and built it into the floor of our screened in porch. It had a gentle water fall cascading over hewed out rocks. As a kid I would lay beside the fountain on a chased lounge listening to the peaceful soothing flow of water over the rocks and into the pool. This began my love of the sound of running water. The fountain I have today is not as creative as my dad\u2019s. I bought my materials at Lowes. But what is lacking in craftsmanship is compensated with sound. The pumps these days are impressive.<\/p>\n<p>I still experience inner peace when I sit on our deck and listen to the continual calming stream. As I close my eyes, I picture Living Water flowing deep within. I imagine God\u2019s warm love breaking down walls of stuffed emotions, soothing and awakening crusted over parts of my heart.<\/p>\n<h3>God\u2019s Love Doesn\u2019t Fit in my Head<\/h3>\n<p>I don\u2019t understand the amazing extent of God\u2019s love for me; how He\u2019d be willing for His own Son to be crushed on our account.[1] This manner of love is beyond my comprehension.[2] But at times my heart seems to get it. Solomon wrote that God has put eternity in the hearts of men.[3] Though my minds can\u2019t contain it or figure out, my heart was created to receive the expanse of God\u2019s love. Do I inhibit God\u2019s love because I don\u2019t understand it?<\/p>\n<h3>Receiving God\u2019s Love is Essential<\/h3>\n<p>Paul tells us we are complete in Christ.[4] Among other things, this means we are filled to the brim and overflowing in God\u2019s love. His great love frees us from the need of people\u2019s approval. We can genuinely love, expecting nothing in return. In our union with Christ, we are free to rest in the endless supply of His favor and delight. As we allow God\u2019s love to flow unabridged within, the enemy\u2019s schemes are thwarted. His arrows only draw us deeper into the safety of God&#8217;s unending love.<\/p>\n<h3>Truth Flowing Feely to Our Hearts<\/h3>\n<p>Ask the Lord to give you a deeper heartfelt understanding of His love for you through His word, soothing and healing your soul.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>The <\/em><em>Lord<\/em><em> appeared to him from afar, saying, \u201cI have loved you with an everlasting love;<\/em><em> Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.\u201d <strong>(Jeremiah 31:3 NASB)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em>Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. <strong>(John 15:9 NASB)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and <\/em><em>such we are. <strong>(I John 3:1a NASB)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>\u2026that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,<\/em> <em>may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,<\/em> <em>and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. <strong>(Ephesians 3:17b-19 NASB)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><em>Lord, please keep us from restricting the impact of Your love in our lives. By faith, we believe what You say about Your love for us, inspite of the opposite messages we receive. A heartfelt experience of Your love is the most essential quest. We love because you first loved us. Everything else fades in Your love. Being loved by You is our true, unchanging identity. Open our hearts more and more to Your unchanging, all encompassing love. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>[1] Isaiah 53:10<\/p>\n<p>[2] Ephesians 3:19<\/p>\n<p>[3] Ecclesiastes 3:11<\/p>\n<p>[4] Colossians 2:9-10<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #339966;\"><em>Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God&#8217;s nearness in the midst of life&#8217;s adventures. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #339966;\"><em>Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>Novels by the Author:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Beyond-Time-could-change-event\/dp\/179035899X\">Beyond Time<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Hope-Remains-Sequel-Beyond-Time\/dp\/197345940X\/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1547672424&amp;sr=1-8&amp;keywords=Hope+Remains\">Hope Remains<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4wuJrSjleRM<\/p>\n<p>In the 60s my dad fashioned a pool with cement around chicken wire and built it into the floor of our screened in porch. It had a gentle water fall cascading over hewed out rocks. As a kid I would lay beside the fountain on a chased lounge listening to the peaceful soothing flow of water over the rocks and into the pool. This began my love of the sound of running water. The fountain I have today is not as creative as my dad\u2019s. I bought my materials at Lowes. But what is lacking in craftsmanship is compensated with sound. The pumps these days are impressive.<\/p>\n<p>I still experience inner peace when I sit on our deck and listen to the continual calming stream. As I close my eyes, I picture Living Water flowing deep within. I imagine God\u2019s warm love breaking down walls of stuffed emotions, soothing and awakening crusted over parts of my heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1665,248],"tags":[1882,872,1884,1885,1877,584,341,731,1883,257,1889,170,636,808,1130,1050,163,1878,1876,1875,1881,1260,1879,1874],"class_list":["post-2374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gods-love","category-loved-by-god","tag-amazing-love","tag-awakening-of-hearts","tag-behold-what-manner-of-love","tag-beyond-comprehension","tag-calming-water","tag-colossians-29-10","tag-ecclesiastes-311","tag-ephesians-316-21","tag-ephesians-319","tag-everlasting-love","tag-genuine-love","tag-gods-love","tag-i-john-31","tag-inner-peace","tag-isaiah-5310","tag-jeremiah-313","tag-john-159","tag-living-water","tag-rhythmic-flow","tag-soothing","tag-stuffed-emotions","tag-union-with-christ","tag-warm-love","tag-water-fall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2374"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2384,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2374\/revisions\/2384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}