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When God feels silent, it’s easy to wonder if He’s abandoned you. But His Word promises that He will never leave you.
Discover how silence doesn’t mean absence, why His love is constant, and a simple exercise to replace lies with truth so you can rest in His presence.
Feeling like your life has no direction? In this post, I share how God met me in one of my darkest seasons and revealed His promise from Jeremiah 29:11.
Discover how your true identity, purpose, and worth are rooted in God’s love — not your circumstances — and why His plan for your life is always good.
In this episode, I share more about how this truth has played out in my own life — and the steps you can take to make it real in yours.
👉🏻 That requirement is not found anywhere in the Bible.
In fact, the Bible clearly tells us that God loved us first and as we are:
1 John 4:19 (NLT) says, “We love each other because he loved us first.”
Ephesians 1:4-6 (MSG) says, “...Long before [God] laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.”
Romans 5:6-8 (MSG) says, “Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”
And in John 15:16 (NLT), Jesus tells His disciples, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you.”
These are just a handful of verses. (And if you’re not familiar with Jesus, don’t worry.)
❤️🔥 The big idea here is that God already loves you unconditionally despite you being broken, imperfect, sinful, and unable to save yourself. (Which is true of every human.)
The gift of His love is already present, just waiting to fill your heart and transform your life.
You don’t need to earn God’s love, just accept it.
📖 Religion – as the Bible defines it – is when humans create man-made structures (i.e., rules, goals, systems, etc.) that place the focus on earning God’s love instead of accepting it.
This places a massive weight upon people’s shoulders that is completely unnecessary.
There’s no need to try and meet unrealistic expectations in order to earn something that God is freely offering.
😍 God’s primary focus is on the leaning of your heart (aka your heart posture).
In 1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT) we read: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” [Emphasis mine.]
God sent the prophet Samuel to seek out a man named Jesse, for one of Jesse’s sons would be the new king of Israel.
When Samuel arrived, he took one look at Eliab, one of Jesse’s sons, and immediately thought he must be the new king. Verse 6 says: When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Here he is! God’s anointed!”
Scripture doesn’t go into detail, but we can assume from Samuel’s reaction that Eliab looked the part from the outside. He was likely tall, strong, and handsome. Eliab might have been working hard to build and sculpt his muscles, adding extra training sessions among his everyday routine.
But in verse 7, which we just looked at, God tells Samuel that He’s more concerned with a person’s heart than how they seem on the outside.
As it turns out, none of the seven sons that Jesse initially presented to Samuel was the Lord’s future king. Instead, Jesse had to fetch his youngest son, David, from tending the flocks out in the fields to stand before Samuel. And God confirmed that he would be king!
David then went on to kill Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. Something that took a lot of courage and faith.
God didn’t choose David because he was perfect, sinless, and would never make a mistake. As king, David would commit adultery and have a man murdered to try and cover up his sin.
God chose David in large part of his heart posture. In 1 Samuel 13:14 (NLT), it says, “...for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart.” That man being David.
When God says that He’s interested in the leaning of our hearts, it means He’s more interested in Who or what we’re pursuing rather than what we’re doing (i.e., how big our to-do list is).
A heart that’s actively pursuing God first brings Him great joy.
In this episode, I share more about how this truth has played out in my own life — and the steps you can take to make it real in yours.
👉🏻 If you’ve been striving to earn God’s love through specific works, or avoiding sin, or other benchmarks, then you’ve been carrying a massive weight on your shoulders.
Everything is up to you, isn’t it? The burden is on you alone and it’s constant; it never lets up. Even if you think you’ve done well today you’re already worrying about tomorrow.
❗Friend, this is not the life God wants for you.
He wants you to experience breakthroughs – not crushing burdens. Especially when it comes to basking in His love.
📌 I’m not saying that a relationship with God ensures that we have a smooth, carefree life.
Nowhere in the Bible does God promise that.
In fact, God’s Son and a member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, says this in John 16:33 (MSG): “I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
Because this world is broken with sin, we will experience hardship, challenges, losses, etc.
✅ What I am saying, however, is that God isn’t calling you to carry crushing and unnecessary burdens.
📖 Nowhere in the Bible does God say that we need to earn His love by being good enough (whatever that looks like).
In fact, the entire Bible contains one overarching story that shows us:
How incapable we are of freeing ourselves from sin
How badly we need God’s grace
And how God, knowing that, sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins to make a way for us to be freed from sin, death, and a fractured relationship with God
💖 The Bible also reveals God’s character to us.
How holy, just, patient, kind, gracious, merciful, and loving He is – among other things.
Sending His one and only Son, Jesus, into human history to die for our sins (something Jesus did willingly and lovingly, btw) is the biggest example of God’s love for us.
John 3:16-18 (MSG) says, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
God didn’t send Jesus to play the shame and blame game; He did it to provide you and I with a path to freedom.
Freedom from:
Being enslaved to sin
Harmful mindsets and behavioral patterns
Finding our worth and value in things other than Him
Trying to atone for our sin ourselves
A fractured relationship with God
Eternal separation from God. (God is holy, meaning 100% without wickedness, which means we’re not able to spend eternity with Him outside of accepting the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.)
And, yes, trying to earn His love, forgiveness, provision, etc.
💓 Friend, earning God’s love isn’t necessary because it’s already yours.
He’s loved you even before He created the world – let alone sent Jesus into human history.
Ephesians 1:4-6 (MSG) says, “How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.”
Because God’s love is already yours, whether you currently feel deserving of it or not, He wants you to shed the unnecessary burdens that are crushing you and actually keeping you from His love.
💪🏼 In the Bible, religion is when humans try to earn God’s love, favor, forgiveness, provision, etc. through a man-made list of works, tasks, rules, or systems.
Instead of simply accepting and sharing the gift of God’s love – religious people create their own system. One that creates burden instead of freedom.
This was happening among the Jews while Jesus was on earth.
This is why in Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG), Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
That sounds heavenly, right? (No pun intended!)
This is a God who loves you and wants to rescue you from a weight that was never meant to be yours.
Ever been told the Bible justifies abuse against women? In this blog post, you’ll learn a simple hack—understanding the difference between descriptive and prescriptive passages—that reveals how God’s loving character is often skewed.
Discover the truth about His design for women and why His love never aligns with abuse.
Think your heart is too broken to experience God’s love? Feeling weighed down by grief, trauma, or disappointment? Friend, you’re not a lost cause–you’re His beloved daughter! Despite what you might think, God longs to meet you in your pain and lead you into hope and healing.
Discover 3 practical, biblical tips to help you experience His love in fresh ways—right where you are.
