Skip to main content

Devotional 1.9.2026


God So Loves

1 John 4:7–9

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

Scripture Reading – Matthew 2:13-15

 

Scripture teaches that love does not begin with us, but with God. “God is love,” and He shows that love by acting, by sending His Son so that we might live through Him (1 John 4:7–9). This same initiating love is visible in Exodus, where God’s people grow under oppression and face the threat of extinction. Even then, God is not absent. Through faithful women, courageous obedience, and quiet acts of defiance, God preserves life and prepares deliverance. Moses’ rescue is not accidental; it is providential love at work long before liberation comes. Together, these passages remind us that God’s love is not sentimental or passive. It is active, protective, and redemptive working through history and hardship to bring life where death seems certain.

 

The songs we sing help shape how we understand and respond to God’s love. God So Loved reminds us that love moved God to give, not from obligation, but grace. Jesus Loves Me grounds us in a simple yet profound truth: God’s love is personal and trustworthy, even when our faith feels small. Here I Am to Worship shifts our posture, showing that encountering God’s love leads naturally to surrender and adoration. Finally, Be Thou My Vision teaches us that love reorders our desires, shaping what we value and pursue. Together, these songs echo Scripture’s message: God’s love comes first, reaches us where we are, and invites a wholehearted response. As we sing, we are reminded that worship is not just expression, it is alignment with the God who loves us.

Further reading: Deuteronomy 7:7–9; Romans 5:6–8; John 3:16–17

 

Reflection Questions:

1.     Where have you seen God’s love sustaining or protecting you during difficult or uncertain seasons?

2.     How might truly believing that God’s love comes first change the way you respond to Him and to others?

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me before I ever sought You. Help me trust Your love even when I cannot see what You are doing. Shape my heart so that Your love defines my thoughts, my choices, and my worship. Teach me to respond with faith, obedience, and gratitude. May my life reflect the love You have so freely given. Amen.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Devotional 7.11.25

July 11, 2025 – Tell The Story Matthew 28:18-20:  And Jesus came and said to them,  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,   teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”   Scripture Reading – Psalm 78   What’s your story? What is God’s redemptive story? Do those intersect for you? This week is a good time to reflect on those questions. The writer of Psalm 78 is recounting the lessons from Israel’s past. Asaph is doing this to remind them of who God is, the mighty and faithful acts he’s done, and that Israel (the tribe of Judah, v. 68) are God’s chosen people. The psalmist’s desire is that they not only repent of their sin and unbelief (v. 32), but that their transformation and turning back to...

Devotional 5.16.25

Yours, O Lord, Is the Kingdom   1 Chronicles 29:10-11 Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.   Scripture Reading: Psalm 70   Psalm 70 is a cry for urgent help: “Make haste, O God, to deliver me!” In contrast, 1 Chronicles 29 declares God’s eternal rule, power, and glory. Together, they reveal two essential truths of faith: God is both near to the needy and exalted above all. We pray for deliverance while praising His unshakable sovereignty. David, in his final prayer, praised the Lord not for personal blessing, but for God’s eternal kingship and majesty. When we feel weak and desperate like the psalmist, we look up and remember the greatness of our God and His amazing love demonstrated in sending Jesus Christ (John 3:16; R...

Devotional 8.22.25

Our Future Hope    John 14:1–3 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.   Scripture Reading – Psalm 84   Jesus comforts His disciples by promising them a place in His Father’s house. This assurance reminds us that no matter how unsettled or uncertain life feels, our true home is secure in Him. Psalm 84 echoes this longing: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” The psalmist celebrates the joy of God’s presence, where even the sparrow finds a home. Together, these passages show us that the Christian life is not about striving to belong in this world but about resting in the promise of Christ’s eternal dwelling place. A reminder that life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever. Our hea...