TOS006 Does God Love Me? (Part 3) ;for Audio
Life in the Spirit Series
Third show in the series on Life in the Spirit. Have you ever doubted that God loves you because you don’t think you are good enough? God’s love does not hinge on whether you are good or not. This show explores the Father’s love for you like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Through Baptism we become children of God and heirs of the kingdom of God. His gift of love to us is salvation and life in the Spirit.
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Welcome to Truth of the Spirit, I am Patti Brunner. Thank you for joining me as we continue to explore “Life in the Spirit”.
A friend of mine shared this testimony with me. She was in a bible study with an elderly lady who just coughed and coughed and coughed. At the end of the study my friend hugged her and asked if she could pray for her. No one had every prayed ‘person to person’ for the lady before but she allowed it. That week at mass my friend noticed that the lady coughed very little. After mass the elderly lady came up to her just beaming. “I was hoping to see you”, she said. She had gone home after bible study. That evening she prayed to God saying, “I don’t know if you love me or not. Could you let me know if you love me?”
The lady wasn’t sure. She had been taught that she needed to be a good little girl or God would punish her. As she finished her prayer she felt God’s hands on her shoulders and a wonderful feeling came over her. It was as if God gave her a divine hug. God let her experience his love for her.
Our question today is “Does God Love Me?”
Have you ever seen a sunset that was spectacular? Have you ever snuggled a sleeping baby? Have you ever worn a new outfit that was perfect for you? These earthly things bring joy and a sense of peace.
The sunset is there for the viewing. It doesn’t mind if you are healthy or bright or generous or talented. It just ‘is’.
A sleeping baby totally trusts you to hold them in your arms. The baby doesn’t mind if your shoes match or if your hair is combed. It doesn’t care if the mortgage is paid or if there is food in the refrigerator.
The joy of a sleeping, snuggling baby is joy and contentment.
When everything seems to fall into place for you and you feel good about yourself you don’t mind if the people on the next street are awake or taking out their trash.
The peace, joy and contentment of these earthly things are but a taste of the goodness of the Lord and the bliss of heaven that awaits you.
When God created the world, with all its beauty, it was to share it with you. His love for you is greater than anything you can imagine.
God gave Adam and Eve a paradise to live in. Their sin separated them from God—in God there can be no darkness and sin is dark.
Throughout history man has continued to separate themselves from God through sin. Yet God never stopped loving us. In fact, God loved us so much that he sent his dearly beloved Son to take our sin upon himself and pay the consequences. When he paid the terrible price of death on the cross; suffering the torment and torturing he reopened the gate to paradise by becoming the gate himself. We can be united to him in Baptism to become a part of his body. As he took his rightful place at the Father’s right hand, he reunites mankind with God the Father through the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that was promised to us. It is the Holy Spirit that sets us free and restores us to grace in each of the 7 sacraments.
Jesus won victory on the cross—he conquered death.
To help us understand how we can participate in the forgiveness and love of God, Jesus shared a parable called the “Prodigal Son.”
One time I was at a women’s retreat and our leader had us act out the parable. As we took turns playing the parts of the prodigal son, the other son his brother and the Father. I gained a new insight I had missed by reading the story in the bible. It is truly the “living word”.
Luke chapter 15: 11 “Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons, 12 and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.”
Debauchery, overindulgence!
“14 When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. 15 So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. 16 And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 17 Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. 18 I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and went back to his father.”
In his desperate physical need of hunger, the younger son realized the solution was to return to his father’s house. How often do we, in our physical need, turn to ask for God’s help?
“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”
To see his son from a long way off this father must have been keeping watch, longing for the return of his wayward son. God, our Father, always wants our return. God our Father does not stop loving us when we reject him. If we lift up our hands like a child to him, he will take us into his arms.
“21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ 22 But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’”
Just think of the celebration in heaven when one of us sinners chooses to repent!
“Then the celebration began. 25 Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. 27 The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.”
Do we get angry when God has mercy and forgiveness for others? Are we jealous when God reveals his love to others?
“29 The older brother said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. 30 But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ 31 The father said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. 32 But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
‘Everything I have is yours’. The older son also had the father’s love. He did not realize that everything the father had was also his. Like this older son we are heirs to God our Father. Through baptism we become children of God and are rightful heirs to the kingdom of God.
Do you realize this and live your life accordingly? Do you take your inheritance and squander God’s gifts and reject the fullness of your inheritance by rejecting God’s love? I pray you return to the Father who will restore everything to you.
Are you like the older son who is obedient yet living as a hired hand and not an heir? A friend once described this as having a checking account with a billion dollars in it but living as a pauper because not knowing the gifts of grace bestowed upon us.
God so loved the world that he gave his son to redeem the world. The gift of salvation is but the first of gifts. The Father sent us the Holy Spirit who is the giver of gifts. When we live as the older son did, we leave the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the shelf like a wrapped gift never to be opened.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I testify to you today that as we truly become one in the Body of Christ through the love of God our Father we have the rights of an heir to the kingdom before us.
Truly as Christ stepped to the side of the Father in heaven all humans who have become one with the body of Christ inherited the kingdom of God with all its benefits and duties. It is the Great Love of God that gave this most generous gift.
Love is more than provision. Earthly fathers choose to do without for themselves to provide for those they love. Our Heavenly Father sacrificed his son for us so that we could be one in the Body of Christ.
As earthly fathers continue to love their children despite difficult circumstances, so too the Heavenly Father’s love for us is not ‘hinged’ on us. We do not have to earn His love. We do not have to fight for his love. All we have to do is accept the gift of his love. By the gifts of freewill we can reject or accept it.
There is some confusion in our hearts when we struggle with difficult conditions that cause suffering or death. We might ask, ‘Doesn’t God love me?’ or ‘Why doesn’t God fix this?”
Would you ever want your own child to struggle with difficult conditions? Of course not! Yet, when they make certain choices things can get tough. The conditions of the world around them, no longer a perfect paradise because of the sin of Adam, can expose them to deadly disease and disaster. Through the wonderful gift of freewill given to all, others can misuse that gift and choose to harm your child.
The most marvelous and unbelievable thing– is that God can transform pain-filled events that have occurred in your life, as painful as they may be, and make them into something good. (Rom 8:28).
God’s plan is much more. God promises his inheritance, because you are his beloved child. God wants the best for you, because you are his child and heir. NAB Romans 8:17a reminds us: “And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
You are an heir of all the divine treasures.
Again, God gives us freewill so that we can choose to love Him. All throughout history mankind has chosen to reject God’s love to do their ‘own thing’. When this happens bad decisions are followed by worse actions and soon the decay and suffering seem to overtake the world. We don’t have to look very far to see wars and persecutions.
As is clear in the story of Adam and Eve, our sin affects others sometimes for generation upon generation. The good news is that the love of God is triumphant over sin, suffering and death. In the resurrection from death, Jesus was victorious over sin and death. As we join Him at his side in heaven there will be no sting of suffering and death but the glory of God will fill us with everlasting joy.
His joy is available now, too. As we surrender, become docile to the Holy Spirit, we use our gift of freewill to accept God’s love and as His love enters our heart our life is transformed by his love.
The physical experience of God’s love that the elderly lady felt is not uncommon. Many have called this the Divine Hug as they were ‘Baptized in the Spirit’.
God always loves us. God loves you and cannot stop loving, because God is love. The first thing he asks is not to love him, but to allow yourself to be loved by him. God loves you in a personal, steadfast and unconditional manner. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit allows us to be aware of God’s love and experience God’s love in a deeper and unique way. It’s like we start out recognizing God’s love in black and white and afterwards we recognize it in Technicolor!
I remember that after I was baptized in the Spirit I asked, “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me this was available?” There is no way to fully describe it to someone who only sees it in black and white. Jesus never tells us directly the description of the kingdom of God. Instead he uses parables: the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that grows into a large bush. If all we have ever seen and known is a mustard seed—how can we know the bush? God constantly shows his love to us. It hides in plain sight.
Before we begin living “Life in the Spirit” how can we understand it? It’s like we are out in the field never celebrating with the Father and not recognizing his love for us. When we say ‘Life in the Spirit’ we’re talking about living life to the fullest as God intends. It is a life truly connected to our Lord in relationship and knowledge. It is a life full of joy and peace. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it!
So how do we start living life in the Spirit? It really starts by remembering that God loves us.
Catechism paragraph 733 reminds us: “’God is Love’ and love is his first gift, containing all others.”
God does not love because you are good, but rather because He is good and because you are his child. God himself promised us in Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget her baby at the breast, feel no pity, [be without tenderness] for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you”.
We don’t have to be “good” for God to love us. Our righteousness only comes from Christ dwelling within us. Our goodness comes from receiving the gift of God’s grace, thus living a life in the Spirit, by following the Way of Jesus. How do we know God loves us? Holy Week gives us a clue. NAB Romans 5: “8 God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
We Catholics cherish icons of the crucifixion. We have crucifixes on our rosaries, we hang them on our walls, we put them in our churches, for it reminds us that “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” John 3:16 NAB
God’s love can conquer all things even death – as so it has through the Son’s love for you on the cross.
When Salvation cleared the way for the Spirit of God to take up “his rest” within man’s heart by the grace of the redemption the Spirit set in motion special graces known as charisms. The charisms of the Holy Spirit are part of our inheritance of the Kingdom of God. Through the sanctification of Baptism the Spirit once more is one within our hearts.
Whatever path in life you take God loves you. But think about this: He has prepared a better way. He sent Jesus to show the Way and to clear the obstacles then they sent the Holy Spirit to provide untold riches of the kingdom of God. Mankind who respond, “Come Holy Spirit” “Vene Sancte Spiritus” thus choose to allow God to make present His love. Give it a try!
Join me on my next show as I witness about conversion of heart through the power of the Holy Spirit.
