2.2.4 God Loved Us First – Love and Relationship (1)

2.2.4 神先愛了我們-愛與關係（一）

Life Academy Healing Course Sharing: Teacher Ming

1. Who is God?

What kind of God is He? What kind of character does He have? Could it be that our relationship with God is somewhat distorted because of our relationships with authority figures on earth? Suppose you are a very sincere believer, but you have sinned, and your heart is very hurt. If you cry out to God, what do you think he might respond to your plea?

Who are we in God? To whom will God reveal His secrets? Under what circumstances is God willing to open His heart? What are the things inside of God that are so awesome, fascinating and delightful?

What can make God laugh? Who is the best friend of Him? When God is not working, what will he do?

The questions mentioned contain many truths, and these truths determine whether we can live an abundant and complete life in the grace of God. I believe a fundamental element missing from many churches and ministry groups today is knowing who God is and experiencing His passion.

Only once we understand that God loves us, will we love Him more and more. 1 John says that we love God because God loved us first, so the Holy Spirit has a function: to awaken the passion for holiness in us. We can understand that we are the most favorite of God, this is what God lets us know. Otherwise, we will not be able to fall in love with God just by relying on our enthusiasm. Therefore, the first point: spiritual growth is not dependent upon our human enthusiasm; it can only dry up our spiritual life, and it cannot make us fall in love with God wholeheartedly.

My family often judges a child based on school grades or work achievements, because many of the family members are doctors, lawyers, etc., and every time during the family gathering, the parents start to compare their children based on their performances. When it comes to this time, I feel like the meal just lost its flavor.

I was very passionate about one subject in my studies which is physics. I wanted to make my parents happy, but they were often disappointed with my test grades. For the first time, I discovered that passion alone is not enough. It can be said that my enthusiasm for physics has turned against me and become my enemy.

Is this the case among us, has anyone had similar experiences?  Many people try to please God, they work very hard and often fast but cannot resist their desires and eat snacks the next day. Some people set an alarm clock and plan to get up at 5 or 6 am to pray every morning. As a result, they still snore loudly after the alarm clock rings for a long time.  Some people might find when they are reading the Bible and praying, they always look at the clock, maybe the exciting football game will start in the next hour. . . When we spend a lot of time kneeling on the ground praying, we feel that it is a waste of time because we do not feel we have received anything. In this pattern, not for too long, even reading the Bible and other spiritual activities becomes very boring.

I was like this for a while. I wanted to please God, but after I went out and did things, I disappointed God everywhere. I was passionate about God and wanted to love Him, but in fact, I was surrounded by experiences of failure.  Especially when facing God, we often magnify our mistakes, because God is holy, so we often compare God’s holiness with our transgressions, most people do not feel that they are beautiful or perfect.

I was just like you at that time. I felt that God must have been disappointed when he saw me. At that time, I always found that I had many unresolved problems, including low self-esteem, self-pity, self-righteousness, lack of self-control, and no perseverance, etc. As a result, the less we have faith in God, the more guilty we feel, the more we blame ourselves, and in the end, we simply shut out the Spirit of God from our hearts. How did we come to this?

Because of our past failures and our old traumatic experiences.

Negative emotions arise due to trauma, followed by a sense of guilt, and lack of patience also cause people not to break through or be successful in growing their spiritual life, they often feel that they have failed and failed. Therefore, the frustration makes a Christian who sincerely pursues God feels that he or she is not worthy of love.

This causes the goal of loving God and pleasing God to become out of reach. We often feel that we are such a failure as a person, how can God love us? Love requires enthusiasm and passion. We can be very obedient to God due to the religious requirements, but if we lack enthusiasm for God, then we don't love God, but discipline.

What is discipline? If you ask me to obey this thing, I will obey and do it, but that is not the same thing as love. If we only have discipline, we will be like the Pharisees. Discipline will let us down, so how to break this deadlock? Unless you receive revelation!

What is revelation? It is the word of God coming to you.

It’s not that God doesn’t want us, we put so many past failures between us and God.

One time, a co-worker and I were asked to cast out a demon from a people because the Gospel of Mark says that such demons cannot come out unless they fast. Therefore, mature Christians will tell us that some demons are very cunning and hard to be driven out. It may take even three days and three nights. Before we entered the door of the patient on that day, we met an old friend. This old friend said that she had just bought some fresh cherries and asked me to eat some. While we were still biting the cherry, the co-worker stared at me, and I realized that I had just broken the fast.

You see, there is still a wrong concept in our instincts. We tried our best to please God, but we still feel guilty in our hearts for our imperfections. God is very merciful to us, and the patient was delivered very fast on that day, but I still felt depressed.

While walking on the road, the Holy Spirit told me how happy his heart was, and my heart became happy. I asked the Lord, "Lord, don't you rebuke me?" So, you see I have the wrong idea that I hope to do something so that God will love me.

Isaiah says that as the bridegroom rejoices in the bride, so your God rejoices in you. Only when revelation comes, do we know that we don’t need to try our best to please God, because God is already very satisfied with us. Why? Because He calls us children.

God passionately calls us His children, but I try to please God and make Him like me. The truth is the Heavenly Father already loves me, and He loves me more than anyone else in the world, and even more than my earthly father.  He created us and knew us perfectly; He knows whether you are sincere or not. Will you tell your children that you are no longer my children from today on just because they threw their food under the table? Because he knows that your intentions are sincere, and this needs revelation.

When I am full of enthusiasm for God but do not fully understand God’s will, human enthusiasm will create a form of perfectionism and will mercilessly condemn me for my imperfection performances. Many of us are like this too. We must repent, because God has already loved us. Although we have a lot of powerlessness within us, reality is not based on what we feel.

Because He values the sincerity within us. Even though we are sometimes immature, what Heavenly Father enjoys is every step we take in the process of our spiritual growth. Just like raising a child, do you enjoy the moment when your child makes a mistake? You will also enjoy it. It is the relationship that He enjoys.

So today we must understand a truth: God loves me, desires to have me, and enjoys fellowship with me. Even if you do not meet His requirements and standards today, when we are beyond our capabilities to overcome many weaknesses, He still loves us. His love never decreases or increases, God’s love is always there.

2. People

What do people need in a relationship? When Jesus is with us, He enjoys fellowship with us. Fellowship is the word they use in English. What about us as humans? What do you need in a relationship? Acceptance, trust. The first is: What do we want to have in our relationship with God?

The relationship between people needs a sense of security, and the relationship between people and God also requires a sense of security, to live in the sense of security of being loved. Genesis 2:7, When the LORD God formed man from clay, where did he breathe the breath of life? In the nostrils. Only when God is close to Him, eye to eye, nose to nose, so he can breathe into man's nostrils. When God breathes in breath, the spirit comes in. When the spirit comes in, man becomes alive. As soon as he became alive, he saw God at first sight. I believe that at this moment, Adam knew what it was like to be a child. He felt peace, acceptance, love, affirmation, and honor.

So, when man was created, he received all these things. This is John 10:10. I have come that the sheep may have life and may have it more abundantly. What he is saying is that God has come not only that we may have life. and wants us to get more abundantly.  Abundance is not only enough but overflowing.

Ephesians 3:19-20 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. So, when all the fullness of God entered Adam, all this fullness of love also entered with him. Therefore, only then will people feel peace, joy, love, joy, peace, goodness, and affirmation.

Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the livestock that creeps on the earth and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Why did God create us in His likeness?

Because God wants to have communication with us and to build relationships.

We can communicate with him only if we are like him, otherwise, it will be difficult to communicate. Genesis 1 tells us that we are created in the image of God so that we can enjoy a relationship with Him. Only in this way, we can enjoy an intimate relationship with God. The Bible uses a metaphor to describe intimate relationships: nakedness and no shame. What does it mean to be naked and not ashamed? It means that a person takes off his clothes, he is not afraid that you will see him, because he is not worried about you picking out his flaws at all, and he is not worried about what the other person thinks of you. When Adam and Eve were naked, they enjoyed two aspects of their relationship:

1. They enjoyed a completely open relationship with the Creator God in the Garden of Eden without fear of being hurt. Man can only be naked under certain circumstances, that is, when man is not in sin.

2. Only when a person is completely accepted and honored by the other party, he can have no reserves or shame (Totally open)

Therefore, when a person is not in sin, he can be completely loved by God, completely lifted by God, and accepted and honored by God. He can be loved to such an extent that he does not even think that there is anything wrong with himself. Why? Because he was loved unconditionally. When we are filled with all the fullness of God, the only thing we can think of is how to respond to that perfect love.

When we understand God’s complete love and acceptance, there will be no way to prohibit us from responding to God, and we will no longer think about what’s wrong with ourselves. Both parties in a passionate love relationship never think about what’s wrong with themselves. All the time, he or she just thinks about each other. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed an abundant life, filled with God’s complete love and acceptance. This is the life God originally wanted us to live.

But after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, God came to the garden and they hid when they heard God’s voice, and shame came in. When they saw that he was naked, they knitted a fig tree skirt to protect themselves, so he heard the sound and hid quickly.

When people choose to protect themselves, there will be a gap and distance between you and the people who originally wanted to protect you. This kind of thing often happens between parents and children. Does the Bible say that God will punish them when he comes to the garden? No! Does God know that they will sin? God surely Knows. So why didn’t God stop it? Because He respects their choices, God loves them to the extent that He chooses to honor their free will and decisions.

Do you still remember the story in Luke’s Gospel about the young prodigal son leaving his father’s house, and then the father would wait at the city gate every day for his son’s return? Why is Dad waiting at the city gate? In ancient times, there was a custom that after a son divided his property, he could not come back. If he comes back, the authority figure at the city gate will beat him to death, so this father feels pity for him and looks forward to his return every day. Seeing this from the story we know that this is the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Therefore, God the Father knew that Adam and Eve would reach this point today. He entered the garden hoping to reverse the matter and restore their hearts and relationship. However, Adam and Eve were very scared as soon as they heard that God had come to the garden, they felt shame, and they wanted to protect themselves. When this process that occurred in the Garden of Eden entered our generation, it distorted all the cultures, families, countries, ideologies, and social values.

Just check and think about what we are learning from today’s society now, are these knowledge and concepts come from God? If we cannot understand what kind of relationship Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden, we will not believe that we will live in a defenseless relationship. The Bible says that there is no shame in being naked.

But do you dare to be undefended? You do not, you must protect your wallet carefully even when you go out to buy groceries. But Adam and Eve could do it because God set an example for them. This is the first point.

3. Living in a relationship with trusting in God completely

Years ago, when I was leading a dancing worship group, the Holy Spirit once told me to buy fabrics. Because I had just moved to Toronto at that time, I asked, what fabrics should I buy? Where do I go to buy them? Amazingly, God told me the name of the store, so I asked God which branch in this chain store should I go. The Lord said you were going to **’s house. After I went there, I bought a lot of fabrics and put them at home. After a while, I was walking on the road one day, and there was a Caucasian (Canadian) walking in front of me. The Holy Spirit suddenly said something. Follow her!  I felt very panicked, what should I do and why should I follow a stranger? As a result, I followed her from the street to a building and then stood in front of the elevator. I was very scared, so I told God that I couldn’t do it ...

The Bible teaches us that we can test the Spirit, so I prayed and tested the Spirit when I was at the elevator entrance that if this voice came from God, God please do a miracle. Many people were waiting to get in the elevator, I asked God to make sure that None of these people could get on the elevator, only me and the lady would get in.

A strange thing happened when the elevator door opened, and no one walked in. I went in with the lady and I asked others to come in, but no one paid attention to me, so only I and her went up the elevator. At this time, the voice told me that I should ask her to make the fabrics into dancing flags and banners. My disbelief and little faith showed up immediately. I tried to press all the floor buttons in the elevator to escape quickly, but the elevator kept stopping ...

At that time, the voice told me to talk to her and ask her to make the banners. Because I was not saying anything, the voice said very loudly: do you want to talk to her or not? So, I mustered up the courage to tell the person in English that I have a lot of fabrics at home. Do you have time to make worship flags and banners? Amazingly, the lady suddenly laughed and said, "How do you know that I am specifically making banners for the church?"

I tell you this example to let everyone see that in our lives we have little faith in God. The truth about human relationships in the Garden of Eden is that they are naked and undefended. To a certain extent, they do not worry about each other, not worry that other people would pick on your flaws, not worry about what the other person thinks of you. Adam and Eve lived in this kind of relationship where they were completely open to each other and fully accepted each other.

If there is still a need for self-protection between you and God, we will not be open to God. Self-protection will block out the abundance and grace God has given us. People will not plot against others only when they are undefended.

At one conference, a speaker said that so-and-so you are going to come up the stage to be prayed and ministered. I discovered that I had self-protection inside me and was afraid of being exposed in public. Why was I afraid? Because there is a fear inside me, fear that the shameful parts of my life will be exposed.

The world is full of the feeling of insecurity. The enemy uses culture, relationships, and even parents to bring pain and insecurity. If there is insecurity between us and God, it usually reflects what you have experienced in the interaction with your own family. Hurt, this is why although many of us serve God, we still like to grasp many things as our focus, like grasping people or ministry activities ... ... it’s all because of a lack of security. When people live in a sense of shame, their first thought is to hide and protect themselves. Living in a sense of shame will bring fear, and the only reaction is to focus on themselves, not God.

When you are in a passionate love relationship, you are thinking about the other person every day, you will forget your own needs. The same is true with our relationship with God. If our eyes can focus on God, we will forget what's wrong with ourselves. This is why we must tell the truth, that is, your eyes must be fixed on God.

When a person’s eyes are fixed on himself, the first question to ask is whether I am safe now or will be rejected now. Especially when we are hiding because of fear, we are rejecting God. Yes, not only do we reject that protection, also reject God.

The relationship between God and Adam and Eve was completely transparent, completely accepting, and completely honorable. When they feel the need to protect themselves, they start blaming each other. It's like Adam and Eve blaming God for the problem, (Adam said the woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.)   It’s like saying, if God didn’t create the woman, I won’t sin.  Similarly, we heard people say something like that today, if God didn’t give me this family, I wouldn’t have those troubles.  If God didn’t give me this job in the beginning, I wouldn’t suffer the loss of the job. We can see people still doing those things now.

Adam and Eve were originally undefended in the Garden of Eden, and their relationship with each other was transparent and open, but it was different after they sinned. We can see this phenomenon in our society now. If a child likes to cry and is uneasy about settling, it usually means that the child has a problem with Insecurity. Because the mother’s emotions, the atmosphere of the family, and the financial struggles situation will be passed on to the child so that the child will have no sense of security even starting from birth. Only when we live in the sense of security of being loved by God, we can live the life as God originally intended.

Luke 10:21 “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.

Without a sense of security, people cannot live in a situation where they respect each other and only think about each other, because you are always worried about one thing: Will he be good to me? Will he stab me in the back? We always focus on our problems and the risk of being hurt or questioned: am I being stupid? This is the condition of humanity, we are questioning why we came to this world, who we are, and whom we can trust. Everyone has doubts about these three questions.

We see that this is a lie. Satan destroys the foundation of our abundant life with God by destroying our intimate relationship with God.

The last example: If I have a painting by Van Gogh in my hand, and I change a stroke here and fill it in there, thinking that the color of the painting will be more vivid, do you know what I am doing? I made this priceless painting worthless.

Our lives are like this. Our lives are originally priceless treasures before God. Who paid the ultimate price for our lives? Jesus!  He purchased us with his life, we are his priceless treasure. When we commit sins, we think we need to do something to protect ourselves or do something to be accepted by others. We spend a lot of time and do a lot of things, but the real solution is to refocus your eyes on God so that you don’t always focus on your problems. Only then can we enter the relationship with God like in the Garden of Eden. Only then we can enjoy the abundant life God has given us. This is what God created us to live out.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you and praise you, because you have filled us with all the fullness of God. God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Lord, let us be filled with all the fullness of God. We want to understand and know more of you, let us see your hands and actions in this process, because you love us, and you manifested among your children for our benefit, thank you Jesus Christ, please anoint us again, anoint our hearts, our whole being, so that we can enjoy and know you more.  Lord, you said: you have come that they may have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10). We pray and entrust it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let me tell you another story about trusting God: A few years ago, I had a very beautiful white necklace that I liked very much. But one day the necklace disappeared. I searched for it for a long time but couldn’t find it. I prayed to God and said: I don’t want another person to give me another necklace, and I want mine back! I know that you are the most powerful God, and surely you know where I lost the necklace.

It was such a simple prayer. A month later, when I was driving on a certain Road, the Holy Spirit suddenly spoke. He said you should turn right at the intersection ahead. I wanted to know why I should turn right. The Lord said he would take me to find the necklace, and I was very happy. I was driving on this Road at around 11 PM, and there were almost no cars on the road. I felt strange and asked what happened on this road. I wanted to turn around and go back, but the Holy Spirit told me to keep going forward. But as I drove forward, I saw many police lights flashing, indicating that the road was closed, but I didn’t know which way to take. I said to God: Lord, let’s change to other roads. The Lord said no, just keep driving forward. As I drove, I still felt something was wrong, so he asked me a question,” Do you trust me? If you trust me, just keep driving.”

Just when I was about to arrive, he said to turn right, so as soon as I turned my car, I stopped at the entrance of a church, and the Holy Spirit said to go in. I was confused and hesitated. The Holy Spirit said because your necklace is inside, go down to the basement and there is a big table there, which is empty. I went into the basement and saw the table, but there was nothing. I was going to leave. Just when I was about to walk out of the door, the voice said stop, who told you to leave?

He told me to close my eyes and walk a few steps, so I closed my eyes and walked 5 steps forward. When I opened my eyes, I happened to be facing the middle part of the table, and the necklace appeared out of thin air. It was just sitting at the table, but I knew clearly that this was impossible, because as soon as I went in, I saw that there was nothing there. This thing came from nothing. This is something our God can do.

I cried along the way home, and I repented to God, because the question he asked me “Do you trust me?”

I have believed in God for many years, but I discovered that there is a deep root of unbelief within me. This is the situation in our lives. I have been repenting since that day. When we pray, we often say, Holy Spirit, please come and enlighten me. But when the light comes, many people begin to run away from God’s light. Because we are afraid that God’s light will expose the evil within us to others, and shame will come when it is exposed. This is the reason why Adam and Eve tried to hide from God.

Does God know when people choose to protect themselves? He knows.  God finally had to take Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. God took Adam and Eve out of the Garden not intentionally to punish them, nor to forbid them to stay in the garden, but because God loved them too much. If they eat the fruit of the tree of life, they will live in sin forever. Therefore, if God wants to protect them, he must drive them out. Otherwise, they will not be able to return to a completely intimate relationship with God. Not only that, but people may also live in eternal rejection.

In fact, salvation is not just about receiving redemption, it also includes healing. Therefore, our healing by Jesus’ stripes includes the total restoration of soul and body. God chose us in Christ, not because of our efforts or good deeds, it is a gift!  Yes, because of the love God has given us, it is difficult for us to believe that we can receive grace for free.

The enemy will often do one thing to make you live in a state of insecurity. The enemy makes you feel unloved and insecure. He doesn't need to do too many actions, and you have already convicted yourself. God loves us very much. Don’t use spiritual books to replace knowing Him. That cannot truly know God.

Let’s review what we just mentioned:

What should the relationship between man and God be like? Being loved, living with the security of being loved, and a completely open sense of trust. How can one establish a relationship with God? What is the relationship between man and God? Even if I make mistakes sometimes, does God still love me? But the expression of love requires us being in a relationship. When you don't know someone, you can't express true love. If the expression of love is not in a relationship, it is not true love.

Love is to be expressed through His relationship with us so that we can feel the abundance given to us.

Prayer: Lord, I am willing to no longer be defensive in front of you and no longer hide in shame. Lord, how do you view me? God, you have sent many people to give me prophetic words and many words of encouragement, those words regarding my calling and destiny, but I have been waiting for a long time, and I still haven’t seen a breakthrough. I am still stuck in the same place. Today, right now, I am willing to come before God and trust God again. Choosing to open myself to God, I believe God will not reject me, I believe He will always love me, and He will always protect me.

I have been judged by others, I also blamed myself, and often lived in self-righteousness. Today I am willing to go before God without any defense. God, search my heart and you will see all the problems in me, you know all the problems within me. I will come before you today to make a choice. I choose to trust you again. Although I have so many unanswered prayers, I almost lost faith in you, but today I am willing to trust you again. I open to you, you know the anxiety in me, you know how I wanted to be valued by others, I open to you today so that your promise can come, because you promised to heal the brokenhearted.

Many of us complain and say, Lord, it is because of the woman / husband / child / job you gave me that I am in the difficult situation I am in now. May God enlighten us now and remind us how much in our lives we need to repent and rebuild. Lord, you visit the hearts, and you wrap up the sad ones. You can also take away all the anxieties, so that we know that your love never changes and that you do not stop loving us because of our mistakes and failures, nor will you reject us because of our shortcomings. You will not stop coming to us just because we tried to hide from you. Thank you, Lord, you have begun to do the work of healing.