GOD’S EXTRAVAGANT LOVE
Part 2

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God”
(Ephesians 3:17-19).

Today we look at more descriptions of love in God’s Word. Don’t forget to use these Scriptures with your children. Print this off if you need to.

Great love (1 John 3:1). The NIV and CJB translations say: “See what GREAT love the Father has LAVISHED on us, that we should be called children of God!” The Berkeley version says: “See what a wealth of love the Father has LAVISHED on us.” How blessed we are to receive His LAVISHING love. Mediate on it. Praise and worship Him for it.

Hoping love (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Humble love (Proverbs 15:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 13:4-5; and Philippians 2:7-8).

Increasing love (1 Thessalonians 3:12; 4:9, 10; and Revelation 1:5, 6).

Keeping love (Jude 1:21).

Kind love (Psalm 17:7; 36:7; 69:16; Proverbs 31:26; Romans 12:10; 1 Corinthians 13:4 and Titus 3:4).

Knitting together love (Colossians 2:2).

Laboring love (1 Thessalonians 1:3 and Hebrews 6:10). In other words, we show our love by our hard work.

Light-filling love (1 John 2:9-11).

Longsuffering love (1 Corinthians 13:4).

Never failing love (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Non-provoking love (1 Corinthians 13:5-6).

Obedient love (John 14:21, 23, 24; 15:10, 17; Romans 13:10; 1 John 2:5; 3:11, 23; 4:7, 8, 11, 20, 21; 5:1-3; and 2 John 1:5, 6). Above all, the first and greatest commandment is to: “Love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Read also Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31; and Luke 10:27).

Passing all knowledge love (Ephesians 3:17-19).

Perfecting love (Colossians 3;14 and 1 John 2:5; 4:12, 17, 18).

Polite love (1 Corinthians 13:5).

Pouring out love (Romans 5:5).

Practical love (Deuteronomy 15:7, 8; Matthew 5:44-48; Luke 3:11; Romans 12:8-16; James 2:2-10; 15, 16; 1 Peter 4:9; 1 John 3:16-18; and 4:20).

Pure love (1 Timothy 1:5 and 1 Peter 1:22).

Reciprocal love (Philippians 2:2 and 1 John 4:19).

Refreshing love (Philemon 1:7).

Sacrificial love (2 Corinthians 12:15; Ephesians 5:2, 28, 29; 1 Peter 2:21-24; and 1 John 4:9-11).

Serving love (Galatians 5:13).

Sincere and genuine love (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 8:8; and 1 Peter 1:22).

Stirring up love (Hebrews 10:24).

Truthful love (Ephesians 4:15; 1 John 4:20, 21; and 2 John 1:1).

Undeserving Love (Romans 5:7-8 and 9:24-26).

Ungrudging Love (1 Corinthians 13:5).

Unselfish Love (1 Corinthians 13:5).

Victorious love (Philippians 2:5-11).

Willing love (Psalm 40:6-8; 110:3; and Luke 22:42).

May you be blessed and encouraged,

Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, thank You so much for lavishing your love upon me. Even all eternity will not be enough to fathom Your great love to me. Thank you too, for shedding Your love abroad in my heart. I will to be filled with Your love so I can pour it out upon my family and all those I meet. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

“Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so.”

~ George Wade Robinson (1838-1877).

GOD’S EXTRAVAGANT LOVE
Part 1

“Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”
(Jeremiah 31:3).

Not one of us will ever be able to fully comprehend God’s love. Eternity will not be enough to understand the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of God.

Throughout the God’s Word we read adjectives describing His love. They give us more of a glimpse of His extravagant love--the love of the Father and the love of Jesus Christ, His son revealed through His sacrificial death upon the cross for our sins. He was God and yet He was willing to lay down His Godhead, lose His reputation, become a servant, and be obedient to death.

This is the same love He wants to pour into our hearts and flow through us to our families and those around us.

It’s easy to read these descriptions, but can I encourage you to look up the Scriptures? This is how these beautiful truths will get into your heart and life. You may also like to use these Scriptures with your children--during homeschooling or at your daily family Bible time around your table. Take one or perhaps two points at a time. Look up the Scriptures with your children and discuss them together. Talk about God’s extravagant love. And talk about how it can work out practically in our own lives—in our home and in society.

Abiding love (1 Corinthians 13:13; 2 Corinthians 8:7; and Philippians 1:9).

Abounding love (2 Corinthians 2:4; 12:15; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; and 2 Peter 1:7, 8).

Believing love (1 Corinthians 13:7 and Galatians 5:6).

Blessing love (Deuteronomy 7:13 and 23:5).

Comforting love (John 14:18 and Philippians 2:1-2).

Continuing love (John 15:9; Hebrews 13:1; and 1 Timothy 2:15).

Conquering love (Romans 8:37-39).

Correcting love (Proverbs 3;12; 13:24; Hebrews 12:5-11; and Revelation 3:19).

Covering love (Proverbs 10:12; 17:9; James 5:19, 20; and 1 Peter 4:8).

Drawing love (Song of Solomon 1 and Hosea 11:4).

Edifying love (1 Corinthians 8:1 and Ephesians 4:16).

Enduring and Everlasting love (Jeremiah 9:24; 31:3; Psalm 25:6; 89:33, 34; Song of Solomon 8:7; Matthew 28:20; Hosea 2:19, 20; John 13:1c; and 1 Corinthians 13:7, 8).

Excellent and marvelous love (Psalm 17:7; 36:7; 40:11; 42:8; 51:1; 63:3; 69:16; 92:1, 2; 103:4; 107:41-43; Isaiah 63:7; and Jeremiah 32:18).

Exemplary love (John 13:3-17; 13:34; 15:9; and 15:12-14).

Family love (Romans 12:10; Ephesians 5:25-33; Colossians 3:19; Titus 2:4; and 1 Peter 3:8).

Fearless love (2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18).

Fervent love (1 Peter 1:22 and 4:8).

Forbearing love (1 Corinthians 13:4, 7; Ephesians 4:2; and Colossians 3:12-14).

Forgiving love (Matthew 5:44-46; Luke 23:34; and Ephesians 4:32).

Giving love (Isaiah 63:9; John 3:16; Romans 5:5, 8; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:4-9; 5:2, 25; 1 John 3:1, 17, 18; and 4:9-11.

More to come next week.

Love from Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father, that Your love for me is an everlasting love. It never changes. It is love beyond comprehension. Although Your love passes all knowledge, please help me to understand and experience more of Your love. I want to be filled with Your love to pour forth Your love in my home and to those around me. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”
~ Frederick M. Lehman (1917)

WALKING THROUGH

“Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”
(Psalm 23:4).

Isn’t it wonderful to know that when we go through a foreboding trial that God doesn’t leave us in the trial? Instead He takes us through it. It certainly may not be easy, but He will not forsake us.

This Scripture is often used to bring comfort to loved ones at a funeral. It could relate to death, but David, the psalmist, is speaking about this life. It pictures going through a very dark valley, an experience of deep darkness in our lives. Even terror and calamity. It’s a valley experience.

The Bible shepherd often led his sheep through these valleys when taking them to new pasture from one mountain to another. The only way to get to the next mountain was to go through the valley. Some of these valleys were deep gorges with high precipitous cliffs on either side. No sun shone into these valleys.

They were gloomy, eerie, with dark shadows hanging over them. Wild beasts lurked. Robbers waited to steal and even kill for food. Without their shepherd, the sheep would not know where to turn. Without their shepherd, they would freeze with fear.

But with their shepherd close by, they didn’t have to fear any evil! It didn’t matter what evils lurked around, they implicitly trusted their shepherd. What a statement of confidence!

Are you going through a dark valley experience? Dear precious one, your Shepherd does not leave you in the valley. He is with you. He is with you in the darkest of times. He is with you in the scariest of times. Open your mouth and confess this truth: “I thank you, dear Lord Jesus, that You are with me. I do not fear because I trust You.”

God gives us this same promise in Isaiah 43:2: “When thou pasest through the waters, I WILL BE WITH THEE; and through the rivers, THEY SHALL NOT OVERFLOW THEE: when thou walkest through the fire, THOU SHALT NOT BE BURNED, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” We do not talk about the deep valleys we are walking through. Instead, we confess that our Shepherd is with us. This makes all the difference.

Do you notice another powerful principle? This Scripture talks about walking through the dark valley. You don’t camp in the valley! You don’t stop in the valley. Too many believers think that when they enter a valley experience that they will be stuck in it! They’ll never get out. That is not the message of Scripture.

We WALK through our valley experiences. We don’t run with fear. We don’t stop and freeze with fear. We keep on walking, faithfully plodding on, trusting our Shepherd, and listening closely to Him to show us each step to take.

But there’s more yet. You walk THROUGH the valley. This is the message of Psalm 23:4. Say it aloud. “I’M WALKING THROUGH!” Say it again. “I’M WALKING THROUGH.” You don’t try to find another way around. God will bring you out the other side. God is leading you on in His perfect plan for you.

We also notice that God has other comforts for us during the valley experiences. Every shepherd carried a rod and a staff. The rod was the shepherd’s weapon of defense. It often had a club at the end which the shepherd used to attack wild animals and other enemies. This is most probably what David used when he slew the lion and the bear. It can also be used to firmly guide a straying sheep.

The staff was a walking stick, a symbol of authority, and used to protect the sheep or to rescue a sheep stuck in thicket. Sometimes the shepherd placed his staff on the sheep as a symbol of friendship and protection.

The rod and staff also speak of God’s Word which corrects us, guides us, and comforts us. We can’t go through the valley without His Word. And often it is in the valley times that He may have to correct us, but we also experience His comfort too.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you so much, dear Father, that You are my Shepherd. No matter what valley I go through I know You are with me and I can trust You. Thank You for Your presence in the peaceful times and in the dark times of my life. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m walking through life, sometimes in the lush pasture and sometimes in the valleys, but knowing my Shepherd is with me in all situations.

YOUR MOST POWERFUL TEACHING TOOL

 “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!
HIS OFFSPRING WILL BE MIGHTY IN THE LAND; the generation of the upright will be blessed”
(Psalm 112:1, 2).

There are so many wonderful resources and curriculums available for homeschoolers today. However, what do you think is your most powerful teaching tool? Can I tell you what I believe it is?

It’s your lifestyle!

Your children learn more from watching you and your husband than from all the curriculums you will ever purchase. You teach them how to have a successful marriage (or an unhappy one) by the way you and your husband relate to each other. My parents gave me an amazing example of a godly marriage. I know this set my husband and me on a path of a wonderful marriage for nearly 55 years.

When we commit to establishing family worship in our family, our children become aware that we honor God's Word. It’s not enough for us to go to church on Sunday or Saturday, but our children need to know that we can’t get through one day without the sustenance of God's precious Word. When we make it a commitment to read His Word and pray together morning and evening, they know that we truly are Bible believers and praying parents.

If your children do not see you honoring the Word of God each day, will they think it is something worth studying and reading? If we do not gather with them to pray together every day, will they see the importance of prayer?

Our children see by our lifestyle what is important to us. What do they see? A materialistic attitude, trying to keep up with the Joneses, and following the crowd? Or perhaps more commitment to sports than to the teaching of God’s Word? Or do they truly see that God is the priority in our lives?

Your children gain convictions about the sanctity of life by observing your attitude about children. If your attitude is against having more children, they subconsciously imbibe that children are a commodity to have according to your plans, rather than gifts to be embraced by God.

What about eating together at the table? Even in homeschooling families, this biblical tradition is being lost today as we get caught up in all the extra-curricular activities. I know that all these activities are very good. Satan, the deceiver, never entices us with things that are evil, but with things that are “good, pleasant, and wise” (Genesis 3:6).

If we don’t sit together for meals, what are we teaching our children? What example do we give them for when they establish their family life? Will they grow up always eating out and not establishing this biblical premise?

We read a biblical picture of a blessed family in Psalm 128:3 (NLT): “Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your able.”

Your children learn the true roles of male and female by watching your lifestyle. I saw this exemplified in the lives of my parents. My mother was a beautiful homemaker and godly, submissive wife (although full of spark and forever getting the giggles)! My father was a real man (not a trace of wimpiness in him). He was known as a man’s man in a man’s world. But did he want my mother to compete with him? No. He reveled in her femaleness and the beautiful feminine clothes she sewed. She always dressed like a queen and he was so proud of femininity.

It’s amazing what theological truths we teach our children in our daily lives. When your husband sits at the head of table each evening, the children subconsciously become aware that he is the head of the home. And when he leads them in family devotions, the children understand that he is the priest and leader of the home. He is also teaching them how to conduct family life when they start a family.

You prepare your children for life by your daily attitudes and how you cope in times of stress. They observe whether your trust is in God or whether you cave in because you trust in your own resources.

Paul could confidently say to the young believers: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul didn’t say this once, but on many occasions (1 Corinthians 4:16; Philippians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; and 2 Thessalonians 2:14). Can we say these words to our children?

Deuteronomy 5:29: “O that there was such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep ALL my commandments ALWAYS that it might be WELL WITH THEM, AND WITH THEIR CHILDREN FOREVER!” Do you notice that this Scripture has an exclamation after it? It must be important in God’s eyes.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Thank you, dear Father God for the privilege of building a dynasty for your kingdom. Help me to live according to Your ways so I can pass on your ways to our children and future generations. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m leading the way for my children, showing them a passionate lifestyle for God and His ways—a passion for prayer, a passion for worship, a passion for God’s Word, and a passion God’s perfect will.