Did you know you are loved by God? Have you accepted God’s love as part of your identity? Somedays, I can confidently say yes, while other days I struggle with accepting God’s love and living as the child of God that I am.
But with God’s guidance, He has shown me 5 ways to accept His love in my life and my heart. Because even though I know being loved by God is part of my identity, fully understanding God’s love is crucial to making his love part of who I am.
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You are Loved by God
The world is quick to burden us with impossible expectations and standards. Every commercial on TV tells you what you need to buy to be more cool, more accepted, and more loved.
While scrolling on social media, you’ll see the same–images and posts reminding you of what you don’t have and how you lacking something means that you are not enough.
It’s easy to get caught up in what the world tells us. So much so that I have searched for love and acceptance in all the wrong places–accomplishments at work, praise from supervisors, approval from friends and family, and even working my way into God’s love.
When all those things turned up empty, I was still hopeless and searching. By digging deep into Scripture and spending time with God in prayer, I realized I needed to stop striving for God’s love. In fact, because I was striving for God’s love, I knew I wasn’t fully understanding God’s love either.
What does it mean to be loved by God?
Because of what Jesus did on the cross to forgive your sins, you have assurance that you are loved by God. First, because Christ died so you could spend eternity with him. And second, because through Christ, God has graciously bestowed his love on you. Understanding God’s love means understanding who God is and the story of the gospel.
Once we know and understand the truth of God’s love, then we must believe it—put our faith and trust in it—so it can guide us in our decisions, thoughts, and actions.
In other words, knowing you are loved by God isn’t enough to change how you live your life. You have to take things a step further and accept God’s love for you. This brings us to our next section on 5 ways to accept God’s love.
1. Rely on Scripture to Accept God’s Love
In the busyness and hurriedness of life, truth often gets lost while the lies of the devil keep circulating. So, when it comes to understanding God’s love, Scripture is the first stop.
Scripture is packed with bible verses about God’s love and shows us how God loves us. It reminds us of God’s truth and can be used as a weapon against the lies of the devil.
Scripture is the medicine to our souls.
If we are discouraged, the Word of God encourages us. If we are weak, Scripture gives us strength. When we are weary, God comforts us through the Bible.
Once you find yourself striving for God’s love, Scripture will remind you this is not the life God has destined for His children.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11: 28-30
Scripture warns us that “earning God’s love” is not truth. It is a lie that the devil tells us to distance us from God and turn our joy into sorrow.
Instead, Scripture prompts us to accept God’s love as the free, merciful gift that it is and carry in our hearts the truth of God’s love for us.
Related: 5 Truths to Remind Yourself God Has Not Forgotten You
2. Accepting God’s Love with Prayer
After reminding myself of the truth of God’s word, I turn to prayer to help me in accepting God’s love. It is a blessing that we have direct access to a Holy God. At any moment and in any place, we can pray to our Heavenly Father and know with confidence that He hears us.
When I’m stressed out in my effort to earn God’s love, my prayers are usually frazzled. But as I speak to God and tell him honestly how I am feeling, I am slowly filled with His peace and comfort. I picture Jesus interceding for me to God and remember that my sins are covered by the gospel.
Being loved by God gives you confidence to speak to your Heavenly Father. Above all, He knows your heart and knows that you belong to Him.
Related: 7 Genuine Ways to Connect to God
3. Accepting God’s Love through Grace
Grace has been a game changer for me when it comes to understanding God’s love. It’s also been something I’ve had to work at accepting over the past year.
The definition of grace is getting what we don’t deserve. We can’t earn salvation because we are sinners (Romans 3:23), and sin separates us from God, just as it separated Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Sometimes, we attempt to “make up” for sin with good deeds. But this is not Biblical. It is something invented by man to give us a sense of control when it comes to salvation.
In the context of our relationship with God, grace is the free, unearned gift of salvation that God has bestowed on us (one of many gifts we don’t deserve). By truly understanding God’s love, we quickly learn that our salvation is not based on works, but grace (Ephesians 2:1-10).
Grace is fundamental to our identities in Christ, and it’s overflowing. God’s grace is an outpouring of his love for us.
4. Accepting God’s Love with Quietness
The fourth way I remind myself of God’s love for me is in quietness and stillness. Quietness looks different for everyone, but here are some ways I work silence and solitude into my life.
- Recently, I’ve been setting aside time early in the morning to focus on God’s Word before I open my laptop. This allows me to start off my day by thinking about God’s love and my identity in Him.
- Sometimes, I start my day with a gratitude list to begin my daily reflection. Then, I’ll close the day by reading a Psalm or Proverb.
- Other days, I will go on a walk around the block and listen to nature instead of music. In the whisper of the wind and the beauty of the fauna around me, I feel God’s love. I feel God’s love through gratitude, admiration, the truth of Scripture, prayer, and spending time with Him.
- Lately, in addition to devotional time and stillness, I’ve been using Christian meditation to receive God’s love. While I felt silly the first time I did a Christian mediation, what a difference it made!
The podcaster I listen to for Christian meditation talks about how God’s love is meant to be received and experienced. His love is not just something that we read about in the Bible and that we know in our mind. It is something that God has given to us. How can you know and understand God’s love without taking time to experience his love?
How to take a moment to receive God’s love in meditation: Still your heart and mind, turn toward the Lord, and repeat a scripture about God’s love in your mind. Ask God to pour his love out on you and sit quietly while you receive it.
God speaks His love to us. We just have to be quiet enough to hear it.
5. Let God Take Control
Learning to accept God’s love has been a process for me. My persistent struggle with accepting God’s love comes from trying to be in control and use that control as a comfort.
For example, when things in my life feel out of control, I respond with these strict schedules and plans to “get everything together.” But sooner rather than later, my schedule falls apart and so do I. The last time it happened, I found this Bible verse:
“‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’”
I realized that deep down in my heart, I was doing “good deeds” to show God how much I deserved his love instead of accepting God’s love. I was showing him that I could make things right, hoping that would give me assurance that I was loved by God.
But by trying to be in control, I had missed God’s love in the midst of my schedule and my plans.
How do you know you are loved by God?
Jesus did not come to give us more rules and regulations. He came to give us grace–that which we do not deserve and that which we can’t earn.
John 10:10 reminded me that I was striving to have “life,” but Jesus came to give me “life in abundance.” He came to give me so much more than I could imagine.
I’d gotten in the way of that with my own expectations and standards. I’d tried to earn God’s love and accomplish His purposes within my own means instead of accepting God’s love and seeking Him above all.
So, the last way I accept God’s love is by letting go of control and accepting that God is in control.
5 Items to Remember You are Loved by God
Understanding and accepting God’s love is a process. Sometimes it’s a process we struggle through daily, and rarely is it something we work out in one conversation with God. In the ongoing journey, here are 5 items to remind us to receive God’s love.
1. Be Still and Know – Devotional Journal
This Be Still and Know devotional journal includes 56 devotions that are perfect for those of us who are always busy, rushing, and worrying about our long checklists. This devotional journal will help you slow down and experience God’s presence and love by simply being still and knowing Him deeper.
2. Waking Up to Grace – Devotional Gift Book by Jennifer Gerelds
The subtitle of Waking Up to Grace sums up the book perfectly: “90 ways to start your day knowing you are loved.” And knowing you are loved is one of the ways we start accepting God’s love, too.
3. Artisan Ceramic Mugs
These three artisan mugs have simple, but powerful messages rooted in the truth that we are loved by God. With Scripture reminders on some mugs or a necklace gift set, these mugs turn something you use every day into a strong reminder to be accepting God’s love daily.
4. Scripture Art / Inspirational Art
Another way to remind us of God’s love is with scripture art or decor with messages of God’s love. For example, in just three words, this John 3:16 – Love Decor points us back to God’s overwhelming grace and love for us.
5. Jesus Every Day: Beautifully Broken – Devotional Guide
This interactive devotional Beautifully Broken helps us see God’s love despite and in the midst of the brokenness and heartache we’ve all experienced. Understand how God loves you and his desire to heal and see you live joyfully.
Understanding God’s Love
As you grow in your relationship with God, you will become more assured and confident in His love for you. You will understand that His grace toward you is unearned and His love is abundant. And if you forget, these scriptures about God’s love for us will keep you standing firm in faith.
And when your relationship with Jesus grows, your heart naturally points toward Him. You will want to honor him with your mind, your actions, and your words. Not out of duty and obligation, but out of love, gratitude, and appreciation for what he’s done for you. Then you’ll truly understand you are loved by God and be able to accept God’s love for you.
For you, what does it mean to be created and loved by God?
Leave me a comment below!
Check out More Posts about Growing in Faith:
- 17 Joyful Scriptures about God’s Love for Us
- 5 Truths to Remind Yourself God Has Not Forgotten You
- 7 Ways to Connect with God (Again)
- 10 Practical Ways: How to Show God’s Love to Others
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Thank you for this. I really needed it. I wish I would have had this kind of wisdom at your age.
I am so glad that this post encouraged you. I wrote it because it was something I was struggling with as well, so it’s cool to see how God has used this to help others. Thanks for reading!
Thank you so much! It helped a lot!
I’m so glad this article blessed you, Patai. 🙂
Today is the first day that I start this journey of accepting God’s love. I’m not sure what this journey will entail, but I’m glad that I stumbled upon this. It was very helpful and provided me with some guidance. The transparency was real, I found a lot of things that in this post that I deal with myself (wanting to be in control, working for God’s love etc). Thank you for publishing this.
Hi Erna, I’m glad that some of my struggles with accepting God’s love have helped you on your own journey. We have to constantly remind ourselves that He is in control and that He loves us unconditionally.
Thank you for your comment. ~K
Thank you so much for this, I’m working on tearing walls down and receiving Gods love. Letting go of control is a big part of it.
You are so welcome, Patty! I hope these 5 keys helps you let go and accept God’s love for you.
If only you knew how timely and OVERLY-RELATABLE this was for me 😭! This was broken down beautifully. Thank you for writing this!
Hi Imani, it brings joy to my heart to know that this post helped you in accepting God’s love for you. May he continue to remind you of his love! 💌
Thanks am sharing this in a group am really blessed.
So glad you were blessed by this post! Thank you for sharing with your group.
Nice read. I know God is love, we are to love one another and the only way to God is through Jesus Christ.
The transformation of your heart from evil does happen when your truly saved, which in turn gives us the strength and will to strive to live seeking righteousness and not sin. We can not continue to seek/live in sin and expect to enter Heaven just because God loves us. Salvation is free but turning from sin and seeking the Lord is part of that. Do you think it’s right to lead people to believe because God loves us we are all going to Heaven? We do have to do our part, right🤗
Hi Judy. Thank you for reading. You bring up a great point and an opportunity for me to clarify this post.
In my post, I speak from the perspective of one who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and is living their life for Him. With Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will begin to hate what God hates (sin) and repent and turn away from your sin. That’s part of the power of God’s transformative love.
However, Ephesians 2:8-9 says we are saved by grace and not by our works. This means we can not earn a spot in heaven by the good things we do or the things we do for God. In fact, grace means that Christians receive that which we don’t deserve, God’s love being one of them. If our salvation was tied to our good works, we’d never obtain it because all of us have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23).
Does that mean we disobey God’s commandments because we have grace? No. Instead, our actions are an outward expression of our faith. We serve God out of our love from Him, who loved us first.
I hope this clarifies the questions in your comment. I’m so glad you brought up this angle to look at the post.
Thanks a lot Kara for this work. The Lord led me here to learn more about His love. I was doing almost the same things you were doing, thinking I could merit His love. But God’s Love is too big for me to work for.
Hi Nelly. You really hit the nail on the head here. God’s Love is something we could never work for or deserve. Because of that, it takes time for us to truly understand and accept His love for us.
Hi! This is so timely! I am going through some of these very struggles and in my prayer time I’m asking God to pour His love upon me and wrap me in His warm embrace. Thank you so much!
Hi Rochelle! So great to hear that this post encouraged you. We all need to be reminded at times of God’s unconditional love for us.
Its like you know you me!. From a far distance I feel God is telling me to stop striving. I cant earn more of His love or earn points. I have alone time with Him everyday, but I feel in my spirit that He’s saying “You are striving (spiritual level, anointing, etc ) not seeking my presence”
At times I feel a wall between us…ugh. I don’t think I have accepted His love due to my history of poor relationships and let downs with my mom, no father and abusive marriage. I have forgiven everybody, I know I have. But Im still dealing with the damage of the abuse. I can have moments of anger, feelings of overwhelmed, feel all over the place, irritable and easily snap at my kids 🙁
Lord, I need healing. I want to accept your love so I can in return give to others.
Hi Laura. First of all, thank you for sharing your story. I know it’s difficult to be vulnerable with others and with ourselves, so that’s huge. Second, I’ve been there. I’ve been striving even in the midst of hardship to try to “earn love.” And I’ve been frustrated with myself and others when I can’t. The verses in this article have been a reminder for me when I start striving for God’s love again. Last, I encourage you to continue reaching out to God for healing. He loves you. He wants you to experience His love. Nothing you do will change this truth. May God grant you peace with this truth. <3 KJL
Wow this article really gave me such a better understanding of what God’s love is and how to accept His love. I really have been struggling for years to truly understand the love of God. I am in so much in desperate need of having God’s love in my life right now. Thank you for sharing it has began something inside of me to begin a genuine loving relationship God
Hi Brenda, I’m so glad this article helped you understand and accept God’s love. I hope your journey continues and your relationship with God strengthens because of his love. I also want you to know that you are not alone. We all need God’s love in our life. ~KJL
I was so blessed by this! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad it encouraged you, Sydnie! 🙂
Leave a comment…Thank you so much for this words. God bless you and keep you!…Amen.
Hello Charity,
Thank you for stopping by Kara J Lovett Co. and leaving a comment. Rest assured God loves you very much – John 3:16.
~Trish, from KJL Co.
Wow. You somehow almost perfectly summed up what I’m going through and reinforced and joined together the things I have been told by mentors etc. This was amazing. Thank you.
Hi Tara,
I am so happy that God provided confirmation through this post for what you’ve been hearing from your mentors. He is so faithful to care for His children and He does love you very much. 1 John 3:1
~Trish, from KJL Co.
This was so what I needed – thank you also for scripture references showing how much God loves me. Bless you.
Hi Christine,
We are so happy that you realize just how special you are to God and how much He loves you! Thanks for taking time to let us know how this post helped you.
~Trish, KJL Co.