Unfailing Love

Karol Ladd

Description

Few women are better at communicating contagious enthusiasm for the truths of Scripture than bestselling author Karol Ladd. Exploring 1 John with her readers, Karol puts her finger on the longing for faithful and fulfilling love that's deep inside every woman's heart.Step by step, Karol helps her readers understand what happens when they embrace the truth of God's love:They can experience His joy, strength, and comfort in daily life.They are transformed, because His love changes the way they see themselves.They begin to think differently about their circumstances and the people in their life.They can express His love to others through their words and actions, shining His light in dark places.As readers see the apostle John's picture of how God is Light, Love, and Life, they will experience how He gives meaning to their existence, victory over their discouragements, and hope to the world.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• New Testament

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 août 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736942690
• Langue: English

Extrait

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Cover by Koechel Peterson Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photo iStockphoto / Thinkstock
Back-cover author photo by Shooting Starr Photography by Cindi Starr. www.shootingstarrphotos.com
UNFAILING LOVE
Copyright 2012 by Karol Ladd
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ladd, Karol.
A woman s embrace of God s love / Karol Ladd.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7369-2977-6 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-4269-0 (eBook)
1. Bible. N.T. Epistle of John, 1st-Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Christian women-Religious life. 3. God (Christianity)-Love. I. Title.
BS2805.52.L33 2012
227 .9406-dc23
2011046148
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
To every woman who deeply desires to know true love and is ready to allow that love to transform her life.
Acknowledgments
A sincere thank-you to my friends at Harvest House Publishers, who share my enthusiasm for the Positive Woman Connection series. Bob, LaRae, Shane, Paul, and all those who work so tirelessly to create books founded on God s Word and that impact the world for Christ-I thank you!
I m grateful to my agent, Steve Laube, and his continued commitment to excellence in the industry.
Tammy, Kelley, Vicki, and my wonderful husband, Curt, thank you for your encouragement along the way as I study and write.
Most importantly, I thank the Lord, who leads me and embraces me with His unfailing love each step of the way.
C ontents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Divine Romance
Part One: Living in the Light of God s Great Love
1. Complete Joy (1 John 1:1-4)
2. Light Up Your Life (1 John 1:5-2:6)
Part Two: Doing the Will of God
3. The New and Improved You (1 John 2:7-14)
4. Who Do You Love? (1 John 2:15-23)
Part Three: Being Beautiful
5. Fulfilling Fellowship (1 John 2:24-29)
6. Lavishly Loved by Him (1 John 3:1-10)
Part Four: Recognizing Real Faith
7. Bold Confidence (1 John 3:11-24)
8. Don t Be Fooled (1 John 4:1-6)
Part Five: Loving Because We Are Loved
9. Organic Love (1 John 4:7-21)
10. God s Family Portrait (1 John 5:1-12)
Part Six: Knowing We Are His
11. Utterly and Eternally Secure (1 John 5:13-20)
12. First Place in Our Hearts (1 John 5:21)
Discussion Questions
Keys for Memorizing Scripture
Notes
About the Author
About the Publisher
I NTRODUCTION
D ivine R omance

Immortal love, forever full, Forever flowing free, Forever shared, Forever whole, A never-ebbing sea.
J OHN G REENLEAF W HITTIER
I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
J EREMIAH 31:3 NLT
N ot too long ago as I was enjoying a delightful dinner with some friends, I posed a candid question: In your opinion, what is the greatest love story of all time? The responses were interesting and varied-from Jane Eyre to Romeo and Juliet to Gone with the Wind. The romance between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was explored. And of course Sense and Sensibility was also mentioned along with Pride and Prejudice and Emma -we can t leave out Jane Austen s contributions to great love stories! What about you? How would you have answered the question? Do you have a favorite true love story?
The longing for faithful and fulfilling love represents the secret yearning inside every woman s heart. Many people spend their lives trying to fill the hole in their hearts with shallow affections, unsatisfying pursuits, and less-than-perfect lovers. But there is One who will not disappoint-the Lover of Our Souls. He is true and faithful and good. Is it possible to know we are completely and dearly loved by Him? My friend, I want to assure you that you can not only know about His love, but you can experience the joy, strength, and comfort of His love in your daily life. As you journey along with me through the pages of this book, my hope is that you will understand the rich treasure of believing you are sincerely loved with a divine love.
The wellsprings of a woman s heart run deep. We feel emotion with intense sincerity, and we understand most people and circumstances with unique intuition. God created us with this deep insight for a purpose, and He connects with us at the heart level. When I have times of feeling misunderstood or lonely, I find great comfort in the fact that He understands my heartaches and longings with a wisdom that only He who knows all things could possess. As women who follow Christ, we are connected heart-to-heart with the God who formed us in our mother s womb and loves us with a faithful love that endures forever.
Maybe you don t feel loved. Please don t think you are alone. Wanting to know that we are sincerely valued and passionately desired is a cry from deep within out souls. Often the feelings of unworthiness or unloveliness stem from our thought life and are rooted in misguided concepts of ourselves or memories that continually pop up from the past. I hope that this book will help redirect your focus and help you think differently not only about yourself, but also about who God is in relationship with you.
It s easy to talk about God s love, of course, but it is another thing to embrace it, feel it, and allow it to color the fabric of your life entirely. His love is a transforming love. It changes who you are and how you see your life. It s not just something we learn about by sitting in church on Sundays-it s something very real and vibrant that affects our very being. God s love changes the way we see ourselves. Additionally, when we are flooded with the realization that we are honestly loved by the Creator of all, it changes the way we deal with others and how we handle our closest relationships. We live and think differently about our circumstances and the people God places in our paths because we recognize we are held in the kind and loving arms of our compassionate heavenly Father.
Are you willing to explore the potential of what God s love can do in you and through you as you touch the people around you? When we allow His unchanging love to pour through us and be demonstrated in our everyday actions, we begin to make a positive difference in this world. We express His love to others through our words and actions as we ourselves experience the sincere joy of living a rich and meaningful life. Yes, we can even shine His light in dark places, brightening the world with His love.
The Words of the Beloved
In Unfailing Love, we will discover the joy of engaging in meaningful and lasting relationships both with God and with people. Together we are going to dig into a letter of love in the Bible, the first epistle written by John, one of Jesus closest and dearest friends. John called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. He wrote this letter in order that we (fellow followers of Christ) may experience the same kind of fellowship with Christ that he did. He wrote from his own experience of being with Jesus and hearing His words. His purpose was clear-John wanted Christ s followers to be sure of who Jesus is and confident in their relationship with Him.
Could a letter that was written in the first century be relevant to your life and mine today? You bet! I think you would have to agree that the desire to love and be loved has not diminished over the centuries. People hunger for authentic love today just as much as they did thousands of years ago. John wrote about the beauty of God s love, which He lavishes upon those who believe in Christ. John proclaimed the clear truth about Christ. In a culture that leans toward viewing Jesus as a nice guy who is one of many ways to get to heaven, we need to hear John s words proclaiming loud and clear, He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Yes, I would say that John s message is just as relevant today as it was when he wrote it.
As though weaving a beautiful tapestry, John threads three themes throughout his letter so that we may have a full picture of Christ: light, love, and life . We will encounter these powerful and potent words numerous times as we examine John s letter. Think of the implications of these themes:
In our darkness, God is light.
In our loneliness, God is love.
In our dying world, God is life.
He brings meaning to our existence, joy to our spirits, victory over our discouragements, and hope to the world. Our wonderful heavenly Father cares about the details of our lives and desires to engage every aspect of them. The ultimate theme that ought to rock our world is that God cared enough to send us His Son as the Savior for our souls in order that we might have fellowship with Him.
His Story
From the beginning of time God has been writing a beautiful love story. He has chosen to generously pour out His love upon us and call us His beloved. He has rescued us and bought us with th