Meyer - Perfect Love: God Is Not Mad At You

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Copyright 2013 by Joyce Meyer

Cover design by Megan Matheny

Cover photograph by David Dobson

Cover copyright 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

Unless otherwise noted Scriptures are taken from The Amplified Bible (AMP). The Amplified Bible, Old Testament, copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament, copyright 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Scriptures noted (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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ISBN 978-1-4555-1746-6

One day I put a post on Facebook that simply said, Gods not mad at you, and the response we received at the ministry was overwhelming. In just a few hours, thousands of people responded favorably. Many of them said, That is exactly what I needed to hear today. They obviously were people who were afraid that God was mad at them and desperately needed to be assured that He wasnt.

Through my own experience in my relationship with God, and through ministering to other people, I have come to believe that a large percentage of people, either vaguely or perhaps even clearly, believe that God is mad at them. This belief prevents us from receiving His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. It leaves us fearful, lacking confidence and feeling guilty. Even though we may ask for Gods forgiveness for our sins and failures, we often still feel that God is disappointed and angry because we are less than He wants and expects us to be.

Where does this concept of God come from? Perhaps from an angry parent who was difficult to please. Or the pain of rejection from parents or friends who did not know how to give unconditional love. Perhaps it came from church! From religious teaching that offered us rules and regulations to follow, and implied that we would be unacceptable to God if we did not follow them. We wanted to be good, we tried to be good, but when we discoveredas everyone doesthat we constantly fail, we silently accepted the message that we were a major disappointment to God, deserving of His anger. We did however, continue to try to change and behave better because we love God, and we definitely dont want Him to be angry with us.

In this condition we are faced with a lifetime of disappointment because anyone who attempts to serve God under the law (rules and regulations) is doomed to disappointment according to the apostle Paul:

And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment.

Galatians 3:10

In our relationships with our parents or other people, we may have had to perform in a certain way in order to earn their love, but Gods love is unconditional, and is freely offered to all who will receive it by faith.

You will learn in this book that although God does get angry at sin, wickedness and evil, He is not an angry God. God hates sin, but He loves sinners! He is good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]. He is abundant in mercy and filled with loving-kindness (Psalm 86:5). Let me be clear: God does not and never will approve of sin, but He does love sinners and will continue to work with us toward positive change in our lives. God never stops loving us for even one second of our lives, and it is because of His great love that He refuses to leave us alone, lost and abandoned in sin. He meets us where we are and helps us get to where we need to be.

The Bible is a record of sin, deceit, immorality of every kind, disobedience, hypocrisy and Gods amazing grace and love. The heroes we admire were people just like us. They failed miserably at times, they sinned regularly, and yet they found love, acceptance, forgiveness and mercy to be the free gifts of God. His love drew them into intimate relationship with Him, empowered them to do great things, and taught them to enjoy the life that He has provided.

Since they experienced that acceptance, I believe we can experience it, too, if we will make a decision to believe what Gods Word says to us instead of what we think, feel or hear from others. We should make sure that our beliefs are in agreement with Gods Word, and not merely a fabrication of misled thinking. One might believe that God does not love him and is angry with him, but that is not what Gods Word says; therefore, the wrong thinking should be rejected as a counterfeit, and what God says should be accepted by faith without question. God has given us His Word that we might always have the truth available to us. It is impossible for us to live a life of deception if we make Gods Word our source of all truth and believe it above all else.

You may think, There is absolutely no reason for God to love me, and you are absolutely right. But God does love you. He chooses to do so, and because He is God, He has every right to do so. The Bible says that He planned to love us and to adopt us as His own children because it was His will, it pleased Him, and was His kind intent (Ephesians 1:5). God loves us because He wants to, not because we deserve it. I would like to suggest that you stop reading for a few minutes and repeat out loud several times, God loves me because He wants to, not because I deserve it. Each time you say it, take a moment and let it sink into your consciousness. Being conscious and aware of Gods love is the beginning of all healing and restoration. It is the source of all righteousness, peace and joy. We should learn to be God-conscious instead of sin-conscious. Focus on Gods goodness instead of our failures. Focusing on our weaknesses only gives them more strength and power over us.