Rothschild - 66 ways God loves you: experience Gods love for you in every book of the Bible

66 Ways God Loves You

2016 by Jennifer Rothschild

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. HCSB is a federally registered trademark of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (public domain).

Scripture quotations marked MEV are taken from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version.
Copyright 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org).

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7180-8770-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-7180-8772-2 (eBook)

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W hen I was eight years old, Grandma Sarah gave me a red leather bible. I carried it to church every Sunday, and I tried to read it even though the King James Version was way over my head as a third grader! But I loved my Bible. I loved the smell of the leather! I loved the sound the pages made as they turned beneath my fingers. I loved what I readthat God loved methird grade mewith an everlasting love. Deep down, I knew there was something holy, something other about it. Something deep within me knew that just like the glue on the binding held its pages together, the truth in its pages would somehow hold me together too.

And it did.

When I turned fifteen, my world fell apart. I could no longer read the words in my red leather Bible because I couldnt see them. I became blind due to a retinal disease, and I could no longer read it. But the truth in its pages did hold me togetherand its truth still does.

Now, as a grown-up blind woman, I use other versions of the Bible along with the King James and I no longer finger through those thin, oniony pagesI listen to the Bible on audio and through apps on my computer and phone instead.

But no matter how I experience the Bible, it always has the same effect on me. One profound, unavoidable, irreducible, soul-quaking effectI feel the love of God.

I want that for you too. God deeply loves youHe loves you with an everlasting love.

So God tells you in sixty-six ways... in each and every book of the Bible.

From Genesis to Revelation, youll see how much you matter to God. As you read through the history and poetry in the Old Testament books, youll be reminded that God knows you and sees you and loves you no matter what. As you experience the Gospels and letters in the New Testament, youll feel how His love challenges and changes you.

My prayer for you is that you, too, will feel the profound, unavoidable, irreducible, soul-quaking effect of His love as you experience it in sixty-six ways.

J ENNIFER R OTHSCHILD

March 2016

I n the beginning God created. He said, Let there be light and there was light! He spoke it. He commanded it. He just said it and it was! He called into existence that which had never existed before.

Every word became our world. Stars and planets. Shimmering sunshine and fierce lightning. Mountains and oceans. Forests and animals. Birds and sea creatures. Towering trees and tiny flowers. Gods voice initiated all creation. All except man. God did not speak man into being because man was differentman was loved. The L ORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7 MEV ). Our beautiful Creator stooped down and got the dirt of this earth on His hands to give us life. God used His hands, His touch, to craft usthe crowning jewel of all His handiwork. And after He formed man, He gently fashioned a woman from the rib of Adam with those same hands. He lovingly shaped her to reflect the beauty of her Creator.

God could have spoken you and me into existence, too. But He chose that weHis beloved oneswould bear His fingerprints. His touch separates us from all created things. It honors us above all other created beings. His touch on our lives constantly reminds us that we are loved.

You arent just the result of Gods verbal command to some genetic matter. You are the result of the loving Hand of God that reached all the way from heaven to touch you and make you His own. And He is still reaching and still touching you. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Can you see His fingerprints on your life? Thank God today for His loving touch, and ask Him to keep creating you to be the beautiful person He loves.

F or more than four hundred years, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. They were stuck, mistreated, and without rights, yet they were still Gods people. He had not forgotten His beloved. Suddenly, in flames of love and fury, God spoke through a burning bush. I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out.... So I have come down to rescue them (Exodus 3:78). The Israelites wondered for centuries of if God really loved them, and one day His love set a bush ablaze before Moses eyes. And Gods love set about rescuing His people. When the people were finally free, Moses sang, In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling (15:13).

Just as God delivered His people from the slavery of Egypt, He delivers you from whatever you are powerless to rescue yourself from. Because He has set His love upon you (Deuteronomy 7:7 KJV ), He sets you free from the slavery of sin, insecurity, fear, and despair. He frees you to trust and follow Him into all the promises He has for you. Just as He said, the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them (Exodus 3:9), your cry for freedom has reached His heart too. He loves you, and He sees what you are going through. He knows what oppresses you, what depresses you, and from what you long to gain your freedom.