Mike Bickle - Loving God: Daily Reflections for Intimacy With God

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LOVING GOD by Mike Bickle
Published by Charisma House
Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group
600 Rinehart Road
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

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

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible. Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved. Cover Design by: John Hamilton Design, www.johnhamiltondesign.com Executive Design Director: Bill Johnson

Copyright 2007 by Mike Bickle
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Bickle, Mike.
Loving God / Mike Bickle.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59979-175-3 (casebound)
1. God--Worship and love. I. Title.
BV4817.B485 2007
242.2--dc22
2007015241
E-book ISBN: 978-1-59979-640-6

Devotional readings are taken from the following books by Mike Bickle: Passion for Jesus, copyright 1993, and the revised edition, copyright 2007; Growing in the Prophetic, copyright 1996; The Pleasures of Loving God, copyright 2000; and After Gods Own Heart, copyright 2004.

Contents

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16

No one can come face-to-face with what God is like and ever be the same. Seeing the truth about His personality touches the depths of our emotions, which leads us to spiritual wholeness and maturity.

PRAYER STARTER

Lord, there is nothing I want more than to experience a growing, ever more intimate relationship with You. Let me see You as You are so that I may be transformed in my own life and walk with You. Amen.

BEHOLDING THE GLORY OF WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE RENEWS OUR MINDS, STRENGTHENS US, AND TRANSFORMS US.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32

In our verse for today, Jesus tells us that we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. What truths must we know to be free? First and most important, who is God? What is He like? What kind of personality does He have?

PRAYER STARTER

Lord, I want to be set free by Your truth. I want to become more like You. I want to exhibit the characteristics that I see in Your life. There are characteristics that I recognize in myself that are not like You. Help me to overcome these flaws as Your truth exposes each one and sets me free.

THE WAY TO OUR EMOTIONS IS THROUGH OUR MINDS.

I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:56

Your ideas about Godwho He is and what He is likecome naturally through your relationships with earthly authority figures. When these are distorted, so are your ideas about God.

PRAYER STARTER

Father God, I know that there are things about my earthly relationships that hinder me from understanding who You are. I dont want my ideas about You to be distorted. I commit to doing all I can to discover exactly what You are like by studying Your Word and by letting Your Spirit teach me more about You.

TO ACHIEVE LONG-TERM RENEWAL AND FREEDOM, WE MUST CHANGE OUR IDEAS ABOUT WHO GOD IS.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
Psalm 147:56

In your most private thoughts, what do you believe Gods personality is like? Your entire spiritual future is related to how you answer this question in the secret place of your heart, because inaccurate ideas of God will have a negative emotional impact on you.

PRAYER STARTER

God, help me to focus on Your awesome personality. Rid my mind of inaccurate ideas of what You are like. You are my Wonderful Counselor, my Mighty God, my Everlasting Father, and my Prince of Peace.

I BELIEVE THE GREATEST PROBLEM IN THE CHURCH IS THAT WE HAVE AN ENTIRELY INADEQUATE AND DISTORTED IDEA OF GODS HEART.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:12

God will satisfy your hungry heart when He reveals Himself to you. As you encounter the awesome holiness and power of His personality, you will have the power to overcome temptation.

PRAYER STARTER

My heavenly Father, I am so hungry to have more and more revelations of Your wonderful love for me. Your love overwhelms me and fills my heart with the hope of growing closer and closer to You each day. I hunger for more and more of You. Fill me to overflowing, Father.

GOD IGNITES US TO HOLY, PASSIONATE AFFECTION FOR A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIVINE EXCELLENCIES, PERFECTIONS, AND PASSIONS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Psalm 77:1315

As you focus on His heart toward you and encounter His passionate affection for you, then you will become more equipped to overcome temptation. Focus on four key elements of the gospel in your journey to understanding the fullness of God:

1. Who God is

2. What He has done

3. What you can receive

4. What you should do

We often place most of the emphasis on the last three: what God has done for us in Christ, the forgiveness and inheritance we receive as adopted children, and what we should do in our walk with God. The foundational elementwho God isis often tragically absent in our messages.

PRAYER STARTER

Father, more than anything I want to know who You areto me. Thank You for the things You have done for me and the blessings You have given to me. Now reveal Yourself to me for exactly who You are in my life, right now. Amen.