I’m convinced every believer needs to be regularly refreshed in the love of God. We are created by God to continually have fresh encounters in His love. It’s how He made us and how we are to live as believers – vibrantly alive in His love and affections.

When I feel my heart beginning to dry up in the revelation of His love, I get emotionally worn out and frustrated. It’s in those moments I realize I need a fresh encounter of His love. The truth is I need His love to refresh me and sustain me daily (SOS 2:5).

I wanted to share a few thoughts to help identify when we need a fresh encounter in God’s love. I encourage you to prayerfully read this and allow the Lord to speak to your heart of His love.

We need a fresh encounter in the love of God if:

1) We believe God’s love is based on our works.

If we think He loves us more when we do well and that He loves us less when we do poorly, we do not understand God’s love. His love is not based on anything we do. God’s love is based on God. He is love and therefore He loves us. Even before we were His children He loved us (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). Though sin separates us from God, it doesn’t make Him love us less. His love is what compels us to run back to Him when we sin. He loves us in spite of our weakness and failures. He loves us perfectly even in the midst of our own brokenness.

2) We believe God loves others more than us.

Sometimes we see the relative ease that others experience in life and we deduce that God must love them more because our own path has been more difficult. Difficulty and even suffering are not a determinant of God’s love or lack of love for us. I’ve thought a lot about this. The sufferings that I have gone through are much more than some and much much less than others. Why is there a disparity? God only allows the ingredients in our lives that He can make for better (Rom 8:28). When I consider the different difficulties in my life, I have often thought it would have been better if I didn’t go through certain things (loss of my oldest brother, my wife having two miscarriages, etc…). And then I think, “If I hadn’t been through what I’ve been through, would I love Him the way I do today?” I’m convinced His leadership is perfect. He knows exactly how to bring us to perfect love.

3) We believe God loves us in order to get something from us.

My daughter is one of the loves of my life. She loves to jump into my lap to cuddle and snuggle. In those moments, I’m a very happy man! Imagine if she were to jump in my lap to snuggle and then immediately begin to ask me what I want from her. I would think something was terribly wrong. If she persisted and assumed my affections were in order to get something from her, I would be heartbroken. Thankfully she never feels that way. But how often do we treat the Lord like that? How often do we assume that He shows us attention in order to get something from us? I want to propose that God’s affections toward us are always intentional but mostly not tactical. We must not see God solely as the Lord of Hosts (heaven’s armies) and never as the God of Comforts(2 Cor 1:3) God loves us freely. And His love isn’t to get something from us; it’s to give us something.

4) Our heart is dull toward the Lord.

When we find ourselves longing for other things to fill the void in our hearts, it’s likely we need a fresh encounter in God’s love. In my own heart, when I lack hunger and passion, I immediately recognize, I need a fresh revelation of His love. His love is what causes us to love Him and others(1 John 4:19). It’s His love that fills us with passion and fire. A sense of duty or responsibility will never produce a burning heart. A burning heart comes from the fire of His love filling you with holy passion.

My prayer for you today is that you experience a refreshing in His love that fills you with passion and fire. God loves you and wants you to know and experience His love today and everyday. This is what you were made for!