Understanding the Power of God’s Love

By Dawn R. Ward 

Do you remember the day you received your first love letter?  

Maybe in the third grade, you blushed upon opening a Valentine’s Day card sent from your secret admirer.

Your first recollection of a love letter may be when a seventh-grade wannabe boyfriend hastily scribbled a heartfelt poem on scrap paper before slipping it into your pocket.  

Perhaps you first felt love’s affirmation as you read the words “Will You Marry Me?” written on a scroll and trailing behind a plane thousands of feet in the sky.  

Maybe your wedding vows, lovingly written by your partner and recited on your special day, are the treasure you hold dear.  

Whoever the giver, love notes are forever cherished keepsakes, written from one person’s heart to another. 

While love is important to us, it is even more important to God. Why?

Because, as 1 John 1:8 tells us, “God is love.”  

Throughout the Bible, the word “love” appears over 310 times!

Within its pages, we find God’s love letters penned to his children, as he pours out his heart to us. Here we learn that the love the Lord has for us is unconditional, limitless, and powerful.  

While the love given to us by others has the power to change our lives, God’s love has the power to change us. It was because of this love, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. 

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8 ESV 

While our sins put Jesus on the cross, it was his love for us that kept him on the cross.

What an incredible love!

That’s the power of God’s love. 

What is the Power of God’s Love?

As a child, I didn’t always feel loved by my father. While he loves me very much, it took many years for me to feel loved by him.  

Gratefully, as a young child, I learned Jesus loves me. Before I was five years old, I remember having a personal encounter with Jesus and feeling his presence tangibly. While I never met him face-to-face, somehow, I knew he existed, and that he loved me. 

In Sunday School, we sang the song, “Jesus Love Me.” One line from that old children’s hymn resonated with me often as I grew up. 

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”  

Looking back, I realize how much truth there was in those precious lyrics. On the days when I didn’t feel God’s love, I could trust that he loves me because the Bible tells me so. 

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” -1 John 3:1a ESV 

I have always been in awe of Jesus’ love for me. However, while I always knew he loved me, I haven’t always felt his love for me. That’s where it gets hard sometimes, right?  

We may know that God loves us, but we may not always feel his love.  

Perhaps, like me, you have compared God’s love to that of your earthly father who may have loved you but had a difficult time showing it. While our earthly parents love us, there is no love like the love of our Abba Father. 

God’s love transcends the conditional love offered to us by people.  

We can love God because he first loved us. We can love others, even those who have hurt us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts and lives. God’s love has the power to transform us into his image, so we take on his characteristics and become more like him. 

Characteristics of God’s Love

What are the characteristics of God’s love? The Greek translates the word “love” as agapē and defines it as “charity, love, goodwill, benevolence, usually referring to divine love.” 

God’s love is unique, unlike any other love out there, because his love is divine and not of human origin.  

In the book of 1 Corinthians, we see love described as: 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” -1 Corinthians 13:4-8a ESV 

Here are a few other characteristics of God’s love that differ from man’s love: 

1. Faithful – “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.” -Lamentations 3:22 NLT 
2. Unfailing – “Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.” -Psalms 36:5 NLT 
3. Eternal – “…I have loved you with an everlasting love;” -Jeremiah 31:3a ESV 
4. Sacrificial – “Greater love has no man than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” -John 15:13 NIV 
5. Compassionate – “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” -Lamentations 3:32. NIV 

God’s love is far different from any human love we can ever experience. His love helps us to die to ourselves and live our lives sacrificially, loving and serving him. 

12 Ways Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us

While God’s love is incomprehensible, we can gain a better understanding of it as we search the Scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom. 

Ephesians 3:16-19 (NIV) says,  

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how side and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” 

Here are 12 ways that show how understanding the power of God’s love helps us: 

1. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Receive Eternal Life.

Because God loves us, we can have eternal life through his Son Jesus Christ. There is no other way for us to be saved but to know and accept the love of Christ. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16 ESV 

2. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Walk in the Spirit.

When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of us and pours into us the fruit of his love. Because of his presence, we can live godly lives. 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” -Galatians 5:22-23 ESV 

3. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Break Free from Guilt and Shame.

When the Lord pours his love upon us, we no longer have reason to feel guilty over our past sins. The power of God’s love sets us free from shame, self-blame, and condemnation. 

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” -Romans 5:5 NIV 

4. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Be Obedient to His Will.

When God calls us to follow him, he also calls us to obey him. Because he loves us, we no longer live to please ourselves, but desire to honor and please him. 

“For the love of God controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” -2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV 

5. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us to be Overcomers.

No matter what happens in our lives, nothing can separate us from the love of God. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

“No, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, no things present nor things to come, now powers, nor height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:37-39 ESV

6. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Trust the Lord.

As we grow in our understanding of God’s love, we learn to trust him to work things together for our good. Even when we face hardship and disappointment, we can trust in his unfailing love. 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28 ESV 

7. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Love Others.

The power of God’s love helps us to give and receive his unconditional love to others. 

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” -1 John 4:7 ESV 

8. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Endure Suffering.

God’s love helps us endure suffering because we have full assurance that he cares about us and will see us through our trials. 

“I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, and you have not delivered me into the hand of my enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.” -Psalm 31:7-8 ESV 

9. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Overcome Fear.

God’s love is perfect and casts out fear. Because he loves us, he does not punish or condemn us, so we have nothing to fear. 

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” -1 John 4:18 ESV 

10. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Forgive Those Who Hurt Us.

When others hurt us, it’s hard to forgive them. But the love of God helps us forgive those who hurt us. 

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” -Ephesians 4:31 ESV 

11. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Grow in Knowledge and Discernment.

God’s love empowers us to grow in wisdom, so that we may walk in a manner that is pleasing to him. 

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.” -Philippians 1:9-10 ESV 

12. Understanding the Power of God’s Love Helps Us Live Transformed Lives.

Because of the power of God’s love, we are no longer the same person. Christ lives in us so we can live transformed lives that bring him glory. 

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -Galatians 5:20 ESV 

A Prayer to Live in the Power of God’s Love

Dear Jesus, 

I come to you and thank you for the deep and powerful love you have for me. I praise you for sacrificially laying down your life so that I may have eternal life. I ask you to fill me with your Spirit, so that I may walk in the fruit of your love.  

Thank you for breaking the chains of guilt, shame, and condemnation that held me for so long. I strive to overcome sin in my life, so that I can live in a manner that pleases and honors you. 

When times get hard, help me endure suffering and remember that you love me even when I don’t always feel your presence. I choose to trust you in all circumstances because I believe you will work everything out for my good.

I need never be afraid, because your perfect love casts out all fear.

When others hurt me, please help me forgive them just as you have forgiven me. I thank you for granting me wisdom and discernment to live a life of loving others and serving you.

I praise you for transforming me day by day into your image through the power of your love.  

In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

(Dawn’s new book From Guilt to Grace: Hope and Healing for Christian Moms of Addicted Children is available NOW for pre-order on Amazon! Be sure to check it out!)

About the Author:

Dawn Ward is a speaker, writer, and biblical life coach. She is the founder of The Faith to Flourish, a ministry equipping women to live transformed lives through inspiring teaching, mentoring, and biblical resources.  

Dawn also offers support and encouragement to women with addicted loved ones. She is married to Steve and mom to three adult children. Her book, From Guilt to Grace: Hope and Healing for Christian Moms of Addicted Children is scheduled for release in Fall 2024 and is available NOW for pre-order on Amazon. Be sure to check it out!

Connect with Dawn on her website The Faith to Flourish, Facebook, or Instagram.  

If you find this encouraging, then please share so it can be a blessing to others!

And be sure to check out these other fantastic reads:

• 35 Endearing Bible Verses on God’s Love for Us 
• 7 Essential Steps for Trusting God in Difficult Times 
• How to Abide in Christ and Why It Matters 
• 7 Keys Steps in Learning How to Walk with God