Tag Archives: healthy relationships

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Fill Up Your Love Tank

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Joyce meyer

May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.—Ephesians 3:17

Each one of us is born with a “love tank,” and if our tank is empty, we are in trouble. We need to start receiving love from the moment we are born and continue receiving it—and giving it out—until the day we die. Sometimes Satan manages to arrange things so that instead of receiving love, we receive abuse. If that abuse continues, we become love starved and warped, so that we are unable to maintain healthy relationships.

Many people develop addictive behaviors of different types. If they can’t get good feelings from within themselves, they look for them on the outside. One of the things we must understand is that people have to have a certain number of good feelings. We are all created to have good feelings about ourselves. We cannot go around hurting, being wounded, and feeling bad all the time. We are just not designed and equipped to live that way.

To find those good feelings, many people turn to sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, food, money, power, gambling, work, television, sports, and many other addictive things. They are simply trying to get those good feelings they are missing from within themselves and their relationships.

Many Christians are not getting good feelings from their relationships. They just go through the motions, not truly enjoying life because of what has happened to them to deprive them of what they really need and desire—love. The good news is that whatever may have happened to us in the past, whatever we may have been deprived of, we can get it from the Lord. He is our Shepherd, so we shall not want (See Psalm 23:1). He has promised not to withhold any good thing from us (Psalm 84:11).

If we did not get enough love when we were growing up, or if we are not getting enough love now, we don’t have to go through the rest of our lives with an empty “love tank.”

Even if there is not one other human being on this earth who loves us, we are still loved by God, and we can become rooted and grounded in His love.

 

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Joyce Meyer – Imperfect, but Perfectly Loved

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There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! —1 John 4:18

We cannot love ourselves unless we realize how much God loves us, and if we don’t love ourselves, we cannot love other people. We cannot maintain good, healthy relationships without this foundation of love in our lives.

By the time I met the man I have been married to since 1967, I was desperate for love but did not know how to receive it, even when it was available. My husband, Dave, really did love me, but I found myself constantly deflecting his love due to the way I felt about myself down deep inside. As I entered into a serious and committed relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, I began to learn about God’s love. But it took a long time to fully accept it. When you feel unlovable, it is hard to get it through your head and down into your heart that God loves you perfectly—even though you are not perfect and never will be as long as you are on the earth.

There is only one thing you can do with a free gift: receive it and be grateful. I urge you to take a step of faith right now and say out loud, “God loves me unconditionally, and I receive His love!” You may have to say it a hundred times a day, like I did for months, before it finally sinks in, but when it does it will be the happiest day of your life. To know that you are loved by someone you can trust is the best and most comforting feeling in the world. God will not only love you that way, but He will also provide other people who will truly love you. When He does provide, be sure to remain thankful for those people. Having people who genuinely love you is one of the most precious gifts in the world.

Trust in Him: You won’t be able to receive God’s love until you trust Him. Take a step of faith right now and say out loud, “God loves me unconditionally, and I receive His love!” Say it as many times as you need to until you believe it.