Growing in the Knowledge of God’s Love

Last week we talked about what God says about you — who you are in His eyes.
This week, we take the next step: why you can trust that identity at all.

Because behind every word God speaks over us is something deeper and more powerful — His love.

Most of us would say we believe God loves us. We know the verses. We’ve heard them since childhood. But knowing about God’s love and truly living in it are not always the same thing.

Paul’s prayer in Ephesians is striking. He isn’t praying for more knowledge, better behavior, or stronger faith. He prays that believers would grasp the love of Christ — not just understand it, but experience it.

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”
(Ephesians 3:17–19)

Paul even says this love “surpasses knowledge,” meaning it can’t be fully explained or mastered. It must be received.

That tells us something important:
God’s love isn’t something we move past as we grow spiritually.
It’s something we grow deeper into.

God’s Love Is Declared, Not Earned

Scripture tells us that God demonstrated His love for us while we were still sinners. Not when we had it together. Not after we improved. Not once we proved ourselves useful or faithful enough.

God loved us first.

As John puts it simply and powerfully:

“We love because He first loved us.”
(1 John 4:19)

God’s love is not a response to us — it is the starting point. Identity, obedience, prayer, and growth all flow from that first, unearned love.

That’s why Paul doesn’t pray for people to do more.
He prays for them to grasp what is already true.

And yet, many of us still live as if His love is conditional — as if it rises and falls with our obedience, our consistency, or our spiritual performance. We slip back into trying to earn what God has already freely given.

But love that must be earned is not love at all.
God’s love is declared — settled — unchanging.

Prayer Is Where God’s Love Becomes Personal

If God’s love is already declared, why do so many believers struggle to feel secure in it?

Often, it’s because prayer has slowly become transactional instead of relational.

We pray to ask.
We pray to fix.
We pray to explain.

But prayer is also meant to be a place where we abide — where we remain with God long enough to let His love sink in. Where we don’t rush through words, but allow space for presence.

Abide means to remain, stay, dwell, or make your home with someone — not briefly, but intentionally and continually.

In Scripture, abide is not about doing something extra for God. It’s about staying connected to Him.

When the Bible talks about abiding in God, it’s describing a posture of nearness and dependence, not effort.

Paul’s prayer reminds us that this love is something God does in us, not something we work up on our own. We are meant to be “rooted and grounded” in love — nourished by it, strengthened by it, and held steady in it.

Sometimes the most loving thing God does is not speak loudly, but sit quietly with us — waiting for us to stop filling the silence.

Obedience Flows From Love, Not Fear

Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
Notice He didn’t say, “If you want Me to love you.”

Obedience is not the price of God’s love; it is the response to it.

When we are rooted in love, obedience becomes natural. We stop obeying out of fear, guilt, or obligation, and begin obeying out of trust. Love changes the why behind what we do.

Listening Is How Love Grows Deeper

God often speaks His love most clearly when we finally slow down enough to listen.

Stillness feels uncomfortable for many of us. Silence exposes things we’d rather keep buried. But it’s often in those quiet moments that God reminds us who we are, whose we are, and how deeply we are loved.

Growing in the knowledge of God’s love doesn’t require doing more.
It requires making room.

Room in prayer.
Room in obedience.
Room in silence.

And when we do, we discover that God has been near all along.

Closing Prayer

Father,
Thank You for loving us before we ever loved You.
Thank You that Your love is not earned, not fragile, and not dependent on our performance.

Help us move beyond simply knowing that You love us
and into truly living in that love.
Teach us how to abide — to remain with You,
to stay close,
and to stop rushing away from Your presence.

Quiet our hearts,
slow our thoughts,
and help us listen for Your voice.
Where we have been striving, bring rest.
Where we have been afraid, bring assurance.
Where we have been distant, draw us near.

May our prayers become less about doing
and more about being with You.
And may our obedience flow not from fear or obligation,
but from a deep confidence that we are already loved.

We place ourselves in Your care,
and we choose to remain in Your love today and in the week ahead.

Amen.