Encountering God’s Affections: The Pathway to Our

Destiny
TRANSFORMED BY ENCOUNTERING THE AFFECTIONS OF GOD

A. To know the love of Christ means to know by experience His affections.

God wants us to feel His affection for us. It has significant implications in
the way it impacts our hearts.
That you...may be able to comprehend...what is the width and length
and depth and height-- 19 to know (experience) the love (affections) of
Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God. (Eph. 3:18-19)

2. Feeling God’s affection brings pleasure and exhilaration to our

hearts. This is a part of our inheritance.

3. Feeling God’s affection equips us for our full destiny by anchoring

our soul in God. The breakthrough of the anointing of power and
divine favor brings with it added the pressures of temptation, pride
and criticism. When we are anchored in the experience of God’s
love, then we are equipped to resist compromise in times of
temptation, to walk in humility in times of exaltation and to not
yield to the fear of man when criticized.

4. It is the foundation that empowers us to run to God instead of

from God as we so often encounter our sin and weakness during
our journey in this life.

A. Paul said that God’s love passes knowledge. In other words, we cannot
comprehend it without the help of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be
comprehended with only our natural ability.

B. There is a paradox today in the Church. Many talk about the love of God
while being content to not press into it to actually experience its power. In
a spiritual culture of compromise and permissiveness, some are falsely
comforted by references to God’s love without understanding the glorious
reality of it.

C. The genuine experience of God’s affection makes us ravenously hungry

for more. In other words, for holiness. We go hard after God’s heart to
experience more of His affection. Holy diligence is not an attempt to earn
us God’s love but positions us to experience more of it.

5. Enjoying the love of God is not the opposite of holiness.

 6. Enjoying the love of God in truth, never leads us to spiritual
passivity.

A. The ultimate statement about our worth and value is that Jesus has the
same measure of love (affection) towards us that His Father has towards
Him.
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide (live in) in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love...11 These
things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that
your joy may be full. (Jn. 15:9-11)

7. That My joy may remain in you – when the Holy Spirit releases
Jesus’ joy is in us, we feel a confidence in God with a buoyant joy
and a free spirit. These times of “inspiration” greatly change how
we feel for a few hours. This inspiration can be an ongoing grace.

8. That your joy may be full – the “impartation” of Jesus’ joy to our
emotions transforms our character (emotions make-up) which is
consistently strengthened with joy.

9. Abide in My love – the challenge is to abide in God’s love. We

must contend to understand God’s affections, and then continue to
fight so that we might remain in its reality. This is the primary
issue that Satan will attack as our accuser (Rev. 12:10).

10. If you keep My commands – the consistent pursuit of 100-fold

obedience increases our experience of God’s affection by
positioning us to receive more of it (not to earn more).

11. These things I have spoken to you – the Word of God is God’s
way for us to grow in the experience of His affections in a
consistent way.
You shall know (experience) the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. (Jn. 8:32)

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you
are not willing to come to Me that you may have life...42 I know
you, that you do not have the love of God in you. (Jn. 5:39-42)

A. The most powerful weapon against Satan’s perpetual accusations is the

fact of God’s affection.
If God is for us, who can be against us?…33 Who shall bring a charge
against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who
condemns? It is Christ who died…who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love (affection) of Christ? Shall
 tribulation, or distress, or persecution...or peril, or sword?...37 Yet in all
these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved (has
affection for) us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to
come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love (affection) of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. (Rom. 8:32-39)

II. WORSHIPPING GOD WITH AN OPEN SPIRIT

Love has been perfected (made mature/strong) among us in this: that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves
torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him
because He first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:17-19)

A. Principle #1: The fear of judgment involves torment. Therefore, we all

close our hearts when we fear being judged. In all our relationships (with
God and people), we guard our spirit when we feel judged or condemned.
Thus, we receive much less from God when we worship Him with a
closed or guarded spirit.

B. Principle #2: The finished work of the cross gives us boldness in the day
of judgment because we know that in the same way that Jesus is received
before the Father, so also are we received by Him (2 Cor. 5:17-21). This is
not only true after we die, but is even true while we live in this world (1
Jn. 4:17c), filled with weakness.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are
of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus...19 that is, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their
trespasses to them...21 for He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be
sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2
Cor. 5:17-21)

C. Principle #3: There is no fear of being judged to those with a revelation of

God’s love.

D. Principle #4: A perfect or mature revelation of God’s love (affection) casts

out the fear of being judged and rejected.

E. Principle #5: Love is made perfect (mature/strong) among us in “this way”

or by understanding first, God’s affection, second, the work of the cross
and third, in pursuing a 100-fold obedience.

F. Principle #6: He who fears has not been made perfect or mature in his
revelation of Jesus’ love.
 G. Principle #7: We are transformed progressively by the revelation of God’s
love or affection.
We love Him because (we understand that) He first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:19)

III. BEING TRANSFORMED BY THE REVELATION OF GOD’S

AFFECTIONS

A. When God wants to empower us to love Him, He reveals Himself as a

lover to us.
We love Him because (we understand that) He first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:19)

B. We love Him because we understand that He first loved us. We enjoy or

pursue Jesus because we understand that He first enjoyed or pursued us.

C. Principle: whatever we encounter about God’s heart (His passion) for us

becomes awakened in our heart back to God. Encounter (meditation unto
revelation) results in transformation. What we understand about God’s
heart is essential to transforming our emotions.

D. We change our mind, then God changes our hearts. We change our mind
(understanding about God), then God changes our emotions (unlocks our
hearts). Wrong understanding about God damages our hearts. Wrong ideas
about God’s personality leads to blocking our intimacy with Him.

IV. BEHOLDING THE GLORY OF GOD – HIS POWER, WISDOM AND

EMOTIONS

But we all, beholding...the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:18)

A. The “beholding and becoming” principle – whatever we behold

(meditation unto revelation) in God’s heart towards us becomes awakened
in our heart back to God (transformation). Beholding God’s heart refers to
studying about it until we understand it more and thus encounter Him.

B. In 2 Cor. 3:18, Paul was specifically referring to the situation in Moses’

life in which he cried out to behold God’s glory. To proclaim the Lord’s
name is to proclaim His personality (His emotions).
Moses said, "Please, show me Your glory." 19 Then He said, "I will
make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of
the LORD before you..." (Ex. 33:18-19)

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD
God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness
and truth...”(Ex 34:6)
 2. To proclaim the Lord’s name is to proclaim His personality (His
character).

3. God’s glory includes His power and wisdom, however, the

pinnacle of God’s glory is His emotions (revelation of His
passions).

4. The Lord is merciful – He is tender with our weaknesses.

5. The Lord is gracious – He does not give us what we deserve.

6. The Lord is longsuffering – He bears with us and does not write

us off.

7. The Lord is abounding in goodness – He overflows with good

plans for us.

A. The emotions of God that are most easily grasped are His tender mercy
and gladness. We will not comprehend His affection for us until we have a
foundational understanding of His tender mercy and gladness towards us.

B. God’s tender mercy is far beyond anything that we can compare with it.
Let the wicked forsake his way...let him return to the LORD, and He will
have mercy on him...for He will abundantly pardon. 8 "For My
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the
LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways
higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa.
55:7-9)

C. Jesus walked in the anointing of gladness more than any man in history
(Heb. 1:9; Ps. 45:7). He had a free spirit filled with gladness that radiated
out of His countenance. Gladness and joy are at the center of Jesus’
personality. Jesus imparts His joy to His people through feeding on His
Word unto transforming their emotions so that it becomes their joy. David,
the theologian of God’s gladness, described God’s heart as full of joy and
pleasures. Jesus is full of joy. His primary posture of heart and leadership
style is gladness (Ps 16:11).

D. God’s glorious gladness is infinite. However, the paradigm that is most

common is that of a God who is mostly mad or mostly sad when we relate
to Him. The revelation of a God with a smiling heart awakens a smiling
heart in us. This revelation releases security in us with a free spirit instead
of being dominated by condemnation.

E. As we become students of God’s emotions, we grow in revelation of His

tender mercy, then His gladness and then His affection.
Excerpts from the Audio Transcript of “Confidence in Love” – Mike
Bickle
“I want to talk about cultivating confidence in love before God; that our hearts grow in
confidence. Because when we are confident in love, and it is a two dimensional thing, when this
happens then there are many, many dynamics, many powerful things happen in the spirit. The
enemy wants to keep us off balance. The enemy wants our confidence to be undermined
continuously.

When I say confidence in love before God, I am talking about confidence in our relationship
before God. That number one, we are confident that He loves us; that He has affection for us; that
He actually enjoys us even in our weakness.

Now, we know that He loves us in eternity, but the fact that He would enjoy us in this hour even
in our weakness . . . (I am talking to sincere believers. Those that are sincere in their faith, but
they still have issues that need to be settled in their life. But they are sincere in their love before
God. ) When we are sincere before the Lord He enjoys us. He loves us and He wants us confident
in that love. . . . Jesus said it, in the same way that He loves Jesus, in the same way that He loves
Jesus. John 17:23, “God the Father loves you in the measure of which He loves the Son.” The
Son of God has chosen you to be His bride forever, both male and female. He has called us into
that intimacy with Him. That already declares unmistakably His affection, or His enjoyment of
us. So, part of this confidence is that we would have the confidence that He loves us. I like to use
the word, ‘enjoys us’, even in our weakness. When that confidence is established, it is very, very
powerful. But that is not enough. It is a two-fold confidence.

Number one is not enough. Number one is a very, very dynamic beginning.
But there is something more. He wants us to be confident that we are lovers of God in return,
even in our weakness. That our love is authentic; our love is genuine, even though it is weak and
immature. It is a very common idea that if our love is immature it is therefore not genuine. Some
people imagine that their love is real, it is only true, and it is only genuine, once it is mature. And
everything before maturity is hypocritical love or false love somehow. As I have talked to people
about that subject, I find out that there is a lot of - kind of illogical thinking. I say, “So, your love
is only genuine . . . ; we are hopeless hypocrites until we are mature? And there is no step
between now and then?” There is a lot of fuzzy thinking around that subject. But if you press
people, a lot of them feel that way. That, until their love is mature without any stumbling in it, it
is not real, and it is not even present. They are just hypocritical. That is an idea that causes us to
be unstable, spiritually. The enemy fears confidence in the life of a believer. When our hearts are
confident before Him, in love, in both directions; that He loves us, and we are confident in that,
and then the confidence that we actually love Him. The enemy does not want that to happen. The
religious spirit fears confidence.

As I have talked to people through the years. You know, the crankiness holiness preachers, (I call
it, “Happy holiness”) and the “cranky holiness” preachers, they say, “You know, if you get them
too confident they are going to get careless in their obedience.” I go, “No, it is exactly the
opposite. You get them confident and they become careful in their obedience.” “Well, if they just
think that God loves them. I mean, they are not going to look at that ‘to do’ list. And they are not
going to do it.” And I say, “When they get confident that God loves them they do not need a ‘to
do’ list. There is something alive on the inside. It is far, far more powerful.” So, over the next
number of weeks, I want to talk about developing confidence in love before God. That we are
loved and we are lovers that we are loved by God and we are genuine lovers of God even in our
weakness. . .

Study Questions:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been
generated from God, and knows God. The one who does not love has not known God,
because God is love. By this the love of God was revealed in us, because His Son, the Only
begotten, God has sent into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation relating to
our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen
God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love having been
perfected is in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because of His
Spirit He has given to us. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent
the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides
in him, and he in God. And we have known and have believed the love which God has in
us. God is love, and the one abiding in love abides in God, and God in him. By this, love
has been perfected with us, that we have confidence in the Day of Judgment, that as He is,
we are also in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because
fear has punishment; and the one fearing has not been perfected in love. We love Him
because He first loved us. 1John 4:7-19

What does it mean to be confident in love?

Is there someone in your life that makes/or made you feel confident in love?
How does/did that confidence affect your relationship with them?
How does that confidence affect your relationship with others?

Are you confident in God’s love for you?

If your answer is yes, what relationships, events, understandings or experiences built that
confidence in you?
If your answer is no, what relationships, events, understandings or experiences hinder your
confidence?

What does “loving God” mean to you?

Are you confident that you love God?
If your answer is yes, where do you draw that confidence from?
Is your confidence based upon the truth?
What are the scriptures that support your confidence?
If your answer is no, what are the accusations you hear in your heart that offend your confidence?
Is there bondage to shame/fear?
Are they based upon the truth?
What are the scriptures that support the accusation?

How can we, as a community, love you, encourage you and support your confidence in love?
How can we pray for you?