How do you know God loves you as an individual?

[Rigel]

Salam,
Someone raised this question to me and my reply to it was;
How do I know God loves us? Simply by accepting the fact that creator does love its creation. And God is the best Creator, we see the perfection in heavens and on earth. How systemactially universe works and not even a leaf moves without His permission. Now God will never love someone more or someone less, because this will not be justice.

Can anyone please reply to this long post of his inreturn. I think this guy do need some guidance.

Thanks for your reply. Really my question was that how do you know God loves you as an individual?

If you were to ask me that question my answer would be: I know he loves me because he sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins. Not only that, but Jesus was raised from the dead for my justification. I was born again in 1991. Prior to that I did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. I had heard about it but I had not believed. Just imagine, I was born in Catholic family but in my hearts of hearts I did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. (I am no longer a Catholic now though.)

In 1991 I had an encounter with God that changed my life. That is when I got born again.

The basic problem between God and man is that man has gone his own way. All of us have gone astray, each one his own way. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. When I say that man has gone his own way
this means he thinks for himself, decides what to believe or what not to believe. He has his own evaluation of right and wrong - that is why there is so much injustice in the world. Also man in his rebellion he decides how he wants to worship and even who or what he wants to worship; that is why there are many religions.

Man is only reconciled to God when he stops going his own way and effectively says to God: "I will now follow you God from now onwards". This is repentance. However because God is just and righteous he cannot simply accept man as he is because he has already sinned. If God simply forgot man's sin that would be unrighteous and unjust of him.

Its like having an earthly judge letting a criminal off without executing punishment for the things he has done. Even if the criminal is really sorry for his sin, still justice must previal. Thus is would not be right to simply let him go. So God is faced with the same dilemma when wanting to forgive a repentant sinner. BUT thanks be God because he has provided for Himself a way he can forgive sinners and still satisfy the requirements of justice and righteousness: His own son has paid the price for sin by shedding his own blood for us when he died on the cross.

Thus apart from the blood of Jesus Christ, there would be no way for God to forgive anyone of their sins without compromising his holiness. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. No matter how much God loves mankind he could never forgive and accept them without innocent blood being poured out! Sin needs to be paid for, it does not just disappear like that. Jesus has paid the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven.

I agree with you that life is test. It is a time for each one of us to decide whether we will turn back to God or continue going our own way. If we do not turn back to God then when judgement comes, we will be found guilty and be banished from the presence of God and be tormented forever! If we accept God's sacrifice for our sins (Jesus) and be reconcilled to God then our sins will be forgiven and forgotten by God and we will not face judgement for our sins but live eternally in his glory with him.

So ultimately the choice man has is between two paths: "going man's own way" or "going God's way". If one wants to go God's way he has to find out directly from God himself which way God wants him to go. He cannot look into
his own mind to decide which way to go and neither can he trust other men to show him the way because they are probably going their own way as well. Man needs to find out from God how God wants him to worship him. God is
able to communicate with each one of us directly. It is not safe to simply follow what others are doing and say that is the way God wants to be worshipped because each one of us as individuals will give an account of our
lives to God when we stand before him.

The question of whether Jesus Christ is the son of God is the most important question that every man has to confront. The answer to this question must come from God himself. If we are truely seeking the one true God then its what he says about this which is important not what people or religions say. What I am saying is that God is able to speak for himself. Often times mankind speaks for God and misrepresents him thus we must hear from God directly so as not to be misguided!

I myself know that Jesus is the Son of God because God revealed it to me. I urge you to find out from God for yourself. God is able to communicate to us directly; he is the living God!

[BMZ]

It is the typical evangelical appeal and invitation to Christianity. For ten thousand years and many milleniums before, God never told any one about approaching Him thorugh a Son.

If the people before, could find God without a Son, surely people of the modern times can find God without a Son like people of the past yore.

I find it unbelieveable to find God through two other Gods. Those who have done so adore the Son more than the father and the Ghost. You can see them every day talking about only Jesus without a mention of the father.

The e-mail they write is all "dardnaak" (painful to gain sympathy) stuff and want everyone to be touched.

BMZ

[BMZ]

It is the typical evangelical appeal and invitation to Christianity. For ten thousand years and many milleniums before, God never told any one about approaching Him thorugh a Son.

If the people before, could find God without a Son, surely people of the modern times can find God without a Son like people of the past yore.

I find it unbelieveable to find God through two other Gods. Those who have done so adore the Son more than the father and the Ghost. You can see them every day talking about only Jesus without a mention of the father.

The e-mail they write is all "dardnaak" (painful to gain sympathy) stuff and want everyone to be touched.

BMZ

[Rigel]

Salam and thankyou BMZ, I never came across with evangelical but what a way! and funny part is some people fall will in this trap. This guy said ''I had an encounter with God that changed my life.'' I have asked him to tell me about this encounter, so lets see

dardnaak!!!!!! Brother I bet these people have never felt dard

[Rigel]

Here comes the long awaited reply of the encounter!

Sorry for the long wait; I was not so well during last weekend. Here is a description of my first and most important encounter with God. It was not anything spectacular but it was the most important one because that�?????�????�???�??�?�¢??s when my relationship with Him as my saviour and Father began. Before this encounter I did know, without being told by anyone, that there was a creator who made all the things around me. I also knew from the creation around me that this God must be really awesome. I did not seek to know him though. Concerning Jesus Christ, I did not believe at all. I found it too difficult to believe. I thought; how could God send his son to suffer a terrible death like that?! When I look back now I realise that if I believed that Jesus was the son of God then it meant I owed him my whole life and I did not want to do that. In a nutshell this thing about the son of God was too difficult for my mind or heart to deal with. I remember having heated debates with people who truly believed in God and I would ask them very difficult questions which they could not answer.
However one morning at the boarding school I was at that time in 1991, at about 17 years of age I woke up one morning and started having some very clear/deep thoughts about sin, judgement, Jesus and eternity. I don�?????�????�???�??�?�¢??t know how to describe this but previously I had very stubborn ideas and arguments against Jesus being the son of God but here I was with knowledge about Jesus, God, the world and myself which was so clear and I was not arguing or debating in my mind. Basically God was communicating with me through His Holy Spirit the following issues: That I was a sinner and had sinned. The world is in rebellion against him. Although many talk of God they are really against him and not many believe in his son. At the end of time, sinners will be judged and separated from the presence of God forever and he will not be available to help them no matter how much they cry out to him. Also it was confirmed to my heart that only the death of Jesus was the only sacrifice that has atoned for the sins of the world.
I knew I had a decision to make: to follow accept Christ and follow God, or to reject Christ and continue going my own way with the world. He made me to understand that the consequence of following him meant being on God�?????�????�???�??�?�¢??s side and against the world in its rebellion. I had to choose one of the two. It was as if life and death had been placed before me and I had to make a choice. It was a difficult choice to make but I thought to myself: why perish when such a high price has been paid for me to live? So I decided to accept Jesus as my saviour. That decision immediately changed my whole life. From that moment onwards I knew in my heart that my sins are forgiven. I had a great peace, which I cannot describe and also great joy in my heart. I was so relieved. Now I was not expecting these things but they just came as soon as I made the decision to accept Christ. Another thing I felt was I became immediately aware of the nearness of God. Previously he seemed to be far off but now I was aware of his presence. He was so close to me.
Now all this took place possibly in less than one and a half hours that morning. No one had spoken to me to convince me about God or anything like that. It was just me in deep thought with God concerning eternal issues. Later I told one of my friends who was a believer that I wanted to �?????�????�???�??�?�¢??turn over a new leaf�?????�????�???�??�?�¢?�?????�????�???�??�?��.
I have walked with the Lord for over 16 years now and am constantly aware of his presence. My relationship with him has grown even deeper. He is real to me. I know I have eternal life, not by any good deeds etc but because Jesus has paid the price of my sins by his death.
So that was my �?????�????�???�??�?�¢??born again�?????�????�???�??�?�¢?? experience. I know many others who have had a similar experience.