God is a God of Love

God loves us. God’s love is the central theme of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as parents love their children, so God, our Heavenly Father, loves his children—us! Once we understand and believe in God’s love and our relationship to him, we feel greater confidence to approach him and rely on him in any situation.

God is Love: God’s love is part of his nature

God the Father is the Supreme Being whom we worship and in whom we center our faith. God is the ultimate creator, ruler and preserver of the earth, the universe and everything that exists including all the souls of men. 1

A Book of Mormon prophet said, “All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are on the face of it, yea, and its motions, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form to witness that there is a Supreme Creator.” 2

• God is eternal. 3
• God is perfect in every good way. 4
• God has all power. 5
• God knows all things past, present and future. 6
• God has the ability to be with us constantly 7 and individually 8 without dividing his attention.
• In addition to his other perfect characteristics, God is perfect in mercy, kindness and charity. 9
• God is a God of love! 10

God is a God of love because he understands us

We were made in the image of God. He knows us. Because we descend from him, we are of his race. God is love because we are his children and like him.

God “has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s.” 11 His body, however, is glorified and perfect. The Prophet Joseph Smith described him as a personage “whose brightness and glory defy all description.”12

God’s love is God’s empathy.

God is not a passive God, distantly observing us as if we were laboratory animals. God is actively and constantly involved in the details of our lives.

• When we rejoice God rejoices. 13
• When we weep God weeps. 14
• When we suffer God suffers. 15

God's love is charity; God's help is grace

God’s love motivates him to help. While God’s love is called charity, 16 God’s help is called grace, 17 God’s divine enabling power that allows us to achieve or endure things or situations beyond our ability.

The pillars of God's love

It could be said that God’s love rests on three pillars:

• total loyalty
• total sacrifice
• total trust.

Take away one of these pillars and love crumbles. God’s love is perfect in all three.

• God is completely loyal to you; 18
• God will sacrifice anything for you; 19
• God is completely trustworthy. 20

God's love and prayer

God is a God of love and he invites us to talk with him—we pray and God responds; God speaks and we should listen and respond.

Jesus promised, “Your heavenly Father will not fail to give unto you whatsoever ye ask of him…for everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” 21

Our modern-day prophet has said,

“What a marvelous and wonderful thing is prayer. Think of it. We can actually speak with our Father in Heaven. He will hear and respond, but we need to listen to that response. Nothing is too serious and nothing too unimportant to share with Him….Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him.” 22

The LDS Bible Dictionary states this about God's love:

“As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, that God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.” 23

We are instructed to pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ, for he is our mediator with God.

“We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ--when his words abide in us (John 15:7). We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent his mind, but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart.” 24

Questions about 'God is Love and God is our loving Heavenly Father'

• What is the central theme of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ?



• What is the nature of God?



• What is the true meaning of God's grace?



• What are the promised and guaranteed blessings of prayer?



• What should be our attitude when we pray to God?



• What is the true meaning of praying in the name of Jesus Christ?

References for 'God is a God of Love'

1. Moses 2:1 – And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth; write the words which I speak. I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest.
2. Alma 30:44 – But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.
3. D&C 20:17 – By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them;
4. Matthew 5:48 – Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
5. Mosiah 4:9 – Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
6. 2 Nephi 9:20; D&C 130:7 – O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it (2 Nephi 9:20). But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord (D&C 130:7).
7. Isaiah 49:15-16 – Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
8. Moses 7:30 – And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever;
9. Lectures on Faith 4:15
10. 1 John 4:16
11. D&C 130:22
12. Joseph Smith History 1:17
13. 3 Nephi 27:30 – And now, behold, my joy is great, even unto fulness, because of you, and also this generation; yea, and even the Father rejoiceth, and also all the holy angels, because of you and this generation; for none of them are lost.
14. Alma 7:11-13 – And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
15. Alma 7:11-13 – And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
16. Moroni 7:45-48 – And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—ut charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
17. LDS Bible Dictionary, Grace, p. 697
18. Alma 36:27 – And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me.
19. Isaiah 49:15-16 – Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
20. Alma 36:3 – And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.
21. JST Luke 11:5, 10
22. Gordon B. Hinckley, "Stay on the High Road," Ensign, May 2004, 112
23. LDS Bible Dictionary, Prayer, p. 752-53
24. LDS Bible Dictionary, Prayer, p. 752-53