God loved us when we were enemies in our minds by our bad behavior, and He demonstrated that love by dying for us, so that person we were no longer exists.
God did not hold our trespasses against us but reconciled us (establishing a relationship of peace with Him) so that we could have fellowship with him and become like-minded with him and become his friend and enter into a walk with him.
Rom 5: 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified aby His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved bby His life
Colossions 1: 21And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind because of your behavior, 22yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him
2 Corinthians 5: 19 that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them
Titus 3:3–5. For we were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
That’s who we were in time past: once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another!
But God does not respond to us by hating us, getting upset, becoming resentful, speaking negative things about us, He reaches us in another way.
He doesn’t assault your mind because God knows how human beings put up walls; from the time you’re a little child you start putting up walls. He doesn’t try to break through those walls to reach your mind; very rarely does God meet anybody by direct revelation in that way.
He’ll reach you through your heart; He’ll break your heart. The revelation of His love for you will bring joyful tears to your eyes.
He’s after one thing: that you may enter into the rest of His government over your life. He says in the day you seek for Me with your whole heart, you’ll find Me. If you love Me with all your heart that’s all I want; that’s the first commandment. And then you can love others with that same divine love you are experiencing in your relationship with Me. But sometimes you forget that this is what God wants.
God isn’t saying, “Come and understand Me,” He wants you to know His love, and His compassion. God isn’t trying to get you to understand His wisdom. He just wants you to know how much He loves you.
God so loved the world! He didn’t try to mystify or impress it, He didn’t try to create something that would alienate their minds at the thought of Him; He just started loving them.
Open your heart—He’ll love you; His heart’s reaching to you. Long ago, when the church was birthed on that day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and told them how God had loved them and sent His Son to die for them.
He described the whole thing and said, “You know what you did? With wicked hands you took Him and you slew Him.” And they began to cry, “What can we do to be saved?”
Peter was saying in effect: “You tried to reach God, you tried with your good works to reach Him; you tried to struggle up the best way you knew how through legalism, through Phariseeism and judging everybody, but I’m here to tell you that God’s found a closer way to His heart. A Roman spear found it and “He shed His blood for you.”
When you begin to realize how much God loves you and wants to do for you, you stop leaning on your own understanding and start loving Him. You start trusting Him and letting Him be God. You open your heart to Him and say, “God, here’s my heart—I’m going to trust You, I’m going to love you.
You may not understand much about what’s happening to you or that ever has happened to you, but you’re going to love Him.” And you have the key right there. God isn’t trying to beat you down; He’s just trying to love you.
But we put up the walls, we shut Him out, we don’t let Him come through. If we had understood the principle of just blessing one another years ago we wouldn’t have people searching their hearts and looking inwardly all the time.
If you know how much He loves you, you don’t hold anything in your heart back from Him. When you open your heart to God somehow the light begins to come in and then you know what you need.
Today open your heart to Him for you may not even know what you need until you do. You have your doubts, your fears, your problems—but this is a walk with God. It isn’t a walk based upon suspicion, walls, or even understanding—it’s a lovers’ walk.
It’s the kind of a walk where you put your hand in His and you feel the bond of closeness and oneness. There is nothing like a stroll of lovers; it is better than all the expensive entertainment in the world.
When two people who love each other walk together hand in hand, everything that’s ever been in the past merges (combines to form a single entity) at that moment and everything that is going to be in the future comes with a hope and a faith that is set ablaze with love.
That is the way it is with God: everything that He’s ever done and everything that He has ever meant to you focuses on this one moment: He says, “I love you, I love you! And when you realize that He is actually talking to you, then it becomes a revelation to your heart. Put your hand in Mine and we’ll walk together.”
If you have ever entered into heaven, you experience this. Jesus will take you on a walk and show you around. It is such an extraordinary place, you want to stay there forever, but you come back down to earth because you have a destiny to fulfill here.
On the earth here you can panic, you can be fearful, you can be afraid of changes, you can put up walls, you can back away, but one answer that will wipe out all your problems and help you to really overcome it, is just to love Him … just love Him.
When you learn how to love Him, just spend time with Him, minister to Him, He created you to love Him. He has needs to, believe it or not. Just say here I am lord; let’s spend some time together, the next thing you know, he will take you on trips to heaven in visions and dreams, and you will begin to learn how to live there, to live in dual realms.
This is what it is all about the Father and His family. There is a bond and a closeness of love, and a oneness.
The Body of Christ doesn’t come together because God makes a lot of holes in them and bolts them together and says, “See there, one Body.”
He fuses them with that flame of Spirit, His love. He makes them love each other. You don’t even have to understand each other. God knows how many successful marriages we have that prove this—they love each other. It is called a kingdom marriage. If you are single, don’t focus on how much you want someone. Focus on becoming like Jesus Christ, focus on becoming Love, and the next thing you know you will meet that special person.
If you are in a not so good marriage, just love your mate with all your heart, with the God kind of love and you will be surprised how that person will begin to change. Don’t be focused on the passing scene, this life is just a vapor that passes away. When I went through radiation for the cancer I had, I lost the ability to have sex-at first it bothered me, but now it is no big deal, just because I cannot have an orgasm doesn’t mean I cannot love a woman.
I don’t know any man yet that understands a woman; they learn to get along with them, but they don’t understand them. You don’t have to understand them; they don’t understand themselves, they’re more creatures of instinct. But if you love them they will open their heart to you, they will serve you, they will do anything for you as long as you live.
That is the way it is with God. You are made in the image of God and you don’t realize how much God wants your love, how much He’s loved you. He wants to walk with you, a lover’s walk.
Do you find yourself really looking to the Lord for more closeness with Him? Ask the Lord for that closeness. What is it that makes a marriage? Isn’t it the closeness that you feel together? The thing that makes this walk with God is that you are close to Jesus. Open your heart to it, draw it. It is called first love. I wrote some messages about it on my website. They are under the category of love. I set my website up in categories. I love to write, but I will eventually simplify them, and make them shorter and to the point.