There are many facets of love. We need to be aware that we are an object of God’s love, He loves us. We also need to be aware of others as the Father’s family who are also beloved.
The greatest thing in the world is divine love.
1john 4: 16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
“We have come to know and to believe in the love which God has for us.” Until people get a revelation of God’s nature, it is difficult for them to really believe God loves them. But this is the whole message of the Bible.
And even if we do believe that God loves us, we feel guilty and do not really believe that He will bless us, we have a human nature of unbelief that must be reckoned dead. God loves us because He is love, it is His nature. We may think, How can God really love us when we still have things wrong with us? Because- by one offering he has perfected us-Hebrews 10:14. Perfected forever, perfected is in the perfect tense and the indicative mood; it emphasizes the completeness of the action or the finished results.
We must come to know and believe that we are loved. The whole problem is believing that we are loved. We may know it, but do we believe it, what are our continuous thoughts concerning this? We need to keep speaking it, until it becomes our mind set- God loves us.
We also have to believe in the love that He has put in us. We need to learn how to turn it loose, so it starts working.
If our spirit is alive to God, His love is in us and as we learn how to let it control us we will grow in the Lord and overcome the things still in us that are not like Him.
The problem with human beings is their inability to love as they really should. We hear it all the time, well; I just can’t love that person. By not learning how to love with God’s love, there soul becomes defiled. We can hear the bitterness in their voice.
Nobody wants to be around a person who has a bad spirit. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t love them. We have to impart to them a right spirit.
What is a bad spirit? It is a spirit that is not filled with God, which results in being filled with another spirit.
The person who complains about another person does not realize that by judging the other person on a human level, they are now guilty and have reaped the defilement unto themselves.
Our spirit is alive to God because the seed of God has been implanted within it. This seed is the D.N.A of God and is perfect. The seed needs to grow within us, forming Christ within us the hope of Glory-Galatians 4:19
Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth (occurring now- to experience the pain, to be in labor pain in the birth of a child) again until (continually until) Christ be formed (makes a statement about which there is some doubt-the shaping into an image, expressing the necessity of a change in character and conduct to correspond with an inward spiritual condition) in you,
When Christ is formed in us, His seed remaineth (to stay in a given place or state, a certain kind of relationship,
it refers to enduring, to dwell) in us- 1 John 3:9
The faithful, enduring, abiding love of God is not a natural human attribute. Human beings do not love that way. They are moved with love for a time, and then it fades away. The human being in their depraved state is incapable of long sustained emotions, a real depth of emotions, apart from God working it in them.
We can never become a complete, whole person apart from God. We have to learn how to be filled with God, to draw His love and walk in it.
We are called to walk in love, because He puts His love in us. We love because He first loved us.
When our mind was hostile to Him, He still loved us and died for us, so that He could legally impart Himself into us.
We have to accept that the Lord loves us, and absolutely delights in us because our new born spirit is identical to His. All we have to do is learn how to abide in His love, how to abide in Him.
It is the presence of the Lord that sanctifies us; we come to Him and let His presence cleanse us. We drink in His love and say, “Yes, Lord, I accept that you love me.”
Through the blood of Jesus Christ, we can legally come to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly( two words 1- implying fellowship and companionship 2- assurance and confidence, freedom of speech, it generally means “confidence” and is used mostly with reference to one’s speech. It refers to clarity of speech or boldness. It can also carry the meanings of the certainty of an outcome and the confidence to approach God) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find (to learn by experience) grace to help in time of need (the word need means to enter into a meeting with God).
We can find the grace of being filled with His Spirit. Through the infilling of His spirit, we drink of the joy of His presence, and radiate His glory. Through the infilling of the Spirit we are filled with His love and moved by His Spirit to make a difference in other people’s lives. It is the infilling of His Spirit that removes the fear and the selfishness of hanging on to our lives, instead of being a blessing to others.
When we know and experience His love in us, then we can believe that it will make a difference in other people’s lives.
We reflect in kind. We love God and others with the love that He puts in our heart.
The Lord does not love us with a divine love so that we may love Him with a human love in return. The Lord does not say, I know you are only human so love me the best you can. I know you are always going to fall short of my glory, so I am not expecting too much.
Divine love is based upon His faithfulness.
God loves us perfectly, and as we learn the secret of His love being shed abroad in our heart, His love will be perfected in us. It is the love of God in us growing that works His faithfulness in us.
As we begin to learn how this divine love works, it will begin to work steadfastness in us, so that we can begin to lay down each and every area of our lives unto His lordship, we will become faithful even unto death.
Faith works by love. The word faith is the same as faithfulness. When we begin to believe that God loves us perfectly, we will be motivated to trust Him with more of our life.
The impartation of His wisdom reveals the foolishness of doing things our own way. As we learn that the veil has been removed so that we can enter into His presence, we experience His Spirit, we partake of His joy that gives us the strength, to stop touching the unclean thing, so that we can have more of the Spirit of the Lord in our life.
As we die out to the lusts of the flesh, we are rewarded with more of the Spirit of God in our lives. Every time we reckon ourselves dead to something that is not of the Lord we are promoted.
We begin to love the Lord with His very own love that has been imparted to our spirit. We begin to learn how to love Him perfectly, because His love is perfect. We begin to love Him faithfully, because we love Him with His own love.
It is when we start experiencing the divine attributes of God in our spirit, that our soul is restored, our mind is renewed and we start thinking differently. In every situation where the human factor has been working, we are going to want to get to the end of it as soon as possible, so that we can get into the divine factor.
We begin to hear the voice of God in our spirit, as He leads us in what to do, and then we look to the Lord for an impartation of His Spirit so that we can accomplish it in Him
We have to get out of our thinking, of trying to do something on the human level. Well, I am going to study this and that so that I can learn more about God. We have to enter into Him in a vital way so that everything legal that He has provided for us might begin working in us in a vital way.
All the change that comes into our life comes through our communion with Him. We partake of His nature, and through our partaking we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
We overcome everything by grace through faith and it is a gift of God, it is transferred to us. It comes by being exposed to God. The secret of the overcoming life is by being filled with His life. Our fellowship with God is the sharing of a common life. Knowing the Lord is experiencing eternal life.
It is as we learn how to worship the Lord, that His Spirit literally comes upon us, and when His Spirit is resting upon us, we can do what we could not do before.
The problem is just going through the motions. When we are doing things trying to serve the Lord and it is not really accomplishing anything because we are not having a meeting with the Lord in the things that we are doing.
We purpose in our heart to love. “I’m going to be perfect in love: I shall love my wife or husband, my children, and my enemies. I’m going to love everybody.”
How are we to do that? We will do it with God’s love; God will give us the grace to do it. We have to know and believe in the love He has put within us.
The love of God in us enables us to rise up confidently, without any self-confidence, pride, or arrogance of the flesh to say we can do it. We can do it because He has put it in us to do it. We do not have it in ourselves in the flesh to love; we have it within us in the Spirit.
We need to understand what a walk with God is basically all about. It is the Body of Christ flowing in the love of God, the Body that makes increase of itself in love (Ephesians 4:16). We enter into that through the divine flow.
1 john 4:16 And we have come to know and believe the love which God has in us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
We need to try to understand this principle of abiding. Why is it that the Apostle John is always talking about abiding? In the fifteenth chapter of his Gospel, he speaks of this abiding principle, learning how to live in God: “When we live in love, we live in God. When we live in love, God lives in us.” This is not some philosophical, mystical concept. Consciously directed and channeled divine love fills us and surrounds us with God. That is what John is saying in effect.
The will is involved in love. It is not true to say, “I just can’t help loving them.” It would not be true for long. We can fall deeply in love with someone on the romantic plane, but there comes a time when we decide to love. This is what counts. It is not based on how we are swept along by our emotions, or that certain chemistry between two individuals, but how we come to the place where we say, “I see and I love this one.” We consciously direct our love. We consciously channel our love, and we say, “This one I am going to love.”
There is always the problem of immaturity. When a young couple in their very early teens are so much in love, the wise old people say, “They’re not in love. They are in love with love.” The idea of loving intrigues the immature. They are overwhelmed with it, but they do not know enough yet; they are not mature enough to consciously focus their love on another individual, knowing what it would mean. They love and embrace each other, but it is not a consciously directed and focused love because they do not know enough yet how to do it. The whole idea of love intrigues them. If anyone comes along and says, “I love you,” they say, “I love you, too.” They are in love with the idea of love, but they do not know enough yet.
God moves on our hearts and says, “Now, when you love, you are to focus that love on someone. It will be in you to fulfill it; I will surround you. You are going to abide in me, and I am going to abide in you.” That is what I John 4:16 said. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. It is a living thing.
We will face many difficulties in the days to come. People will be motivated by many things, but predominantly fear will determine the actions and decisions of people. There will be fear and insecurity because they will not know what is going to happen. Men’s hearts (will be) failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. Luke 21:26. It is very important that we eliminate the negative motivation at this point and that we be not motivated by fear. Now we are coming to the purpose of this message.
1 john 4:17 By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.… When we want to serve the Lord with all our hearts, and we set our love upon Him, opening our hearts to Him, then that perfected love eliminates fear.
Fear exists in people because they are fearful of punishment. Fear has a torment to it. Fear involves things we do not always understand. Whenever we love someone, yet we are deeply jealous, or we find that the love is not only a blessed, sustaining thing but also has moments in which it seems to be a torment to us, then we need to carefully weigh that love. It involves a variety of experiences and relationships.
Whenever love exists in that measure it is not perfected; it is not a good, true love yet. Nevertheless, it may have its possibilities, because we read how God’s love is perfected within us.
People come before the Lord and they have a fear of judgment because their love has not been perfected yet. If we have fear of judgment, our love has not been perfected.
When we worship and come with feelings of insecurity before God, it may be because of faulty love. Why not open our heart and let God love us so we can love Him back again with a perfect love? That may be the whole problem. The feeling of insecurity in our life may come because our love has not been perfected. Perfect love excludes fear. It will give us the confidence we will need before the Lord in the day of judgment. We love because He first loved us.
How do we love a little better? How would you like to be able to receive love better? Here are a few things about how to love:
The first thing to do is to accept love. We read in I John 4:16 …we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. Unless we believe that we are loved, the whole process falls apart.
When someone loves us, we need to accept it. God loves us; we need to accept that love. Believe in it. We cannot love without faith. We must have faith in the love that comes to us, even if it comes through an imperfect channel—which it always does except when it comes from God.
But does God’s love flow directly to us? Not as much as we might think. Probably we never felt much flow to us until we came into the house of God. It was through worship and prayers and the manifestation of love in other people that we finally received it. When God invites us to accept His love, we may wonder where that love is.
We may have tried to tune in to that love and wondered what frequency to dial in order to find it. You will not find it that way, but look at your brother’s heart and you will find the love of God reaching to us. Listen to the word, listen to your pastor, and listen to the elders; accept the ministry. He has a thousand ways of manifesting love, and they are all through imperfect channels. So we have to accept people’s love. “But they said the most unlovely thing to me.” Look a little deeper and see if you can find the love they really had for you.
The second point is to let yourself be needed. I am applying this on a spiritual plane. If we want the love of God to be in our heart, then we have to let ourselves be needed. The first thing the Lord did was open the door for us to have an important place and a ministry. He tells us, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you; I have commissioned you and sent you forth. I am making you needed” (John 15:16).
“Thank You, Lord. You could have done all of this without me.”
“Yes, but I want you to be needed, and I want you to know that you are.”
That is an amazing thing which involves love even on the human level. When we love someone and we believe they love us, we need to let ourselves be needed. Do not stand off nor withdraw; let yourself be needed. Some people run when told they are needed, because they do not know how to love. They get the idea that love is a strange trap which ties them down, which is true. Then they run from it. “Oh, I don’t want that! I want to get out of this situation. I don’t want anyone to need me.” You are supposed to be needed.
Number three is to need others. Do not withdraw from recognizing your own need. It can be tragic when you are not able to convey to someone that you have a need. There are a thousand ways for it to be expressed.
Husbands and wives may have a sexual need of each other, but I think it is far less than other needs: the need they have for communication, for a oneness, a closeness together. In fact, to need another person and to face your need of it is a mark of maturity in love. It is not a mark of dependency and helplessness and immaturity. True maturity is not dependence nor is it independence; true maturity is interdependence.
A man may feel he can get along in life without a certain woman and the woman may feel she does not need him, that she can get along without him. Nevertheless, they fall in love and open their hearts to each other. They accept the love, letting themselves be needed by the other, opening their hearts to need one another.
We can apply this to the spiritual realm. Do not be afraid to come and accept the love of the Body. In so many churches I have seen people slip into the back row fifteen minutes late and run out before the benediction, not wanting to get involved. They listen to the sermons; they even enjoy the sermons, but they do not want to be involved.
A person is foolish to think he can walk with God without becoming involved. You cannot even love God unless you love the brothers, so you must get involved.
What gives people the idea they can sneak in, get their daily rations, and take off? You cannot do that. The church is a big family. Come in and be prepared to accept and to give love. Determine to be needed and to recognize your need for the others in the Body of Christ. Then you have love.
Point four: Believe in love that is given you. You have to have faith in love. I have seen many things frustrated because that was lacking. It is like putting up an insulation against the flow of current, then wondering why there is not the tingle you receive in love. You may not feel a thing. You may not be getting anything out of the service; nothing may be coming through to you. You are the one who is insulating it. You are the one stopping it.
Love is flowing for a lot of people, but you stop it by your own emotions, your unbelief, your withdrawal. You are saying in effect, “I don’t believe in this love that is being given me. They don’t really love me; they just want what they can get out of me.” That is not so. In a walk with God, you must have faith in the love of the Body. Remember our opening Scripture: And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has in us. You have to believe it.
A walk with God comes by revelation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and a revelation of the Body. You cannot have a revelation of either one unless you have a revelation of the love of God, have an understanding that love is there. Believe in it, because it is divine love.
Another thing you must do is express your love. Act on it. Fulfillment is an action. Sometimes we wish it were not so. You can have feelings in your heart, deep emotions, deep attitudes, and they will not get you into trouble unless you act on them.
Suppose a young couple falls very much in love. It is very difficult to keep their actions the way they should be. They may whisper in each other’s ear, “I love you,” and they may hold hands. But chances are, if they really love each other they want to act on it. And to channel their actions consistently the way God wants it to be is sometimes a problem, because the expression of love is very necessary.
When a couple comes for counsel to see if their relationship is in the will of the Lord, they are taking good action. They want direction on how they can act on their love. In that very act of asking guidance, they are taking action.
In many New Testament churches, people have such faith in God and submission to the Lord that they will not take matters in their own hands and express their love in a way God does not approve, but they come and submit it to the elders. They come asking for direction about what they should do, about what should be the expression of their love, about how they should act upon it.
The same thing is true on the spiritual level. We are always comparing the natural and the spiritual because they are so interrelated. You come to the Lord telling Him that you love Him, and He tells you to act accordingly. If you want to get the love moving, then act on it.
In His message to the Ephesian Church (Revelation 2:4–5), the Lord said, “I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love. Repent from where you have fallen, and do the first works. Go back and do the actions over again.”
“You say, I love the Lord”.
Act on it.
“I love my brother, and I have compassion for him. He has holes in his shoes and holes in his pants, and he’s hungry. So I pray a blessing over him.”
If you see your brother in need and shut up your bowels of compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in you? Let us not love in word, but love in deed; love in spirit and in truth (I John 3:17–18). This is what the epistle is talking about. Love must be expressed. It has to be expressed in action.
Involve yourself in work and labor for someone else, because love has to be expressed. Be concerned, get involved, express it. Fulfillment is always in action, never in your feelings and attitudes alone.
Do you love certain ones? Then do something to bless them. When they ask why you are doing this, tell them it is because you love them. They may be amazed, but then they have a problem, because the minute you act on love the other person has a problem.
There is always a problem when a boy comes up to a girl with a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy. She says, “What’s that for?”
“Oh, I just wanted to do it for you.”
It starts her thinking. Now she has to weigh it: “I wonder what his motivation is? Does he really love me?” It bothers her. It disturbs her. Why?
The reason they have a problem is because an action that expresses love brings the other person to the place where they have to do something about it.
Do you want to be loved? Go up to someone in the church and tell them you love them as you walk by. It will bother them. They must decide how to respond, what to do. If they accept your love, then they must accept your need for them. They may wish you had not said anything, because your coming by and expressing your love to them may cause them to lose some sleep. They will have to pray and wait before the Lord on your behalf because you love them. They will pray for you if they accept your love and your need to be loved.
It is a good thing to face love. You may feel that you fall short. We all fall a little short. But love can be perfected. It is a quality that can be developed. Don’t you think that you can learn to act on love? Don’t you think that you can learn how to be needed and to need others? You can learn to love them and to believe in the love God has given you. Know it, and believe in it.
You are not an unbeliever; you are a believer. You are His child, and it is possible for you to open your heart to the Lord and His love, looking for those who need to be loved. You can beam God’s love to them. Not on a psychic level, but by the love of God that is in you, start loving and ministering to them. Love is the amazing quality in Body ministry that is very important. Many of you still live too exclusively from one another. You will have to let your walls down.
It is very difficult for some people to give and receive love because they have hang-ups from the time they were children. It is difficult to learn how to love. We are to accept love, believe that we are loved, and believe in the love that God has put within us.
Let yourself be needed, and do not be afraid to need someone else. Do not withdraw from recognizing your need of the Body. Believe in the love that is given to you. Have faith in it, just as you have faith in the love you give to others. Express your love; act on it.
Responding to this message can lift a church up tremendously. We can actually assure the level of the services rising to a much higher plane and higher level. We are prepared to be a people moving in more love than ever before. We are becoming more a family that needs to feel the closeness.
Each church needs to be a close-knit family. A family loves one another, needs one another, and strengthens one another. For one person to have a need is for the whole church to rally together to see that need met in some way. Every member needs to find that the Body loves and accepts him.