Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. John 13:1.
The Greek word implies, “He loved them unto the uttermost.” How deep is His love for us! Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and told them that one of them would betray Him. Judas left to make the arrangements for the betrayal.
Then Jesus told Peter that the cock would not crow twice before he had denied Him thrice. Yet the chapter does not begin on a sad note for it says that He loved His own that were in the world; He loved them unto the uttermost.
What a deep, deep love, the Lord has for us! A love so great that it leads Him to make covenants with us. The promises of the Lord and the prophecies that come are because He loves us.
When God gives you a promise or gives you a word, it is because He loves you, and bestows a covenant upon you.
Think of how God loved Abraham. He made a covenant with him, and apparently Abraham didn’t have to do much to keep that covenant, God had to impart to him the faith that against all natural hope he believed in hope, that what God had said, He was able to perform.
Psalm 89 shows us God’s great love for David and the covenant God made with him, the sure mercies of David.
I have found David my servant; With my holy oil have I anointed him: With whom my hand shall be established; Mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact from him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his adversaries before him, And smite them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness shall be with him; And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also on the sea, And his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation, I also will make him my first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth, My lovingkindness will I keep for him for evermore; And my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, And his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, And walk not in mine ordinances; If they break my statutes, And keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. But my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness; I will not lie unto David: His seed shall endure for ever, And his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, And as the faithful witness in the sky. Psalm 89:20–37.
God loved David so much that He said, “If his children forsake Me, I will visit their transgression with a rod; but I won’t take my lovingkindness away from him, or from his seed after him. I will establish his throne forever,” and so God made a covenant.
I don’t think any of us really understand God, except in a measure. We know He loves us, but we can’t understand how He loves us so much that He disciplines every son whom He receives. We know it works out all right and He has the right idea in mind.
God’s love for you is unconditional, and so He makes a covenant. God doesn’t have to promise us anything. Why should He? He’s God unlimited, but yet He commits Himself, saying, “I’m going to love you and bless you. I’ll not forsake you.” It takes someone in a situation like Peter, who has failed God, to really understand that God loves you when He makes a promise to you.
As we watch prophecies come again and again, we see that the people aren’t worthy when the prophecies come, or after they come. And when a prophecy is finally fulfilled, they still aren’t worthy.
God starts blessing, working His will in you to the depth of your heart. Why did God love Jacob before he ever came forth from the womb? He was a “crook”—until God changed his name to Israel, and changed his nature. But God loved him and kept right on blessing him.
Many people in the Bible walked with God, and God made a covenant with them out of love, not because of something they did. Abraham didn’t do anything to deserve that covenant.
David had failed God many times. He needed the Lord very much. We are impressed how the Psalms convey the cry of David’s heart after God.
He didn’t have a superficial hunger—he really needed God, and he needed to worship God. I love to hear people worship the Lord, because they need to worship Him. They need to adore the Lord and cry out to Him. David was like that.
David failed God so much, that God didn’t have to do anything for him; yet He loved him and committed Himself by making a promise to him.
In the New Testament it says, “As many as are in Christ Jesus are the seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise.” Think of the covenants that God has made. How He delights to give them to you.
Why did God choose us? We’re not that superior; we don’t have that much hunger after the Lord. I think that we came into this walk with God before the hunger really took hold of us. Oh, we were hungry for God, but there are many people as hungry as we were. Why does God love us?
Why does He bring people into this walk with Him, and then give them promises? Why is it that He doesn’t leave them all alone? They can mess things up with their feelings and emotions, their ups and downs, and it doesn’t seem to bother God a bit.
My heart is filled with awe and wonder. What did God ever see in me? Before I was born, He knew me and chose me. Why? Why has He kept my life and guided it so carefully? Why does He teach me? Why does He make promises and covenants, and keep them? His lovingkindness flows to us, undeserved and unmerited. Perhaps this is a new and deeper concept of the grace of God.
Somehow God caused our paths to come together. On the basis of what we deserve He shouldn’t have anything to do with us; yet He does. My heart is filled with awe of the Lord, and though I can’t explain it, I know it is real.
He loves you, and as you walk along with Him, He’ll make a covenant of love with you. I suppose there are times when God says, “Now you do this, and I’ll work this out for you.”
We have learned long ago that we can’t do what God tells us to do unless He helps us. Even the thing He demands of us, He has to work in us. You may say, “We have to believe God; it’s our faith that does it.”
By grace are ye saved through faith; and that (faith is) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8–10.
Why were we born in such a time as this, when God is doing such great things? He shows His love to us, and we can get the happy idea that we dreamed this whole thing up, the work and the ministry that God ordained we should walk in.
We are His workmanship, created in Him in that capacity. He doesn’t start with much, just a little piece of clay, a little pressure here and there, shaping us the way He wants us to go.
He reaches down taking some of us out of families that were not serving God at all. He starts loving us, working something out in our lives. Even the faith we have was a gift from God. There is nothing whereof we can boast, yet we have been drawn, step by step, through the years toward the Lord.
Take another look at the Lord and realize what He is doing. He is not just thundering down conditional promises. Even when you get a prophecy, you can’t meet any conditions, if there are any, without His grace and help.
When you start looking to Him, and believing in that love, that’s where the initiative comes in. How beautiful it is when aggressively, with initiative, you put your hand in His and start living a life He predestined for you to live, walking in the good works He has before ordained that you should walk in. He has given a promise, “I will never leave thee; I will not forsake thee.”
Do you realize that we are the special chosen people of God? We’re His heritage, His treasure. Just think what God is doing in you!
He is creating ears to hear His voice. He is sanctifying feet to walk with Him. He is anointing hands to be His channel of ministry and service. He doesn’t have to love you like that. You’re not that special.
He looks down and says, “I will link My omnipotence with you. You will do exploits. You will do greater works than the Master did.” This will be a day when they that know their God will be strong and do exploits.
We’re like Samson in all of his weakness. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon us and we have the strength. Why should He love us so much? He doesn’t have to. Why does He break down the barriers of our limitations and say, “I’ll link you with My omniscience. I’ll give you revelation and discernment?”
People who are coming into unity are growing ten times faster than they ever could by themselves. Things are discerned that stand in their way, which they might struggle with for a year; but with a little help and ministry, they can discard them overnight because someone knows the answer.
Why is God giving those answers? Why is He giving that wisdom and revelation? In the midst of all the judgment coming upon the earth, the Lord is really pouring out mercy and love.
For God to have touched our hearts is the greatest treasure in the world. Think of the people out in the world, many of them bright and talented, with good personalities—but He’s put His hand upon you to walk with Him in this generation.
You’re favored to be chosen as part of Joel’s sons and daughters that will prophesy. Think how much He loved us! Why should He love us so much? Don’t misunderstand my questioning it. It is not filled with doubt—it is a thing of wonder.
I’m so overwhelmed with the fact that we’re God’s people delivered out of Egypt by a mighty hand of the Passover judgment, and we’re walking with God. We look up at the cloud that is so faithful and the pillar of fire, that is continually there. Let’s not murmur against Him. Let’s be thankful to be pilgrims on the journey.
He is leading us into the promised land, we are going to kick those giants out that stand in our way, and we are going to inherit the land and fulfill our destiny.