This message will cause us to understand the love God has for us and what that love will do for us. It will change us into what He wants us to be.
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: any one who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. I John 3:10. Even when you seem to practice righteousness, you have not met the criterion for being a child of God. You must also have the love of the brethren. If God’s love is truly in your heart, you love the brethren. It is the sign of the creativity of God to your life. You have been born of God, and that born-again experience has taken place within your spirit. God is there, and it is His anointing of love in your heart that gives witness to it.
For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you. Notice the relationship in these passages between love and hate. Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Every one who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. I John 3:11–19.
You know you are of the truth, not by so-called fundamental doctrine, but you know you are of the truth because you have love. It is rather interesting that among the charismatic movement there are some who were modernists. They came into the gifts of Spirit because they were sincere, while many of the leading fundamental leaders fought it bitterly. It is one thing to be fundamental without any love. It is another to have a good spirit and be looking for the love of God, although you do not understand doctrine or even know what you believe. Such people will get into the Kingdom. The harlots and the publicans went in ahead of the Pharisees (Matthew 21:31). The Pharisees certainly knew much more about doctrine, but the harlots and the publicans opened their hearts to Jesus for the love of God to fill them. It is still the same today. You say, “I’m stupid. I don’t know the Bible.” Continue to read it, but when you read it, keep praying, “Lord, give me love. Fill my heart with love”; then you will make it.
We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him, in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. That should all be read as one sentence. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. I John 3:19–23.
John 15 is very similar: “This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” Verses 17, 18. Again the Scriptures mention both love and hate. In this case it is speaking of the reaction of those whom you love. You preach to them that God loves them, and they end up hating you. That is the response of hate.
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ ” Verses 18–25.
These thoughts are dealing with the extremes of love. Love is such an attribute of God that once God’s love is in your heart the world’s reaction to what you say and do is a reaction to God. You are manifesting God’s love before the world. The reason the early Church was persecuted so viciously was that they had so much love. If they had not had love, none would have bothered them, thinking, “Just another sect, a branch of Judaism … Jesus, a Jew, simply introduced a highly spiritualized law.” They would have done nothing about it if it had not been for the love. Love evokes a response. Wherever love is manifested toward a person a responsibility rests upon that individual to react to it. When Stephen, filled with love and filled with faith, began to speak, the people stoned him (Acts 7). Persecutions came because such tremendous love was manifested. The unbelievers could not stand that. They either opened up their heart to God, or they hated God.
When we begin to move in this love we will have persecution again. You say, “Well, let’s not love so much. Let’s just take it a little easy and not love too much, because then we’ll be persecuted.” No, the extremes of love must be manifested in this generation as well. You will love, and people will love or hate according to the way they receive the word.
There is a responsibility in love. Sometimes I put a person who has been out of victory in a corner, telling him, “I love you.” He may look at me strangely for a moment, for he is faced with a responsibility. He must react; must accept that love, or he must reject it. That is his problem. When you say, “I love you,” the person you are speaking to has a problem. The very heart of the thing is revealed. Whenever you express love, you create a responsibility in people to react to it. If you want to get the job done, love people. Open your heart to love.
There is something further we notice in these passages: whenever they speak of love, they speak also of hatred. Do you believe it is possible for someone to love and hate the same person? It is, but it should not be. Violent emotions can come out of love. Anger and fear can arise. When something goes astray in the relationship of love, whether it is between parents and children, husbands and wives, sweethearts, or brothers in the church, then very easily hatred, anger, fear, or insecurity can come to the surface. A complete change of attitude can occur toward the individual who causes the disappointment. On the other hand, if the love is great enough, it will rise above the problem and overcome the negative things.
If we believe in the love that we have, regardless of what we go through concerning it, it will triumph in the end. It will come forth even though many things happen to discourage or disappoint that love. Some people walk with the Lord, loving Him, but if something happens to them, they become disillusioned in the love. They turn away with a greater hatred and a greater anger against the Body of Christ than someone on the outside who has never accepted it at all. That is the way human love is. When it is disillusioned, it becomes very bitter.
When we understand the nature of human beings in the flow of love, we will cry, “Lord, bring Your love to sanctify our love.” No human relationship exists which does not need God’s love in it to perfect it. When a young couple in the church falls in love, they come for counsel to see if their marriage would be in the will of the Lord. If they are told that it is in the will of the Lord, they are married and go about their life together knowing they are in the will of God; but everything comes to test the quality of their love. Why? The Lord does not want that marriage to exist with only human love. He wants His love to invade it.
God does not want you to be in a church because you love the pastor on a human plane; He wants you to have a divine love in your heart for your pastor. He does not want you in a church because it is a mutual admiration society or a club where everyone comes to have a marvelous time of fellowship. Those kinds of churches are not what God is raising up. He wants you to come to church because you love the brethren with a divine love. That love must exist in every relationship.
You must solve those problems of relationship with the love of God predominating. You cannot perform the word of God with your own capacity for love. You will not be able to do it. Sometimes individuals in the church insist on a relationship with me based only on human love; it never works. Only one thing works—bringing divine love into the picture—holy, divine love. It alone is deep enough, for then we walk before God with the oneness we have wanted and have not been able to see.
Suppose you love a few people in the church. That is the way cliques are started. You love a few people, and others love a few people, and soon little cliques are formed. All cliques are based on human love and problems that arise from human love. Human love can be disastrous unless it moves on to appropriate divine love to sustain it. Look for the love of God to come and fill every situation.
Human love has such absolute contrasts. For instance, when a woman marries and has a baby, it is probably one of the most fulfilling experiences she could have. It will also be a time of the greatest pain she has ever had in her life. It is a very painful experience to have a baby, but it is also a very joyful one. Both pleasure and pain are involved with love.
Do not give me love that has never cried or suffered, nor love that has never known what it is to have a measure of heartbreak, because that love will not endure. It will not stand. You must face the fact that in a walk with God there are a great many blessings, but also a great many things which come to test your spirit to the utmost. Face it, because it is a love walk.
Love will bring the greatest reality you have ever faced, but on the human level there is no one so open to illusion and deception as a person in love. Why are you more open to deception if you love? You are open to deception because you have no guards. You try to remain open with all walls down, and illusions and deception can come in. You are continually wondering where you stand in the situation: “Lord, where do I stand in this walk with You? What am I to do next?”
A man is really tested when God speaks a word over him, telling him he is to be a real man of God. Watch what he goes through. Watch how God strips him. He may begin to wonder if God even loves him at all. Disillusionment can come into his life. If you tell him that God loves him, he may ask why certain things happen to him. What is the price of being a man of God? What is it worth to God to have a man He can use? He has to beat him down and remove things from his life that are not worthwhile.
I can honestly say that nothing has befallen me that has not improved the ministry. Many things have left scars and wounds on me, and I wonder if some of them will ever heal. Yet it all has redounded to the glory of God. I look back and do not have anything but thankfulness to the Lord that He has kept His hand on me to work out what He wanted in my life, because He loves me. Love involves these extremes in God’s dealings. It comes over and over again. You must face the fact that your life is very much in His hands. Reality and illusion are the two extremes that come in love. You will never know such reality in your life as you do in this love of God, and you will never be more open to deception if you are not careful. Keep your heart open.
Human love brings a terrific conflict. It is a conflict between love and morality. Love wants to be a law unto itself. Do the problems of immorality in a church come from people who do not love God? No. Do they come from people who do not love each other? No, they love each other, but they have a problem because they do not submit that love to God so He can refine it. God says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15. You must pray for divine love to come into the situation.
When two young people fall hopelessly in love, a ministry should take them aside and say, “Now, you should pray for God’s love to take over.” When God’s love is ruling there will be obedience to the laws of God. Where human love is involved, there is sometimes lawlessness. Human love may strive for things to be orderly and right, but it is still largely a law unto itself. The struggle comes between the expression of love and morality. We know what that means today. The world has largely forsaken the laws of God so that many promiscuous relationships exist. God’s love would reduce to a very small percentage the transgressions in love. Some might think I do not understand human nature, but I am speaking about human nature and human love and the necessity of bringing God’s love into the situation. I have seen young people who loved God so much that they would never violate the rules God laid down for them. Were their lives happier for it? Yes, their lives definitely were.
“If I love God and obey Him with all of my heart, what can I expect in return? I will be a wallflower, someone who is left standing outside. No one will love me unless I exude sexuality and can get dates the carnal way, like Adam’s son or daughter. No one is going to want me, because I’m serving God and loving God.”
That is so wrong. In the first place, the attractive thing about obedience is the joy that God brings with it. John 14:15 says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And John 15:11 says, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
If you obey the Lord, then you can count on being a truly happy, joyful person. You are not going to miss anything by obeying God.
Let us read a little further: “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.” John 16:24. There it is again: full of joy. “But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” John 17:13. Three times in the gospel of John it talks about our joy being made full.
When you have the love of God you start submitting to God, obeying God, and loving with that perfect, divine love, and something comes out of it: the most joyful, fulfilled life that is possible for an individual to live. By keeping your love on a human plane, you are constantly open to the extremes and difficulties that come.
This message presents us with the truth about love. Will you pray, “Lord, I will enter into that love and find the victory and God’s perfection in every relationship”? If you have trouble relating to your children, would you like to have that relationship become something of joy and blessing and perfect love? Then come into more divine love from God. You might love your children, yet I am not speaking of human love, but rather human love giving way to God’s holy love for those children and the children coming into the same love for their parents. Then the children do not lie and disobey. They learn to grow up and do what they are supposed to do.
“What about husbands and wives who have problems?” God’s love could move in the situation and correct it.
“There are some people in the church I can’t stand, and the service is ruined for me when they come.” Pray for divine love. I am praying for it. I love the Lord, and I love His people, but I want that perfect love that casts out all fear (I John 4:18), that divine love that suffers long. I want my love to match these definitions: Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.… I Corinthians 13:4–8.
In every situation involving contention both parties are responsible. One can say, “But love does not act unbecomingly; you don’t know what he did.” Yes, but also it does not take into an account a wrong suffered. Both sides are constantly mentioned. Whether you were the offender or the offended, whether you were the transgressor or the one against whom the transgression came, you must react in love.
May the Lord give us that love, and let us say: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil.”
John approaches in such a beautiful way the subject of what you are if the love of God is in you. It is very simple. You are abiding in the Lord because the Word is abiding in you.
No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. I John 4:12, 13.
When the Word lives in a person’s heart, he may wonder if that means God is living there. Yes. If the Word really lives in his heart, God is living there also, because God cannot separate Himself from His Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1. If God simply tells you, “Hello,” He is in it. God is in His Word. He is a part of it. He fills everything that He says. His words are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63) because God is in them.
The same thing is true of love. God is love. Love is an emanation from God. God cannot love you without imparting Himself to you. When you abide in love you are abiding in the Lord. If the love of God is in your heart, God is in your heart because He is inseparable from His word. He is inseparable from His emotion, love. God loves you, and He is with you. He is abiding; He is living in you.
People do not understand the phrase, God is love. I John 4:8b. They make it some ethereal little philosophy. God is love, and he that loves is born of God (I John 4:7). This means that God comes into your heart when the love of God comes into your heart; therefore, you are born of God. God is there because the love of God is there. Oh, may the Lord direct our hearts into the love of God.
Love is strange. It bypasses our understanding, and I am glad it does. It brings us into something that will stand and endure because God is in it. For this reason, all the permanence and the deep spiritual meaning of our walk depends upon opening our hearts to the love of God. We need to do it more. We should not judge one another, be harsh with one another, nor move vindictively. Love suffers long; it does not account any wrongs: it is not easily provoked; it never fails (I Corinthians 13:4–8). It is the love which God Himself puts in our hearts.
Would you like to have the fruit of the Spirit? Get love. Every fruit of the Spirit is God’s emanation from us. Once you have the love of God in your heart, you have it all. Can you have love and not have long-suffering? Can you have love and not have joy? Can you really have His love in your heart and not have peace, goodness, and mercy? It is impossible.
The love of God is so important. There is no greater exhibition in heaven or in earth of the love of God than the fact that He gave His Son to die for us—For God so loved the world.… John 3:16. God sent His Son. Jesus said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.” John 14:11a. God is in everything He does. He is inseparable from it. He sent His Son to die for us. It was not only Jesus dying on the cross, but the Father’s heart was bleeding too. He cannot show you any greater love than to say, “All this I have done because I love you.”
Here is the important question: What do you do to have more love? Would you like to know? Exercise what you have. That is the first step. The second is to open your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Open your life to seek Him. The more of Him you have in your life, the more love you have in your life. This prime emotion of love is an attribute of God that transcends all else. When He loves you He brings Himself into your life, into every aspect of it. The love of God will change everything in you. He shed his love abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5); that transforms and changes us, and brings to pass His perfect will. May the Lord bless us to see His love. Let us see how much He loves us.
You may think that you love the Lord, yet you cannot stand some of the people in the church. That is not the love of God. When you love God, love will be in your heart for your brother. Does not God love your brother? Although you think you cannot love him, God loves him; and you are to love with God’s love. You cannot separate the two. You cannot channel by human effort alone, the love which God puts in your heart. You may become angry with a certain person, but after a good prayer meeting or blessing, you find yourself loving him. Even though you do not want to love that person, the love of God takes over. God is going to love through you regardless of the human reaction.
Forgiveness and many other qualities keep working in your life, even when you have a problem with them. God’s love keeps coming through anyhow. That is what I like about the love of God. It sets a certain course and has an enduring quality. It suffers long. You can give up, but God does not give up. As long as His love is in your heart you will invariably come right back to that pure flow of the love of God. You can be glad of that. He will help you with it.
Sometimes people have problems bothering them; they are angry about certain things, and they come for counseling to get them off their minds. They want counseling because the problems are disturbing them very much. They are ready to explode, blow up, and perhaps say things they would be living with for a long time, wishing they had not spoken, but pride would make them stick with it. As a counselor, you must somehow prevent them from making fools of themselves. To get around the problem, do not argue with them; pray with them and bring a lot of love into the situation. As you sit with them, they become aware that you are loving them. Then they start talking, and their agitation dwindles. The love of God takes over, and they start channeling themselves in the way they should be going. Their emotions are directed in the way they should go. Finally, they finish, and you have not even opened your mouth. They have straightened the whole thing out by themselves. You simply sit down with understanding and love, and listen. They reverse their own position before they are through. This is not a trick. It is based on the principle that we do not make good decisions apart from the love of God.
Lord, we shall not walk in fear. Thou hast brought the days of love to us, and though the world walk in darkness, our hearts shall be alight with Thy love. We are not children of the night, nor shall we walk in the night, nor shall we stumble at an uncertain path. Lord, Thou hast made a way before us, and we shall follow it. If it be through a Red Sea, we shall rejoice. If it be through a fiery furnace, we shall rejoice. If it be through a riverbed, the waters shall not overwhelm us, for Thou, O Lord, art our strength. Thou hast become our refuge. Thou hast become our song. We love Thee, Lord, and we rejoice in Thee. Even though there shall be a momentary time of affliction, it is not to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.
Proclaim your liberty, you captives. Proclaim the liberty of the Lord. The Lord has not raised thee up to bring thee to the impasse and say, “There is no way. There is no way. Behold, thou shalt turn back for there is no way.” Thou shalt diligently consider, when there seemeth to be no way; He maketh a way. He maketh a way in the wilderness and brings floods on the dry ground. He is the Lord that bringeth forth from the barren and saith, “Thou shalt be fruitful, in the name of the Lord.” And He saith unto His heritage, “Reach out, stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations. Lengthen thy cords. Strengthen thy stakes, for thou art the pilgrims of the Lord to inherit and possess in the name of the Lord.”
The Lord saith unto thine heart, “Speak My word,” and ye shall say, “To whom shall I speak?” The word of the Lord shall say, “Speak My word to the poor of the flock and to the afflicted, for they shall yet rise and inherit the promises of the Lord.” Voice it to them that are in the ashes, for the Lord shall give them beauty for ashes. Voice it to those that are in the prison house, for the Lord shall set them free. For the year of jubilee hath come, and the Lord hath prepared the voice of liberty that shall proclaim in all the land the freedom of His people.
Arise, and the Lord shall give thee beauty for ashes and a crown of rejoicing for the spirit of heaviness that doth oppress thy heart. Arise in the Spirit of the Lord and possess the thing that God saith is thine. It is thine. No more shalt thou even walk passively; no more shalt thou even walk with a heavy heart. But thou shalt look up to the Lord and say, “I renounce this day. I shall not be heavy before the face of my God, nor shall I come and offer Him a praise with a spirit of unbelief or heaviness upon me. But I shall come with joy and rejoicing of heart, and I shall love the Lord who daily delivereth me from my oppressions, who causes me to triumph, who puts a song, even the song of deliverance within my mouth.” Yea, the heathen shall hear the song, and they shall rejoice. Yea, they that are in distant lands shall hear it, for the song of Zion shall be heard. Unto the ends of the earth shall it be heard. The captive shall hear, the blind shall hear, and it shall be a turning away from the days of oppression and the days of darkness, for the Lord shall bring light unto them that seek His face.
To the weak ye shall declare, saying, “Thou shalt be strong.” Let the weak arise and say, “I am strong.” O ye house of the Lord, it is a time to throw away your spears. Make them into pruning hooks, something creative for thy God. Throw away thy swords that thou shalt not thrust one another through, but make them into plows that shall cause the ground to spring forth and be fertile in the sight of the Lord. Beware if thou carriest a spear in this hour lest thou stick thy brother.
The Lord shall bring forth an understanding heart to thee, and thou shalt not say in thy heart, “Behold, I shall be perfected when I have come to understand all mysteries and all doctrine.” But thou shalt know that thou shalt be made perfect in His love.
Behold, the Lord shall see, with the faith and the love that you walk before Him, that He hath justified your way. Behold, He shall hold you up when you would stumble. He shall guide you with His eye when you would make a wrong choice. He shall steer you and guide you when your heart shall be overwhelmed within you and you know not where to go.
For to the heart that loveth the Lord and has fixed his love upon Him, He said, “He has fixed his love upon Me, therefore shall I deliver him. With long life will I satisfy Him and show him My salvation.” Let your heart rejoice in the Lord. Let Him be your fortress and your shield. This day turn away from everything that would discourage you or dismay you, and let the Lord establish thy heart. Let the Lord establish thee within the bulwark of all His protection. Be thou secure in the arms of His love. For if ye dwell in that secret place, ye shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty.