It’s time to let His love begin to cause you to ride in the high places with Him in Christ Jesus.
The knowledge of the love of God doesn’t necessarily means that you have experienced love. You cannot claim to have known the love of God through your knowledge or imaginations of it.
In the same manner you can’t call yourself a Christian, just because you do have a knowledge of Christ from the scriptures. The Bible says; “You must be born again” (John 3:3). God does not live in our imaginations. He is real; He is Love (1 John 4:8) and He is Spirit (John 4:24).
As an example no one can ever claim to have experienced what apple juice tastes like, by just imagining apples. The memory of the taste of apples does not give you the experience of the taste of the apple juice. You’ve got to have experienced tasting the apple juice, to be able to express or reveal what it tastes like.
In the same manner no one can claim to know God, without first experiencing His love; because He is Love. Apostle John was the disciple of Jesus who really knew what it meant to have experienced God’s love. He had revealed most of his observations about the love of God, for us to see through his writings.
EXPERIENCE LOVE BY HIS SPIRIT
John was often referred to in the Bible as the one that Jesus loved (see John 21:20-22). He was the one who had experienced the love of God, in his relationship with Jesus while living on the earth. John was the Apostle who revealed to us that, “God is love” (1 John 4:8-10). He evidently later became the great Apostle of love through all of his writings.
Through his writings many things about the love of God, has been revealed to the body of Christ today. Anyone who wants to understand more about God’s love needs to study all of the writings by Apostle John.
In John chapter 13 he revealed through the words of Jesus to us in helping us to understand, how important the LOVE of God is, as the first manifestation of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life.
According to John’s words in quoting Jesus He said:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 NIV
The love of God is revealed to us here by Jesus, as the initial sign in identifying us as the children of God. But as important as love is while we are obeying the commands of Jesus; we must understand that it is impossible for us to walk in it, without the leading of the Holy Spirit.
That’s why towards the end of the next chapter (14) Jesus said again:
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:15-18 NIV
God is Spirit and the Holy Spirit was given to us in helping us to love in a way that is impossible for us to do naturally. Love is always supernatural. It is never natural. It takes a supernatural encounter with God (who is Spirit), for us to be able to experience love. We can’t obey God if we don’t have His love in our hearts. The unsaved world cannot love in a supernatural manner, because the Holy Spirit is not in them.
LOVE HELPS US TO OBEY THE COMMANDS OF JESUS
However if we say that we do love Jesus, the only way to show our love for Him is by obeying His commands to us. It is in our acts of obedience to the commands of Jesus, that we are actually being prepared to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot live in a heart that is disobedient to the words or commands of Jesus. If we love Jesus, we will definitely be walking in obedience to His words.
As an example before ascending into the heavens, Jesus gave an important command to the disciples. The scriptures says:
“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:4-5 NIV
It is by obeying this command of Jesus not to leave Jerusalem, that the disciples showed that they loved Jesus. It was then possible for them to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a result of this.
Many Christians today are living in spiritual stagnation, because they are not willing to obey the words or commands of Jesus. They are not growing spiritually, due to the absence of the love for God’s word in their lives. Dead religious traditions and beliefs has crippled their ability to obey Jesus in their walk with Him.
Jesus said:
“But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Luke 6:49 NIV
Building a spiritual foundation by living a lifestyle of obedience to the commands of Jesus, is vital to our spiritual growth and development as Christians. The love of God in our hearts enables us to practice the words of Jesus. This helps us in building a strong spiritual foundation for our Christian lives.
Jesus again said:
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 14:21 NKJV
If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments. And by keeping His commandments in the demonstration of our love for Him, we are loved also by the Father. This is what makes Jesus to reveal His glory in us through the manifestations of miracles, signs and wonders. When His glory is being revealed in us, we will keep growing spiritually to know Him more. The love of God in a believer’s life, is the spiritual spark for his spiritual growth or development.
There are many believers today who are denying their faith, because they can’t keep in track with obeying the words of Jesus. The love for God has definitely gone waned in their hearts. They have allowed the spark of God’s love to go dead in their lives. We cannot obey the words of Jesus, if the love of God has not been shed or sparked off upon our hearts, enabling that love in us to burn and glow for Jesus.
Apostle Paul showed us this as the reason why we (as Christians) are unashamed to obey Jesus, when he wrote:
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:5 NIV
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, that makes it possible for us to obey the words of Jesus and to keep ourselves in the love of God. The Holy Spirit lives in us to manifest the Father, who is Love to the world around us.
This is why every believer in Christ must grow in love, if we truly desire to live in obedience to the commands of Jesus. A spiritually matured Christian grows in love always, because God’s love keeps evolving in him or her. Paul pointed this out to the Ephesians when he wrote:
“until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Ephesians 4:13-16 NIV
It is our root in the love of God as Christians, that has made us impenetrable and undefeated by the devil. As long as a Christian walks in love, that Christian will always find it easy to obey the scriptures, and the devil has no defense against the works of the love of God in that Christian.
YOUR FAILURE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO GROW IN LOVE
One of the reasons for Christians experiencing failure in life, is their inability to spend quality time fellowshipping with God (who is love) and His Word to them. Paul said to the Ephesians again:
“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Acts 20:32 NIV
When we are spending quality time in fellowship with God and in His Word, we will grow in love. We will be built up to become whom we were created to be in Christ Jesus. This is what causes His grace to increase in our lives, enabling us to avoid failures.
Failure becomes impossible for us, because His love in our hearts makes us stronger against the evil one.
God and His Word are the same, and they will build us up in Him, as we spend time with them. They will cause us to be strong and established in His love. A Christian who is established in the love of God never quits believing in God. Love makes him stronger in his or her faith in God.
When we are stronger and established in love, then we are able to receive anything from God (who is Love). Our Christian testimonies stems from our root in His Love. Love will cause you to grow in grace and flourish to replenish the earth. It is the love of God in a believer that causes him to experience and enjoy the prosperity of God, as that believer lives a lifestyle of obedience to God’s words.
The Psalmist says:
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Psalm 92:12-15 NIV
But walking in love doesn’t necessarily make us not liable to making mistakes in our Christian lives. There is nothing wrong in making mistakes or failing in the Christian walk. It is the best way to grow up into spiritual maturity with God. A Christian who is not learning from his mistakes and failures in life, can never grow up. Failure is therefore a necessary tool for the spiritual growth and developmental in a believer’s life.
There is absolutely no one who has never made mistakes before as a Christian. We had all missed it before one way or another, as we are growing up in our spiritual lives. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, as long as we are able to acknowledge our mistakes, and move on with the things that matters most to God. The love of God is able to strengthen us in our failures, and keep us on fire in our walk with Him.
God is so full of mercy, compassion and loving kindness to the extent that He will never hold anything against you continually. He will always forgive your pasts, because He doesn’t live in your past. God lives in your tomorrow. He lives in His plans for your life, and wants you to start focusing on that plan; and not on the stupid things you’d done in the past.
Paul said:
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].”
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 AMP
You see, the mistakes of your lives are not as great and powerful, as His grace and love to carry you in the midst of your failures. You are important and precious to Him, and He will never allow anything in your past, to derail His plan for your future. You are loved of God.
The moment you make a quality decision to get up, and hook up back again to God’s plan for your life; that is the moment that His love and His grace will begin to carry you.
God will never leave you alone in the midst of your mess. That’s the reason Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died on the cross, so that you will stop living in your past, and start living your future together with Him (John 3:16).
LIVING WITH THE JUNKS OF YOUR LIFE WILL CAUSE SPIRITUAL DECAY; BUT GOD’S LOVE WILL CAUSE YOU TO FLOURISH AND PROSPER
God is not interested in making a junk out of your life, because He never has a child that is unusable in His Family (Romans 8:1-4). You are wonderfully made in the image of God. The junks of your life will only cause a decay of your future and destiny in God. But God’s love will cause you to live in his abundance and prosperity. So let the mess in your past go away. And allow the power of His love to carry you, in walking in His plan and purpose for your life.
Unfortunately there are so many believers who are still living in their pasts. Their past is gone and dead, but they still carry it about, as a spiritual weight upon their hearts. Their daily walk with God has been impaired by it, to the extent that they can’t bear any spiritual fruit, or even experience spiritual growth. They are really wondering if God still loves them.
Paul said:
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “ Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Romans 8:14-17 NIV
The Christian who lives in self condemnation, has not really allowed the reality of the new creation to establish him or her, as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Such a believer needs to reinforce his or her confidence and boldness in God by fellowshipping with Him and His Word.
The way that is reinforced in the believer, is through a lifestyle of faith in God and in His Word. So let the past go away. Open up your heart to receive God’s love and warm embrace today. His grace and love will cause you to start living in His plan again for your life. So wake up, get up and keep rolling on into your future in Him. You are going to start growing and glowing in His love. His love will establish you in His word. You will never be the same again.
