Our spiritual growth or development as Christians depends on our love walk with Jesus. When we as Christians become rooted and grounded in the love of God, we are then empowered to continually walk and live by faith in Him, for the development of the spirit man. It then becomes much more easier for us, to live a lifestyle of forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-22).
When a Christian becomes focused on living by faith in the love walk with Jesus, then he is pleasing God and his spiritual growth will become really evident. The love of God working through you will then begin, to cover and forgive the trespasses of all men against you. God’s love working in you, will always help you to forgive the sins and trespasses of people against you.
Love always wins! That’s why as a child of God, you can always walk around with your head up high, because you know that you are loved by your Heavenly Father.
LOVE HAS NO SHAME
The more you are able to declare your love for God, the more His love will become real to you. You need not be ashamed of proclaiming your love for Jesus; because it is through its proclamation that God’s power works to save the sinners, heal the sick and set the captives free. God empowers your words with the continual proclamation of your love for Jesus.
That’s why the Apostle Paul was able to say:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
Romans 1:16 NIV
The more we identify with walking in the love of God, the more we are empowered to face the challenges of life. This is how we are able to live in the reality of knowing love – by constantly walking in it by faith.
Walking in love by faith doesn’t necessarily means, that you will feel loved. Experiencing God’s love has nothing to do with your feelings. It has everything to do with your faith and trust, in the ability of that love to manifest through you.
You may be going through difficult situations with people, who are hard for you to relate with; but God’s love can keep you stronger in that relationship with them. The joy of the Lord, which is your spiritual strength, emanates from your love walk in dealing with difficult people.
If you are not continually identifying with constantly walking in love and forgiveness, then you can never experience God. He will never be real to you. But the more you are walking in love and forgiveness by faith, the more you will begin to realize that all things are possible to you.
You will then be empowered in being able to recognize the heartbeats of God, concerning the problems of your lives; because His love in you will keep on compelling you, to yield to each of those heartbeats of God (2 Corinthians 5:14). God uses His love working in our hearts, to bring solutions in resolving the troubles of our lives. We need to always be ready to yield and act, in response to the compulsions of His love in us.
TO KNOW GOD WHO IS LOVE
Our spiritual encounter with the power of His love, changes our relationship with Him. It transforms us to be just like Jesus here on earth.
The scriptures says:
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
1 John 4:16 NIV
God really wants us to know and experience everything concerning Him, because He loves us. He is not hiding anything from us, but for us and away from the reach of the devil. God hides the secret things of this world, for us to seek and discover them (Deuteronomy 29:29 and Acts 17:27-28); so that our enemy will never be able to find them ahead of us. The devil is very limited in what he knows about you.
This is why our ability to always pray in the spirit is very important. When we do this, we are actually speaking about those secret things with God. As we do His Spirit will then begin to open our spiritual eyes, to see into the things that are unknown to our human senses. This is God’s heart desire for us as His children, in revealing spiritual truth to us.
The scripture says that, a father always seeks to keep an inheritance for his children (Proverbs 13:22). That’s exactly what our Heavenly Father is always doing for everyone of His children. He’s got secret wealth stored up and waiting for you, that the devil knows nothing about.
But your ability to walk continually in love and forgiveness, is your key to discovering them. You are richer and wealthier beyond your imaginations. Start locking into your wealth in God today, by choosing to always love and forgive all men.
In experiencing the power of His love, you are then able to begin taping into those things that had been hidden for you, since the foundation of this world. You will discover them and begin to do exploits with them. There is nothing that can ever stop you, as long as you are walking in the power of God’s love.
GET TO KNOW LOVE
When Paul talked about knowing God in Philippians 3:10, he was actually referring to having an encounter with the power of God’s love. The Amplified Classic translations puts it in a more clearer and explicit way:
“[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]”
Philippians 3:10 AMPC
The knowledge and the experience of the power of God’s love, helps us in being intimately connected with Him (who is Love). A progressive, deep and intimate acquaintance with His love, helps us to know Him and His way of doing things more and more.
Interestingly enough the original Greek translation of the word “to know” (ginosko); as used in many biblical translations by Paul here, does denotes having “a sexual intimacy” with someone. It was the very same word that was used by the Virgin Mary, when she was confronted by the angel with the news of having a baby in Luke 1:34.
Having a knowledge of anyone in such a manner is very powerful. This was what Paul was referring to in Philippians 3:10. To have known God therefore means to have experienced the power of His Love in our lives. This is a very powerful word in explaining our relationship with Jesus.
When Paul later said in Ephesians 3:20 that, God is able to do all things through us and in us, he was also actually referring to the workings of the power of God’s love in us by the Holy Spirit. God does nothing in our lives and through us, without the manifestation of His love. It is by experiencing His love, that we are able to tap into His power source.
LET GOD’S COMPASSION FLOW THROUGH YOU
We received the power of His love, when we got baptized with the Holy Spirit. At that moment His dynamic power of love was given to us. This is what causes us to also experience His compassion. God never runs out of compassion. Wherever His love is experienced, His compassion will always manifest with it also. That’s why you can be compassionate as a born again child of God. You were born of the love of God, and His love works with His compassion in you to touch and change your world.
The Psalmist once said:
“The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.”
Psalm 116:5 NIV
When a glass is filled with water, we do know that it doesn’t necessarily means that it is full of water. The same thing goes with the compassion of God. The Bible says God is full and overflowing with it. He is full of compassion. He never runs out of it. His mercy, grace and loving kindness towards us flows from His heart of compassion.
To have compassion means to show tenderly love, with mercy and an eager yearning. This means that God yearns to show His compassion towards us. It is something that He is always eager to do.
This also explains God’s attitude towards our prayers and intercessions. He yearns and longs to deliver the answers to us immediately after we had prayed. The moment we say “Amen” in prayer, His compassion goes into work on our behalf to bring us the answers.
The compassion of the Lord also suggests to us, His willingness to yield and act on our behalf. He yields to act on behalf of the sinner to save him, as that sinner calls on His name to be saved (Romans 10:13). God always yields to act with compassion on behalf of the sick to heal him, who believes in Him.
And the good thing is that, His compassion is revealed in His goodness also. That’s how Jesus did ministry on the earth. The Bible says:
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
Acts 10:38 NIV
How was Jesus ever able to show the goodness of God with the anointing to heal the sick? The compassion of God was flowing through Him with that anointing on Him. The anointing of love was working in His life, with compassion to show the goodness of God in healing the sick.
God is so merciful that He will always act on behalf of the sinner, who will dare to call on Jesus’ name. The Psalmist says in Psalms 103:11-14 that He searches through the earth, to find someone to show His compassion towards.
Jeremiah also said:
“Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.”
Lamentations 3:22 NKJV
Compassion always wins. Compassion never fails and God is full of it. It is from God’s heart of compassion that His mercy also flows from. God is merciful and full of compassion. That’s how He works to show us His love.
He is always looking and searching the earth, for someone to show His compassion towards. His compassion works in this way to save the sinner. What an amazing Father we have! He forgives and forgets our sins in His mercy and with compassion. He remembers none of them no more. What a great love!
We cannot experience His compassion, without experiencing His love. We got saved as God showed us His compassion. And His compassion is unmeasurable and unfailing.
YOU ARE A MINISTER OF GOD’S COMPASSION
The compassion of God to save the sinner, heal the sick and deliver the captives flows from the depth of His love towards us.
As mentioned earlier on Jesus always ministered while on the earth to the sinners, the sick and the captives of the devil, with a heart of compassion (Matthew 20:34; Mark 8:2; Luke 7:13 and so on). He never ministered without first being compassionate. And He expects us to also minister with the same compassion always (Jude 1:22; Matthew 18:33). We can’t even preach the gospel to the lost, and see them saved without compassion working through us, from the depth of His love in our lives. The same thing goes for everything that we do in His Kingdom. But most importantly His love will always compel us to act and do things in His Kingdom with compassion.
It is not all the time that you will always hear God’s voice, to lead you in doing things within the Kingdom. But His compassion will always move you into action, to do something about the things that you see going on around you daily. He will cause you to start doing something in bringing His changes into your world.
That’s why you can’t afford to be passive with your faith, whenever compassion and love are appealing through you to act, yield and move to do something. That’s not the time to fold your hands, as if you are waiting on Him. God is waiting on you! It’s time to put action with your faith in bringing Heaven’s solutions to the world’s problems around you. You can do it now by swinging into action. Heaven is on your side.
What are you doing today about the situations of the world around you? Are you letting God’s love manifest His compassion through you? You can change a life today. Begin to transform the world around you today by moving out of your comfort zone to show compassion and love to someone. Let God’s love begin to work through you to change your world for Jesus.
