"Beloved, let us
love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is
love" (1 John 4:7-8).
Most of us think that we really understand the love of God, but our
experience proves otherwise. We feel lonely, depressed, discouraged, and
defeated. Every one of these negative emotions would be turned to
positive by a proper revelation of God's love for us.
As for loving others, most of us would admit there are some people who
are very difficult to love. Since we do not fully understand God's love
for us, we fail in loving others. We can't give away what we don't have.
If we receive a full revelation of God's love for us, it becomes easy
to love others with the love that we have received.
When we struggle to believe that God's promises to us will come to pass,
that's unbelief; but the root of that unbelief is a lack of love.
Galatians 5:6 says faith works by love. That means love is the driving
force behind our faith. Remove or diminish love, and faith ceases to be
what it should be. Many of us try hard to believe when we should be
seeking a greater revelation of God's love for us. Then, faith would
just naturally work.
There is more than just a superficial knowledge that God loves us. In
Ephesians, chapter 3, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would get a greater
revelation of God's love for them. He said, "For this cause I bow my
knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3:14-19).
Notice in verse 18 that God's love isn't just one-dimensional. There is
height, depth, length, and breadth to it. Many Christians only see God's
love as they would see a painting, in one-dimension. They've
never seen the multi-dimensional reality of God's love.
In verse 19, Paul said as we experience God's love, which is superior to
mere knowledge of God's love, then we would be filled with all the
fullness of God. What a statement! Are you lacking in any area of your
life? If so, you lack a revelation of God's love. Experiencing God's
love equals fullness.
I've said all of this to say that a deep revelation of God's love for us
is the most important thing we can receive. First Corinthians 13:13
says, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the
greatest of these is charity" (God's kind of love).
There are many ways that Satan uses to try to block the revelation of
God's love for us. One of the most subtle, and therefore the most
deadly, ways is that he has deceived us into thinking that God's love
for us is tied to our performance. We think we have to do something to
earn God's love. We have to merit God's love. That is not what the Bible
teaches.
In the natural world, you get what you deserve. Employers don't hire you
based on their love for you. You have to perform. If you perform badly,
you are punished or fired. The same thing is true in most
relationships. I've had hundreds of married couples essentially tell me,
"They don't deserve my love." However, the nearly-too-good-to-be-true
news of the Gospel is that we don't get what we deserve. Praise the
Lord!
God's love for us is unconditional. That is, God doesn't love us because
of some virtue we possess. God loves us because "God is love" (1 John
4:8), not because we are lovely.
Religion is one of the biggest propagators of the
conditional-love-of-God lie. Most "Christian churches" teach that God's
love for us is conditional, based on our performance. If we pray, go to
church, pay our tithes, etc., then the Lord loves us and answers our
prayers; but if we fail, then the Lord won't answer our
prayers. That's not true.
There is a disease in the church that I call "spiritual dyslexia."
Dyslexia is where a person sees things backwards. A dyslexic person sees
the word "god" as "dog". There's a huge difference between God and a
dog; yet dyslexics don't see it.
"Spiritual dyslexia" has a similar effect on people. Those infected with
this "spiritual dyslexia" see scriptures backwards. For instance, 1
John 2:3-5 says, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we
keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth
his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we
that we are in him."
A dyslexic Christian sees these verses and says, "I want to know God, so
I must keep His commandments." These verses are saying just the
opposite. Keeping God's commandments is a result of knowing God. You
can live a holy life without knowing God; the Pharisees proved that.
However, you can't know God without living a holy life as a result. When
God's love is perfected in us, keeping God's Word will be the result
(verse 5).
Any attempt to reverse this order is "getting the cart before the
horse." It won't work; and yet this is what the majority of Christians
are trying to do. They are seeking to know the Lord better by living a
holier life. It's just the opposite. Experiencing God's love more will
produce a holy life.
This dyslexic condition has caused many to tie God's love for them to
their performance. When they do well, they let God's love for them flow.
When they do poorly, they condemn themselves. They think God is
condemning them, but He's not. In many cases, it's not even the devil
condemning them. Satan has caused them to believe a lie, and they are
condemning themselves.
We all need a greater revelation of God's unconditional love for us!. These teachings reveal the
things God showed me about His love. I believe that if you open up your
heart, the Lord will grant you at least as much revelation on this as I
have, and it will change your life. I LOVE YOU.. see you at the top
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