Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him (1 John 5:1).
We just cannot get away from it. God is Father of Jesus, and He is Father of all those who have chosen Jesus, and He is Creator of those who have not yet chosen Jesus. All of those I just mentioned are recipients of God’s love. So our first goal is to love God the Father. Our second goal is to love Jesus His Begotten Son; our third goal is to love those who are submerged in Jesus; and our fourth goal is to love those hanging around the edges looking in. I think the Church has gotten those goals out of order. One church I knew in California decided to build houses for people who couldn’t afford one. There were many wealthy people in the church, and the project was easily paid for. Their efforts made a big splash in the newspapers, and they were proud. But in their own church were some very poor people, people who didn’t have homes, didn’t have cars, lived from paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes at the end of the month, had to go down to the Salvation Army to be fed. They didn’t receive these free homes. No, it was the unsaved who received them. But then, they wouldn’t have made a splash in the papers if they’d only taken care of their own. But they would have made a big splash in heaven. It’s time to put the Church in order.
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And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also (1 John 4:21).
All of us have little tricks that we use with ourselves. Mine is singing. I make up a little song to help me overcome whatever obstacle is in my path, and then I sing it over and over. Like if I’m having a problem with a certain person and I want that discord to go away, I sing, “I love everybody, and everybody loves me.” I can make up an infinite number of melodies to go along with those words. And it works. I don’t know why; all I know is that I don’t have to do anything beyond that in order to be at peace with that certain person. I do that with my writing, with my income, with book sales, with health issues, you name it—I sing it away. It probably works because I take my words from the Bible, or at least ones that agree with the Bible. It’s the same thing as making what we Christians call confessions. We confess that we love our brother, and if we say it often enough, it happens. I simply prefer singing my confessions. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20)?
Just who is it that we hate? I have a sister who hates me. Fortunately, the other one loves me amply, but that other one, well, I don’t know what to do about that. I’ve apologized for the things I did to her as a child. She was the kind that could and would cry at the drop of a hat, so I made sure she cried every day. She also claims I saved her life one time, and for that she will be eternally grateful, yet she still keeps her distance. Do we hate the ones from whom we are estranged? I know there are many that I purposefully avoid. I believe it is okay if we protect ourselves from those who delight in abusing us, but do we protect or are we practicing vengeance? What does God think about this issue? We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
In my book “Destined for Love,” I make the statement that “Love is not a feeling; it’s not even a decision. Love is a person. Jesus.” If He didn’t fill us with love, we would have no love to share. I also say, “You could not be giving the Lord any love at all if He didn’t first give His love to you.” These are two simple facts that we must become accustomed to. We don’t have anything to give unless He first gives it to us. A friend of mine once said, “Love among those who don’t have the Lord is like two Volkswagens rubbing together trying to demonstrate love.” As a child, I had an invisible friend. He kept pace with me all through my childhood and then I lost him somewhere in my University days. I found Him again when I received my new birth and realized it had been the Holy Spirit with me all along—only just outside of me until I received Jesus as my Lord, and then He moved inside. That’s where He lives now, pouring His love into me, whether I ask for it or not. It’s the stuff I’m made of now, so I might as well be: Love. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5). There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1 John 4:18).
The first time I actually experienced, with impact, the love of God for me, I was sitting in the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with thousands and thousands of other people. While everyone else in the auditorium rippled with excitement, I sat quietly in my seat and dialogued with the Lord. I said something to the effect of: “Lord, I am single. I can serve you better this way, but it means I miss out on many things I’d like to have. I’d like the companionship of a man. I’d like to lean my head on his shoulder. I’d like to hold his hand while walking. I’d like being loved by a man. And what about sex?” I’ve written about His response before this, but every time I visit a previous revelation I’ve had (because I journal them), I find myself deeper into previously unrevealed revelation. This time, please note exactly what the Lord said at the end of my experience. He wasn’t just speaking to me. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).
What is this “day of judgment”? To me, that means two things: The Great Day of Judgment which will come after the Great Tribulation. God will be seated on the Great White Throne and judge the people and the nations. Those who have been born again and their sins washed away by the Blood of Jesus, will not have to be judged. All has been cleansed. The others will be judged by their works and precious few will be pardoned. The other meaning of the words “day of judgment” indicate, to me, that here on earth there come judgments because of our words. “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment,” (Matthew 12:36). And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16).
I know a little bit about the love God has for us because I gave birth to two babies. I spent the nine months of preparation in awe of the miracle happening in me. Let’s face it, each birth is a miracle. Science cannot explain how that baby is formed. They know the stem cell, the original cell in the fetus, has everything in it that baby will need throughout its life. How that happens, science doesn’t know. When those two babies emerged from me, my love has never been stronger than what I had, and have, for them. I believe that love is also a miracle. Even today, when my babies have babies of their own, and one is a grandmother (making me a great grandmother!), if evil came barreling down on any one of them, I would shove them out of the way, and take the impact myself. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to take the impact for us. Another miracle is that every day His blood takes the impact for us. I believe in his love for us. Because I believe it, I expect it, and because I expect it, I receive it, and because I receive it, sometimes I am so inundated with His love I can barely move. That’s another thing we cannot explain. How is it that when His Presence moves on us, we are so overwhelmed we fall in the Spirit, or we are glued to our chairs, or we cannot speak? It’s His unexplainable love! Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God (1 John 4:15).
The only way God will abide in us is if we are born again. I say that because to get born again we must confess that Jesus is the Son of God. It’s so incredibly simple, and yet so hard. That confession must come from the heart, not from the head. So many people come to the altar to say what we call The Sinner’s Prayer: Father, forgive me of my sins, thank You for sending Jesus, I now submit my life to Him, and make Him my Lord.” And off they go back to their pew. The only problem is, they didn’t mean a word they said. Oh, it sounded reasonable, it sounded right. The mind is a devious thing; it changes its opinion with every new thought. If you say that prayer with your heart, then you have seen how filthy your life is, and how far away you have drifted from God. Crushed, you surrender your all to Him. I’m not saying that one has to have a sobbing, hysterical, almost embarrassing moment; I’m saying you must see your own reality in comparison to Jesus. You must know you need a Savior, and then you need a Lord. After all, once you are saved, how are you going to lead this new life without a Lord. It’s impossible. He must be both! And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world (1 John 4:14).
John is speaking as someone who was there, a reporter on the scene, but he was not distant. Jesus loved John, specially, because they were so closely related. John was the son of Salome and Zebedee. Salome was Mary’s sister. John and Jesus were probably the same age. They grew up together, and loved each other as best cousins. When Jesus entered His ministry, John immediately followed him, as did his brother and his mother. Peter was the first of the disciples to have the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah Israel had been waiting for. I’m sure John came into that revelation shortly after that, even though it is difficult for relatives to accept great changes in other members of their family. Tradition has it that John became so holy, that when the Romans tried to kill him by boiling him in oil, he was not burned or blistered, he did not drown, and the effort failed completely. John did see Jesus as the Savior of the world. His life’s work was to testify to that fact, hence the Gospel of John is so different from the other three because it is written from the heart about a man he loved and followed. The book of 1 John contains the entire Gospel, that which Jesus came to preach and teach: there are two laws to follow, the law of love and the law of faith. With those we enter into heaven with John, the beloved! By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit (1 John 4:13).
Our God is a three part being: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Together, they create everything. Together they make all decisions. No one, or nothing, has the power they have to accomplish what they accomplish. They are three in one, which means they are inseparable, always united, always one. I suppose that man, along the way of the past centuries, thought that if he could create god, then things would be easier for him, because he determined what god would want. Whereas our God has set standards so high that no human being can achieve them or could have even devised them! Only God can achieve them through us. God the Father is exactly that, a father. He is the final authority, but His authority comes from total love, unlike most human fathers. God the Son paid the price to redeem man from what he could not achieve without heavenly help. His blood paid for our sins, and restored us to a loving relationship with God our Father. He continues now as head of The Church. God the Holy Spirit is the essence of God. He works the works of God in us. Jesus said His Father and He would come and live inside of us, and that they do through the Holy Spirit. When we know the Presence of the Holy Spirit inside of us, talking to us, counseling us, loving us, then we know we belong to God as His very own sons and daughters. And if you don’t know the Presence of the Holy Spirit, ask God to receive you as His child and make you brand new inside. |
Marty
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