God Is Love

 

1 John 4:16

And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is Love, and he that dwells in Love dwells in God, and God in him. 

Romans 13:10

Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore Love is the fulfillment of the law.

GOD IS LOVE

    What is this Love that God is? It is more than any kind of love you have ever known. This Love goes beyond brotherly love, which is outlined here in 1 Peter 3:8-9 "Finally, you be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be tenderhearted, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you are thereunto called, that you should inherit a blessing." 

    This Love that God is, is deeper than any intimate relationship love we have known with another person. It is more than a sentimental love, more than a familial love, more than a spousal love, more than a best friend love. It is all-encompassing and divinely unconditional. It is AGAPE.

    Agape, as described in The Topical Lexicon: 'denotes a holy, self‐giving disposition that originates in God, is displayed perfectly in Jesus Christ, and is implanted in believers by the Holy Spirit.'

    This Love that God is flows so deep that when our sins are washed in it, they are never seen again. In this Love God blots out our sins and they become like mist [Isaiah 44:2; 1 John 1:9]. 

    This Love which God is fills us with The Hope of His Salvation through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. This Love is a poured out Love, poured into our hearts.

    Romans 5:5

And hope makes us not ashamed; because The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by The Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

    This Love Whom God is, is Grace in Action. It is Jesus' ministry, Jesus' gospel message, Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead given to anyone who will hear it; everyone who will receive it and believe it and live it. 

    As Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus, this, too, is my prayer for you:

    Ephesians 3:16-21

16. I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 

17. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18. will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth

19. of the Love of Christ, and to know this Love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

21. to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Mine, Too

 

1 JOHN 4:4

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

    When I attended a revival in my previous church, God filled me with His Holy Spirit. Out of my soul came this beautiful song...in a different tongue, a heavenly language. And I saw this image in me:

    I became a mountain that blew it's top, but instead of fire, out of me came music; rivers and streams of music flowed out of me and down the sides of this mountain. God is still filling me and bringing the music He placed within me out of me. 

    Lately, though, it feels more like trickles of music: bits and pieces of song. The music is in me, the lyrics are in me. The mountain appears to be silent, but deep within the music is building and a crescendo is on the rise --- within me. 

    How do I know this? I am The Lord's: He tells me I belong to Him, that what He is doing in me is for His glory and my benefit. Even now The Lord is with me and He whispers, "You belong to Me. I am your God and your Lord. I am your Shepherd, I will protect you; just stay near Me. I am your Father and you King. I comfort you in this place and I will return to bring you home with Me. You are Mine, too. More than all of nature and its beauty, which I created, you are Mine, too. I love you and I am right here with you in this resting place. Stay near Me. It's getting darker outside and the wolves are closing in. Stay near Me, for you belong to Me."

    John 1:12, 13

But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

    1 John 5:5

Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is The Son of God?

 I BELONG TO JESUS 

Intelligent Worship -- Love God -- Part 10

 Intelligent Worship brings us into the presence of God through Loving God. Part 10.

 Mark 12:28-30

Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 

Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment."

Joshua 22:5

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave (cling, stick like glue) unto Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 John 4:21

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

LOVE: agapao (pronounced ag-ap-ah'-o) which means 'to love', 'to prefer'

For us who believe it means we choose to live through Christ, we prefer to live in Him and allow Him to live through us (1 John 4:9-10). 

While most of us know John 3:16, few remember to read the next few verses, as well. 

John 3:16-18

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

God loves us so much He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty once and for all for all sinners everywhere. That's how much God loves us. And He wants us to love Him and each other with this same love: unconditional, no strings attached, all-encompassing love. That kind of love is Agape: divine love. Loving God and Loving each other through the power of God. See? It's not a love that we can accomplish under our own power: it's only available through Christ. It's an Active Love, an Obedient Love. 

We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19. 

Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

How do we Love God?

By loving each other with His love. 

It would be very beneficial to us to read and re-read 1 John 4. And to study it out.  

I Speak Jesus

     Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world*. For He that is in me is the Light of the world and the Light shines in the darkness which comprehends Him not*. This Light lives in me and shines through me into the darkness of the world around me*.

*1 John 4:4

*John 8:12; John 3:19; John 1:4; John 9:5; John 12:35-36, 46

*Matthew 5:14-16; Proverbs 4:18; Philippians 2:15

This Light is Jesus Christ. I speak Light. This Light is Love. I speak Love. This Light is Hope. I speak Hope. This Light is Mercy. I speak Mercy. This Light is Peace. I speak Peace. This Light is Healing. I speak Healing.

This Light is Jesus Christ. I speak Jesus.

We Live In God's Love

1 JOHN 4:17

In this way. This verse is connected to the previous verse by these three words "in this way". What way? The Way of Divine Love. 
As I study it out, I realize that by using the concordance the verse reads:

In this way, Divine Love has been made complete, consummated, perfected, among us (beyond time and distance), that we may possess boldness, assurance at the day of judgment (the time in which God metes out justice in His court); for in this world we are just like Him. 

There is another verse that totally lines up with this train of thought: 
Acts 17:28 In Him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, we are His offspring. 
And again in John 17:22-23 when Jesus was praying with His Father just before He was arrested: 
"I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are One--I in them, and You in Me--that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me."

Isn't that beautiful? When we live in God's love, we are living and moving and breathing in Christ as He lives and moves and breathes in us. That's powerful stuff right there. I am so glad that I live in His love and that His love lives in me.