You can say, I have the love of God, but do you have all of it? Or do you just have enough to get you by and to walk with God in this place that we're in today? When He says in His word, the greatest thing you can have is love, and love overcomes - every obstacle, everything that you come against, love overcomes.
Do you think that the early church, the early ones that walked with God could commit to being nailed on a cross, cut asunder, burned on a stick in front of Nero? Or do you think they could have done that without this kind of love? I don't think so. How can you recognize you don't have the kind of love that God has?
Well, are you praying for our President? Are you divided when it comes to look at the people in our country? God says that Christ came to die for every man. In fact, He made a point one time, He said to the religious sects at that time, I didn't come to seek those who were righteous; I came to seek and to save those who have needs, that are not righteous. God loves all of His creation, even the ones that have taken lives. We can hate the sin, but we must have God's love if we're going to complete the mission that He's called us to complete.
Is this an indictment against us? I think it's a call from God to us. Seek Me for My love. It's not enough just to say I know the love of God because I love my brother. If you love your brother who loves you what good is that? Even the sinners do that. Even the people without God do that.
They love those who love them. What are we going to do? How are we going to function without this kind of love?
It has to be unconditional love. Who has unconditional love? Only the Father has unconditional love. And I have to draw on the Holy Spirit - ask Him to give it to me, because I don't have it. Stopping and thinking about it, and going - "Lord, My heart is set on you, and because I'm set on you, my heart is longing for Your love."
Your love that's unconditional. We have to believe, and trust the Lord that He's going to impart it to us.
I can love you, I know you can love me, but that's not good enough. We have to love each other. And love God together, and draw that love from the Father. His love is greater than any other thing that we could ever have in our lives.
With that love, we will change the earth. But I know this is a challenge today, because I know that if you look inside your own heart, you go, boy, I don't have that kind of love. And that would be true. You don't as an individual. But I say today that as the family of God is the kingdom of God that's come into the earth, we can have the love of God invading all of our hearts, together.
Reflecting on Corinthians 13, everything has to be based upon that first move, and that's a move of love. How do I get it? When they say, teach us how to pray, He didn't hand them a book this thick with prayers. He set up one prayer that covered everything. And when He said, you should pray for your daily bread, what are we feeding on?
We're feeding on the love of the Father as a necessity. We have to have that every day. When I ask for daily bread, I'm asking for all the love that God can give me for today. All that I'm going to face, He's going to equip me with His love, if I just ask for it. If I ask for it, that doesn't mean, oh, automatically I got it.
But there's a thing about the communion. There's a thing about worship. He's given us avenues. That we can have it imparted to us. Laying on of hands. A lot of things we can do. Appropriating, reaching in, saying, Lord, give me your daily bread. And I would venture to say that as Christ spent a lot of time by Himself looking to the Lord, that is a pathway.
What was He doing? He was showing us our time with the Father crying out, “Lord, give me the love that I'm going to need today.”
I don't get it. I don't understand how the Lord can love, when people turn their backs on Him, go to idol worshiping, do all the things He told them not to do.
It doesn't make sense. But then I have to get into the Word of the Lord, and the Word of the Lord says something to the effect that “God is love.” He can't help Himself. That's who He is. Now, can we say that? Uh uh. We haven't arrived to that point yet. We've not come to this end of the processes that we're going through to become more like our Father.
We really have to trust in the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, into this experiencing of His love. Because we are totally incapable of tapping into anything with this soul flesh nature. Apart from the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit revealing to us how we're supposed to reach into this love and be able to share what it is the Father's all about with whomever we come in contact with - enemies, friends, loved ones. Boy, it makes us come up short when you face the truth of this whole matter.
I don't think that a child has to think about how to love God. If we have a childlike spirit, we go to the Father.
We run to the Father. Because a child was born, like you said, Mike, from a above. We’re born in Spirit.
What we're talking about is love, not just the initial state of a human being born again by the Spirit of God. Just not that initial state, but moving in to where God is, and that is His love. God is love. That's who He is. He's not like we are. And oftentimes we get the idea God's just like me because He formed me in His image.
That's true, but there's still this experience of reaching into who He is. And the things that we suffer and go through are still God's love. Why are they God's love? Because they're aimed at one thing. It's an opportunity to pursue His love, pursue Him, lay down your life for that one relationship with God.
