(I). God is love; He can do nothing but love.
"God is love, and anyone who doesn't love others has never known him." (1 John 4:8)
(II). God loves us with His kind of love not ours.
"God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn't our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven." (1 John 4:9-10)
(III). God is the only source of His unconditional love and we have it through rebirth and intimate knowledge of Him.
"My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God's children, and we know him." (1 John 4:7)
(IV). Love is our love response to the revelation of His love. When we know and believe how much He loves us, we respond in love.
"We love because God loved us first." (1 John 4:19) "And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them." (1 John 4:16)
(V). When we have a revelation of His love for us, fear of judgment is banished.
"Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment." (1 John 4:17-18)
(VI). Love for others is an outflow of God's life expressing its essence (love) through us to others. The revelation of how much God loves us and understanding that He loves absolutely everyone the same without reference to their behaviour is the key to letting God love others through you. God loves others through the Christ is us.
"Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts. God has given us his Spirit. That is how we know that we are one with him, just as he is one with us." (1 John 4:11-13) But if we say we love God and don't love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don't love the people we can see? The commandment that God has given us is: "Love God and love each other!" (1 John 4:20-21)
Christ is our life; we no longer have an independent life. The live we have is that of Christ living through us. He is Love (the express image of the God who is love).
1. "Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ…Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20 MSG)
2. "Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life--even though invisible to spectators--is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too--the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ." (Colossians 3:3-4 MSG)
3. "He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. After achieving forgiveness for the sins of all human beings, he sat down in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power." (Hebrews 1:3 GNB)
4. "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon." (John 15:1-7 MSG)
The one and only vine of love
Jesus is His name
Here I am one of His branches
What a privilege to bear His fruits of love
The Vine and its branches
Abiding together in union
The very same love nature
Running right through it
There is no branch agenda
Save for the Vine's love agenda
Bearing luscious love fruits
On behalf of the vine
The love of the branch
Hails from the Vine
Separated from the vine
Death it's eternal fate
All this being said
It is no great surprise
Nothing can the branch do
Without the loving Vine
When we start looking at it from this perspective, you will see that your struggle to love is over. You don’t have to try and love others. Christ, who proved His love for them on the cross, is in you, to love them through you. All you have to do is walk in the revelation of His love and rest in the knowledge that as long as you don’t get in the way, He will love others through you regardless of their conduct. Love will begin to flow from you to others as you bear the fragrance of Christ.
There we have it. Let Him love others through you.
Every Blessing
(To be continued...)
Breadoflife
click here to read part 1
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