“What is love?” John asked, “Not that we first loved God, but that He first loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins.”-1 John 4:10.
Later he say’s the only reason why we love God is because He FIRST loved us (1 John 4:19). I’ve been on a journey, where the only command God has given me has rang clear like a bell through a valley, “rest and receive my love.” I waited years before I began this journey. Tonight while listening to the radio I noticed once again that most Christian songs are about how much “we” love God, how we will “make” His name glorious, how much “we” adore Him, how “we” will serve Him and go out and evangelize the world.
There is of course nothing wrong with this…in fact it is good! But those works are simply a fruit of the root which is receiving the love of God. The root is God, His grace, His life pouring through our souls from our spirits. I simply couldn’t help but notice that there is a scarce amount of songs, or mainstream Christian material, about how much God loves us. But there is plenty of material and songs to be had about us, and our efforts. His love is the very life source, the health of our souls.
Paul prayed that we would know the “height, depth, width, breath and length of the love of God,” so that we will be, “filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18). John wrote when one is perfected in the love of God fear is gone (1 John 4:18). How many Christians can say they fear nothing?
There is a scripture that I love in Zephaniah where in a silver glimpse of God’s love the prophet writes, “the Lord rejoices over you with singing!” (3:17). I once heard a man quote, “worship is the place where the lips of God cut dust again.” Worship, as Misty Edwards say’s so beautifully, “is a response to something we see in God.”
Our lives as Christians…or better stated as children of God is a response. A response to what? A response to the grace, to the love, to the freeing truth of Jesus. So worship is overwhelming joy and thanksgiving over the immense goodness of God. Worship is laughter of the heart. Worship is seeing something so marvelous that it causes joy to bubble over inside of the one who sees.
Tonight as I drove I prayed to God to make me a good receiver by His grace, to cause me to enter into that rest promised in Hebrews 4 where “my works cease” and His “works begin.” God has been beckoning me to enter into that rest. This rest is the place where we find all the work has been done..it is Eden (delight and paradise), it is a place where I find everything is complete without any effort on my part. It is the promise land of the soul. Israel was not able to enter because of lack of belief that God was that good….that He already prepared the land and had given them vineyards, houses, wells and gardens that they had NOT worked for or built.
Jesus has been telling me, “you’re already holy because I did the work for you to make you holy. You’re already righteous….God made you into my righteousness. You’re already loved perfectly, you’re already free…I have given you all things.” Religion and the world says the opposite. Even our movies about heroes (marvel movies, etc) are based on man’s efforts and works. All false religion…even false Christianity, also known as legalism, is about what you can do to please God, be like God, have peace…etc. Jesus says, “narrow is the gate…I am the way, the truth, the life.” The way is grace, the wings are rest and trust, the navigator is the love of God. And your ability to obey, stems from your ability to trust His good nature. Trust is always the fruit of love received.
God has been whispering to me about a life I am meant to live…a life He created all of mankind to live. It is heaven on earth. It is a place of beauty, wonder, immense joy, peace without measure, love indescribable, perfect health…it is a place He has already provided…and He say’s to me, “the way to enter is to receive without trying to earn…everything Jesus provided for you through His life, death and resurrection.” As Jesus said, “unless you become like a child…you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18;3). How does a child receive? Freely.
When people came to Jesus and asked him, “what must we do to do the works of God?” He responded with, “believe on the one whom God has sent (as in: believe on me, trust in me).” (John 6:28-29). When I was baptized and received the Holy Spirit as evidence of speaking in tongues (at The Holy Land Experience in Florida), the man who prayed over me quieted as we held hands and said something that was more precious to my soul than even speaking in tongues, “I love you,” he said for God, “I love you…receive my love.”
I often wondered why some Christians lived lives that weren’t healthy? I wondered why some people seemed to be unable to shake off bad habits? John answers this in the book of 1st John with, “because the love of the Father is not in him.” It is not trying to muster up love FOR the Father that is the problem, but rather a lack of receiving God’s love that is the problem. I often heard in church the importance of, “loving God, loving God, loving God.” God has said to me much more times, “receive my love, receive my love, receive my love. Eat my goodness, eat my sweetness, partake of my joy, drink yourself full…then everything will be effortless.” This great receiving will turn into great loving. When someone truly receives the love of God, they can’t help but fall madly, deeply, sweetly in love with Him. They also can’t help but feel good about themselves and accept themselves the way God does. Bondages are broken in the power of His love. Lies are torn off, demons are cast out, relationships are restored and holy living becomes effortless.
There is a promise land of the soul…and it is resting in the finished work of Christ that makes you heaven accepted, and the love of the Father that sent Jesus in the first place. He sent Jesus with no other alternative motive than to love you as a Father, and make you a part of His family. There is no other agenda. He created you, to love you
~If you enjoyed this devotional on love, check out my book, Visions of Celestial Love. It’s full of 7 years worth of revelation that God has given me on His love. Be immensely blessed and receive!
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