refreshing and rejuvenation as we walk in the realness of what His love truly means. By doing this, we will be brought into a newness with Him and into the pure truth of HIS love; a love that covers ALL of His children.
That was pretty powerful for me - 'a year of refreshing and rejuvenation' sounds amazing, but He wasn't done there. He said
'as we walk in the realness of what His love truly means'. That goes hand in hand with what God has been speaking to me about what 'love' really is and how people freely say 'I love you' but don't realize what 'love' really is.
AND THEN He said 'by doing this, we will be brought into a newness with Him and into the pure truth of HIS love.' Wow. I felt the power of this portion of what He shared with me, but then when I sought out to find the verse to back it up - it hit me even harder.
In 1John 4:8 - Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Hmmm, so let that sink in for a minute. God IS love. That means God is patient, He is kind, He is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude, He does not demand His own way, He is not irritable and keeps no records of wrongs, He does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices when truth wins, HE never gives up, He never loses faith, He is always hopeful and endures through EVERY circumstance.... (Yes, that was a lot, huh? Go ahead, read that section one more time, I did.)
So - to walk in God's love, is to walk in God. How does a person walk in God? By remaining in His word, by letting His words seek deep down into your heart and soul and change you along the way, shape you, mold you, recreate you into a likeness of Him though meekness and humbleness. No, we will not be God. BUT, we can choose to portray Him in our thoughts, in our actions, in our words, in our emails, in our connections with other people, in our finances, in our day to day lives WE have to power and authority to SHOW people WHO God is by showing LOVE. And in this, WE have the blessing of being brought into newness with Him, into a realm of anticipation for all of His promises, and into the place He designed for us where we will find pure acceptance, pure joy and peace - where we will find love in every definition of His words.
AND THEN He gave me the final sentence, the sentence that will be only accomplished by His grace. ‘a love that covers ALL of His children.' Really look at that. If you go back a few paragraphs and see what love really is and then look at the emphasis He gave me in which children to love - it is ALL. Last I checked, ALL means ALL. (haha) He's saying, I/we do not get to CHOOSE who we are going to share God's love with or CHOOSE who we are going to love. We are to love ALL of His children. So who are His children? There are actually many verses that cover this, but I think it's important to remember that we were all born to be His children, but some choose to be sons and daughters and some choose to walk away from Him as orphans in a lost world. And regardless of whether they have chosen to be a child of God or an orphan, we are to LOVE them ALL. And to walk in a love, that will give love to our sisters and brothers is great - but to give love to the orphans who are lost, angry, saddened, confused, hurt, and struggling is a love that will change their lives, seeing the touch of God through you, through me. LOVE will change people, because... LOVE is God and God is LOVE... And He is the ONLY one who can change a person’s heart.
Now let me clarify, because God did a HUGE work in me regarding this a few years back - to love ALL does not mean that we run out and let everyone invade our lives- no, God gives us wisdom. I can love someone without having them in my life all of the time. We are to guard our hearts with His wisdom in who we freely let dwell in this place. The ones I choose to allow to dwell in my heart are the children of God by the definition of Romans 8:14 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God, are children of God. and 1John 3:10 - So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers is not of the children of God. Love one another.
And again, this will take us back to the definition of love, right? Isn't God so amazing? And isn't love more powerful than we give it credit for? Yes it is - so 2014 is going to be an amazing year because God is truly amazing and the gift of love is more than telling someone 'I love you' - it's walking in what the definition of LOVE is. Here's to 2014!
No comments:
Post a Comment