Living In Love

John the disciple once said, "We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister" (1 John 4:19-21). God's love for us is very powerful. His love sustains us in moments of weariness and weakness. There are times, and even seasons, where we may feel abandoned and apart from His love, but even then, He pours out His love on us. I am learning that I cannot escape His love, but I can escape into His love. This world can suck the life out of us and even the strongest Christians need to retreat into the Father's arms for revival. It is in those moments that His love for me is being reciprocated back to Him and He reveals to me who He is on a deeper level. That is what John meant by, "We love because he first loved us." It is impossible to love without accepting the love He has for us first. Some may ask, "How do I feel His love for me?" If one really quieted their self and asked God to reveal His love, I believe His love would be quite overwhelming at that moment. Those moments He shares His love with us last more than just once. I can revisit those moments whenever there is pain or emptiness in my life. Nothing can separate us from God's love. Paul the apostle wrote, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). 
Love gives us the strength to persevere. I have noticed that people who are in love don't quit or give up as easily. I remember how true this was when I first fell in love with my wife. I wanted to give everything I had to love her. This has become a reality in my life once again, but now my love is being established in God. My family has gone through a tremendous amount of hardship and separation in the past three years and it would be so easy for me to fall into bitterness, but instead, I find it easy to forgive. It is tempting to give up but His love for me empowers me to persevere. My prayer life with God is refreshing in truth and this is a bi-product of a deeper loving relationship with Him. I constantly pray for healing for my wife and our children, and even though there is pain in the offering, there is also a peace that I feel as I hear my Father telling me He loves me. His love is real.
Brothers and sisters, ask God to reveal His love for you. Go to a quiet place and offer your time to Him. If you don't hear anything the first time, keep going back to that place. I guarantee you that God is madly in love with you. Let Him show you.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Identity In Christ

God revealed to me His love for me yesterday. To know the God of this universe loves you is ultimately all you need to know. This is where we find our true identities. As I pondered the thought of who God is, I defined Him as Holy and Righteous, and as the One who imagined my life. He is all powerful, full of life and splendor. I saw Him as an incredible light, and as a young man (like Jesus, versus the image of Santa Claus - old and gray) full of knowledge and love. There is nothing new here that hasn't already been said of Him. He is Love!
Then I thought of Jesus. God created Him to intercede for me. Jesus took my sin upon Himself and allowed God to kill Him in order that I could be cleansed before God. It is the only way that God can look upon His children whom He loves and this is through Christ Jesus. I am reminded of John 15:1-4 when Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Jesus is the vine that funnels God's love to us. If we are not reciprocating this love (in every aspect of true divine love), then we are cut off from the vine. We cannot bear fruit if we are not loving God in return. 
This brought me to the question, "Who am I?" What is my identity in Christ. If God looks at His one and only Son with nothing less than perfect love for Him, and He loves me through Him, then I am beloved in His eyes equally. I am cleansed as it is promised in John 15, because I know the Word that He has spoken to my heart. If we are truly believers and we know His Word, then He has placed His spirit within us. He cannot contradict Himself by withholding His love from Himself. He has to love me for He "remains in me." What more can one ask for my friends? 
Oswald Chambers wrote, "If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit." It is because of God's grace that we have the capacity to love, for He is solely responsible for placing it there. It has been part of our DNA since Adam. God purposed this for a reason, in order for us to have a relationship with Him, and to know that we were made in His image. All the while, Jesus was making His preparations to visit planet earth and to become the missing link that would bring us back into right standing with almighty God.
So now, my fellow Christians, do you have His word hidden upon your hearts? Do you truly know who your God is and what His love means for your life? Have you acknowledged Christ as you savior and as the One who intercedes on your behalf? Who are you?

"When you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:21-24).