God's Kind of Love
"Beloved,
let us love one another: for love is of
God; and every one that loveth is born of
God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love"
(1 John 4:7-8).
Most of us think that we really understand
the love of God, but our experience proves
otherwise. We feel lonely, depressed, discouraged,
and defeated. Every one of these negative
emotions would be turned to positive by
a proper revelation of God's love for us.
As for loving others, most of us would admit
there are some people who are very difficult
to love. Since we do not fully understand
God's love for us, we fail in loving others.
We can't give away what we don't have. If
we receive a full revelation of God's love
for us, it becomes easy to love others with
the love that we have received.
When we struggle to believe that God's promises
to us will come to pass, that's unbelief;
but the root of that unbelief is a lack
of love. Galatians 5:6 says faith works
by love. That means love is the driving
force behind our faith. Remove or diminish
love, and faith ceases to be what it should
be. Many of us try hard to believe when
we should be seeking a greater revelation
of God's love for us. Then, faith would
just naturally work.
Just a few months after Jamie and I were
married, we were in a desperate situation.
I had quit my job, believing that the Lord
wanted me to go into full-time ministry.
The result was that we were hurting financially.
It had been days since we had eaten. We
had nothing but a few Cokes that a friend
had given us and a bag of Fritos that we
had been rationing out. Our faith was beginning
to waver. We were fighting with all we had,
to believe that the Lord was going to supply
our needs, but our circumstances and empty
bellies were screaming unbelief at us.
One morning, Jamie took our last fifty cents
and our car and drove to the laundry mat
to do some laundry. While she was gone,
I did some serious business with the Lord.
I was crying and saying, "Lord, I don't
understand. I would give my right arm to
feed Jamie. I believe You love us more than
I love Jamie, and yet You aren't taking
care of us." I had let circumstances blind
me to God's love. That's the main reason
my faith wasn't working.
The Lord spoke Luke 12:32 to me very clearly.
That verse says, "Fear not, little flock;
for it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom." Suddenly, I realized
my unbelief was because I had forgotten
how much God loves us. God delights in our
prosperity (Ps. 35:27). He gets no pleasure
from watching us starve. As the revelation
of God's love for us came flooding over
me, all doubt that our needs would be supplied
was instantly gone. When Jamie returned
from doing the laundry, I told her that
we were going to eat meat that day.
We had Fritos and Coke for lunch. We skipped
supper because we were tired of Fritos and
Coke. At church, a friend asked us to stop
by his apartment after the service. We thought,
"Maybe they are going to feed us." We stayed
and talked for over an hour, but there was
no food. As we were leaving, however, the
man gave us loads of fish that he had caught.
He also gave us all the vegetables to go
with them. We rushed home, and Jamie fixed
us a feast. Just a few minutes prior to
midnight, we ate meat to our fill. The next
day was my birthday, and a woman in the
church gave us a large box full of porterhouse
steaks. We went from a starvation diet of
Fritos and Coke, to having enough steaks
for a month in just a matter of hours because
love made my faith work.
When our friend gave us the fish that evening,
he told us that he had sent his wife by
our apartment earlier that morning to deliver
the food. Our car was gone, though; so she
supposed we were not there and didn't stop.
The only time that car was gone all day
long was when Jamie went to wash clothes
and I was praying in that apartment. At
the exact moment that I got a new and fresh
revelation of God's love for us, our supply
came through. It took us a few hours to
see it, but God moved instantly. He wanted
to supply our need more than we wanted Him
to. My lack of faith in His love hindered
Him. As soon as I opened up to His love,
my faith revived and He supplied.
There is more than just a superficial knowledge
that God loves us. In Ephesians, chapter
3, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would
get a greater revelation of God's love for
them. He said, "For this cause I bow my
knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, That he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory,
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit
in the inner man; That Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith; that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, May be able
to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3:14-19).
Notice in verse 18 that God's love isn't
just one-dimensional. There is height, depth,
length, and breadth to it. Many Christians
only see God's love as they would see a
painting, in one-dimension. They've never
seen the multi-dimensional reality of God's
love.
In verse 19, Paul said as we experience
God's love, which is superior to mere knowledge
of God's love, then we would be filled with
all the fullness of God. What a statement!
Are you lacking in any area of your life?
If so, you lack a revelation of God's love.
Experiencing God's love equals fullness.
I've said all of this to say that a deep
revelation of God's love for us is the most
important thing we can receive. First Corinthians
13:13 says, "And now abideth faith, hope,
charity, these three; but the greatest of
these is charity" (God's kind of love).
There are many ways that Satan uses to try
to block the revelation of God's love for
us. One of the most subtle, and therefore
the most deadly, ways is that he has deceived
us into thinking that God's love for us
is tied to our performance. We think we
have to do something to earn God's love.
We have to merit God's love. That is not
what the Bible teaches.
In the natural world, you get what you deserve.
Employers don't hire you based on their
love for you. You have to perform. If you
perform badly, you are punished or fired.
The same thing is true in most relationships.
I've had hundreds of married couples essentially
tell me, "They don't deserve my love." However,
the nearly-too-good-to-be-true news of the
Gospel is that we don't get what we deserve.
Praise the Lord!
God's love for us is unconditional. That
is, God doesn't love us because of some
virtue we possess. God loves us because
"God is love" (1 John 4:8), not because
we are lovely.
Religion is one of the biggest propagators
of the conditional-love-of-God lie. Most
"Christian churches" teach that God's love
for us is conditional, based on our performance.
If we pray, go to church, pay our tithes,
etc., then the Lord loves us and answers
our prayers; but if we fail, then the Lord
won't answer our prayers. That's not true.
There is a disease in the church that I
call "spiritual dyslexia." Dyslexia is where
a person sees things backwards. A dyslexic
person sees the word "god" as "dog". There's
a huge difference between God and a dog;
yet dyslexics don't see it.
"Spiritual dyslexia" has a similar effect
on people. Those infected with this "spiritual
dyslexia" see scriptures backwards. For
instance, 1 John 2:3-5 says, "And hereby
we do know that we know him, if we keep
his commandments. He that saith, I know
him, and keepeth not his commandments, is
a liar, and the truth is not in him. But
whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is
the love of God perfected: hereby know we
that we are in him."
A dyslexic Christian sees these verses and
says, "I want to know God, so I must keep
His commandments." These verses are saying
just the opposite. Keeping God's commandments
is a result of knowing God. You can live
a holy life without knowing God; the Pharisees
proved that. However, you can't know God
without living a holy life as a result.
When God's love is perfected in us, keeping
God's Word will be the result (verse 5).
Any attempt to reverse this order is "getting
the cart before the horse." It won't work;
and yet this is what the majority of Christians
are trying to do. They are seeking to know
the Lord better by living a holier life.
It's just the opposite. Experiencing God's
love more will produce a holy life.
This dyslexic condition has caused many
to tie God's love for them to their performance.
When they do well, they let God's love for
them flow. When they do poorly, they condemn
themselves. They think God is condemning
them, but He's not. In many cases, it's
not even the devil condemning them. Satan
has caused them to believe a lie, and they
are condemning themselves.
We all need a greater revelation of God's
unconditional love for us! I have a special
series designed just for that purpose. A
revelation of God's unconditional love for
me is what turned my life around in 1968.
It's still impacting me today. These teachings
reveal the things God showed me about His
love. I believe that if you open up your
heart, the Lord will grant you at least
as much revelation on this as I have, and
it will change your life. Please order the
album entitled God's Kind of Love: The
Cure for What Ails Ya today.
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