“God is love” (1 John 4:8). His
love cannot change because He does not change. His
love had no beginning and never will cease. Because
God is infinite, His love is infinite. His love is
pure and holy. Indeed, His love is incomprehensible.
The apostle Paul wrote words of
encouragement to believers saying, “the love of God
has been poured out within our hearts through the
Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5; cf.
Gal. 4:6).
The Holy Spirit makes the love
of God so abundant in the believer’s heart that it
overflows (1 John 4:8, 16). He is the divine Agent
who expresses the love of God to the believer.
“The fruit of the Spirit is
love” (Gal. 5:22). The apostle Paul gave eight
aspects of that love. The fruit of the Spirit cannot
be imitated. It comes from our abiding in Christ. As
the Spirit of love abides in us He bears His fruit
to the glory of God.
It is great assurance for the
Christian to know that we are now God’s children and
that God loves us. Before we were saved God
demonstrated His love by sending Jesus to the cross
to die for our sins. Now we have the inner
experience of His love through the Holy Spirit that
sustains us in our daily life. His sustaining grace
gives us patience in our trials and enables us to
live to God’s glory.
God’s kind of love is created
and fulfilled in us by the Spirit of love.
The apostle John wrote,
“Behold, if God so loved us, we also ought to love
one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if
we love one another, God abides in us, and His love
is perfected in us” (1 John 4:10-11).
The evidence that we are the
children of God is this divine love dwelling in us.
“Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us,
because He has given us of His Spirit. . . God is
love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and
God in him” (1 John 4:13, 14).
Jesus promised that the Holy
Spirit would live and abide in us forever. The
evidence that the promise is true is seen in the
fruit the Holy Spirit bears in our lives. The New
Testament teaches us that the fruit of His abiding
in us is love (Gal. 5:22-23). The apostle John tells
us this, too.
When the Holy Spirit fills our
hearts we see men and women as Jesus sees them.
There is no greater ministry for the believer in
Christ to do than to demonstrate and share the love
of God in Jesus Christ to those who have never heard
or seen it in action. I pray the Spirit of love lead
us to the individuals the world over who have never
experience the love of God. May the Holy Spirit
break our hearts with the things that break the
heart of God.
“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life (John 3:16).
How does an invisible God
reveal Himself to the world? He reveals Himself in
the transformed lives of His children. The lost
world looks at us and sees the difference and they
ask how this can be. Why are you different? What is
it that gives you this quality of life? If we abide
in Christ, we will love one another and the world
will see the difference. That love is a reflection
of God’s love in us. “The one who does not love does
not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). “God’s
love will be experienced in us and then will be
experienced through us.”
Abiding in God’s love is made
possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1
John 4:13). What a privilege to have God abide in
us. We have God’s Spirit living in us as a permanent
resident. Let’s give Him permission to settle down
and make Himself completely at home in our hearts.
We abide in His love, and we experience the abiding
of God in us.
“If you love Me you will keep
my commandments,” Jesus said (John 13:34; 15:12).
What did He say was the greatest commandment? God’s
love is perfected in the believer. God’s love is
made perfect in you and me, sinners saved by the
grace of God. He reveals His love through us. May
our lives be a constant testimony and demonstration
of the Spirit of love abiding in us.
“God is love, and he that
dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him” (1
John 4:16).
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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