An Act of Love

“An Act of Love”

Ephesians 3:17-19  “And that you, being rooted and grounded in love would be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God”.

God is love – Should this statement be pushed to the side or deemed just semi-important?  No…For this is the foundation of true love, for any of the true love that you and I walk in.  God is love – and what is the proof?  The proof, that the Father would send His one and only Son into the sinful world, be smitten, beaten, scourged, mocked, crucified and become OUR sin that we would be put back in the place from which we had fallen, that we would be a family yet again, the Father and His children.   This is love – No greater love does a man have than this, that he would lay his life down for his friend.  He would give up all he had for his friend, everything the man had, his entire life, to save his friend.  And so we have our loving Savior, Jesus, who did this for us.  Jesus is the perfect representation of the will of the Father, and the Father is love, which makes Jesus love.  We must be grounded in this, we must be grounded in Him.

In order to be rooted and grounded in love, we must be walking in it.  It takes a setting of our will to love.  Chances are we have run into people who are not loving at all but yet Jesus, who is the perfect will of the Father made manifest, said we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  It even takes a setting of the will to love God!  Yes, it’s true, we ourselves have to set our will on God to love Him.  You may be thinking, “WHAT?  I LOVE GOD WITH ALL MY HEART!” But do you act like it all the time?  I guarantee there are areas still need working, and if you think there aren’t, you have deceived yourself.  What if He asks you to take some time in the morning, get out of bed 30 minutes early and spend some time in the Word, what will you do?  At that point, we must set our will to love because fact of the matter is, the flesh doesn’t want to get out of bed and the decision that is made will determine whether you are loving the flesh more or loving God more right at this time – love comes down to single decisions.  Now if you don’t choose to get out of bed at that time, God isn’t going to grab his Holy Club and beat you over the head. After all He is love!  The reason He asks you to do these things is because He wants you to get closer to Him, He wants to be close to You, He wants to make Himself so real to you like never before.  When we don’t choose to act in a loving way towards God, we actually open the door to the enemy because we chose to ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  He really cares about you – A LOT!  If bad things happen as a result of not following the leadership of the Holy Ghost, it’s not God putting evil on you, it’s the enemy now having access because you chose to step out of line of God’s will, out of His arms of protection.

So, how much are we willing to give to God?  Are we willing to love God with all that we have?  With our time, our resources, our talents (which are from God), our lives? He doesn’t ask for more than what He has already given.  John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life”.  God gave us all that He had, He gave His Word, Jesus, to pay the price for our mistakes and He sent the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us and empower us to do His will on this earth.  We have all that we need, He’s given us all He has.  What are we giving to Him?

Lets make a sincere effort to give more.  If you’ve been giving a lot, see if you can increase it.  If you’ve been giving little, don’t be condemned or discouraged, turn it around, repent, He is ready to forgive, 1 John 1:9  “If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness”.  Lets make an effort to go all out, or rather, all in, and love with every breath that we take, every action we make, every word we say, every thought we think, all that we have, lets live to love to the fullest!

Fearless

Mark 5:35-36 “While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official (Jairus) saying, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?’ But Jesus overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, ‘Do not be afraid, only believe’”.

This past year has been a 180 degree turn in so many areas, but I believe this area is the biggest one for me. This past year, fear has been broken off of me in so many areas and I’m learning more and more areas where I have been acting out of fear and quickly uprooting it. God is so good and has so many great things up ahead for my life and yours as we give ourselves to His Word and His direction from the Spirit of God.

Jairus in this passage approached Jesus at the beginning of the chapter implored Jesus to come and heal his daughter who was nearly dead. Jesus, the willing Healer He is, went with him. On the way there was a bit of a hold up when a lady with a blood issue found Jesus touched His cloak and was healed. As this was happening, officials from Jairus’ house came to him and said that his daughter has died so there was no point in having Jesus come. But before Jairus could let anything out of his mouth, Jesus piped up and said “Don’t be afraid, only believe”. This statement is life-altering.

Jairus came to Jesus on the basis of faith – he believed that Jesus could heal his daughter. But what was he faced with later on? His daughter was not only sick, but now she died so his faith had to be taken to a different level. It was obvious the ones who approached Jairus had no faith for they said that she had died and to not bother Jesus anymore, afterall, he can’t raise the dead…But the words that came forth from Jesus’ mouth gave Jairus faith, faith that Jesus could raise his daughter up from the dead, and Jesus didn’t want any words of doubt to come out of Jairus’ mouth – Jesus knows the importance of words, and so should we (We have the ability to create and to destroy with our mouths). Here is the point that I want to get to. If there had been any fear in Jairus about Jesus not being able to heal his daughter or raise his daughter from the dead, it would not have happened.

Fear should be just like an abomination when it comes to us believing God for what He has promised. Doubt says “I don’t believe that can happen”, or in this case, “I don’t believe God can do it”. This is gross…That is basically calling God a liar, the One Who has never lied and never will, the One Who gave all He had so that we could have all He had. That’s why Jesus jumped all over that situation, He didn’t want any fear in there! And it’s the same thing with us, He doesn’t want any fear in us, none at all.

Does this happen overnight? No…This takes work, it takes dedication, it takes commitment, it takes time, but it is possible and is so worth the work! The Word says that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God and fear is the opposing force of faith. The more faith we put in, the less fear will be able to abide. God told me this in the middle of sickness I was dealing with, an unknown sickness – “Uproot the fear and I will take care of the rest”. How can I do this? How can we do this?

Spending time with Him every day, in the Word, in prayer, focusing on His kingdom rather than on ourselves. These are critical and necessary and fundamental! This will produce fearlessness!