KNIT
TOGETHER IN LOVE
“…that they might KNOW…..the only true God and Jesus Christ…” (John 17:3)
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When we TRULY understand how God loves us, we will love others in the SAME way. “...By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another…” (John 13:34-35 KJV). “…A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. …” (John 13:34-35 KJV).
“...our hearts....knit together in love...” (Colossians 2:2 KJV). “...with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing (like a servant towards) one another in love...” (Ephesians 4:2 KJV).
“…[God has] loved [you]...with an EVERLASTING love….” (Jeremiah 31:3 KJV “...be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children...” (Ephesians 5:1 KJV). “...fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind...” (Philippians 2:2 KJV).
“...but the fruit of the [indwelling] Spirit [produces]... love...” (Galatians 5:22 KJV). “...by love serve one another. For ALL the [holy] law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shall love they neighbour as thyself...” (Galatians 5:13-14 KJV).
“...Owe no man(woman) any thing, but to love one another: for he(she) that loveth another hath fulfilled the law...(EXAMPLE)...Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself...Love worketh no ill to his (her) neighbour: therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law...” Romans 13:8-10 KJV). “...[Add]...to godliness brotherly kindness, and [add] to brotherly kindness charity (love)...” (2 Peter 1:7 KJV).
“...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. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected (matured) in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect (matured), that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love We love him, because he first loved us. If a man (woman) say, I love God, and hateth his brother (sister), he(she) is a liar: for he(she) that loveth not his(her) brother(sister) whom he(she) hath seen, how can he(she) love God whom he(she) hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he(she) who loveth God love his(her) brother(sister) also...” (1 John 4:7-21 KJV).
“…A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. …” (John 13:34-35 KJV). “...By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another…” (John 13:34-35 KJV). “...Charity (LOVE) edifies (builds up)...” (1 Corinthians 8:1 KJV).
God’s HOLY love is one of continual sacrifice for others. It is THIS kind of love that GOVERNS God’s DIVINE character in the “covenant unity” relationship with HIS people. A “…Love …[that] … never FAILS….” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 NIV). “...God is LOVE…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV). “… I AM WHO I AM…” (Exodus 3:14-15 NASB).
“…A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. …” (John 13:34-35 KJV). Let me share with you, about God’s HOLY love, from my own personal experience.
“...God’s love covers over a lot of offenses. His love is fully forgiving and doesn’t keep a record of another person’s wrongs towards you.
God’s love is enduring. God’s love suffers long, because God deeply desires to give a person a chance to get it right with Him.
God’s love is faithful and loyal. God’s love makes a sacrifice and therefore is costly.
God’s love continues, even if it does not receive anything in return. God’s love does not come with a wage attachment, where the person has to somehow earn it.
It does not come with a partiality tag, where the person has to be worthy of it. It does not come with a merit tag, where they even have to be deserving of it.
God’s love is freely unconditional towards the recipient of it and will not demand anything in return.
God’s love won’t change, even if the recipient changes, walks away, rejects it, follows after another, is unfaithful, offends, or totally forgets about His love altogether...” (Pensacola H. Jefferson).
I learned, through experience, that this is the kind of love God has for me and the kind of love I am to show to others. “…A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. …” (John 13:34-35 KJV).
God will never go against his nature of Divine Love. Love GOVERNS his every word and action; he never changes and remains, forever, faithful to who he is. “...God is LOVE…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV). “… I AM WHO I AM…” (Exodus 3:14-15 NASB). “…He remains faithful …” (2 Timothy 2:13 NLT).
Love is who God is at the core of His DIVINE being. If there were such a thing as spiritual DNA, love would be God’s DNA. “...God is LOVE…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV).
Further, God’s ways of loving are not human ways of loving. His thoughts of love are not human thoughts of love. God’s ways of being loving and thinking of love are higher than human ways. “… my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…..as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than you ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ASV).
God’s HOLY love pursued mankind when mankind was pursuing their idols and adulteries. “…God demonstrates his …love for us in this: While we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us…” (Romans 5:8 KJV).
Mankind’s reasons for allowing distance between themselves and God are no different than that of Adam and Eve’s. It’s a CHOICE. “...Jesus saith…I am the way ....and the life…” (John 14:6 KJV). “… I have set before you LIFE and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose LIFE…” (Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV). “…Choose you this day whom ye will serve….” (Joshua 24:15 KJV).
It is a great possibility that, right now, you have been deceived by the enemy too and have “fallen away” from the loving God. “...every man (woman) is tempted, when he (she) is drawn away of his (her) own lust, and enticed...” (James 1:14 KJV).
The further away you are from God, the easier it is for the enemy to broaden the distance in the “covenant unity” relationship with God, the Holy Spirit. “….Apart from [Jesus, the Word]…[you can]..do nothing …” (John 15:5 NIV).
God loves you so much, even when you blame him for all the evil in the world and participate in the evil yourself. “…The Lord loves His people …” (2 Chronicles 2:11 NASB). “…For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more…" (Hebrews 8:12 NIV). His “…love covereth a multitude of sins…” (Proverbs 10:12, 1 Peter 4:8 ASV).
“…They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight ...Again and again he rescued them, but they chose to rebel against him…” (Psalm 106:39-43 NLT).
“…. he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries...” (Psalms 106:42-48 NLT).
“…He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love…” (Psalms 106:42-48 NLT).
“…[In HIS] ... love and in His mercy He redeemed them (again)…” (Isaiah 63:9 NASB). “…I am the Lord, I change NOT…” (Malachi 3:6 KJV).
God loves you, even when your ways move you away from him and you shut him completely out of your life. Ouch. God would still say to the backsliding sinner that even though you betrayed me; if you want another chance; “...I will heal your unfaithfulness...” (Hosea 14:4).
God never gives you up on loving you. In other words, God doesn’t stop his LOVINGKINDNESS toward his people EVER. “... I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee...” (Jeremiah 31:3 KJV). “...Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion...Then you will know the Lord...” (Hosea 2:14-23 NLT).
Though NOTHING will ever separate, his people, from his HOLY love, he will concede to their stubborn choice to willfully practice sin. God, the Holy Spirit concedes to his people’s human will. "… I hate divorce (SEPARATION)," says the LORD, the God of Israel..." (Malachi 2:16 NASB). “…, …We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires…” (JEREMIAH 18:12 NLT). “… my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and ABANDONED me….” (JEREMIAH 5:23 NLT). “…They kept doing whatever they wanted…” (Jeremiah 7:24 NLT). “…[Therefore,]...GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a reprobate mind to do those things which are convenient...being filled with all unrighteousness...” (Romans 1:28 KJV).
Nothing hurts worse than loving someone who says they love you, yet continually choose something or someone over you. God’s love will still continue and remain faithful, even if his people DON’T. “...they (his People)... have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God…” (Jeremiah 22:8-9 KJV).“…I am with you always, to the very end…"(Matthew 28:20 NIV). God will “…Never leave nor forsake you…” (Hebrews 13:5 KJV). “…Behold, I am with … [you] and will keep … [you] whithersoever [you]… goest…I will not leave [you] ..." (Genesis 28:15 ASV).
What an awesome, incredible love!!!! God’s love also takes responsibility for evil by saying, “….I… create evil…” (Isaiah 45:7 KJV).
Let me explain this a little as I understood it. After people have raised their children, eventually they become independent of their parent’s moral teachings.
If they choose to go against the moral teachings of their parents; the grown child will have to take responsibility for whatever they do.
The grown child fell away from the moral teachings they had been taught and now they must suffer the consequences.
They used their independence to stray away from the safeguard of their parent’s moral teachings. The same thing happens when God’s children stray away from the safeguard of his Word and holy teachings.
Thus, the further you are away from God’s righteous teachings, the further away you are from God’s protective care.
When grown, human children stray from their moral upbringing sometimes the parents are blamed; just like people blame God for the evils of the world. However, the right perception is everything.
Evil is not a person or thing; it is the absence of God. Just like darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absence of heat. Evil is the absence of God.
At one time, Adam and Eve had the freedom to be good, pure, and holy and full of the Spirit of liberty. There was no need to live independent of God’s ways.
Adam and Eve’s freedoms led them to stray away from God’s holy ways and they willfully chose to respond independently to Satan’s ways instead.
God takes responsibility for creating evil since he created MANKIND with a human will.
God created mankind whose “freedom to choose,” through human will, distanced them from God, the Holy Spirit and, of course, from his presence. Evil is the absence of God. “….I… create evil…” (Isaiah 45:7 KJV).
Adam and Eve were originally created to “freely choose,” through human will, within the natural and supernatural realms.
When you accept Christ as Lord and Savior your “ability to choose,” freely to the natural and supernatural realms, through human will, is restored.
God wants his people to freely choose to trust in and depend upon his love for them on their own volition and not out of force, or obligation, or legalism.
God’s people CHOOSE to love him, because they KNOW how he LOVES them. Thus, their LOVE for God is an ACT of the human will. Just like God has LOVED them through Jesus, they also choose to love God in self-sacrificing ways deliberately and on purpose.
Loving others, as God has loved them, is an active witness of true discipleship. God is love, which means the kind of love spoken of in scripture is also holy.
That’s why God restores, opens, and frees your ability to choose, through human will, to those “IN” Christ Jesus. His people, now, truly have” free will” to choose righteous and holy love.
A “free will” that can respond to the natural and supernatural world. It once was easy to do both, but now it’s a challenge to respond to the supernatural realm of God.“…The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to [the sin nature]. …I don’t really understand myself ... I want to [live free from sin] … [which]… is right, BUT I CAN’T…Who will free me from this life that is dominated by [the sin nature and its practices]?” (Romans 7:14-25 NLT).
“…The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 7:14-25 NLT).
Believers have the freedom right now to choose, through human will, between the natural and the supernatural realms through faith. “...If the Son therefore shall make you free, you SHALL be free indeed…” (John 8:36 KJV). “... It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE; therefore keep standing firm (choosing righteousness and good) and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery...” (Galatians 5:1 NASB). “... Stand fast (choosing God’s ways) therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us FREE, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage...” (Galatians 5:1 KJV).
Remember God, through Jesus, the indwelling power, will HELP YOU by empowering you to choose righteousness and good. .“…He helps me…” (Psalms 28:7 NLT). “…The Lord who made you and helps you says: Do not be afraid …my servant …my chosen one…” (Isaiah 44:2 NLT). “… The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness…” (Romans 8:26 NLT). “…You are my helper and my savior…” (Psalms 40:17 NLT).
“…God …works in you … TO ACT (TO actually choose righteousness and good) in order to fulfill his good purpose…” (Philippians 2:13 NIV). “ … God … equip you (with the indwelling Holy Spirit and) with everything good for doing his will …” (Hebrews 13:20-21 NIV). “…Apart from [the indwelling Holy Spirit]… [you cannot]... do nothing [you cannot be righteous or good]…” (John 15:5 NIV).
If God has restored your ability to choose righteousness and good, through human will, like Lydia, then it’s not God creating the distance. “...A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken (God’s Word) by Paul...” (Acts 14:16 NASB).
It is easy to judge God for everything that goes wrong in life, but you are finite and God is infinite. You can’t always understand his supernatural, loving, and divine ways “...O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?...” (Romans 11:33-34 KJV).
God does things from a holy perspective and not a human one. Many things God does makes no sense to the human understanding. “…God is not human “…God is Spirit …Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill…” (Numbers 23:19 NIV & John 4:24 KJV). “…THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK unto you, they ARE SPIRIT …” (John 6:63 KJV). God SAYS: “… my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…..as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than you ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ASV).
A relationship with God will always take you BEYOND human understanding. God does not want his relationship with you to be limited by human, finite understanding. All throughout scripture God frees, liberates, and opens “… [the] eyes…[the] understanding…the scriptures…” (Luke 24:31, 32, &45, Mark 7:34-35).“… BY FAITH (trusting and depending upon God) we understand that THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE WAS FORMED at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” (Hebrews 11 NLT).
“….When we tell you these things, we DO NOT use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words GIVEN TO US by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual CAN’T RECEIVE these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and THEY CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT, for only those who are spiritual CAN UNDERSTAND what the Spirit means…” (1 Corinthians 2 NLT).
“...To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge...For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them...” (Matthew 13:1-18 NLT).
The bible says, “Trust in (and depend upon) the Lord (God’s word) with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight (understanding). In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths...” (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV).
When God makes no “human” sense Jesus says, “…..be not afraid….only believe...” (Mark 5:36 KJV).
When God works in your life or answers you, your human understanding can often limit or hinder you if you allow it to. “...Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh within us…” (Ephesians 3:20 KJV). “…The plans [God has]…for you (his people)….[are]… plans to prosper [them]... and not to harm [them], plans to give [them]... hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for [his people]... that love him...” (1 Corinthians 2:9 KJV).
Sometimes you must, “…only believe (trust and depend upon God, the Holy Spirit)...” (Mark 5:36 KJV). And accept some of HIS “… ways [are]… past finding out…” (Romans 11:33-34 KJV).
It takes faith. You won’t always humanly understand his holy ways or what he may have prepared for you. “…walk BY FAITH...” (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV). “…not by sight…” (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV).
Everything God does is holy and righteous whether you agree or not. “…All he does (God, the Holy Spirit) is just and good, and all his [WORDS] are TRUSTWORTHY….” (PSALMS 111:7 NLT).
Therefore, if God allowed for mankind to freely choose the life they want whether they chose HIM or not, is God’s prerogative and no one else’s. God said: “….let us make man … after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26 KJV). “… [God]… does as he pleases… No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” (Daniel 4 NLT). “… Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish…” (Isaiah 46: 9-10 NLT).
Thus, “…A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. …” (John 13:34-35 KJV).
“...be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children...” (Ephesians 5:1 KJV). “...our hearts....knit together in love...” (Colossians 2:2 KJV).
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