Selfishness and fear are two primary obstacles to agape in the life of the Believer.
Some Christians allow selfishness to stop them from walking in the unconditional, unqualified love of God
Self-centered people invariably struggle with depression and oppression. They can’t sleep. Their relationships are shallow and unsatisfying. They are constantly thinking only of themselves and not of others.
The lifestyle of love is exactly the opposite. Love says don’t seek your own interest first but the interest of others. Love says to think the best of every person and take no thought to an evil done to me. Love says to bear one another’s burdens. Love says if you want to be great be the servant of all.
Matthew 20: 25 – 28 And Jesus called them to Him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men hold them in subjection [tyrannizing over them]. (26) Not so shall it be among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, (27) And whoever desires to be first among you must be your slave– (28) Just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [the price paid to set them free]. (Amplified Classic)
We must Trust in The Lord now more than ever before. We are walking in a very dark world.
It has always been dark in this World since the fall of Adam of Eve. Darkness was allowed to reign in the World where it was not supposed to reign. God placed Adam and Eve in Dominion over this World not Satan and Darkness. Adam was supposed to take dominion over Satan and cast him out, but he did not. Instead of casting Satan out Adam yielded to Satan’s deception disobeying God. Adam with the encouragement of Eve ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil disobeying God yielding to Satan’s deception. Ever since that moment darkness has been in this World.
But thanks be to our Loving Heavenly Father, Jesus, came into the World and Satan cannot get Him out.
The True Light Jesus has come. John 12: 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (NKJV)
No matter who you are or where you are,
No matter what you have done or think you may have done,
No matter how far away from God you are or think you are,
No matter how deep in darkness you are or think you are,
You can still choose to change your life from darkness to the True Light.
Your debt no matter what it is or how great it is has already been paid in full by the Blood of Jesus.
The Heart Cry of God to all mankind, past, present, and future is “Come to Me”. That heart cry from the depths of God’s Loving Heart has been a continuous heart cry for thousands of years and will continue until Jesus’ final return at the end of the age.
This is a Heart Cry from God to the Lost and Unsaved. Come to Me! But it is also a Heart Cry to all of us who know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, Come to Me! I believe that this is the major problem that all of us face in this dark world today. Whether we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior or not, whether we believe in God or not we do not come to Him.
Our Loving Heavenly Father deeply desires for all of us to come to Him in every area of life no matter how big or small the problem may be. He deeply desires to walk and fellowship with us.
Can you hear the heart Cry of God? Are you answering that Heart Cry?
Matthew 11: 28 – 30Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.](29) Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.(30) For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good–not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne. (Amplified Classic)
God has already opened the door of His Heart to all of Mankind, past, present, and future. He has already made provision for all of us through the Blood of Jesus and His Living Word. The price has already been paid in Full. Now it is up to us. The decision is ours.
Will you respond to the Heart Cry of God calling out to you?
1st Corinthians 13: 7 – 8 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. (8) Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. (Amplified Classic)
Romans 5:5 Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. (Amplified Classic)
1st Peter 4: 7 – 8 But the end and culmination of all things has now come near; keep sound minded and self-restrained and alert therefore for [the practice of] prayer. (8) Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].(Amplified Classic)
Proverbs 10: 12 Hatred stirs up contentions, but love covers all transgressions. (Amplified Classic)
Ephesians 4: 14 – 5: 2 So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. (15) Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). (16) For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. (17) So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds. (18) Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature]. (19) In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand]. (20) But you did not so learn Christ! (21) Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him], (22) Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; (23) And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], (24) And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness. (25) Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.(26) When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. (27) Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him]. (28) Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. (29) Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it. (30) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin). (31) Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind). (32) And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you. (Amplified Classic)
The Love Walk does not just happen. We must choose to walk the Love Walk on an ongoing daily moment by moment basis through a series of choices. The Love Walk must be developed. It is progressive. We must exercise choice and our Faith to develop our Love Walk. We must be diligent. It does not just happen. It is a process.
2nd Peter 1: 3 – 11 For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). (4) By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.(5) For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), (6) And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), (7) And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. (8) For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).(9) For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins. (10) Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall. (11) Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Amplified Classic)
1st Peter 3: 8 – 9 (Amplified Classic) Finally, all [of you] should be of one and the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing [with one another], loving [each other] as brethren [of one household], compassionate and courteous (tenderhearted and humble). (9) Never return evil for evil or insult for insult (scolding, tongue-lashing, berating), but on the contrary blessing [praying for their welfare, happiness, and protection, and truly pitying and loving them]. For know that to this you have been called, that you may yourselves inherit a blessing [from God–that you may obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection].
The Love Commandment includes loving your enemies and doing good to those who hate and curse you or speak negatively about you.
John 15: 12 – 14 (Amplified Classic) This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.(13) No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. (14) You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.
Jesus did not only die for His Friends but also for His enemies. He died once for all.
1st Peter 3: 18 (Amplified Classic) For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,
Luke 6: 27 – 28 (Amplified) But I say to you who are listening now to Me: [in order to heed, make it a practice to] love your enemies, treat well (do good to, act nobly toward) those who detest you and pursue you with hatred, (28) Invoke blessings upon and pray for the happiness of those who curse you, implore God’s blessing (favor) upon those who abuse you [who revile, reproach, disparage, and high-handedly misuse you].
What is the difference between human love and agape love? Agape Love vs Human love is like looking at the difference between the wheat and the tares. Wheat gives life, the tares are weeds and hinders, takes, or steals life.
Human love is conditional and needs reciprocal action. – self-centered
Human love always wants the things that are good and lovely – self-centered
Human love always wants to be pleased. – self-centered
Agape love is not dependent on understanding, or what you think or feel.
Agape Love is more interested in pleasing others than it is in pleasing self.
Agape does not care how you respond. When you love someone the way that God loves, you do so regardless of his or her actions. You love him or her through good times and rough times. That is agape love.
What hinders or chokes the Word will also hinder or choke our Love walk.
Mark 4: 18 – 19 (Amplified Classic) And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word; (19) Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.
Luke 21: 34 (Amplified Classic) But take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed (weighed down) with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to [the business of] this life, and [lest] that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose;
1st John 4: 7 …God IS Love, 1st John 4: 8 …God IS Love, 1st John 4: 16 …God IS Love,
1st John 4: 17 …As He IS so are we in this world.
Four characteristics of God’s love at work in our lives are:
It is unconditional. It is not limited, but absolute and unqualified. You don’t have to be qualified to receive the Godkind of love.
It is one-sided. It does not need to be returned. It means initiating love no matter what.
It frees you to be you. You don’t need to wear the mask that attempts to shield who you really are. Once you understand that God loves you, it no longer matters what other people think about you.
It is others-centered love, not self-centered. The center of agape love is someone else.
When Jesus gave the Love Commandment in John 13: 34; John 15: 12; and in John 15: 17 this is the kind of Love He commanded us to walk in.
1st Cor. 12: 31 But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all–love].(Amplified Classic)
1st Cor. 13: 1 – 3 IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody). (3) Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned orin order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing. (Amplified Classic)
Love meets all the requirements of heaven, answered prayers, and harvest.
Matthew 22: 37 – 39 And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). (38) This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. (39) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. (40) These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Amplified Classic)
As believers, it is essential that we know and understand God’s Love and Mercy. That we develop trust in His Love and Mercy. This is the message that He so deeply desires for the world to know. It is our message to a dark and hurting world.
If we are to have faith and confidence in Him, we must trust in His mercy.
We must Develop Faith in the Mercy of God. God is faithful to His mercy.
Deuteronomy 7: 9 (NKJV) Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
2nd Thessalonians 3: 3 (NKJV) But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
The entire Word of God emphasizes God’s Love, Mercy, and Goodness. We can trust in His Mercy. His Mercy endures forever.
Psalm 145: 9 (NKJV) The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.
Psalm 106: 1 Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
God the Father wants us to trust and have confidence in His mercy. He wants us to build our faith concerning His love and mercy. He desires for us to step out on it and give Him a chance to demonstrate His mercy toward us.
1st John 3: 1 (NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
1stPeter 3:18 (Amplified Classic) For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,
Ephesians 2: 1 (Amplified Classic) AND YOU [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins
Ephesians 2:4 – 5 (Amplified Classic) But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, (5) Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).
God Is Love! It is the reason for everything that He does. He does nothing that is not rooted and founded on Love because He Is Love!
Ephesians 2: 4 – 10 (Amplified Classic)But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, (5)Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation). (6) And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). (7) He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus. (8)For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; (9) Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.] (10)For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
Ephesians 2: 1 (NKJV)And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Romans 5: 8 (Amplified Classic) But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.
John 5: 24 (Amplified Classic) I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words [who listens to My message] and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me has (possesses now) eternal life. And he does not come into judgment [does not incur sentence of judgment, will not come under condemnation], but he has already passed over out of death into life.
God has been revealing His Heart, His Thoughts and His Ways from the very beginning.
It is The Father’s deep desire that His people know Him, that all mankind know Him, that they know His Heart and His Ways.
Jesus came to reveal the Heart of the Father. The Holy Spirit has also been sent to reveal the Heart of The Father and the Heart of Jesus. We, God’s Children, have also been sent to reveal the Heart of the Father.
From cover to cover The Living Word of God, the Bible, reveals God’s Heart and Ways.
It should be our deepest desire to know the Father’s Heart.
Ephesians 1: 4 – 6 (Amplified Bible Classic) Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. (5) For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent] (6) [So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 2: 4 – 8 (Amplified Bible Classic) But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, (5) Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation). (6) And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). (7) He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;
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