Love
John wrote:
“Whoever confesses that Jesus that is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: 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 casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.”
1 John 4: 15-19
The Greek word for “believed” here is “pisteuo,” meaning to be persuaded, to place in confidence, and to believe in. We need eyes to see to receive a revelation and be persuaded by His love. We are given an image of the Secret Place because if we abide in the Secret Place, we abide in His love, and we stand secure, fully persuaded by His love. Here, we know we are kept. As Smith explained:
When Satan is the nearest, God is nearer with abounding measure of His grace.
The very thought of Jesus will confirm truth and righteousness and power in your mortal bodies.
“Another commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another as I loved you.” Jesus made emphasis of the new commandment when he left us, and inasmuch as we miss it, we miss all the Master’s invocation. If you miss that commandment, you miss everything. All the future summits of Glory are yours in the very fact that you have been recreated in a deeper order by that commandment.
As we abide in the Secret Place of His love, His love wrecks us, and His commandment to love becomes the natural order. Smith explained:
THE greatest plan that ever Jesus showed forth in His ministry was the ministry of service. When we come to a place where we serve for pure love’s sake because it is the Divine hand of the Master upon us, we shall find that we shall never fail.
All service must be an outflow of His love. We must first be marinated in His love until His love wrecks and makes us. His love must now define us. If we are Secret Place dwellers, then His love becomes the driving force of our lives. Smith explained:
Again, it is an impartation of love — an expression of Himself — for God is love. The first breathing or revelation of light of the new creation within the soul is so pure, so unadulterated, so perfect, and so righteous that if we go back to when you were first enlightened and had the revelation, to when you first believed in your heart, you felt so holy, you loved so much, you were in a paradise of wonderment. You had no desire for sin; sin had lost its desire. There you were, with a New Birth unto righteousness, filled with the first love of purity and truth.
The enemy operates in hatred and fear. The Lord calls us to receive His love, and in receiving His love, we allow His love to come, move us, and make. His love becomes the driving force of our life, and we know that in Him we are secure. We abide in the secure place that is the Secret Place of His love. Smith explained:
God’s Word is the great antidote to evil. You see, “There is no fear in love; hut perfect love casteth out fear…” (1 John 4:18). And where is God, who is Love? He is in the Word. He has embodied Himself in the Word. The Word spells destruction to all evil, because God is in the Word, and He is greater than all evil. Therefore, he that dwelleth in love is master of evil situations. He that dwelleth in GOD, in His presence and in His Word, is master of evil situations. We have no fear! We are over every sickness! Ours is a perfect redemption!
The Lord desires to impregnate us with His love until we are baked in His love. Smith said:
I see the Master in His royal robe of holiness, an impregnation of love, moving and acting in the present tense of divine power. It is an association to be imparted to us. “Ye” shall receive power, according to Acts 1:8.
His love sweeps over us until all fear is removed, and we know we are kept. This love now molds us and becomes the essence driving us until we see through His love, act in His love, and we are changed by His love. His love softens us and makes us pliable, gentle, and abounding in His kindness. We now see through His love, and we are controlled by His love.
To walk in the right way, you have to have one thing removed from your life: fear. If fear is removed, power and confidence will come in its place. You also have to have something that must remain: love. You must love to obey God rather than to obey your inclinations to “be something.” (But if God wants to make you someone, that is different.)
We learn to see ourselves through His love until we know we are forgiven and all hold the devil
I thank God for His speaking. Behind all of His dealings, we see the love of God for us. He sees our bitter tears and our weeping night after night. There is none like Him. He knows; He forgives. We cannot forgive ourselves; we oftentimes would give the world to forget, but we cannot. The Devil won’t let us forget. But God has forgiven and forgotten. Do you believe self or the Devil or God? Which are you going to believe? Believe God. I know the past is under the blood of Christ and that God has forgiven and forgotten, for when He forgives, He forgets. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! We are baptized to believe and to receive.
Smith added:
It was the love of God that brought Jesus, and it is this same love that helps you and me to believe. God will be your strength in every weakness. You who need His touch, remember that He loves you. If you are helpless or sick, look to the God of all grace, whose very essence is love, who delights to give liberally all life and strength and power that you need.
Faith and Love
Rarely do we hear messages explain just how closely tied faith and love are, as we can see in:
“And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 1: 14
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”
1 Thessalonians 1: 3
“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”
1 Thessalonians 5: 8
Paul demonstrated that, indeed, love and faith are connected. Love creates the perfect climate for faith to be effective. We are to walk with a living faith towards the Lord that is built upon a fervent love. Here we see the image of the Secret Place where we are swallowed up in His love and a now faith. In fact, it is solidified in the security of His love.
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
1 John 4: 16
The Lord calls us to taste and see and, in doing so, to come to know His love. Here, as we receive His love, He swallows up all the old and makes us new. As we are wrecked and made by His love, we come to the place of believing His love. On this earth, we have found that love is as strong as death, but His love is stronger. Until we have discovered the depth of His love in how far He went for us, and the height of His love in how He now lifts us and brings us into something beyond anything we can imagine. He makes us not just believers in Him, but sons and daughters, kings and priests, heirs and co-heirs.
He is love, and as our eyes are opened to see Him, we see the perfection of love and a reflection of the person He is making us. He brings us to a place not just of knowing His love but of abiding in His love. Here, our whole life is lost and found in His love, so that all the rejection, brokenness, and injuries from this world are burned up in the fire of His love until we are radically and totally new creations.
Here, as we drink from the well of His salvation and pool of His love, we are satisfied, made complete and whole, and then brought to a place where we overflow.
“For the love of Christ compels us.”
2 Corinthians 5: 14
His love overwhelms us so that the way we think, act, and speak becomes dripping with it. This is most powerfully displayed when we are persecuted and tried, when all hate is thrown at us, and we respond only in and with His love.
“The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Romans 5: 5
The Holy Spirit pours His love into us, and the more we yield, the more we see His love’s impact in and through our lives. This love lifts us to make us more than conquerors (Romans 8: 37). This love operates by the standards of the Father, so we must love as He loves, and that means we must forgive as He forgives (Luke 11: 4).
“Pursue Love”
1 Corinthians 14: 1
When we are to pursue love, we focus on our gifts, messages, ministries, and results. Our energy and focus should be on His love. All that we do must be from and marked by His love.
