And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
One of the greatest triumphs in life we will ever have is coming to know the love of Christ, which is the direct expression of God's great love towards us. Scripture teaches it surpasses all knowledge. Having confidence in God’s unconditional love towards us fills us with unspeakable joy and peace and the mysteries of that great love are unsearchable. In other words, it is unfathomable how God could love us so deeply and perfectly despite all we have done and all He knows that we are going to do but He does praise Jesus! Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (NIV) The bible teaches without faith it is impossible to please God. That is how important faith is to God…but faith is not the greatest. It also says we have hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Hope is vital and it holds us steady during the storms of life… but hope is not the greatest. The most important thing to God is love. He says of the three; faith, hope and love that love is the greatest. We cannot grow in faith, and we cannot stand in hope until we let God's love dominate our hearts. To do that we have to believe and receive God’s love for us. We have to count on it every day and we have to expect that love from our Father in Heaven.
Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (NIV) Loving others is an expression of our love for God and our love for God comes from a deep understanding of His love for us. We will never be able to let the love of God flow through us until we know His great love for us. Today you can pray the same prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians for yourself and for those the Lord has brought into your life. Ask God to enable you to be rooted and established in love so you may have the power to understand His love for you and that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. When we are filled to the brim with the love of God, scripture teaches that we will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Our faith rests in God’s great love for us. It is what we hang our hat on so to speak. God’s love toward us is never based on how lovable we are at any given moment. That unconditional love is based on Jesus and what He has done. So, the bottom line is if we have confidence in the reconciliation Jesus provided on the cross, we are able to receive His Holy Spirit into our hearts. God is love, so when we are full of God, we are full of love!
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ~1 John 4:8 (NIV)
In what areas of your life are you expecting God to show up big and express His great love for you?
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