Dear friends, today I would like to talk about the love of God that the devil has largely destroyed. Let’s start with the definition of love:-
“Strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.”
Let’s go to the Bible about the love of God:-
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
So the Bible plainly states that God is love but friends, it goes so much deeper. It all started at the beginning of time. Basically friends, well, we know the story (if not please read about it in the documents on this website, or in the Bible itself). Jesus created Lucifer, he rebelled, was cast from heaven and became the devil we despise so much. He has caused so much pain and misery and in a large degree has destroyed the love of God. So let’s begin.
Jesus founded heaven, the covenant and His kingdom on love. He created us a free beings able to make our own decisions and free from domination. Yes, we live in countries or cities that have their rules and regulations but we choose to live here, thus we are free. But the devil has so craftily overshadowed the love of God with mystery and deceit that precious few of us today know of the true love of God. Have we forgotten the precious love of God? John 3:16 says it all but there are many other verses in the Bible and examples in the Bible of the Saviour’s love.
1st John 4:8 “…for God is love.”
Ephesians 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,”
John 13:23 “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”
John 21:20 “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following…”
As you can see friends, the love of God abounds, there is plenty of proof that He loves us and down through the ages He has loved and taken care of His people despite the devil. Friends, this love of Jesus as depicted above is also ours today. So let’s proceed and find this ‘love of God’.
Friends, the devil has used many a tactic to eradicate the love of God or just in general make us forget. Often in the blackness of the night the devil has so obliterated any rational thinking it is easy to forget about the love of God. But if our eyes could be opened we would see Jesus with His wings wrapped tightly around us, reminding us of His love for us. To a large degree our surroundings are not helping. For instance we could be working with people who have very evil views and in a toxic environment. Some people are evil and some of them work directly with Satan but you wouldn’t know it from looking at them. Satan uses these people to put base ideas into other people’s heads and he has subtly done this to us. Jesus is holding us steady, and He will not let Satan trick or deceive us. But heaven would like to set things straight, see the fact from the fiction, and stop these subtle lies that can have us doubting the very existence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Friends, everything that Jesus did was for love:-
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
And this friends, is everything the devil set out to destroy and in a large degree has succeeded. The devil has everyone doubting about the love of God and it was on this principle (the love of God) that the world was founded in the first place. If the devil can succeed in making everyone doubt that Jesus loves them then what is the point of life continuing? Friends, we are in a very dire situation here and it is for this reason, along with others, that Jesus is coming soon.
There are factors that the devil has entwined into our lives that add credibly to his lies and the devil uses these factors to deceive us. (Now we are not to worry here as Jesus is always on hand guiding us around Satan’s lies, but knowledge of the truth does bring understanding, and this understanding will help us to avoid the devil’s lies.) Let’s take one for example so we can ‘see’ how the devil is working these lies. Without a real event coming to mind, let’s say there was a delay in what we were expecting, let’s hypothetically say we were expecting a event and we had credibility from Jesus that it was going to happen. Well, something happened and the event we were expecting didn’t come to fruition. Well, via the insinuations of the devil, this arouses the question, “is Jesus telling the truth?” And this in turn brings about the doubts of Jesus’ love for us and this is where the devil is honing his skills. This is where he is getting us. See if he can get us to doubt Jesus’ love, he can make us doubt Jesus’ tender regard toward us, the devil can make us doubt, lose faith, trust and reliability of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is where the danger lies. Satan works differently with every person, he has tactics to attempt to make every Christian fall. This is just a example of the devil’s evil ways, and friends, this is why we need to open our eyes to the subtlety, realise him for the liar that he is and turn a deaf ear to his lying voice.
So what about the example above, was Jesus lying? We did expect the event and had it on credible terms that it was going to happen? So what of it? No, Jesus wasn’t lying, (I know the event we are discussing is hypothetical but these are very real situations, along with others, but the theory is the same). He was genuinely going to do everything He said, exactly as mentioned and we needed to believe it exactly as He said it. See, if we had a ‘maybe this or maybe that’ would happen we wouldn’t believe, hence we wouldn’t have been standing ready, hence we would have fallen and been seriously hurt maybe even to the loss of our lives. What about Daniel? He didn’t get a maybe we will throw you to the lions or maybe we won’t, do you think he would have stood ready and prepared on a maybe? No, he wouldn’t. See friends, the term ‘maybe’ holds no credit, no weight, and no-one is going to be standing prepared on a maybe. See friends, I believe that I have mentioned it before that this world’s history is not scripted, yes Jesus knows the future, but He is not allowed (by rules within the covenant) to run today based upon His knowledge of tomorrow. Jesus also has to let things ‘play out’ even though He knows it’s not going to work or that person desperately wanting a go now will accuse Jesus of preferential treatment if not given a go, but will fall at the first trial etc. (I believe I have mentioned this scenario in one of my documents on this website. It is referring to people desperately wanting to work for Jesus but do not have the ‘mettle’ to do so, if not given that chance they will accuse Jesus of preferential treatment, therefore Jesus gives them that chance so they can realise for themselves that they do not have the ability to do the coveted task.) So friends, this event was going to happen, but as the human factor doesn’t always ‘play ball’ or the ‘devil in the detail’ stopped proceedings, something stopped events from proceeding, Jesus had to go into damage control, patch up the broken and try anew. Friends, these trials, as they come to us, have been recorded in the books of heaven and the reasons why will be explained once we reach the heavenly shores. It can be very hard for us to understand, but Jesus knows this and once in heaven it will all be made clear. But friends, in this example, or in our daily experience we must remember the devil in the detail. Jesus has His reasons and while we may not see it at the time we cannot let the devil destroy the love of God for us. This is but one of the tactics of the devil attempting to make us doubt the love of God, friends there are others.
Let’s take a look at the love of a ‘angry?’ God. Does God get angry as the devil portrays it to be so?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
1st John 4:8 “…for God is love.”
God is love, He loves us, so does He get mad? Well, there was the cleansing of the temple, then there was the cleansing of the temple again. Friends man’s definition of anger or mad and heaven’s is totally different. What makes the difference is Jesus is mad over the sin, the founder of sin is the devil therefore if we take it to its roots, the very beginning, Jesus is angry with the devil. Jesus gave him (that’s Satan) everything, placed him at the head of the entire heavenly host and Satan betrayed Him and pretty much stabbed Him in the back. But even then Jesus didn’t destroy him, Jesus long bore with Satan till He could bear no more, for the love of everyone else Satan had to be banished. That hurt Jesus a lot, and while there is no compassion for Satan anymore it still hurts Jesus. The ensuing pain and the hurt it has caused Jesus’ people has left no sympathy for Satan or his followers and this is often interpreted as ‘God being mad’. Yes, Jesus gets mad, but let’s address it for what it really is and not some fable Satan has put out there. Jesus is mad at the sin, the sin is caused by Satan and if Satan wasn’t around then the sin wouldn’t happen. This in turn puts the blame squarely on Satan, therefore God’s anger is turned to the devil and the human is left guiltless no matter the crime (but for salvation’s sake sin needs to be acknowledged and forgiveness needs to be asked for). Friends, Jesus can see us fighting with the devil, He can see the temptations that the devil is casting our way and the fight we are having. Friends, Jesus will never be mad with us. He is a God of love and He of all people can see what the devil is doing, He will never be mad at His children, the devil yes, His children struggling under the burden of sin, no. See Jesus can see the weakness of His children, all of them, and He loves them even more. Even the people who aren’t His children He doesn’t get mad with, He gently keeps drawing them in till either He succeeds or they pull away entirely, but even if they do He isn’t mad, He still loves them. Friends, Jesus can see the cause of our weakness, our pain, He can see it is the devil making us to doubt and all the blame rests on the devil. Jesus is compassionate and of tender mercy and His love for us is unfathomable. Friends, in this world that we live in let us never forget of the love of Jesus, yes the devil may be in our ear tempting us to disbelieve in the love of Jesus, but friends, please just tell the devil he is a liar and turn a deaf ear to his temptations. Jesus loves us and that’s everything we need to know. Hold onto Him and rest in His arms, Jesus will carry you home.