Love

1 John 4

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that^[a] Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can^[c] he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

 Test the spirits God asks us to do, not for our own selfish wants and desires, but against the word of God to prove its truths.  Our desires can only manifest when we’re trying to bring a smile to Father God and our Lord’s face and to one another.  A pure natural sincere love is the objective; that can only come from the Holy Spirit who wants to bring peace and love to our world.  I made a vow to God at age 16 that all would know that I loved them before they passed away.  However, though I’ve found no one to give that same sincere love, consideration, and respect back, I press on for the upward call of Heaven.  Because I know when I’m doing a good deed or saying a kind word, I’m storing my treasures in heaven believing God will bless me down here on earth and He does.  Our God’s kingdom is built on a foundation of love.  Everything He thought and did before speaking our world into existence came from a heart of love for us.  So we are to proceed in all we do and say on a foundation of love. Our bible cannot open itself and reveal its promises, if not embraced in love.  Our minds and hearts must form compassion for our losers and heroes in the word of God to train in how to interact in all instances.  God is sincere, so we must become sincere.  We must check our thoughts and motives before entering into this world of darkness where satan waits like a roaring lion ready to kill, steal, and destroy, our desires and dreams.  We must make our thoughts clean and pure for one another.  Then we will know when we’re entertaining the enemies of God.  Our fight is not of flesh and blood but of powers and principalities that make us do the things we should not want to do and not do the things we ought to do to please God. 

 If you’re telling yourself you don’t like this person or that person, begin to take a look at yourself.  God says how can you love Me, who you’ve never seen, but hate the man whom you do see.  We must work the fruits to achieve God’s dream for our lives.  We must love.

Teach us Lord to love unconditionally as You do,

Vincent Young, Christian Analyst.