It’s not easy to look at incarcerated inmates without doubting them, judging them, disliking them, rejecting them. The only way is to be able to taste “agape” love. Agape love is a self-sacrifice kind of love. Agape love is of God, which is His nature. [1John 4:8 - “God is love.”].
Everything that God does flows from His love. He loves because that is His nature. He loves all of us, even the unlovable! Not that anyone deserves it, but because that is His nature to do so. God’s love was shown to us on the cross, where Christ died to save us, sinners. He paid that ultimate sacrifice for those He loves. That is a sacrificial act. Sacrificial love is not based on a feeling but a determined act of the will and a joyful resolve to put others’ welfare above your own. It doesn’t come naturally to us. If we love God, then, that agape love can emanate from its True Source.
“And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” - Romans 5:5
When we have that love in our hearts, then, we can obey what Jesus said, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” - John 13:34
Let us desire this highest, purest kind of love: AGAPE…Unconditional. Selfless. Always giving.
I'm so grateful that God love me. I desire to seek Him for the love to be able to love those He puts into my life with His love; because my love is not enough, my love is selfish.
ReplyDeleteOur human nature is to question others motives. We/I must let it go and depend on GOD to give me discernment and fill my heart with HIS love for others, always.
ReplyDeleteThanks for standing in the gap with me for others. Hugs, andrea
Great post. I feel such a 'high' when I see that kind of love. God is so good.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I think I understand God's agape love, He teaches me a new facet of it. His love is so powerful, healing and amazing. I thought of you Tuesday when i was in the Cardiac Care Unit. As I waited,two guards and a prisoner came in with the chains and the orange jumpsuit and shoes. I was amazed at the assortment of feelings I experienced as he sat next to me. I had to choose to think with my head and not heart because there was fear there. There's no fear in love.
ReplyDeleteI'm always in awe of God's love.
ReplyDeleteRosel,I love reading your post. You posted later than usual today. I was afraid there wouldn't be one from you. I really enjoy the way God has given you to put things. Oh how I would love to always see others with God's perfect LOVE! Thanks for sharing.Carol
ReplyDeleteGod's love is so precious to me.
ReplyDeleteI desire that Agape love that comes only from our Saviour. That was such a beautiful video. I really loved seeing the inmates lifting their Bibles in praise to the King of Kings!! :)
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Lisa
Years ago, I did work with both adults getting divorce, and with the children in grief recovery from the savagery of divorce,
ReplyDeleteLove was absent.
It was there one time, but seemed to have evaporated over time, until disinterest, neglect, indifference, and raw hate replaced the former love.
No one expects it on wedding day; one half endure it at some point of a marriage.
The children ARE PREY FOR SATAN; they believe they are the cause (after a certain age).
But the answer was always the same from adults in divorce....adults who knowingly chose love, then threw it away later, and sought divorce.
I would ask of 60 to 80 people: "How many of you have given up on your spouse?". ALL hands went up.
I then asked: "How many of you believe that God has given up on your spouse?". Rarely did a sole hand arise as that sunk in.
We ALL understand love; we grope at the application.
And many times, I saw a look of anger that God would still love this person that was so reviled by a former spouse in the room.
I had everyone stand, and put both their hands on the shoulder of the person next to them...all in a huge circle. Each person's job was to pray for one week every day.....for the "Ex" of the person they had their hands on the shoulders of. After all, no one else would likely pray for that person (even the spouse ejecting, or being ejected from marriage).
Suddenly, God was in the mix again.
Great things happen when God is around.
Among them....healing. Sometimes a marriage; sometimes the heart of the person no longer in marriage. But healing began with prayer and putting God back in the equation from which He had been removed. No God = no Love.
Moses lifted his arms in prayer and the battle in the valley below went favorably. His arms grew weary and he put them down. The battle grew bloody and a loss was certain. His buddies noticed the link, and stood on each side of Moses, and THEY lifted his arms for success from God in the battle below.
If you are too weary to pray, ask two friends to lift their arms in prayer on your behalf.
Moses showed us the result. Victory!
Jesus said that at the Gate of Heaven, some will shout "Lord, Lord, let us in! We did miracles in your name and cast out demons. Don't you recognise us?"
These are not desperate nonbelievers pleading mercy. These are clearly BELIEVERS, for they call Him "Lord".
He replies: "Get away from Me. I NEVER knew you!"
Can you imagine being a believer and Christ one day saying "I never knew you"?
Why do you call someone "Lord" and then not submit to them? He is not fooled or mocked; He KNOWS!
This has to be the ultimate shock of all shocks. A divorce from God.....for no marriage had taken place between God and that person saying "Lord, let us in".
The marriage papers were not missing.
The love was missing.
And it was not the love of God that was missing. It was the lack of love from those who proclaim "Lord", and then insist the world revolves around THEM.
No submission. No surrender. No real Lord.
It is not the gates of jail that slam shut on those who's love is imitation, or directed toward themselves.
It is the Gates of Heaven that get slammed shut on these supposed believers.
God is love.
God is not a Valentine Day type lover. His love is every day. Many believe they are in His love and reciprocate it. He is very clear!
There are folks in this group that He simply "never knew".
Re-evaluate your life often.
Ask Him, "Is it I, Lord that you never knew?"
Then listen.
His love is only exceeded by His mercy, for He knows we will fail...all of us....whether a former spouse, or Osama, makes no difference.
But His mercy and love endure forever. (Psalms)
Happy Valentine Day to all you lovers out there.
Happy Entire Life of Love to all you believers in the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
We will one day meet ... INSIDE the Gate of Heaven!
Love is the best known but least understood of all God's attributes. Almost everyone who believes in God these days sees Him as a God of love. I have even met agnostics who are quite certain that if God exists, He must be benevolent, compassionate, and loving.
ReplyDeleteAll those things are infinitely true about God, of course, but not in the way most people think. Because of the influence of modern liberal theology, many suppose that God's love and goodness ultimately nullify His righteousness, justice, and holy wrath. They envision God as a benign heavenly grandfather-tolerant, affable, lenient, permissive, devoid of any real displeasure over sin, who without consideration of His holiness will benignly pass over sin and accept people as they are.
Liberal thinking about God's love also permeates much of evangelicalism today. We have lost the reality of God's wrath. We have disregarded His hatred for sin. The God most evangelicals now describe is all-loving and not at all angry. We have forgotten that "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). We do not believe in that kind of God anymore.
We must recapture some of the holy terror that comes with a right understanding of God's righteous anger. We need to remember that God's wrath does burn against impenitent sinners (Psalm 38:1-3). That reality is the very thing that makes His love so amazing. Only those who see themselves as sinners in the hands of an angry God can fully appreciate the magnitude and wonder of His love.
As you know from my post on love, it is my challenge to view everything through a filter of God's love. God bless those inmates and may they truly experience the Love of God in their lives/hearts.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned you in an interview. Come over and see.
Bless you!
Beth
I find His love overwhelms me. B/c of His love to me....I can love others. Before I couldn't love them or me. He makes the difference. Tons of blessings to you. Sarah
ReplyDeleteGot a little agape love for ya on my blog...mwah!
ReplyDeleteThat video was perfect for your post. It just quiets the soul to properly see. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThere but by the Grace of God go I!! I'm reminded that the same precious loving redeeming drops of Blood that were shed for me were shed for them!!
ReplyDeleteOh how He loves you and me!!
Hugs, Love and Sweet Blessings!
Jackie
Oh my gosh, Rosel.....this was just perfect! And get this....I just finished doing a lesson with my kids about Love (for Valentine's Day)
ReplyDeleteI'll share this love letter with you~
"Dear Friends,
Let's practice loving each other because love comes from God and if you love others and are kind, it shows that you are children of God. If you aren't loving, you do not know God because God is love. How do you know God loves you? You know because he sent Jesus to die for you. And since God loved you that much, you should also love others. When you love each other God lives in you and his love grows stronger and stronger everyday.
Sincerely,
John.
(from 1 John 4:7-13)
How great is His love towards us!
ReplyDeleteGod bless you for the love that overflows you as you reach out for others.
Wonderful post.
XOXO
His Love is truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteI'm reflecting on the fact that He Himself is Love. He doesn't just have love or give love, He IS Love. So when we share Him, we are sharing Love and when we share Love, we are sharing Him.
Your posts are always good for my soul.
This "might" not go over so well with some!
ReplyDelete"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Romans 9:15.
Why did God love Jacob?
Because of his sovereign grace.
There was nothing in Jacob that could make God love him; there was everything about him, that might have made God hate him, as much as he did Esau, and a great deal more. But it was because God was infinitely gracious, that he loved Jacob, and because he was sovereign in his dispensation of this grace, that he chose Jacob as the object of that love.
"He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy."
And rest assured, the only reason why any of us can hope to be saved is this- the sovereign grace of God. There is no reason why I should be saved, or why you should be saved, but God's own merciful heart, and God's own omnipotent will.
C. H. Spurgeon
Agape love is incomprehensible with our natural understanding. Only as we ask God to keep revealing Himself to us, will be be able to grow in the revelation of His unconditional and unselfish love. The more I know Him, the more I love Him! :)
ReplyDeleteMy DH asked me this week ~ How do I know God loves me? I started crying when I answered bc it humbles me so....It is in everything I see or in situations, in my children, in him ~ my DH but then I started with the Word, or with JESUS....needless to say I couldn't stop with my answer....It is so amazing HIS LOVE....so amazing. He is in you too bc your love is so evident here with us Rosel. Thank you for that! I just would love to hug your neck about now! Praying for you while you are working this weekend
ReplyDeleteAwesome prison praise video. I love it, especially when all are playing the guitar and lifting His name up. Thanks. This video and your words have touched me Rosel. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteI love that you are talking about agape love. In our Experiencing God study, it has been so interesting to see the way God is moving in our ladies. How so many of our "joy" issues boil down to a love problem with the Lord. So many of our sisters don't believe how much God loves them, and don't believe the greatest command is even possible in our world to love the Lord with all their heart, mind, strength. So, God put on my heart to talk about agapao love & that total direction of the heart to God & His will.
ReplyDeleteWe can love Him like that! Yes, the world fights for our love, but greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. We can do all things through Him!
I love coming to your encouraging blog & hearing you shout it out loud sister! Blessings to you!
Wylie