You've lost, that lovin' feeling, ohhhh that lovin' feeling, bring back that lovin' feeling, now it's gone, gone, gone, and I can't gooooo on, wowoooh oh
That simple
I see what God is doing, in fits and spurts. He is a mystery, and His ways are not our ways, but He wants them to be! When we ask the questions, He gives us answers. Now here is the thing, as far as things go. God is like hey y'all, I have two commandments for you, it is that simple, and all will go well for you, if you do as I say:
Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:36-40).
Self limiting
When I said above, I see what God is doing in fits and spurts, it isn't because He is not obvious, because God never changes and is timeless (this does not make Him boring: He is our forever creator, try to wrap your noodle around that concept!), it is me dear reader, I am obtuse! As a self limiting lover of humanity, I am the one that ignores, resists, and turns away from His commands to love Him with all my
- heart
- soul
- mind
and
- love my neighbour as myself
Thickening layer
That loving feeling has been missing from humanity for a very long time, in fact, hate has been propagated consistently for so long, that it has become a comfortable skin we are in, without noticing the thickening layer: and it all started with you and me, rebelling against God Almighty.
I am going to say it, and you may object to what you are reading, but alas, we are here together for a reason and I presume, it is for an honest exchange? Here goes: You... Hate... God
Is this true dear reader, do you hate Him?
A house divided
I recently learned that I had hate in my heart, intermingled with murderous thoughts. I was hating those that are hurting innocent people, and what I discovered about myself, is that I was a house divided. While I was hating injustice, I was harbouring resentment: love and hate cannot coexist, not because hate minds at all, in fact, the spirit of hate is fuelled by duplicity, confusion of causes, divisiveness, and righteous indignation turned into pompous condescension. The devil was having a field day keeping me occupied with my spiritual vigilantism. While I love humans, Satan was entertained with me hating some of them too.
Love kept calling me out
It was love: love couldn't tolerate my housing of the enemy. My soul was confined to a dingy basement cellar, with hate hanging around as my companion, while love kept calling me out, asking when I was going to be done with my own self-imposed time out from love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).
It was a good question, and when happened on November 14th, during a conversation I had with my son. The spirit I will call retribution, was addressed, challenged, and summarily removed, as an unwanted cling on from my being, and replaced by a reverence for God as Justice of the Peace, that I have never experienced before:
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets
The law, the commandments of God, are predicated on love dear reader. L O V E, and this is what the spirit of hate has sought to eradicate since the first, fresh, oxygen rich breath, man inhaled millennia ago. The devil hates God, and his delight is to get us to do the same: this is why the power of love must be made known to all mankind, to save them from the evil ones ploys, and our natural inclination to steer ourselves, and others I might add, in the wrong direction! If Satan can get a Christian to harbour hate, he has done a marvellous job of ruining their reputation as a a follower of Jesus, since this is truth revealed about the love of the triune God:
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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:16-17)
For God so loved the world...
I sojourn no further into my own psyche, suffice it to say, that God uprooted in me what did not belong: I asked Him to, others prayed for it to be gone, and because of love, it is no longer
Gone, gone, gone
Let us return to my topic, that loving feeling, and it being gone, gone, gone. Our society is symptomatic of sickness. There is a deficiency, and while people focus on the physical, they are missing out on optimal wellness. It is not the body that needs an infusion of vitamins or medicines, it is the soul that suffers the loss of its love portion. Made in love, and bumped out of love by enmity, humans have had to fight their way back to the beginning, back to God!
Longing for belonging
The god of this world is mr. opposite. He is impossible, improbable, unlikely, unbearable, unsavoury and unusually despicable: unfortunately, so are we, when we engage in his reindeer games. He is the king of deception, and is it any wonder, that so many lost souls longing for belonging, have been deluded to the point of soul sacrifice?
The evidence of godlessness is apparent, because fear is the dominant symptom of soul sickness. If a person has love in their heart, it casts out all fear, and since God is love, there would be no room for anything else, since He is all encompassing and larger than life:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18)
... because fear hath torment
Love vs Hate
Peace vs Torment
God vs Satan
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
Isaiah dear one, wrote a child is born, unto us a son given... pronouncing him as the Prince of Peace. Isaiah prophesied the manifestation of God in fleshly form, 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus. God, as I said early, is obvious, and He reveals much to us when we seek: we are the obtuse ones, we are the ones that need lessons in manners. We, shamefully, are the ones that deserve a God given time out, but alas, instead, God loves us unto Christ.
A challenge
How do we do this, you ask? If you have yet to meet your Saviour, you are at the right place, at the right time... God doesn't complicate the meeting process, in fact, He knit you in your mothers womb: isn't it about time you pay homage to your Heavenly Father?
Here is a brief how to process:
- Start where you are
- Go to the God of the Universe, the One of the Bible, and have a conversation with Him about your need to be saved from your sorry self
- He will direct you to His Son, Jesus, the Saviour that died for your sins and mine
- You will feel convicted of your sins for betraying God and the love He has for you
- That sorry feeling you have, is repentance... stop sinning and give your life to God
- Learn about Him, asking Him to open your eyes so that you may behold the wondrous things in His law, as taught in His word
- He will teach you what love is, because He is love, and He never denies a one, that humbly, hopefully, approaches Him
- He will give you the gift of the Holy Ghost, the indwelling of godliness as your Counsellor
- Once He has healed your heart, He will equip you too, teaching you how to love like He does!
- Share your faith with friends and family, colleagues and anyone that will listen. Some will not like what they are hearing, others will be curious, and still others, will celebrate with you, as a brother/sister in the family of God, through Christ or LORD
- Fellowship with other believers to grow your faith. We were designed for relationship, first and foremost with God, and next, with one anotherđź’–
- See yourself and others the way God does, as His beloved creatures.
Once we have the eyes of love, hate loses strength, dries and shrivels up, and is blown away with the wind, as though it never were...
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