Love, and the expression of love, is such an interesting thing. As humans we all express our love in tons of different ways. And the things we choose to express our love for is very interesting as well. Some people struggle with showing love to another person, but they may not struggle showing love toward their favorite team, car, hobby, pet or so on. The struggle to show love usually comes from the way we were shown love as a child, or a deep hurt that took place at some point in our lives. However, I have personally witnessed God heal people who had the hardest time showing love, and it took place once they experienced His love.
The thing about God's love is that once you experience it, your heart gets opened up in a way that you didn't realize was possible. And trust me when I say, I'm not talking about going to church. Yes you can find God's love at church, and you should, but I am talking about "experiencing" God's love. Experiencing it in a way that the only thing your heart desires is to express it back to Him. For me this happened a couple of years ago when I went through a deliverance at the church I now attend. See I had "known" God all of my life. And I had even gone through years where I would say I was pretty close to Him, but more on a "pleasing Him" level, not a loving Him level. And the main thing I never realized was that His love wasn't conditional. At the most messed up time in my life He loved me more than words could describe. But I didn't even love myself, so it was impossible for me to understand how He could love me. But when I went through that deliverance I didn't just go through the motions, like I had been doing for so long. Instead, I truly experienced God. I felt Him, I felt His presence in the room and I FELT His love. I felt Him wrap His arms around me and say "of course I forgive you, I was just waiting for you to come to me and ask". I never felt condemnation like I expected. I never felt rejection like I deserved. I never felt like I wasn't good enough to be sitting there asking Him to cleanse me....I just felt loved. And it was in that very moment that I realized His love just set me free....like 100% free. Like that life I just stepped out of in the deliverance was dead and gone, and He would never remind me of that again. And the only thing I could think or feel in that moment was "all I want to do is love You back God". And so started the journey I have been on for the last 2 1/2 years. Not a journey of perfection, but a journey of putting Him first out of nothing but love for Him.
I told you all about my experience with God because I wanted to tell you that I was the person who struggled with love. I loved people in my life who "deserved" it. I did for those that I thought would do for me. I would say I loved, but I selfishly loved. I didn't understand how to love someone just because God would want me to, because I didn't even understand how He could love me. But now that I had experienced His love for me at a time when I did not deserve it, I now knew how He expected me to love others. Has it always been easy, no. Are there times when I have to go to Him and ask Him help me, or show me how to love this person, absolutely. But the difference is, now instead of choosing to hold back my love from someone, I am just choosing to lay it at Jesus' feet and let Him do it through me. It takes "me" out of the picture and grows me and stretches me in ways I couldn't even imagine.
1 John 4:8 tells us that "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love". And I am here to tell you that I couldn't agree more with that verse. God is love, and loving Him and His ways is the ultimate expression of love. We can't say "I love God, but I don't love or respect His ways", it just doesn't work that way. When we fully love Him, we fully surrender to Him. We fully trust Him, and we know the freedom from sin that His ways have to offer us. Finding/fixing my relationship with God has made every other relationship in my life better. Why is that? Because no longer do I need someone to make me happy to love them...I just love them because I know God loves them. He loves them when they hurt Him, so I am called to do the same. He loves them when they disappoint Him, so I know I am called to do the same. He even loves them when they reject Him, so Yes....I am called to do the same.
If love has been a struggle for you, then allow the One who loves you the most to teach you how to love. Let Him show you how much He loves you, let Him teach you how to love yourself, and then let Him help you love others the way that He does. ALL things are possible with Him, if we only trust Him enough to let Him do ALL things through us.
God, thank You for your unconditional, undeserving, and unending love. I pray today that someone will receive that love in a way they never have. And I pray that someone will let You help them love others in a way they never have. Help us to get it right with You first, and then let You work through us. Your love changes everything, but most of all it changes us. So today I pray Your love will do the impossible in people's lives. In Jesus name, Amen
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