Highway of Love

O LORD, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways. (Psalm 139:1-2, Amplified)

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you… (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV)

Have you ever had the thought, “If people really knew me, knew my weaknesses, knew my failings, knew my secrets, they wouldn’t like me anymore. They wouldn’t love me anymore”?

Is there a side of you that everyone sees, while hidden within is the you that you never want anyone to see? It’s a lonely place to feel unknown for fear of being unloved. But there is One Who has always known you. There is One Who has always loved you.

I think of the madman of Gadara. A man possessed of devils, living among the tombs, frightening everyone in that area. Others saw him and were repulsed by him and feared him. Jesus saw Him, knew Him and loved Him.

The woman caught in adultery, her secret failings and sins were put on display for all to see. He knew what she had done. He knew her and He loved her.

Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors. He knew them and He loved them.

As He dined in a Pharisees home a woman came and anointed his feet with oil. Washed His feet with her tears. Dried His feet with her hair. The Pharisee thought to himself if Jesus knew who was touching Him, a sinful, outcast of a woman, He wouldn’t allow it. But Jesus knew who she was. He knew what she had done. He knew her and He loved her. His love set her free.

He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows every intimate detail of your life. He knows you and He loves you.

People may or may not ever get to know the real you. People may or may not love the real you. But always remember that there is One that has always known you and One that will always love you.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized you that He sent His Son for you (John 3:16).

I recently went through a great transition in my life. My husband and I left a church we had attended for fourteen years. We left at God’s instruction. We left on good terms. We left a place where I felt like I was somebody. I felt a little like Norm from Cheers, everybody knew my name. I was a prayer leader. I was a teacher. I was a healing minister. I was the lead person for a certain area of ministry in the church. I was somebody that people looked up to. Then we left.

I am at a new church now. I can count on my fingers the number of people who know my name. I slip in for service and then slip out unnoticed. I do laundry. I clean my house. I cook dinner. I was beginning to feel like a nobody. But what does the Bible say about this?

…if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody). (1 Corinthians 13:2, KJV)

Leading prayer doesn’t make me somebody. Being a teacher doesn’t make me somebody. Healing the sick in His Name doesn’t make me somebody. Being in charge of a ministry doesn’t make me somebody. I was somebody as I did each of these things because of the love I did them with, His love in me.

…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Romans 5:5, KJV)

We can have faith that moves mountains but without His love we are nobody. But with His love…

Be somebody today. Whether your praying for or ministering to the nations or simply folding laundry and cooking dinner for your family. Be somebody today by loving the people that are right in front of you.

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14, KJV)

And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples…  They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I cam not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Mark 2:15,17; KJV)

He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. (John 13:4-5, KJV)

…He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her… Woman, where are those thine accursers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord, And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (John 8:7,10-11; KJV)

…he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to they friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. (Mark 5:18-19, KJV)

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44, KJV)

…and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:26-31, KJV)

And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him… Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34, KJV)

As we look at His life of love, that love within our own hearts begins to stir, begins to bubble up, begins to flow. Do you want to live a life of love? Know how much He loves you. Know how much He loves others. See His love and fall in love with Him, fall in love with those He loves. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Excite – to rouse, to stir up, to put in motion, to inflame… (Websters, 1828)

Excited – Roused, awakened, animated, put in motion, stimulated, inflamed. (Websters, 1828)

We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19, NASB)

We love each other as a result of His loving us first. (1 John 4:19, NLT)

We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19, KJV)

We love God; we love others; we love ourselves because He first loved us. His love for us roused, awakened, put in motion, stimulated and inflamed us to love. Do you want to love God fully? Do you want to love others fully? Do you want to love yourself fully? Meditate on His love and you will be excited to love.

Many years ago I had a fear of getting into pride. As I followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, I found that God was doing some amazing things for me and through me. Along the way I received many “promotions” in my sphere of influence and levels of responsibility. With each new promotion I pulled out my Joyce Meyer cassette tapes (I did mention this was many years ago) entitled “No Flesh Shall Glory”. One day as I was pulling out the tapes yet again, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Don’t focus on the pride. Focus on love and you will not fall into pride.” He changed what I was focusing on.

More recently I had another experience that required a change of focus. After years of teaching on love and walking in love, I found it just got easier and easier with every step. Then little by little I noticed it took a little more effort. It took a little more willpower. I assumed that the love “tests” or love “opportunities” were getting harder, so it took more effort than before. Notice anything wrong with these statements?

Willpower? Effort? I was doing it instead of yielding and letting Him do it in me and through me. But how did I get here? It was a slow and subtle process, but my focus had shifted. Little by little I shifted from a focus on Love Himself to focusing on my own behavior. I began trying to manage my own behavior instead of letting Him make me, mold me, strengthen me and help me.

Focus on Love Himself and you will love with His might and His ability. Focus on your own behavior management and you will struggle in your own strength and ability.

Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3, KJV)

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18, Amplified)

Keep looking into the mirror of the Word of God and be transfigured into the Image of Love Himself. That is the source of true transformation.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. So I went with him…. (Song of Solomon 2:13-14, Amplified)

Do I take time to meet my Good Shepherd each day, letting Him tell me of His love…? (Footnote to SOS 2:13, Amplified)

Each morning, you receive an invitation to come away with Him. Throughout the day or in the middle of the night, you’ll hear His call. Why is He calling you? Because He wants to tell you of His love for you.

Don’t be afraid to answer the call. Don’t be afraid of what He might say to you or show you. He didn’t come to judge you, reject you or condemn you. He came to save you. He loves you perfectly and He wants to tell you daily of His love.

I love you. I love you. I love you. These are the words that He is speaking to your heart all day long.

…If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love. (1 John 4:18, NLT)

…I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love and more love. (Jeremiah 31:3, Message)

What can you expect when you answer the call? Love.