“THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE” JUNE 5, 2022 SCRIPTURE AND SONG

EPHESIANS 3:16-19

16. That He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. KJV.

This has to be the favorite passage for many. We all need what it is saying. What do we need?

• The riches of His Glory
• Strengthened in the inner man
• Christ may dwell in our hearts
• Rooted and grounded in Love
• Able to Comprehend that Love
• Able to Know that Love
• To be filled with the fullness of God

We know the riches of His glory can never be exhausted. There is never a need that He cannot supply. We cannot make it on our own strength. We do not have the resources within us to be like Him in any way. We will always fail in our own strength. He knows this. He just wants us to know this. Then we will ask and depend upon Him for what we need.

In order to live the life, He has called us to live, we must have Christ dwelling in our hearts. We need Him very close because we are so weak and vulnerable to Satan’s devices. When He comes to dwell, He brings His love. That love is what empowers us to go forward when we do not want to go at all. Love is His great motivational force that causes us to attempt things we would never have on our own. We do them because we love Him. Not because we believe we can. But because we believe He can.

We must learn to move in that love. Then our being becomes rooted and grounded upon His love. We need that love more than the air we breathe. Then we are able to comprehend that love because there is nothing greater on this earth. He wants us to be able to know His love. That begins in the secret place of communion and prayer and grows into a relationship that nothing can sever.

Then all the junk is cleared away to make room for His fullness. He begins pouring His Spirit inside of us. Then He teaches us the different ways it can leak out. Worldliness can make it leak out. Any type of sin can make it leak out. Sadness can make it leak out. He teaches us to focus on the good outcome in every situation. Then we will not fear or become discouraged.

This of course is a growing thing which is not that easy to do. It must be learned through sanctified trials. But He is continually with us and that makes it wonderful. And what does He want from us when we are filled with God’s love and His fulness?

I have been singing a Phil Driscoll CD every day for a while, and it has an upbeat version of Amazing Grace which I love. He sings, “It was your grace Sir, though it taught me, taught me how to really love.”

That is just what He does. He teaches us how to really love when we do not want to. I know when I get hurt, I want to back away and put up a shield to protect me from any further pain and turn off the love. I have noticed that anger does not hurt. So, we at times may unknowingly choose anger to stop the pain. But we must deal with it, or it will be buried deep within our hearts sometimes for years to come.

We must learn to love like He loves. He loves us no matter how many times we fall. He loves us through every tough time. He loves the abuser and the abused. We cannot love like He does. So, we must be filled with Him so He can do it through us.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And so faith, hope and love abide; … love, true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us, these three, but the greatest of these is LOVE!

🎵SONG – HOLY LOVE (VINEYARD) – LOVE WILL FIND A WAY – LOVE THEM – KELLY WILLARD