Commandment of Love

          His desires are called precepts, statutes, commandments and laws in Psalm119. I am not referring to the Ten Commandments because Jesus fulfilled those through His lifestyle and by obeying the Father even to the cross. Remember they were given to the people to show their hearts to themselves. Jesus was the only one who has ever kept them since Adam. It is a complete waste of our time to try in the flesh. Remember the flesh is weak but the Spirit is willing. Jesus warned us in 1st Corinthians that we would have to watch and pray. He knew that better than anyone at that time. By the Spirit is the only way Jesus conquered anything! His flesh-man was as weak as ours. If He had not known WHO He was He never would have made it and we are no different. We have to know WHO we are and WHOSE we are.

          Jesus told His disciples in John 15:10 that He had kept His Father’s commandments and He abides in His love. We are to keep His, Jesus, commandment (singular) in the same way that He kept His Father’s commandments. (plural) He then goes on to tell them what His commandment is--John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”. In verse 10, He has already spoken that if we keep His commandments we will abide in His Love. I don’t think that means if we don’t keep the commandment He won’t love us. If we keep the commandment of loving others, more love will be multiplied in our lives but if we don’t love as He has commanded us then the love will not be multiplied unto us.   

          Abiding in love is a lot different than having love. If I love my husband first then he will love me more. When I abide or rest in his love I don’t doubt his love for me. It is when I find myself not resting in his love that doubt and unbelief enters in. I still have his love but I am not receiving the blessings that come with it. Let me try again. I have a furnace in my home and it is cold outside. I turn the heat on and I abide or rest in its warmth but if I don’t turn it on I will stay cold even though I have the furnace. Think of seeds; you plant, water and feed them and you get a crop, you don’t plant, water and feed them you have no crop even though you still have the seeds. There is a law of reciprocity and that is how we either abide in His Love and receive more, actually more than we give, or don’t love in return and get no more. No less but no more!! He gives us unconditional love and He expects nothing less out of us. Conditional love is not Agape, it is done out of our minds and doesn’t bring us any multiplication from above.

          The wonderful part of this process is that we don’t have to try to do it. It totally comes from HIM! He gives us the command and then gives us the love to do it with. What an easy way of life we have if we would only submit and do it His way! True love never fails! As a child if I wanted anything within my Dad’s reach he would either give me the money to buy it or get it for me himself. That is a picture of my Heavenly Father, maybe a simple picture but a true one anyway. The idea being, I didn’t have to work for it, he enjoyed giving me things to make me happy! I must trust that Elohim loves me as much and even more. That is the love He wants us to love one another with, anything else is useless. Will we ever grow up?

          It is time that we all realized that Love dwells in each of us and all that has ever been born! It doesn’t make any difference what color, nationality or if we are rich according to the world or poor, He is there waiting for your day to come and you will be awakened to the fact of who He is and who you are! We are able to keep His commandment to love one another so our joy would be full. Many has been awakened during all the different ages of the past but even more are being awakened in this Grace age that has come upon us. We are hearing of more and more that are “seeing” for the first time and it is a wonderful time for all.

          He gave all He had but when we hold back then we don’t realize it is there. There is something to this “working out our own salvation”. (Philippians 2:12) This work is obedience to Father. It is free and complete but if we don’t realize who we are in Him then the Blessings don’t seem to flow into our lives!

          The love the world celebrates the month of February is not the love scripture is referring to. We know that and it is not so wrong to send love noted but we just need to remember the notes are from our outer-man and the love that needs to be shared is a love that comes from the inner-man, Himself. We enjoy telling people of our love for them because it is an outlet for our emotions but until there comes an occasion to prove it, we really don’t know if it is love or not! (John 15:13)

Barbara Doyle

February 2006