patrick jane forums

we finish the study portion by returning to God Love

So many times in our lives, love comes to us and we don't recognize it.  As if it is clothes in a the shadows of darkness, we allow it to slip by unnoticed.  Love knocks on our door and we turn it away without a second thought because it is not familiar to us.  It is important for God's children to take notice and begin to recognize love when it touches us.  Whether that touch of love is from God or brothers and sisters in Christ, love, is important enough to learn to recognize, to become familiar with it, to begin to know it on a first name basis.

John 1:10-11 (NIV)  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Isaiah 53:3 (NIV)  He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Matthew 17:12 (NIV)  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”

Luke 24:31 (NIV)  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

Jeremiah 28:9 (NIV)  But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.”

Matthew 7:20 (NIV)  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

   The love of God turns our world upside down, taking what we once thought was good and calling it evil.  Our entire point of view, our perspective shifts from the things of the flesh to the things of God.  As if we are wearing glasses, our vision is clearer and our hearts purer as we allow love to enter into us and transform us.  We no longer see things through the eyes of the world, but now, we see things through the eyes of God.

John 15:18 (NIV)  "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
Matthew 10:22 (NIV)  All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

John 7:7 (NIV)  The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.

I John 3:1 (NIV)  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

II Corinthian 2: 15-16 (NIV)  For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

   With a new perspective God loves us with new revelation, new insight into who He is.  With power and strength beyond our own, God loves us unto life.  We no longer need to fear weakness, no longer do we need to live in doubts, for our God's love is bountiful and powerful, strengthening us for the task at hand, empowering us to run the race to it's completion.  With renewal, God loves us, in strength and power that are not our own.

Philippians 4:10-13 (NIV)  I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV)  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

II Corinthians 4:16 (NIV)  Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

II Corinthians 12:10 (NIV)  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

II Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)  For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.

   With a fierce protective nature, God watches over us and will never leave us without hope.  He will not abandon us, or leave us alone.  A constant companion, God guards over us.  Never forsaking, never abandoning, but rather loving us with consistency, faithfulness, an absolute love like nothing this earth knows.

Acts 2:24-28 (NIV)  But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
“‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

II Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV)  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)  Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6-8 (NIV)  Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

   With the love of God we cease to live in ignorance.  No longer are we limited to our understanding, but we are given a new understanding, a new wisdom, a knowledge and wisdom that comes from God.  With a newness of vision and the secrets of our Savior, our Friend, we begin to see truth rather than lies and as love consumes us and transforms us, we begin to live in the truths and dismiss the lies.  With a newness on life, we allow ignorance to fade away into the darkness of our past, and step full and without shame into the light.


Ephesians 4:17-19 (NIV)  So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Job 32:8  (NIV)  But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

Knowledge – having information
I Corinthians 8:1 (NIV)  Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)  And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,  so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,  filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Colossians 1:9-10 (NIV)  For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Wisdom – the application of knowledge
Proverbs 2:6 (NIV)  For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

James 1:5  (NIV)  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

James 3:17 (NIV)  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Colossians 1:28 (NIV)  He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

Knowledge and wisdom
Ecclesiastes 2:26  (NIV)  To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)  My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Isaiah 11:2 (NIV)  The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

Daniel 2:21 (NIV)  He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

   A covenant is a binding promise.  It is a lasting agreement in which both parties are held accountable with strict understanding that it will not be broken.  It is a promise sealed with blood, lasting, binding, unbreakable.  It is with covenant that God loves.  His promise is without fault, binding.  He covers our sin with the blood of Christ and in so doing forgives our sins, makes intercession and allows us to have a relationship with Him that will lead us into His presence, into heaven.  By accepting the covenant offered, God loves us with a sacrifice of life.

Matthew 26:28 (NIV)  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 22:20 (NIV)  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Romans 11:26b-27 (NIV)  As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

II Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)  He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Hebrews 8:10 (NIV)  This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Hebrews 9:15 (NIV)  For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

   As we learn to be loved, as we begin to recognize love as it is given to us, we begin to discover a contentment in every situation whether trial or victory, joy or sorrow.  With a love that is beyond our understanding, God shows us the secret of contentment, a secret that is held in the midst of deep abiding love.  Love completes us, it fulfills and as we learn to trust love, we discover a confident rest, we learn to be content in all things, the good and the bad, the excess and the want.  God love is a love that transforms us and consumes us and leads us into salvation and contentment.

Philippians 4:11 (NIV)  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
I Timothy 4:8 (NIV)  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Proverbs 19:23 (NIV)  The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

II Timothy 3:5 (NIV)  having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

I Timothy 6:6 (NIV)  But godliness with contentment is great gain.