Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:17-19 NKJV

Tip: Click "Last time" in each devotional to read the previous one.

Many people feel like they don't really know God's love and can't relate well to anyone called "Father." The term Father is confusing because the "love of a Father" is all mixed up with hurt, disappointment, fears, doubts or broken promises. Now it is hard to picture "God's perfect love" because father's love wasn't. If trauma in the past caused you to close your heart, even to God, your heart may still be closed off today. Your heart may be like an old screen door with a spring closure on it, closed until purposely held open. Until you let Jesus in to heal those hurts, He can’t take them upon Himself on the Cross. Until you can trust Jesus to take your hurts to His Cross, you won’t trust Him to train you in His love by letting you bear a Cross. (If you need prayer, please consider Restoration Prayer Ministry.) Until you see God with a single mind, knowing His healing love and power, bearing your Cross for others will make you feel like you will be a victim instead of a victor. Last time, we talked about how you may pray to be a demonstration of God's love and power, but not really expect anything huge to happen. You know that your heart doesn't overflow with love for others and in fact, you don't know what evils may be in your own heart. You may try to love people but will expect them to love you back and will be wounded again if they don’t. Father wants you to come to Him, let Him fill you with His love. The overflow of love comes from the wellspring of Father God’s love, life and living water inside you. (John 4:14) As you hold your heart open, Father God will keep on filling it with His perfect love out of His inexhaustible supply, a well-spring inside you.

We are like plain beige melamine cups. We are just RECEIVERS and RELEASERS, receiving Father God's perfect love, being healed of all fears by His perfect love and filled to overflowing with His love for ourselves and others. He alone is our source of everything. The key is to know that no human being is perfect in love like Father and to believe Father God's love is perfect.

Learn to set aside all thoughts of self-absorption, the thoughts of pains that you are suffering even now and focus on knowing the heart of God, His perfect love. Don’t make yourself miserable by being too busy to worship God daily, to sit in His lap and refuel in His presence. Don’t resist spending time in Father God’s lap receiving His nurturing perfect love. Open your heart to be loved and ask Him to fill your heart to overflowing. When you accept the Holy Spirit, your tutor, you find peace and an ability to trust Him to love you and train you to be a warrior of love. You will find that He is training you up in love as you receive your Cross that He uses to mature you. Pain suffered needlessly really hurts bad but pain for the cause of knowing Father's love for another is different. There is pure joy in partnering together with Father to love one who really needs it. The pain of resisting your Cross of love actually is greater than the pain of bearing your Cross of love. Submit to God’s training camp, stop struggling and let a little suffering mature you. Let go of trying to control your training and your suffering will be less. Resist and you will go around the same mountain again. Cheerfully surrender to Father God's will and let His love flow to you, in you and through you for others. It will feel good! Learn to welcome the Crosses that Father God asks you to carry. Don’t miss opportunities to grow in love for others and passion to be an expression of Father’s heart. Instead of pain, your Cross will bring deep joy and you suffer a little for another. You learn the joy of bearing a burden or a Cross for another. As you hold your heart open to Father God and allow Him to fill it with love, the Cross you bear takes on many new meanings.

This very Cross is what will conform you into His image and build oneness with Father that cannot be disturbed by circumstance or situation. Your Cross will not steal your focus from love and you will see the hand of God reaching into your heart to pluck out the roots of your self-self-self-focus. Your eyes will be opened to see people right in front of you who desperately need to see Father's perfect love at work. They too were hurt and disappointed and allowed fear to take their heart into captivity too. Once you have voluntarily entrusted yourself to the Holy Spirit, your tutor, you can drop all plans to promote or perfect yourself in your own strength and you will have a lot more free time to submit to Him. As you focus on Father instead of trying to figure out His destiny for you, the path will become clearer. If you obsess on the road ahead, the road will only get longer and longer. If you choose to hold your heart open to Father God's love and plan for your life, you will find yourself fulfilling the destiny that you were perfectly designed to enjoy. Christ in you wants to walk down the street looking for people to love just as He did when He came to earth as a man. As you allow Him to love others through you, you will find that illusive fulfillment and purpose in life. As you ask others if they need prayer today, you will be amazed how receptive they are. The more love you give, the more the well-spring of love in your heart flows. Even though you will be given crosses to bear - that of loving difficult people who are fearful like you were - you will find that holding your heart open, receiving and releasing His love is who you really are. He had your best interest at heart all along! In His unlimited love, Carlotta and Lou << Previous                     Next >>