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| Rooted and Grounded in Love |
| by Jim Wandell |
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| Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:14-19 |
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| The prayer of love which surpasses knowledge: |
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| “For this cause I bow my knew unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you , being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.” |
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| The Lord knows what you have just gone through. He knows what you are going through right now, and He knows what is going to happen tomorrow. And the message that He wants me to convey to you is that He loves you, and He will never let you down! |
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| You may be saying, “I already know that”. But you see our Heavenly Father wants you to have a fresh revelation of His Love for you. He wants you to see it anew and to be firmly rooted and grounded in it. |
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| God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son for you. He loved you so much that He chose you for this special hour in all of history. He loves you so much that He wants to bless you with the abundance of all things richly to enjoy that your days may be like days of Heaven upon the earth. |
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| Rooted and grounded in love. God knew what He was talking about. If left up to us, we would have ourselves rooted and grounded in all sorts of garbage. Before we were saved we had planted ourselves in the toxic soil of sin and worldly lusts. But our Heavenly Father gave us the direction that we needed so that we could operate in love. |
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| The words “I love you” are thrown around at random in today`s society. “Right now I feel love for you, but that is subject to change as my feelings change.” Isn`t that what happens? I heard wedding vows one time that said as long as ye both shall “love”. This couple was already planning for a failed marriage. They didn`t think their love could or would endure anything that they would face together. And they surely didn`t know the Word of God…and that preacher didn`t either by agreeing to say that in the first place. |
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| Contrary to what the world will try to teach you, love is not an emotion, an impulse, or a feeling, it is an action that is birthed in the spirit of man by the Holy Spirit. Loving is doing. Our feelings and emotions are what have gotten all of us into trouble so many times before. But our example of true and unconditional love is found in the Word of God. You see, God acted in love when He formed the world, when He made man, when He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins, and Jesus acted in love when He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). |
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| The love of God has tremendous benefits for the believer. |
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| He tells us in Romans 8:28, “…that all things work together for good to them that love God…”. |
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| I John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear…”. Perfect love drives out fear. Fear cannot exist in the same place as perfect love. So what does this tell you about love? It has authority over fear. |
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| In Galatians 5:6 we see that “faith worketh by love”. Love is the essential component in causing the measure of faith that we have been given, to work. |
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| In John 13:34-35 Jesus issued what He called a new commandment. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I d you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye one to another.” By the very fact that we walk in our daily lives firmly rooted and grounded and operating in love, men will know that we are different…they will know that we are children of the Kingdom! |
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| You get angry with your neighbor. You get angry with the brother or sister down the pew from you. You get angry with the preacher. Where did your love go? |
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| You can get angry, but you are not to sin. And not loving, even in a period when you are angry, is sin. Even at the worst and nastiest times you can still love them. Do you know why? Genesis 1:27 has the answer for us. “So god created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” It is because you are created in the image of God, and God is love, that love is in you and you are capable of love! Romans 5:5, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” |
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| I John 3:18 tells us, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” Meaning, we can`t just talk the talk, we must walk the walk. And Ephesians 5:2, “…walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us…” |
| The Church is made up of people. Whenever people are involved, you have many different personalities, and backgrounds. People come with different ideas and mindsets. Good ideas and bad ideas. Then there are the attitudes, good attitudes and bad attitudes. Since there are so many differences, there must be a unity among the members before any growth can take place. Ephesians 4:13 talks about unity. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” And what is the element of the fullness of Christ that holds everything together? LOVE! A Church is not a Church without love. No matter how big the building is or how many members it has. |
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| Brothers and Sisters, get the revelation of God`s love inside your heart today. You can`t experience God`s best and all the fullness that He has planned for your life, without love. |
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| If you haven`t been operating and walking in love, make the change. Remember you are never too old to change. Don`t let the devil steal your blessings. Be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Set down deep roots in the good soil of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then your branches will bring forth much fruit for the Kingdom of God. And God will be able to use you in a mighty way. Get yourself rooted and grounded in love right now! |
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