When we understand the love that the Father has for us, it changes everything that we ever knew about Him. In Ephesians 3:17 (Amplified) , we read,"May Christ through your faith (actually) dwell (settle down, abide, make Hi permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love." This scripture is one that only faith can make possible to the believer. God has already she His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit according to Romans 5:5 (Amplified) Even though that love has already been poured out in our hearts, like everything else God has done, it must be received by faith. This love that He has for us is so great and so powerful that only faith in Him can reveal it to your spirit in it's fullness.
We have been taught over the years that God so loved us that He sent Jesus to die for our sins according to John 3:16 (Amplified). This is such a truth in the Word that your senses can have a hard time with it. The truth is that when this love set us free, it continued on throughout eternity. It wasn't just to take care of our sins, but was to express the fullness of this love after the sin was taken care of. Once that love had eradicated all of the obstacles that stood in it's way, then it was free to express itself in all of it's power in a way that had only been on the outside before. Now this very love (or God Himself) could now not only deal with the flesh and blood man, but could now live in you all the time. In times past (under the old covenant) only if you obeyed the fullness of the law could God actually extend the tenderness of this love because sin blocked His presence. Now, with the sin problem out of the way (by the cross), this tenderness of the Father was coupled with the power of an Almighty God. Now, He was no longer just our God, but out Father.
This love (or God Himself) now is poured out into our spirit because the Holy Spirit (who is God) will actually live in us. Your faith in the truth of His Word will determine how much of this love will actually be received in our lives.
Those who are still in the bondage of dreading punishment every they fail, don't understand the fullness of this love. There is a scripture in 1 John 3:20-23 (Amplified) that explains this love more than anything else, because this is the place where most of us fail at. Verse 20 says, "whenever our hearts in (tormenting) self accusations make us feel guilty and condemn us. (For we are in God's hands) For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts) and He knows (perceives and understands) everything (nothing is hidden from Him)." Verse 21 goes on, "And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us) we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God." Verse 22 says "and we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we (watchfully) obey His orders (observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us) and (habitually) practice what is pleasing to Him."
What is pleasing unto Him? That even if our hearts accuse us, then He is greater than our hearts. His love goes farther in our lives than the accusations of the lying devil who tells us that God won't hear us now.
This lack of faith in His love, has held more Christians in bondage and fear than any other thing in Christianity. We have an argument on our way to Church on Sunday morning and because we know better than to argue with our loved ones, our consciences condemn us and we can't enter into worship. We lose confidence in our prayer and become despondent in our walk with Him. Anytime you or I fail, we must remember that if He loved us enough to forgive us when we were sinners, then how much more does this love work on our behalf for forgiveness now that we are His?
This cleansing of our consciences is a very important part of our understanding of the love of God in our lives. Under the old covenant, the blood of bulls and goats would cover our sins. Under our new covenant, the blood of Jesus has completely don away with them. Hebrews 9:14 (Amplified) says "How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, who by virtue of (His) eternal Spirit (His own pre-existent divine personality) has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God. Purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the (ever) living God."
This cleansing of the conscience by His blood is one of the most important things that our faith can produce (or accept) in our walk with Jesus. This is the most effective weapon the enemy has to stop and render ineffective the power of Christ in our lives. Our prayer life, our ability to receive blessings, our ability to receive healing or worse,and our ability to receive our own forgiveness is based on this act of faith to "understand and be rooted deep in His love."
Hebrews 10:14 (Amplified) says that, "for by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made Holy."
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