12 Pillars of God; “Love”
Part - B
By
Nita Johnson
Transcription of New Orleans Teaching
From Last week:
It’s all about becoming like Jesus. Jesus is patient with me, He is kind to me; Jesus is never envious of me, He is never envious of my progress or anything that I receive, He never boils over with jealousy. Jesus is not boastful. Have you ever sat and talked with someone who liked to brag about everything they do, everyone they ever knew and ever thought to know? How easy is it to sit and talk to someone like that? It’s very difficult, isn’t it? Jesus doesn’t do that. He’s never boastful. He’s not vainglorious, nor does He display Himself haughtily. Jesus is not conceited, arrogant, inflated with pride. He is not rude, unmannerly, or act unbecomingly; Jesus never insists on His way. Have you ever gone into an argument with the Lord? Have you ever argued a point out with Him? He never insists on His way—even if it is best for you- He does not demand His rights or insist on His way. And, He is not self-seeking. All of this is amazing when you think through each of those points, but when you consider it as a whole, only Jesus could do all of this consistently.
Consider this for a moment. When things happen in our life, especially really difficult things, we may think Jesus is angry with us, or, perhaps disappointed with us. You might even say He is disciplining us, not because He loves us, but because He’s angry, displeased, or disappointed with us. It's quite the opposite.
The Bible tells us Jesus is not self-seeking; He is never self-seeking. If He has to discipline us, it is out of His highest love for us. Remember, He puts it upon Himself to suffer with us in the discipline, He says: "When you are afflicted, I am afflicted." The same is true if we are going through difficult trials. He chooses to bear the affliction to give us something of worth in our trials. He’s not self-seeking. Not many will bring about discomfort in their lives to add something of value to someone else's life. This is especially true if that person is going to be moaning, groaning, and complaining—all the things that humans do while He is bringing about His best for you. I don’t know many who will do that do you? Most want to make life as easy as they can for themselves, so if things go a little bad for you, and it makes it a little easier for them, they’ll proceed.
Jesus is nothing like that, and He’s never done that to you. I tell you this because I want you to understand the love the Son of God has for you. I want you to let the Word break the misperceptions, the misnomers and allow the truth about His love enter your heart. Jesus is not touchy, fretful or resentful. He’s sensitive to your concerns, "Lord I need to talk to You because I have a real problem here." His response isn't, "I don’t want to be bothered with your problem this morning." He’s not touchy; He’s not fretful. "Lord, look at what is going on down here in the Gulf [New Orleans}. It’s a terrible mess." He’s not up in Heaven fretful, wringing His hands. His love is full of faith, power, and knowledge. His love has everything. Jesus takes no account of an evil committed against Him. How many of us do that? How many of us hold onto things when someone does something wrong to us? This act against us becomes like a carrot we hold in front of our aggressor, but Jesus doesn’t do that. When someone has offended Him, He lets it go. The Bible says: Prudence ignores an insult. Jesus lets it go, He bears our offenses, and He does it all day, every day.
Isn’t He a wonderful God? Are you willing to let this truth go into your heart? Jesus takes no account of an evil act done towards Him. He pays no attention to a suffered wrong. He never rejoices at injustice and unrighteousness but rejoices when righteousness and truth prevail. Love bears up, rather, Jesus bears up under anything and everything that comes. He is ever ready to believe the best of every person. His hope in you are fadeless; He never ceases to give up hope that you are going to come into what He’s created for you. He never ceases to give up hope that you’re going to enter into His best for you. No matter how many times you miss the mark, no matter how many times you do it wrong, He’ll just keep taking you around and around that mountain. You may never learn the lessons of that mountain, but that doesn’t mean He gives up hope that you’re going to end up in heaven with Him. He never loses hope.
I can remember when someone I loved very much lived in this world. This person just knew a lot of torment. Their life was full of suffering, and there were many things I didn’t understand and when they died I became very fearful that they didn’t make heaven, so for three days I wept. Not because they died, I was terrified that the Lord had given up on them, and they didn’t make heaven. Then, I was in a plane flying, and I closed my eyes, and suddenly I felt a presence, so I opened my eyes and above me was the Lord Jesus Christ and He had that person standing next to Him. It was a woman, adorned in a bridal gown. She was beautiful. She was close to 80 when she died but she wasn’t 80 in front of me. She was standing in heaven next to Him—I’d say thirty to thirty-five years old years old—she was beautiful. She looked like she did when she was that age; dressed in a bridal gown. She was so miserable and cranky when she was on earth. You just felt so sorry for her because nothing went right, everything went wrong. Maybe a little of that was because she was so cranky, I don’t know, but here she is standing in heaven with her arms wrapped around His arm. He had His free hand resting on her hands. I know you’re not going to believe this, and I know the Lord doesn’t have pride, but I could swear in His eyes was a little pride. Not for Himself—He was so proud to have her by His side. And I cried. Jesus never gave up on her; He never gave up on her. Jesus bears up under anything and everything that comes. He is ever ready to believe the best of every person. His hopes are fadeless under any circumstance, and He endures everything without weakening. Jesus never fails—that’s His love for you.
Being in the ministry, you get a lot of opportunities to learn forgiveness, more than the average Joe. You get a lot of opportunities to learn mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and grace. In the ministry, the opportunities for these valuable lessons are abundant. You never have to ask for them; they present themselves often. When people raise up against me, I always look at the Lord and say to Him, "I’m so glad that man cannot change Your mind. Your love for me is steady, steadfast. What You see, You see. You know the good in me; You know the bad in me; You know all that You are working on in me. You know it all, and You say that knowing everything, You love me. I’m so glad man can’t change Your mind because they sure can change each other's, can't they?" No one can change the Lord's mind. He’s steady as you go. His love is fadeless. He is faithful to you, and all things, if you’re perfect or if you’re not; if you did what He told you to do or if you didn’t. If you’ve done it right or if you’ve done it wrong. His love is true.
Now, why is it that we can’t connect and identify with His love? The day you start making the decision that you are going to learn to love as Christ loves, you will begin to relate to the love with which He loves. You will see what it’s like to love deeply, deeply enough that you are willing to give your life to your enemy - like He does - and when you begin to love like that, you will relate to His love. When you make the decision that your life is going to bear the Pillar of Love, you’ll never again say, "I don’t understand a God like You that has so much love for all these miserable people." Divine love is not easy in the beginning, but once you get it down, you will see it is much easier then not walking in it. When you learn to love with divine love, your life changes. It takes on a new completion because this love is humble, it is giving, it is selfless, it’s not puffed up—it doesn’t want to be seen, it doesn’t always want gratitude to be shown for every little thing it does, everything about it is the opposite of human love. Divine love loves. Christ loves because He is love. He chose to love you—His creation.
Human love and divine love are opposites. Human love loves .because that person brings you pleasure; you have something in common like maybe a common goal or attribute or a common like or dislike. But, when you quit fulfilling certain expectations, then that love is withdrawn. With the Lord, His love is sure, His love is steady, and His love is faithful; His love cannot be changed, and it cannot be altered. When you quit pleasing Him He loves you, even if you walk away from Him. I’ll never forget one time when He allowed me the experience of feeling His love for His enemy and His love for His friend. This love is distinctly different. Nevertheless, the love for both is solid; so much so, that He would give His life to meet the need of either friend or foe.
When you are enriched inwardly with this love, you see people differently. What you give, you give out of the goodness of your heart, and not because you want something in return, so there is no place for offense. How can you get offended if you give unselfishly? If you never have preconceived expectations of the one you're pouring your affections on when an expectation is not met, can you get offended?
I want you to understand, there is a higher love with which He loves. His love is amazing. His love is like the strength of a great and mighty mountain. If you could move a mountain, you could move His love. If you can change a mountain, you can change His love. His love is like a great mountain. When you’re experiencing His love in higher levels than we experience here in this world, it doesn’t feel the same. Down here, He touches us with His love, and it is kind of mushy; our hearts get sort of melted. Am I right? And it just feels so good and tingly when He touches us. When you touch the higher realms of His love, it feels so strong. There is no 'oo-y-gooey mushiness' to it. It just feels strong—immovable like a great mountain. His love adds solidity to your soul. You feel like you’re in a place - to use a Biblical term - your feet are on solid ground. Your feet are on the Rock, but I’m talking interiorly. You feel edified; you feel... there’s just no way to describe it effectively. In fact, I am convinced you can’t describe His love, but when He wraps you in His love, it sure feel secure. Love never fails.
To be continued next week...
In His Amazing Love,
Nita Johnson
