Receiving Love

Let me tell you one thing about Gods love. It is very long, High, wide and deep - Ephesians 3:18. It is beyond our imagination. We may never fully understand it, but it is His will for all of us to know His love.

What comes to your mind when you ask God to make you a lover and build love in you? When I pray this prayer, I pray it seeing myself as one who should have a heart of love for everyone. With this thinking, The Father sat me down and showed me what being a lover is. A lover is one who can give and receive love. Therefore, you are not only giving love; you can receive love.

Looking at being a lover from that point of view I thought to myself; 'Receiving love?'. Did it ever cross your mind that God does not only want us to give love but to be receivers of it? It is when you have learnt to receive, you can learn to give love.

Guys, this is the crucial point you have been missing to being a lover. It is to receive and then give. Don't get confused if you already are; I will explain how Abba taught me.

Going back to John 3:16, It says; 'God so loved the world He gave'. God is a giver because He is a Lover. So that love He gave is waiting for everyone to receive it. The first time you gave your life to Christ is when you initially received that love, but that was just a bit of so much more you got. Moving on with your relationship with Him, He keeps giving His love to us to be receivers of this love, but do we always allow ourselves to be loved by Him?

Most times, we get carried away trying to get spiritual gifts, blessings and carrying out works to attain a sense of pleasing God. All these are beautiful, but without love, they mean nothing.

When Abba told me this, I could not come to terms with being a receiver of love. I was thinking up reasons why this is not right and how selfish it sounds to receive love. 'I should do a lot to please Him' I thought. And that very thought stemmed from feelings of unworthiness, insecurities and inefficiencies.

We indeed did nothing to earn the love He gives us but should that make us feel unworthy of this love? No. Why? Because it is God's mysterious nature to give because He is a lover. And anytime we reject this love by letting our feelings of unworthiness get in the way, He gets hurt because we are not accepting Him for who He is which is that He is love - 1John 4:8. When we reject His love, we hinder the full expression of Himself in our lives.

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If you still think that it doesn't yet sound right only to receive love, people cannot give love if they cannot receive love. To be a lover, you have first to receive love. You cannot give what you have not received. Even to be a selfless person, you have to have learnt how to accept love.

Please, do not mistake God's love with that of man in which only being a receiver of love can make you feel uneasy. His love is perfect that it casts out fear - 1John 4:18 and you should not be ashamed to receive it. Just ask the Samaritan woman at the well - John 4:4-42. When she allowed herself to receive the love of Christ, she felt so full she could not keep it to herself that she had to share it with everyone.

This is what God wants. He wants us to unashamedly receive His love because He knows it is His love that can make us love Him and tell others about Him and not us trying to squeeze love from an empty place to do works of righteousness. It will just be filthy rags to Him. He wants us to know the perfect love of Christ and that knowing comes through receiving His love.

People, allow yourselves to breathe. Do not feel unworthy of receiving God's love. Please, that is who He is, receiving love is not taking God for granted; it allows Him to show us how we can be righteous in Him. He is teaching us how to love Him, for loving Him enables us to keep His commandments. So all that struggle to keep His ways is solved by being a receiver.

Receiving is seeking Him out. When He said 'seek first my kingdom' - Matthew 6:33, it is not only to carry out acts of righteousness but also be interpreted as; always to be open to receive His love and the ability to serve Him will follow, including being a kingdom steward.

You will not struggle to do things for His kingdom because it is from a place of love and not your effort which will end up being filthy rags - Isaiah 64:6.

The next time you remember Matthew 7:7, Christ says 'we should ask, and we will receive'. He did not say do, and it will be given to you. Does asking make us greedy? Christ did not say; 'ask you, greedy people'. He knows we are empty and there is nothing in us that can make us please Him from an empty place. The flesh does not want that but asking is bringing yourself to a place to be a receiver. It is when we receive that we have the ability to do what pleases Him.

The bible verse says; Ask, seek and knock - Matthew 7:7. Comparing this verse to Matthew 6:33, it is all about seeking Christ, and the two are accompanied by receiving. Seeking is to be a receiver.

Do not belittle God's love to that of man, His love is one we may never understand, but it is for us to know it by receiving it. He knows receiving His love gives life. It is that love that rose from the dead to save man, and now, we can receive this love so we can be set free to give love.

Learn to receive God's love. You did nothing to earn it, but God says; 'Receive it, I freely give it to you'. Now I hope you know all about being a receiver.

The next time you pray to God to make you a lover; Remember a lover is one who can give and receive love. You cannot give what you do not have and how can you have? It is by receiving.