The Power of Love.

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17-19 English Standard Version (ESV)
 
The fullness of God is His love. To be filled with God is to be filled with His love, for God is love (1 John 4:8). God’s love is what motivated Him to send His only Son to rescue mankind from the destruction of sin (John 3:16-17) and it’s His love that establishes us (Ephesians 3:17), causes our faith to work (Galatians 5:6) and causes us to be more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). When we accept the revelation of His unconditional love for us we step into the most powerful force in the universe, which is the love of God.

“Beloved friends, because of my love for Jesus Christ, I am now his prisoner…”
Ephesians 3:1 The Passion Translation (TPT)
 
The apostle Paul wrote this. This is the man who was once wholeheartedly persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it (Acts 9:1-2; Philippians 3:6). Now, we see him identifying himself as a prisoner, or servant, of Christ, not out of obligation but choice. Paul had a dramatic change in his life and went from trying to destroy the church to be one of its pillars all because he had an encounter with Jesus (Acts 9:3-8). Saul, who became Paul after his conversion to Christianity, was passionately trying to help God by destroying the church but then he realized that He was completely wrong (Acts 9:5). In fact, he realized that he couldn’t have been more wrong. He thought that he was doing God a favour by getting rid of what he thought were a bunch of blasphemers (the Christians) but then he realized that he was actually fighting against God Himself and not those blasphemers. Talk about a game-changer!
 
Saul had seen God as harsh, distant and legalistic; the same way a lot of religious people see God today). As a Jew, Paul believed that God was approving of his campaign against the blasphemers – that he was a champion for God and His kingdom. Saul was sincere but sincerely wrong. I believe that when Jesus revealed Himself to Saul he must have been expecting to be dealt with harshly, in proportion to all his wrongdoing. At that point, Saul didn’t know that God was not holding men’s sin against them (2 Corinthians 5:19) and that Jesus was the payment (atoning sacrifice) for the sins of the whole world (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2). Saul probably wet himself (or worse) when he realized that he was so, so wrong, and he was probably waiting to be turned into a pile of ash but he didn’t get what he deserved (mercy). Instead, he experienced grace (got treated better than he deserved); he experienced unconditional love (the true nature of God)! He had an encounter with God’s unconditional love and Grace that completely overwhelmed him. He was radically impacted, and his life radically changed. He changed his name to Paul, which means “little”, and he became a leading apostle in taking the message of Jesus and His good news to the entire world.
 
It was a revelation of God’s unconditional love and grace that fuelled Paul so much that he“laboured more abundantly” (1 Corinthians 15:10) and responded to God by being a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) and choosing to live a life of total surrender to Him (like a servant). When we allow grace to transform our lives it will result in a powerful transformation that causes us to want to surrender everything to Jesus and live a “yes, Lord” life.
 
Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s love to you as you read through and meditate on the verses below. Make a note of anything that stands out for you regarding God’s love.
 
“So, what does all this mean? If God has determined to stand with us, tell me, who then could ever stand against us? 32 For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.
 
33 Who then would dare to accuse those whom God has chosen in love to be his? God himself is the judge who has issued his final verdict over them—“Not guilty!”
 
34 Who then is left to condemn us? Certainly not Jesus, the Anointed One! For he gave his life for us, and even more than that, he has conquered death and is now risen, exalted, and enthroned by God at his right hand. So how could he possibly condemn us since he is continually praying for our triumph?
 
35 Who could ever separate us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love, 36 even though it is written:
 
All day long we face death threats for your sake, God.
    We are considered to be nothing more
    than sheep to be slaughtered!
 
37 Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything!
 
38 So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. 39 There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!”
Romans 8:31-39 The Passion Translation (TPT)