To love God
should be easy, right? But why it’s so hard for people? How many people find it
difficult to have intimacy with God? What’s stopping them?
It’s not
because you don’t know what’s like to love God. It’s because you don’t know
what’s like to love one another.
Men kinds
don’t know how to love without conditions or obligations. So they created a
type of love, which comes with needs, expectations and jealousy. Ironically,
those are the terminators of love.
You would
never really love anyone, if you hold any of these love terminators. Neither
would you want to get anywhere close with a God who needs, expects and is
jealous.
However,
that’s the type of God your religion offers. And declares to be good enough. So
you accept that it’s good enough for you.
In this
setting of full needs, expectations and jealousy, you carry your relationship
of so-called “love”.
You are
taught to have a God with great expectations with impossible demands, and if
you don’t return His love, He will punish you with ever lasting fire for good.
This fear
has been so deep engraved into your culture. It’ll take great effort to uproot
it. However, unless you uproot it, you can never really experience true love
for one another: without any needs, expectations or conditions, needless to
say, to love God.
To solve
a problem, you must understand the problem.
Need is
the most powerful exterminator of Love. Most of men kinds don’t understand the
difference between love and need. They mixed both continuously.
Need is
when you think there is something outside of you, which you must obtain in
order to be satisfied. And because you need it to be satisfied, you will do
anything to obtain it.
Most
people obtain what they need through exchange, with what they have. And they
call this process, “Love.”
Furthermore,
you were taught this is how love is revealed not only with each other, but also
with God. He invented this way of exchange: “If you love Me, I will let you go
to Heaven. If you don’t, I wont.”
So men
kind created a myth about God’s need from men kind. However, how can God need
anything? From whom? He is all and is in all. His name is the All-Sufficient
One.
You all
understand men kinds is created in the image and likeness of God. That is true.
However, what’s distorted is the ‘image and likeness of God.”
You are
also created in the image and likeness of the All-sufficient One. All you need
to be perfectly happy and satisfied is indeed within you. Your need from
anything outside is merely an illusion.
Once you
find that All-Sufficient One within you, there will be nothing outside can
compare to it or destroy it. The Kingdom of God is within you. So as all.
Having
the revelation of us having the Eternity and Infinity, where is the room for
fear of being hurt or at any loss? What's there to fear, reserve, obligate or
mandate? Other than simply to love?
If you
observe light, it goes one way. It simply radiates. It doesn't ask anything it
touches in return. It doesn't have any obligations, mandates, or expectations.
Light simply lights. As Love simply loves.
He is
your true God, the All-sufficient One in all and is all. He holds absolutely no
grudge or reservation, because in perfect light, there is no darkness. In
perfect Love, there is no fear.
So come
boldly to embrace God, as He is also Liberty. Come to embrace Peace, as He is
also Life. Come to embrace Love, as He is Light. Come!
Whatever
you want to find in life, you must find inwardly first. If you don’t, you can
do nothing. Once you have a glance of the divinity resides within you, it will
become very clear that there is nothing outside can compare to it. Any feeling
or stimulation from outside cannot compare to the awesome fulfillment of your
total inner peace.
You can
only find total happiness within you. From there, you will remember who you
are. From there, you will re-experience that there is nothing you really need
from outside. From there, you will see your image and likeness created in God.
From there, you will cease to need anything. And finally, you can really love, and
truly love. You would be able to love more than before, because you realize
there is nothing to lose because the fear of loss is the greatest hindrance of
love.
When you
love someone, you will allow him freely to be who he is, because this is the
greatest gift you can give someone. And Love always gives the greatest gift.
That’s also the gift we have from God, for He allows us to be who we are,
without any expectations.
However,
you can’t image a God can grant you absolute Liberty, because you can’t image
such great level of Love. So you image a God who can only gives you enough
liberty to do what He wants you to do. If you want His approval, love, and
blessing, you must fulfill His list of expectations. Then, the same
expectations you apply on your so-called ‘love’ one, and call it “love.”
However,
none of these are Love, other than what Liberty offers, Love doesn’t expect
anything. Liberty doesn’t know what ‘expectations’ is. And when you can love
God for who He really is, then you can love yourself for who you are, as is.
From there, without any expectations of others, and you can love others truly
for who they are.
You may
think the question is if God can love you unconditionally. However, the greater
question is “Can you love God unconditionally?” Because you can only accept
God’s love the same measure that you can love God. God can love you in His way,
but you can only receive it in the way you love.
It Takes Love To Love God
When
understanding the same Love is within you, you are no longer looking for a God
with a list to offer. Your relationship with God will not be about what you can
get, but what you can give out of love, not obligation.
It
becomes a beautiful union from two perfect beings of Love: Both love
unconditionally. Both lay down their lives for each other. Both adore,
appreciate and accept each other. Both are dependable, trustworthy, and kind to
each other. We love Him, because He first loved us.
With that
mutual foundation of Love, here is the key to union with God: “You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
strength, and with all your mind.” (Luke 10:27)
Observe
this with human beings. When falling in love, they are attracted to each other.
When they draw closer, the attraction gets stronger. Eventually, they seek a
perfect and total union together. And ultimately, they become one.
Drawing
near to God will attract God to us. Love is the most unstoppable force of the
Universe. God has already loved us with all of His body, soul and spirit. When
we love Him back in the same way, it activates the strongest force of the
Universe; then begins the union of Love. The process will take place with
gravitational force; and ultimately, we become One!
Overcome The Hindrance
The attraction
of Love (God) is very much like the attraction of gravity. The only way to stop
any moving object is hindrance. For example, a pencil on a desk is not falling.
It cannot continue pursuing the center of gravity, unless the hindrance is
removed.
Our
hindrances will be immediately revealed when we start pursuing God. The
question is, will you keep or remove each hindrance? Which is more important to
you that object or union with God? Jesus will let you decide just as He let the
rich young ruler decide. You will choose the most important one to your heart.
Keeping
the hindrances will pause the process of union with God. You cannot serve two
masters. Seeing the sincerity of the rich young ruler, Jesus moved to help him
complete his union with God by letting go the other master in heart. Jesus
helped him to identify his hindrances. Yet, the rich young ruler chose to walk
away sorrowfully.
Removing
the hindrances will continue the process of union with God. To gain the
Kingdom, we must lose the world. To live in the Kingdom, we must die to the
world. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his
own soul’s entrance into the Kingdom? Whosoever desires to be united with God,
let him remove his own worldly idols; totally die to them, to be One with God.
When you
remove hindrances and idols, your progress will accelerate greatly, with
stronger force toward the center. You will overcome decades of effort and
shortcomings in minutes. You will experience the joy unspeakable, the liberty
in the great glory. Like a river reaching to the shore, you will be One with
the ocean of Love.
Choose To Love
Like an
Israelite, you grow up in Egypt, a.k.a. the world. You labor and toil for what
the world can offer. Soon, you recognize the onion and fishes of the world come
with the great price of bondage and slavery. You have the security of the bread
with chains on your neck. The more you serve your master, the more it demands
of you. Neither you nor your master ever gets satisfied.
Suddenly you
awake. The spirit deep in you longs for Liberty. There is something missing and
you know it. At the same time, the chains on your neck tighten. The loads of
your yolk intensify. You try everything, only to find out that your cup holds
no water. You realize that you need someone greater to set you free.
You start
to seek God, who is Liberty, seriously. You seek Him as soon as you begin
waking up. Your soul thirsts for Him. Your flesh longs for Him. You feel so
thirsty and dry. You find no living water around. You cannot rest. You look
everywhere for Him, like in religious gatherings, or someone who may know Him.
Then,
while meditating on Him day and night, it dawns on you that He lives in you!
You start spending time seeking Him inside. And taste glimpses of His glorious
presence. You find that in you there is Liberty. Like a thirsty man given drops
of water, you put everything down to have more. Before you only knew Him in
theory, now you experience Him in spirit and in truth.
His
loving-kindness is better than life. You can’t stop praising Him. You have
assurance that He will continue filling you with His goodness. You meditate on
Him day and night without ceasing. You are pursuing Him hastily but still feel
behind sometimes.
You taste
His kiss while thinking of Him. His love is better than wine. You are drawn to
run after Him. Finally, you enter His secret place. You are glad and rejoice
with Him. While others think you are crazy, He calls you His beloved.
Despite
all cost, you draw close to Him. You sit down under the shadow of His great
delight, and His fruits are sweet to your taste. He brings you to His banquet
house and prepares you a feast. He sees you as His “Love.”
You may
have considered yourself as the most wretched person, full of sores and
corruption, and one who has committed all sorts of crimes against your King.
Touched with intense regret, you confess to Him all your wickedness, pleading
His forgiveness. You abandon yourself in His hands that He may do what He
pleases with you.
This
King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising you, embraces you
with love. He makes you eat at His table, serves you with His own hands, and
gives you the keys to the treasures of His Kingdom. He converses and delights
Himself with you incessantly, in thousands of ways, and he treats you in all
respects as His favorite.
There is
nothing like Him. No one else can touch your heart like He does. You have
searched all over the world, and found that there is none like Him. You have
come this far with Him, and you can never go back. Turning away from the onions
and fishes of Egypt, you follow the pillar of fire into the wilderness.
One With Love
You walk
with God by faith into the wilderness. After tasting so much of His goodness
with signs and wonders, you find your old and familiar world crumbling into
dust. You lose the approval of men, and will likely be forsaken by some you
thought you could always trust. You are stripped to nothing and find yourself
desolate, desperate and isolated again. And the worse thing is: He is nowhere
to be found. You cry out: “Father, why have You forsaken me?”
Then, you
learn how to live by fresh manna daily and drink of His living water within
yourself. You follow His light and rest in His provision. He is all you have
left. You live for Him. Eating bread to sustain your physical life is no longer
enough. You devour His words in order to satisfy your true life.
You are
hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus so that the life of Jesus also
may be manifested in you.
Appearing
as dying, and behold you live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet
possessing all things.
You now
have true joy, in the midst of sorrow; true riches, in the midst of poverty.
You
recognize that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which is and shall be revealed. And you know that all
things will work together for good because you love God and are called
according to His good purposes.
You know
neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things
present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing,
are able to separate you from the love of your Father. And you know that surely
goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life, as you now live
in the house of the God, and forever.
Your
worship is no longer about performance, but in spirit and in truth. You sing
praises to Him wherever, as if you and Him are alone. Your eyes only see Him
because now you can look full in His wonderful face. And, the cares of this
world simply grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
You can
always come to the secret Garden of your heart alone, while the dew is still on
the roses. And the voice you hear falling on your hear is the Son of God who
discloses Himself to you. He walks with you. He talks with you. He tells you
now you are His own. And the joy you have, no one else has ever known. The
sweet sound of His voice is ever present, like birds singing a melody. Your
heart is always singing with Him.
You
obtain the peace of God, which the world cannot give. You meditate on Him only,
who is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and
praiseworthy. You accept those qualities are also who you really are. You were
never created any less. You see His good work in you. You recognize you are
indeed His child, no less! And you stand next to Him as a son who admires his
beloved Father. You are now His extension of His good work on Earth. Just like
Jesus, you and Him are now One!
Back to Main Menu
No comments:
Post a Comment