If there is one truth more than any other, to which I deeply wish we could somehow awake and make ourselves available, it is that God loves us! The one and only deity, the infinite Creator, the One who holds the winds in His fist, makes the clouds and whose almighty arms embrace the infinite starry expanse of the universe, loves us all!

He loves us without exception! God loves all races, creeds, and colors indiscriminately, and yet He loves each individual distinctively.

That is the most profound, elevating, comforting news that was ever

flashed from the throne of God, and it broke like a sunrise on planet

Earth!

"GOD SO LOVED.... GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD.... GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE....GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON… GOD SO…

When that wonderful truth grips your mind, and you gratefully respond to it, your whole life and your entire outlook on life will be dramatically

transformed!

Your mind will be renewed.

There will be a new song in your heart.

It will put a new calmness in your spirit.

You will experience rest for your soul, even during hard times.

A courageous confidence will come to you concerning the future!

The love of God to all men everywhere is the pinnacle of Biblical

revelation! Everything else has to climb up to it!

Jesus Christ is the peak expression of it. The cross and his shed blood is the intense focal point of it. The glorious fact of "whosoever will may come" is the generous out-flowing of it!

It was there – on Calvary’s hill of sorrow, that sin’s demands were paid! It was there, on the cross of Christ, that rays of hope for tomorrow across our paths were laid!

Infinite love caused the heartbeat of God to pound the most stridently at Calvary. Divine love for mankind caused the pulse of God’s only begotten Son to cease on the tree. But three days later His unquenchable and undying love raised him from the dead and caused him to ascend into the heavens and seated him at his own right hand.

I don't know any better news to tell you than that GOD LOVES YOU!

The idea of a God who gives all without condition and loves us all equally, just as we are, is incredible. But it is true!

I cannot tell you how long He has loved us, but I can trace it back 2,000 years and show you a stable, a manger, shepherds, wise men, Gethsemane, a whipping post, and a cross.

Beyond that day, He loved you and me when He formed us from the dust of the ground, breathed into our nostrils and man became a living soul. He loved us when he placed us in a beautiful home, called the Garden of Eden, where he visited us every day.

This ought to blow our minds: Even before the foundation of the world, He was the lamb for sinners slain! How long did God love us before that? I really don't know!

Paul said he wanted "to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." What a paradox! It seems illogical, but the love of God is so designed that we might be always learning and continually grasping after, that which shall never be completely known!

This means trying to know the unknowable, comprehend the

incomprehensible, explore the unexplorable, define the indefinable!

Booth Cliburn put it like this in his beautiful hymn: "Down from His glory, ever living story, my God and savior came and Jesus was His name. Born in a manger, to His own a stranger. A man of sorrows, tears and agony." Another verse says, "What condescension, bringing us redemption, that in the dead of night, not one faint hope was in sight, but God gracious, tender, laid aside His splendor, stooping to woo, to win,to save my soul." Then the responsive refrain: "O how I love him…

How much did He love me? I really don't know, but it was enough to cause him to lay aside His regal robes of splendor and allow himself to be wrapped in swaddling clothes. He loved me enough to trade the majestic throne of his eternal kingdom to be suspended on a rugged cross. It was enough to exchange his royal diadem for a crown of piercing thorns, enough to trade a kingly sceptre for a common

walking stick, enough to quit living amongst unceasing worship from the holy seraphim who guarded his throne to endure a jeering mob that screamed, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

He gave up heavenly manna that he might fast 40 days and be hungry. He left the pure river of water of life to come and cry, "I thirst!" He gave up the innumerable army of mighty angels that he might come and be alone in Gethsemane and pray until His sweat became as it were great drops of blood!

He came to where we were, in order to bring us to where He is! He gave up rest for no place to lay His head.

He who was adored and reverenced subjected himself to be despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. BUT HE JUST KEPT LOVING THE WORLD!

He loved us enough to be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastised and whipped for our peace and to pay the price for our healing.

He loved me enough to pour out His soul even unto death. He loved me enough to be numbered with the transgressors. He loved us all enough to bear the sins of all, and He made intercession for all transgressors! He loved us enough that in the days of His flesh He prayed all night - many nights - and a great while before many of his work days began.

It is stronger than death. Death cannot destroy it. Song 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

It is broader than the ocean. deeper than the sea! longer than time!

higher than heaven! deeper than hell!

And to think, that love has been manifested toward you and me! " what boundless love, God has bestowed upon me!"

No wonder the Apostle John, who moved in a circle of love, cried out,

"Behold, what manrier of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.... "

The only way we will make a difference in this hurting, bruised,

bleeding, broken, diseased, confused, prodigal world is loving the way

Jesus loved. Love so amazing and so divine demands my all. That is why He was so very careful to define the kind of love he would give us:

Jesus said, "A new commandment that I give unto you that you love one another just like I have loved you, and by this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you love one another as I have loved you."

"As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you, and you continue in

My love. It flowed through Me. Now you continue in that. Now it must

flow through you to all men everywhere."

"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for

us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." (I John 3:16)

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone that

loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not

God for God is love. Herein is love not that we loved God, but that He

loved us. Beloved, if God so loved us we also ought to love one

another. He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him."

We love Him because He first loved us! To this all of the apostles

agree. Peter commanded "See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Let love be without dissimulation.

John exhorted: But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

"Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who

curse you. For if you only love those who love you, what credit is that

to you? Even sinners love those who love them. Love as I have loved!"

Love forgets a person’s past sins and failures and considers them to be under the blood!

In a trilogy of stories about being lost, Jesus gives three parables.

First is the lost sheep - lost because of curiosity. Seeing a gap in

the hedge, it had wandered from the flock. We know what the shepherd

did. He left the ninety and nine and went on the rocky steep all night

through the heat and the cold until he found that one lost sheep. He

bound him with cords of love and brought him safely back to the fold.

the lost coin. Due to carelessness or by accident, it was either intentionally mishandled or unconsciously dropped, but a woman

turned her house upside down and swept in every nook and corner until she found that lost coin.

the lost son. He became lost willfully, rebelliously, because of his own choices. He was lost without anyone to blame for his condition but

himself. But there is a father in this third parable who sadly gave the inheritance to his son and watched him move away, but gladly welcomed his penniless son home again. He runs to meet him and falls on his neck. He kisses him and orders the fatted calf to be killed. He gave him the best robe and the ring. "This is my beloved son. Lost because of his own willful, stubborn and rebellious way." The story Jesus told revealed the heart of God who so loved that He gave all.

He even told the pouting brother who stubbornly refused to take part in

the welcome party for his younger brother, "Son, thou art ever with me

and all that I have is thine."

Whether you are lost because of curiosity of what the world has to offer, or you just stumbled into sin, or willfully rebelled, God's love is extended to you, and all that He has can be yours!

Loving the way Jesus loved is the only way that we are going to reach

our world because love is something God does. He doesn't just say it.

He does it!

See Him reaching for the outcast, the friendless, the hopeless,

the hungry, the naked, the poor, the shackled, the imprisoned, the

hurting, the suffering, the brokenhearted, the abandoned, the maimed,

the lame, the blind.

See Him weeping over that ill-fated city of Jerusalem. See Him weeping as He stands by Lazarus' grave. See Him move with compassion as He looks at the hungry multitude.

That is why in the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul discussed

spiritual gifts. In chapters 12 and 14 he defines, describes and

illustrates these gifts. We are reminded that God has given some the

ability to speak with tongues of men and of angels. To others He gave

the ability to speak with great oratory ability. To some, God gave the

ability to have faith so that they could move mountains and perform

miracles.

To others it has been given the gift of suffering, to give of their bodies to be burned that they might illustrate to others as they suffer for the cause of Christ, or to offer themselves on the altar of service of Jesus Christ.

He concludes the chapter by saying, "But covet earnestly the best

gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way."

These next verses, found in 1 Cor 13 will reveal the more

excellent way.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not

charity I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Though I

have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not the love of God, I am nothing." "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."

A love that divides and criticizes is not agape love. A love that seeks

its own revenge is not divine love. A love that refuses to initiate

reconciliation is not agape love. A love that says it won't forgive is

not agape love!

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. I cannot fulfill the royal law

without it. If I offend in one point, I am guilty of it all. Love is the only way to fulfill it.

Love is patient, suffers long and refuses to retaliate. God-love is

kind. Kindness rejects cruelty and seeks constructive ways to improve

another person's life. You are something that God made in His image,

and down in every human heart that has been crushed by the tempter,

there are feelings lying buried that grace can restore, touched by a

loving heart awakened by kindness. Cords that were broken can vibrate once more!

Love is not jealous. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. Love does not

boast. Love does not vaunt itself, does not seek to impress. Love does

not parade itself and does not seek personal gain. Love is courteous

and never acts out of character, irresponsible. It never perverts its

way. It is not crude, rude or lewd. Love always acts in the best

interests of others.

Love is unselfish! Divine love cost something. It does not pursue

selfish advantages. Love shares with others and does not seek its own.

It does not use others to get where it wants to go. Love is not

provoked. Love is not irritable or touchy and never loses control of

itself. It never responds in anger and doesn't lash out while being

reviled. He reviled not while suffering. Love uttered no threats.

Love forgives! Love, when wronged, has a short memory. It forgets what it forgives. It doesn't keep a record of a wrong suffered.

Love delights in truth. It hath no pleasure in wickedness and contends

for the faith that was once delivered. Love hates sin and loves

righteousness.

I am talking about the kind of love that drove the moneychangers from

the temple with a whip of cords. I am talking about the kind of love

that Jesus showed by healing the withered hand of a man on the Sabbath.

Jesus looked at the religious leaders with anger when they questioned

His act of love and mercy. I am talking about the kind of love that

hates every false way and refuses to bid God's speed to those who hate the truth.

I am talking about a love that has substance, a love that has strength.

I am talking about a love that is a savor of life unto life, or death unto death. I am talking about a love that has power and strength, a love for truth and a love for righteousness!

Love will even make it possible to exist in a colorless, drab, uneventful life without giving up! Love never gives up! It bears, believes and hopes. Love endures. It is sufficient for every moment of life, the past, the present, and the future. Love never goes out of style. Love is never surpassed.

Love is never replaced. Prophecy, tongues, faith and hope shall cease.

Love is permanent! It thrives at all times and in all places. Love is the only grace that we carry with us into eternity!

It is superior to faith and hope. Love is the greatest! Love never fails. Love abideth not alone. Love will never be taken out of the game. Love will never be booed off the stage. Love will never get the gong. Love will keep on keeping on after everything else has long ceased.

Love is the greatest! Love surpasses all! A rediscovery of that kind of

love is the only way we are going to make a difference in our world!

People with that kind of love will love truth uncompromisingly, even

unto death. God-love will start a revival that neither the devil nor

hell can stop!

That kind of love will lay hold of God's sovereign will, and it will take care of every devastated area. It will stand in the gap and make up the hedge.

God-love will fast not only food, but it will live a fasted life as

revealed in Isaiah, chapter 58. It will bind up the broken-hearted. It

will unlock prison doors. It will set the captives free. It will hurt

when others hurt and suffer with those who suffer. Love will weep with

those who weep. It will rejoice with those who rejoice.

God-love will love the loving and the unloving, the lovable and the

unlovable, the lovely and the unlovely. It will love its enemies, love

its friends, love when the victor's crown is gleaming, love when defeat

has spread her gloom. God-love will love when shame has come our way and when no friend comes into view.

Paul said, "The love of Christ constraineth me. I was stoned and left

for dead, but I couldn't lie there. I had to get up and preach on. I

was constrained. I gloried in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in distress. I was beaten with many stripes. I was shipwrecked. I was weary. I was in pain. I was hungry. I was thirsty. I was in fastings often. I was cold. I was naked. The care of all the churches was upon me daily, but love constrained me. Love drove me. Love sent me from continent to continent, from city to city."

Don't you know the unbelievers in the fast lane headed for hell can

only be rescued by the power of God? Not only must we intercede, but we must get something from God every day and reach people every day. We must reach out to them with love and mercy and the truth which will set them free. Only the truth can set them free! We must intercede in prayer until the bands are broken, until we bring in every lost sheep, until we rescue every prodigal, and until we find every lost coin!

A thousand million souls are dying with no conviction of their lost

condition simply because we lack deep convictions about eternal woe and a burning lake of fire.

It is impossible to win souls with cold hearts and dry eyes! There must

be a deep humility of soul with mourning, with fasting, with intercession and groanings that cannot be uttered. Then God will work and only then!

Somebody has got to get this! You can't pray mechanically! You can't go to church mechanically. You can't fast mechanically. If you don't love the way Jesus loved, you are just performing and are as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

Agonized wrestling in prayer is something more. It means to get down

before God and stay down before Him until you get hold of the horns of

the altar and prevail. This kind of wrestling involves pleading,

begging, agonizing, sweating, persevering, persistent seeking, asking

and knocking until something happens!

Love never gives up! It abides not alone. I want to repent of not

loving souls like I ought to love them. I want to repent of not praying

until it has happened. I want to repent of not living a fasted life. I

want to repent of not reaching, loving, saving, helping until I love

the way Jesus loved. I want to keep on reaching until I get that kind

of love, and then we will change our world.

Unless someone intercedes, there are those who will never be saved.

Unless somebody repents, unless somebody forgives and until somebody

holds on to God and stands in the gap, there are those who will never

be saved! There are those who will never be healed. We need people who

are willing to be intercessors. This kind of praying motivated by

Christ-love is the key to the great revival of these last days. All of

the great moves and manifestations of the Spirit of God must be born in

the spirit of groanings travail. We must bring them forth from the

bowels of our being as is said of the true mother in I Kings, chapter

3. "Her bowels yearned upon her son."

"Did you give me food when I was hungry? Did you give me drink when I was thirsty? Did you give me clothes when mine were rags? Did you come to see me when I was sick or in prison or in trouble? Did you pray for me? Did you intercede for me when you saw me wandering far from God or did you let me go my way? When you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto Me. I am disguised under every type of humanity that treads the face of this earth and all souls are mine. Every living soul is mine. Love them all. Love them as I have loved you. Though you speak with tongues of men and angels and you have not Christ-love, you are sounding brass. You are clanging cymbals. You are nothing. Repent! Repent! Repent, lest I come quickly to remove the candlestick out of its place."

A thousand million souls are dying. A thousand million souls for whom the Savior died. Will you still deny their plea? Will you continue to be idle while a thousand million souls are dying?

Surely you want that love. That love that will not give up. This kind of love works faith. Love can reach our world! Faith works by love. Gifts work by love.

Oh love of God. How rich! How pure!

"The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He

fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless

religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom but trembles when

we pray.

"Beware in your prayer, above everything of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do and expect great things."

"I do not believe that there is such a thing in the history of God's kingdom as a right prayer offered in a right spirit that is forever left unanswered."

"Prayer reminds us of our constant need for God and reassures us of His presence with us. In prayer we don't tell God what to do; we find out what He wants us to do. "

"Prayer is the key that opens the door to a whole new world— a world lived in active, conscious presence of the living God."

"Prayer means that we have come boldly into the throne room and we are standing in His presence."