Compelling Love

In John 15:9, Jesus declares, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ”  There is no greater fulfillment in life than to abide each day in God’s love.  The second greatest fulfillment is to help others to also abide in the presence of His love.  In John 15, Jesus describes the blessings of those who abide in him.

John 15 (NKJV)
The True Vine
¹“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you willask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Love and joy perfected
⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

Paul gives three keys to abiding in God’s presence: rejoice, pray and give thanks, always without ceasing in everything:

1 Thessalonians 5 (NKJV)
¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

In a similar vein in Psalm 86, David prays for an undivided heart to revere, praise and glorify God’s name forever:

Psalm 86 (NIV)
¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
¹² I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.

In Psalm 77, Asaph urges us to remember that our God is a God who performs miracles, redeeming His people by His mighty arm:

Psalm 77 (NIV)
¹³ Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.
¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

God is both high and lifted up, yet intimately concerned with the challenges facing His people, as David describes in Psalm 68:

Psalm 68 (NKJV)
⁴ Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him.
⁵ A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
⁶ God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity;
But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

In Psalm 16, David describes his abiding relationship with God through the Messiah who was yet to be born.  The Holy One who did not see corruption is Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose from the dead.

Psalm 16 (NKJV)
⁷ I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
⁸ I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
¹⁰ For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
¹¹ You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

In John 3:16, the keynote verse of the New Testament, Jesus describes the sacrificial love of God for people of all nations:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

To those who abide in him, Jesus, Yeshua reveals himself as our light and our salvation, and the strength of our life, as David describes:

Psalm 27 (NKJV)
¹The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?

¹⁴ Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, 9/16/2012