Compelling Love

Let us respond rightly to our Creator and Redeemer, being set apart for Him who gives us love, joy, freedom, courage and strength.  As Psalm 100 joyfully declares, He made us, and we are His.  We enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise:

¹ Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth.
² Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
³ Acknowledge that Yahweh is God.
He made us, and we are His —
His people, the sheep of His pasture.
⁴ Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
⁵ For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal;
His faithfulness endures through all generations.

Isaiah 54 includes these promises for Israel which also hold true for all who join themselves with the God of Israel, our Maker and Redeemer:

⁵ Indeed, your husband is your Maker—
His name is Yahweh of Hosts—
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
He is called the God of all the earth.

¹⁰ Though the mountains move
and the hills shake,
My love will not be removed from you
and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
says your compassionate Lord.

¹⁷ No weapon formed against you will succeed,
and you will refute any accusation
raised against you in court.
This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants,
and their righteousness is from Me.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.

True personal freedom comes from being in right relationship with God, believing in the Savior He has sent.  Yeshua, Jesus, announced his Messianic mission with promises of freedom in Luke 4:

¹⁶ He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. ¹⁷ The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me
to proclaim freedom to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

²⁰ He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

In John 15, Yeshua, Jesus urges his followers to remain in him as branches in a vine, loving one another as he has loved us.  Then we will be fruitful giving glory to God.  His joy will be in us and our joy will be complete:

⁴ Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples.

⁹ “As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love.

¹¹ “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. ¹² This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you.

 These are two major requirements for fulfilling our God-given destiny:

1. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6). Recognize that He is the source of everything good in you, and give Him all the glory for your achievements, as Ya’akov (James) declares in James 1:

¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. ¹⁷ Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. ¹⁸ By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures.

2. Be strong and courageous.  Stand tall and victorious in your spirit, knowing that your strength is in God and you can do all things through the Messiah.  In Joshua 1, Yahweh three times tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, words which should continually resonate in our spirits as well:

⁶ “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. ⁷ Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. ⁸ This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. ⁹ Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

As Shaul (Paul) declares in Philippians 4:13, “I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  Like Shaul, we can take to heart the encouragement of Yeshua (Jesus) in John 16:33: “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/, 9/7/2013

(Bible Quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.)