P 2562 Living this life aware of the Dove.

“Loving Me empowers you to obey My commands. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Saviour, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a Friend just like Me—and He will never leave you. The world won’t receive Him because they can’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him intimately because He remains with you and will live inside you.” John 14:15-17 TPT.

What does LOVE mean to God? Here’s what Jesus, our resident Expert, explained about that in John 15:13: “No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.” I liked that verse so much here is another version! 😊…”For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.” (TPT).

To our God, love involves sacrifice – and He set the example. If we want to learn His love language we are going to need to learn how to love the way He loves…. and He loved us, so He sacrificially gave us everything He treasures. And the Lord Jesus loved US so much that He sent us His dearest Friend and Guide ever – the Holy Spirit, His constant beloved Companionto help us! Think about it. Jesus’ Best Friend can be our best Friend too! Not just SomeOne Who comes alongside … SomeOne Who lives INSIDE. Ya can’t get closer than that!! We have SomeOne Whose very Presence imparts God’s POV, living inside us. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us, so He can reveal Jesus through us!

Can I be honest with you? It seems to me that the Precious Holy Spirit deserves a glorious palace, or a spectacular house, yet my heart can seem more like a barely inhabitable tenement, some days! Mainly because I know He is incredibly pure and holy, and I comfort myself that He wants me to learn so we can be together. With His help, I am learning to make sure He feels welcome and my heart is continually being transformed into His home. One thing I have noticed about the Holy Spirit, He never elevates Himself. He ALWAYS points to Jesus, He is the Word of God, as well as to our Father’s great love for us. He’s so selfless.

How do you keep SomeOne this loving, powerful, pure and kind as a friend? TREASURE HIM above everything else. He is our most glorious treasure! He is the pearl God has hidden inside the ordinary field of our hearts … and we need to give up all we have in order to have the privilege of having this incredible treasure with us always. Because the Holy Spirit’s Presence is definitely more precious than all the things of this world! He is also worth our every effort to love the people who may actively hate and oppose us. We are to live this life, OUR NEW LIFE, aware of Him. All it takes is the power of choice, and making sure we know what He likes. That’s in the book!

Over the years I have learnt that He will never bully me, or disapprove of my careless, selfish actions – instead it is His very Presence within me that convicts and convinces me of my sin. And if I do something incredibly dumb … He just quietly leaves, and He waits for me to realise His absence. At the same time He will help me with whatever I did so that I can restore the relationship again. 

You know human beings can be pushy, but He is not. People can be mean, but He is not. He simply speaks His truth to me, and that truth exposes things I never knew were inside my heart! He speaks to me through the bible, as well as personally. We are blessed to know SomeOne Who utterly loves us and only wants the best for us – as well as the people that we care about. He will do this for everyone every single minute of every single day.

The bible says that we show no greater love than if we lay down our lives for our friends, and we have the most glorious example of what that looks like. Jesus Christ willingly made that choice for all of us! BUT, then the Lord exploded our finite ideas of what love looks like by saying this in Matthew 5:43-45:You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”   Meanwhile, we cannot possibly fulfil the harder criteria Jesus gave us, without the Holy Spirit’s help, guidance, and counsel!! Which is why, first of all, we are to lay down our lives for our Heavenly Friend, the Holy Spirit.

We need Him! We cannot live the Christian life without Him. He is not rules, He is not disapproval – He’s a Person Who dearly loves us, FOREVER. Let us continually purpose to become acquainted with what His Love, looks likes. Human beings when they are crossed, hold grudges, get bitter, and happily cultivate resentment. This means we desperately need our Helper to guide us through the minefield of our emotions, and errant thoughts. He will set us up back on our feet so we can continue with our spiritual journey. Praise God! There is a step that is above learning to be obedient – and we do need to be obedient! And that deeper step is about … falling in Love – people do anything for Love.

Loving Jesus will give us the power to obey Him. That’s why He sent us the Helper Who is an Expert in Love. Without the Grace and power of God we will fall into sin, and oh so many snares. Praise God for our Friend Who is closer than a brother – the Holy Spirit. Amen. 🙌 Learn to live this life aware of the Dove. 🕊️

“Those who cling to their lives will give up true life. But those who let go of their lives for My sake and surrender it all to Me will discover true life!” Matthew 10:39 TPT. 👋