The secret of moving in the power of God
Jesus knew the Father’s love and ministered from intimacy with him
Matthew 3:16-17 “After being baptised, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””Up to this point Jesus had not done any mighty works or miracles. The father’s loving affirmation was the foundation of his ministry. Miracles flowed from then on.
Jesus knew what it meant to minister from God’s love and approval, not for God’s love and approval
When you minister for God’s love and approval you are trying to pay a price for his miraculous power to be granted. Your mindset is that ‘I must try to get through to heaven with my works.’ You give out of your need for approval, and you end up living for inheritance, not living from inheritance; working for God, not ministering from God.
When you minister from God’s love and approval, you know this perfect love deep in your heart, and you know there is nothing you can do that can improve or change this. You are confident that your heavenly father will both hear you and answer. You give out of the overflow of God’s love and your mindset is ‘Heaven comes to me therefore I can do the works of God.’ In other words “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Mt 6:10
The spiritual gifts flow from the love of God
Jesus had this assurance of the Father’s love. Even in the most difficult situations he knew he would be heard. One example is when he was faced with the death of his friend Lazarus.
John 11:35-36 “Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him.””
John 11:41-42 “So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes. And said, “Father I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it. So that they may believe that You sent Me.””
He also knew how to be in security, peace and rest, when faced with a potentially life threatening storm in Mark 4.
“Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him. “Teacher do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”” Mark 4:36-40
The amount of control that fear has over us shows the distance we need to go to truly live in the love of God. Perfect fear casts out love and "Perfect love casts out fear"
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who hears is not perfected in love." 1John 4:18
Jesus did not need to do things in order to prove his worth
Mt 12:38 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But he answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.””He ministered from the Father’s heart because he knew what the Father wanted to do in each situation.
John 5:19 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.””
John the apostle of love
John was the disciple who had the clearest understanding of this love. The name John originates from the Hebrew Yochanan or Yehochanan (3076) which means “Graced by Yahweh” or “Yahweh has been gracious.” John knew what it meant to live out of God’s love and grace, rather than striving to work for God’s love. He describes himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
John 13:23 “There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.”He was clearly comfortable with this intimate relationship with Jesus. When your head is on someones chest you are able to hear their heartbeat. Because of this, he was able to ask Jesus who would betray him. None of the other disciples were able to ask this most poignant question.
“He leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”” John 13:25Love so permeated his being that he became known as the apostle of love. Love was always the answer in John's eyes, this is seen in his letters.
1 John 4:10+11 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”John's love for Jesus was so great that he was the only disciple who stayed until the end and was present at the cross. This was a demonstration of 1 John 4:18+19
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because He first loved us.”
Intimacy is the key
Who would you trust your mother to? The intimacy that John had opened the door for Jesus to entrust him with his mother (John 19:27) and later the book of Revelation.
It is in that place of the intimate love of God, that you will hear his heartbeat and share the purpose of heaven on earth. You will then be able to truly ask for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Click here for a message about the love of God and how to become his intimate friend.
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