THE DIMENSIONS OF HIS LOVE

        THE DIMENSIONS OF HIS LOVE

          

       

        THE DIMENSIONS OF HIS LOVE
More than a nice melody

More than the sweetest of words

This is the love I have found

And in this love I am found

Never could I comprehend

The love you so freely give

Never could I be worthy

But your love covers all of my sins

{Song: I Just Want You by Planet Shakers}

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;²⁶ That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,²⁷ That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.²⁸ So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. ²⁹ For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

 {Ephesians 5:25-29}

Christ’s love for His bride{us} was demonstrated by the offering of himself even unto death that he might sanctify and cleanse us and make us glorious without spot nor wrinkles and that we should be holy and without blemish. The amazing thing about this love is that it is Unconditional and undeserving of us who were once filthy and sin-laden. The love looked beyond our faults. Our multitude of sins were all covered by this love. If He loved us when we were dirty and unholy, one cannot imagine the dimensions of His love now that we have been purged and sanctified. Paul puts it this way:

¹⁷ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,¹⁸ May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;¹⁹ And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.{Ephesians 3:17-19}

His love for the Church is beyond knowledge, it is unfathomable. It’s got breadth, length, depth and height and this love is Unchanging, constant and wavers not. It is not affected by what we do. We cannot earn it by our works neither can our weaknesses reduce it. In fact before we had the knowledge of good and evil we were already loved. We were chosen from the beginning to walk in Love blamelessly.

4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!

6 Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. 7 So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; 8 and he has showered down upon us the richness of his grace—for how well he understands us and knows what is best for us at all times.(Ephesians 1:4-8 TLB)

If we were loved before the foundations of the world then there is nothing we can do to quench or reduce this love. Long before God laid down earth’s foundation, He had us in mind and has settled on us as the focus of his love to be made whole and holy by his love. He found pleasure in adopting us into His family so he could lavish his love on us the Church.  This love is stronger than fire, many waters cannot quench it, and rivers cannot overflow it. We have been sealed in His heart.

6"Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the LORD.7"Many waters cannot quench love, Nor will rivers overflow it; If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised."{Songs of Solomon 8:6-7}

Just imagine a young man who stupendously loves his wife. He would always want her to be around him. He would miss her so much that he would call and chat with her everyday if they were countries apart. He would do everything possible to bring her over to his country or city of residence so she would be where he is. He would desire to see her every day and enjoy her presence. He would prepare her a beautiful room even before she arrives and would greatly anticipate her arrival.

That is how much Christ loves us also and even more. He desires to have communion with us and enjoy divine romance with us. He would do anything possible to have us be with Him in Heaven. He has prepared a place for us already in heaven waiting for the right time for us to join Him there. He is delighted just at the thought of us and ravished by the sight of us. I wish we could relate with Him as our groom and call Him all the sweet names; Honey, darling, sweetheart, heart throb, dearest, treasure, heartbeat, morning star, most handsome, sunshine, fortune, gorgeous etc. If He can be the one we think about when we sleep and still wake up with Him in mind then our love for Him would be fully expressed. The truth is that He has us in mind every second and watches over us even while we sleep. He deeply loves us.

 Nothing can separate us from this love. It is an everlasting love and transcends into the ages to come. Even if the church stumbles yet this love will not depart. Let the bride wander away, the love remains unfailing still. The groom has chosen to love us forever and nothing will deter him. Paul puts it this way:

³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.{Romans 8:37-39}

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,{Ephesians 2:4}

The church is greatly loved. This great love provokes God’s mercy in place of judgement. What a privilege it is to be greatly loved by the God of Heaven.

¹⁷ And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the Day of Judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too.

¹⁸ We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. ¹⁹ So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first. {1John 4:17-19 TLB}

You see church, there is nothing to be afraid of about judgement day. Christ has loved us perfectly and we will not be embarrassed nor ashamed on judgement day. I am persuaded that He won’t harm us because He loves us and nothing we do can separate us from His love.

                                                                                        

                  

Now let’s read this love letter written by our Groom to us, His Bride even if  we possibly mess up;

5 For your Maker is your husband—
    the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
    he is called the God of all the earth.
⁶ The Lord will call you back
    as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
    only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

⁸ In a surge of anger
    I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord your Redeemer.

⁹ “To me this is like the days of Noah,
    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
    never to rebuke you again.
¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.{Isaiah 54:5-10}

I recommend you read this letter again with undivided attention and you would see how deep His love is for us. His love says the following

1       ”Even if you walk away from me I will bring you back with deep compassion”

2       “I have sworn not to be angry with you again”

3       “I will never rebuke you again”

4       “My unfailing love for you will not be shaken no matter what happens”

5       “My covenant of peace will not be removed”

6       “I will continually have compassion on you”

7       “I will show you kindness forever”

What manner of love is this! It brings tears to the eyes and joy to the soul. I wish the Church will understand that there is nothing standing between her and Christ. His love is for us not against us. I know some of you are thinking that you’ve wandered too far away that His love can’t reach you any more. 

I assure you today that His love is boundless. The dimensions of his love has got no boundaries so that you may know that you are still within the confines of His love. His hands are stretched out towards you even in your fallen state to rescue you from the dungeon of sin. His care and attention is focused on you when you fall. He wants to bring you back into the arms of His embrace. He will never forsake you in your weakness. He is chasing after you. He will woo you over and again until you return to the arms of His love because He loves you greatly.If you will listen to His voice today you will hear Him say this to you “I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! 

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee {Jeremiah 31:3}

We must be told that the Groom understands all our shortcomings and whenever we fall this is what happens………Episode 4,a must see! 

A few verses on God’s love

9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins {1John 4:9-10MSG}

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister{1John 4:16-21 MSG}.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us{ Romans 5:8}

By this we know LOVE because He laid down his life for us........ {1john 3:16}

 
Behold what manner of Love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the son of God......{1john 3:1}

 There are a lot of believers looking for love in the wrong places, jumping from one relationship to another looking for approval and acceptance from mere mortals yet there is a God who tenderly loves them with a fatherly love waiting for them to take advantage of his extravagant love.

²⁷ for the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from the Father. {John 16:27 AMP}

 See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory].{1 John 3:1-3 AMP}

It is the incredible quality of the father’s love that permitted and allowed us the privilege to become his children. Now we carry the very genes of the father and when Christ appears again we shall be like him. His DNA lies within us. His love is shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.

The idea of God becoming our father and we becoming his children was born out of love. The love of God was burning within his heart seeking for a better way to be expressed. It is so huge a love that it couldn’t be fully expressed in the Old Testament because of the restrictions of the old covenant of the law. God was seen as an angry God waiting to kill anyone who broke the laws of Moses. Love could not be fully lavished under the old system that enslaved men and killed them when they faulted. The God of love needed something more than a master-slave relationship in order to fully express his love. The dimensions of His love are boundless and can only be extravagantly poured out by making us His children.

ACCEPT JESUS TODAY AND ENJOY UNFAILING LOVE

NOTES FROM EPISODE 3

(1}Christ’s love for the church was demonstrated by his death on the cross for us

(2) This love purifies us and makes us holy, blameless and without spot nor wrinkles.

(3) This love covers our multitude of sins

(4) The love is unfathomable and its dimensions are beyond understanding.

(5)Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

(6} Even if we stumble yet will not the love depart. Let the bride wander away, the love remains unfailing still.

(7)This love has been even before earth’s foundation and it is everlasting

(8)His love for the church is hotter than fire, stronger than death, and many waters cannot quench it neither can rivers overflow it.

(9}God has sworn never to be angry with us again, never to rebuke us again, never to remove His covenant of peace nor waver in His unfailing love for us.

Song Prayer

Lord I come to You 
Let my heart be changed, renewed 
Flowing from the grace 
That I have found in You 
And Lord I have come to know 
The weaknesses I see in me 
Will be stripped away 
By the power of Your love 

Hold me close 
Let Your love surround me 
Bring me near 
Draw me to Your side 
And as I wait 
I will rise up like the eagle 
And I will soar with You 
Your Spirit leads me on 
In the power of Your love 

Lord unveil my eyes 
Let me see You face to face 
The knowledge of Your love 
As You live in me 
And Lord renew my mind 
As Your will unfolds in my life 
In living every day 
By the power of Your love