Knowing God's love 

The book of Ephesians is not the text that I have normally seen used to help us understand God’s love, but it seems to me that it is really central to Paul’s message to the Ephesians.  The letter begins like this:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

One of the problems we have with knowing God’s love is that we think that the circumstances of our lives indicate that we must have fallen away from it somehow.  Paul says that before any of those circumstances happened, in fact before the universe even existed God chose to love us and in love decided to adopt us as his children.  The first thing we must realize is that God’s love is not dependent on or determined by circumstances in our lives.

The most common of those circumstances in our lives that cause us to think we have fallen away from God’s love is our own failure.  The next verse speaks to this:

 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding

When we, God’s freely adopted children whom he chose to love, mess up God’s response is not to love us less, but to offer us the riches of his grace.  And he does so with all wisdom and understanding.  He didn’t screw up in your case or somehow overlook that thing that he really should have seen.  He knows all about that stuff, and yet he lavishes his grace on us (some of us need more lavishing than others).

What convinces me of the centrality of this issue to Paul’s message to the Ephesians are the two prayers he makes for them.  First of all,

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Paul prays that we would know that we have access to the same power that raised Christ from the dead and elevated him above the demonic hordes (Ephesians is all about spiritual warfare). What do we need such incredible power for?  Where is the real spiritual battle in our lives?  His second prayer clarifies that:

16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19)

We need the power of God to know how much God loves us, because that is where the battle lies: that is where the enemy attacks us.  He knows very well that is where we are most vulnerable, because he was there at the very beginning.  When we lost that intimate love relationship to God we became fundamentally insecure.  The result was a lack of ability to love others, as was demonstrated vividly by Cain and Able.   In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the “practical” section which begins immediately after this is largely about showing love to others.  When Satan can cause us to feel like we have fallen away from God’s love, he succeeds in influencing us to fail in that which sums up the entire law and the prophets: to love others as God loves us. 

So: the nature and reality of God’s eternal and absolute love is what we really need to know.  But it is at the heart of the spiritual battle we wage against the forces of evil in this world, which is why we need the very power which raised Christ from the dead and ultimately defeated those same forces in order to prevail.  How do we access that power?

In this letter, Paul  uses the picture of armor to explain how to win spiritual battles.    

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph. 6:10-18)

My suggestion is that in order to “stand firm” in our ability to know how long, how wide, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ, applying the specific elements of the spiritual armor is how we will utilize the power of God to gain victory in this fundamental battle.

The  belt of truth:  What is true about God’s love is that it was from the very beginning and displays itself in grace and forgiveness, so it does not depend on our performance.  Nor do the circumstances in our lives indicate any deterioration of the availability or quality of that love.  Understanding these basic truths is the foundation of victory.

The breastplate of righteousness: Even though God’s grace when we fail is lavished on us, the times when that happens are the times when Satan whispers to us that we no longer deserve God’s love, so avoiding those as much as possible is what will afford him fewer opportunities.  The best defense is to avoid a fight in the first place.

Feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace: This is about extending the gospel of grace to others (See Paul in Romans 10: how beautiful are the feet of them who bring good news).  The actual act of loving others is what helps us really know God’s love for us.  John confirms this in his first epistle:

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:18-20)

Questioning God’s love for us is at its heart a self-focused experience.  The practice of displaying love to others is what gets us beyond ourselves.  It is not just Satan, but our own hearts we do battle with: hearts which can be sorely lacking in perspective when they condemn us.

The shield of faith:  The other thing Paul prayed that the Ephesians would have the power of God for: that Christ might dwell in their hearts through faith.  One of Satan’s best weapons is to make us believe that God is no longer with us because we don’t sense his presence, we don’t “feel” like he is still dwelling with us.  We have already noted that God does not abandon us because of our circumstances or behaviors, but the way in which our hearts condemn us is to make us “feel” like he has.  We must firmly believe that love is not first of all a feeling, but an established and irrefutable fact.  Again, John helps us understand how secure we are in Christ:    

27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30)

The helmet of salvation:  Accepting the forgiveness of sins God offers is clearly a pre-requisite to Christ dwelling in our hearts, which is how we know God’s love.

The sword of the Spirit (the Word of God): knowing and quoting Scripture is how Jesus won his spiritual battle with the enemy in the desert.  Getting some of the basic Scriptures regarding how much God loves us in our hearts is essential.  If we believe that we are going to be victorious in the fundamental spiritual battles of our lives, yet do not have his word in our hearts and at the ready to apply when attacked, we fool ourselves. 

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions.  An ongoing conversational relationship with God is how we experience his presence.  One of the “occasions” that we know will come up (because the enemy is constantly attacking us here) is when we don’t feel loved.  Craft a prayer of faith to speak to God during those times. 

God bless you as you don your armor and gain victory by the power of God in this most fundamental battle.