This verse caused me some consternation for some time.
I used to read it to mean "God does not love you" or "You cannot receive God's Love" if we loved the world, if we went after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life (1 John 2:16-17).
I began looking at the verse, meditating on that verse "The love of the Father is not in Him."
The verse does not say "The Father does not love you." The verse does not say "The love of the Father is not with you," nor does it say that God's love is not near, not close, not ready.
If we love the world, the love of the Father is not IN US.
And what did Paul pray for all of us, particularly to the Ephesian Christians:
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 17-19)
That Christ may dwell, "be at home" in our hearts by faith.
Just believe that He is there, and there's nothing more that we need to do!
Paul prayed that we would receive God's love, and by "receive", I mean bring it into our lives, welcome His love as a guest, and let this love be "at home" in us.
Are we there yet? Is His love still outside of you?
I absolutely felt that way. His love was "out there", and sometimes I believed that His love was on me in some fashion. As I wrote in a previous blog, I felt that God's love "could not" come to me as long as I was feeling those same-sex desires, those unnatural feelings.
Today, I know and believe--or I believe and declare as Pastor Joel Olsteen would share--that God's love is indeed IN ME!
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