Is there something for which God has forgiven you, others have forgiven you, and yet you cannot forgive yourself? You cannot assume that it would have no impact on your expression of love to others. We love because God first loved us, and the power of God’s love is forgiveness. So we must not limit it from doing its work in us first. Let us turn loose that power by fully accepting God’s love and forgiveness for ourselves.

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Show Notes:

There is no answer for this world apart from God’s love. There is a power in His love that if turned loose would bring the solutions that we need. All the wars that are happening are a product of hate. The missiles being launched against Israel are from those who hate Israel and hate the Jews. And yet this is in a land that is about the love of God in the children of Abraham. Therefore, instead of hatred they should be expressing brotherly love because no one can love God and hate his brother.

We love because God first loved us. This means that the love He gives us at some point must become a love that is expressed from us. We know that the power of God’s love toward us is unlimited. Why then is the expression of that love from us toward others so often limited and lacking power? To answer that question, we need to look within ourselves. We know we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore, if we do not love ourselves, we restrict the flow of love to our neighbor.

The power of God’s love is forgiveness. We may believe and accept that nothing can separate us from God’s love. But if we are unable to forgive ourselves, we can effectively block the power of that love from working in our lives and consequently in the lives of others. God has made an everlasting covenant with us according to His faithful mercies to David. It is a covenant of forgiveness. We in turn must let the power of His forgiveness work in us and through us.

Key Verses:

• Romans 8:37–39. “I am convinced that neither death, nor life … will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
• Romans 5:8. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Romans 8:28–35. “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? … Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”
• 1 John 4:16–21. “We love, because He first loved us.”
• Matthew 22:35–40. “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
• Galatians 5:14. “The whole Law is … ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”
• 1 John 4:7–11. “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
• Psalm 130:3–4. “There is forgiveness with You.”
• Isaiah 55:3. “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies [hesed] shown to David.”
• Psalm 136. “His lovingkindness [hesed] is everlasting.”
• Acts 13:34–35. “I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.”

Quotes:

• “It’s one thing to know that God has forgiven me. It’s another thing for me to be free and delivered by His forgiveness in that I’m able to forgive myself.”
• “Once we have this love of God in us, it should manifest as a love of our brother, of our neighbor. And yet, why can’t that happen? It can’t happen if I can’t love myself, if I can’t forgive myself, because you love your neighbor as And that is where this whole thing gets stuck.”
• “When we’re able to love our neighbor as ourself, the whole world Everything changes. The hate stops. The lies stop. The war stops. The put-down stops. The shame stops. Everything that we do in a negativity of relating to the person and the people outside of us ends with that love.”

Takeaways:

1. The power of God’s love always ministers forgiveness. In other words, forgiveness is the outworking of God’s love. Wherever you find His love, you find forgiveness. What can stop this power? Only we can stop it when we do not forgive ourselves.
2. We love because He first loved us. And if we love ourselves, we should love our neighbor. God’s love to us and in us must be expressed from us because we cannot love God and hate our brother. We are the only ones who can limit that expression.
3. God promised an everlasting covenant according to the faithful, steadfast, and eternal mercies (hesed) of David. This is a covenant of forgiveness as shown to David and given to us in Christ. This power of God’s love needs to work through us to bring a freedom from the hate, division, and all that is not forgiving.