Knoweth part 5
You can't believe something that you don't know. But when you know it... you can throw it. You can't give something you don't have. But once you receive it... you can release it. It's not a formula, per se, but it is an important first and second step. That's why 1 John 4:16 says, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Known and believed. And that's why Ephesians 3:19 says, "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." First things first... you need to KNOW the truth. The truth sets you free, and makes you free, but only if you know it. It's like a gift. Someone can give you a gift but until you receive it--take it out of the box and play with it--it doesn't do you much good. It's real, but it's not real to you. And that's the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. Knowing "about" something and KNOWING it because you've experienced it. Heart knowledge trumps head knowledge, because heart knowledge PASSES knowledge. The Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth--has given us an unction, and we know all things. But we don't understand everything we know. God's love is too big, and too powerful, and too amazing for us to ever truly get a grasp on. That's why this gift we've been given is eternal life. It's an everlasting life-long journey into the heart of the matter. Which is the heart. That's why we comprehend (or lay hold on) the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of God's love by giving it away. By loving as high, and deep, and strong as we possibly can. You know something--KNOW something--by experiencing it. And love is giving. So in order to experience it, you have to give it away. You have to share what you've got. Share who you are. Because not only DOES God love... God IS love. Not only ARE we loved... we ARE love! That's what it means to know. And then the next step is when the Word (that you know) becomes flesh (because you believe it). That's when love (as an idea) becomes charity (love in action). And here's the key: You don't fake it 'til you make it. You don't try to produce something that isn't there. You fill yourself with the fulness of God, by letting HIM fill you to overflowing with what you've already been filled with! Probably my favorite song of all-time is "How He Loves" by the David Crowder Band. Because I think that song has the exact right emphasis. It's not about how much we love God. It's about how much He loves us. Even the New Commandment has that focus: Love others AS Jesus loves you. The emphasis is on Him loving you. And on you knowing and believing that love. Him loving you, and you receiving and releasing that love. Which is why I always talk about the best way to receive BEING the release. If you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have, that means that if you love someone--giving what you have--it means on some level you know and believe that you are loved. We don't produce the fruit. We are the merely the branches that bear it, or carry it, to those who need it. I'll say it one more time to end this Rant series: We receive it and release it. We know it... and believe it!