July 23rd, 2026
Of all the wisdom and deep revelation in the Word of God, there is nothing more profound than the simplicity of the love of God. The apostle John said that if everything Jesus did when He walked the earth were to be written down, the earth could not contain the books. However, John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, also gave us the clearest and simplest definition of the gospel we have. John 3:16 says,
“For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Love is the message of God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation. Even in parts of the Word of God where we see His holiness, justice, and judgment, we always see His love. This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of that love to heal our own hearts and lives, but also our relationships, our families, our churches, and our communities. The power of His love cannot be overestimated.
The apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14-19,
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Paul’s prayer for the church was that they would be so rooted in Christ’s love that they
would have the strength to comprehend that which cannot be comprehended. His love
surpasses our knowledge, yet we are made to be full of it.
Let’s look at just a few Scriptures about His love. There are countless more in the Bible, but this is a small snapshot.
Exodus 34:6 is the powerful passage in which God proclaims His name and His character to Moses. It says,
‘Jehovah passed before him and proclaimed, “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”’
Psalm 32:10 says,
“Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.”
When the Bible speaks of “steadfast love,” it is not talking about just any love, but the covenant love that comes only from God.
Psalm 136:1 says,
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
Isaiah 54:10 says,
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.”
Romans 8:38-39 says,
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We see God’s love demonstrated most clearly in the life and death of Jesus Christ. He is the love of the Father poured out on humanity. Jesus prayed in John 17:26,
“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
He declared His purpose fulfilled on the earth in this one sentence. He came that the love of the Father that is so purely in Jesus would also fill us. It’s why Paul prayed as he did, that we would be rooted and grounded in His love, and therefore be filled with the fullness of God.
We can’t be filled with the fullness of God and be filled with anything but His steadfast love. If we are filled with love for money, love for ourselves, love for the world, or love for the accolades of men, it will displace the love of God in our hearts. God’s love is pure and cannot be mixed with inferior love. There is only one covenant love that will change our hearts and it’s not a love that can come from our human nature. Our society talks a lot about love—loving and accepting ourselves and others. However, love apart from God—apart from truth—is not love. God is love, and pure love flows from Him alone. It flows from the heart of the Father to us, through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 says,
“…hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
If there is an absence of His love, there will be an abundance of division. If we aren’t full of His love, our own hearts will be divided. If a church isn’t full of His love, the body will be divided. If a nation isn’t full of His love, a people will be divided.
Colossians 3:12-15 says,
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Above all, put on love. Love, aligned with His Word, binds everything together in perfect harmony, within the body of Christ. We can love those who we don’t necessarily like, when we are full of Him.
Ephesians 4 also speaks of God’s love in the context of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:1-2 says,
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The chapter concludes in Ephesians 4:15-16 saying,
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
The body of Christ can only be built up in love. We cannot have love apart from the truth of God’s Word, but truth must be delivered in love. The giftings of the Holy Spirit must operate through us in love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says,
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
This may seem like a very elementary message, and it is the most fundamental message of the Word of God. We teach children to sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know,” but do we know? Have we been filled with the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge? Can we say we’re filled with all the fullness of God? There is always more. The revelation of His love will allow us to live in healing, peace, unity, freedom, and joy that we won’t know any other way. His love makes us unoffendable. His love makes us indivisible. His love binds us together in perfect harmony. We will be whole, individually and as the body of Christ, only when we are built up in the truth and full of the love that comes only from Him!
“For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Love is the message of God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation. Even in parts of the Word of God where we see His holiness, justice, and judgment, we always see His love. This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of that love to heal our own hearts and lives, but also our relationships, our families, our churches, and our communities. The power of His love cannot be overestimated.
The apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14-19,
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Paul’s prayer for the church was that they would be so rooted in Christ’s love that they
would have the strength to comprehend that which cannot be comprehended. His love
surpasses our knowledge, yet we are made to be full of it.
Let’s look at just a few Scriptures about His love. There are countless more in the Bible, but this is a small snapshot.
Exodus 34:6 is the powerful passage in which God proclaims His name and His character to Moses. It says,
‘Jehovah passed before him and proclaimed, “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”’
Psalm 32:10 says,
“Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.”
When the Bible speaks of “steadfast love,” it is not talking about just any love, but the covenant love that comes only from God.
Psalm 136:1 says,
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
Isaiah 54:10 says,
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.”
Romans 8:38-39 says,
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We see God’s love demonstrated most clearly in the life and death of Jesus Christ. He is the love of the Father poured out on humanity. Jesus prayed in John 17:26,
“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
He declared His purpose fulfilled on the earth in this one sentence. He came that the love of the Father that is so purely in Jesus would also fill us. It’s why Paul prayed as he did, that we would be rooted and grounded in His love, and therefore be filled with the fullness of God.
We can’t be filled with the fullness of God and be filled with anything but His steadfast love. If we are filled with love for money, love for ourselves, love for the world, or love for the accolades of men, it will displace the love of God in our hearts. God’s love is pure and cannot be mixed with inferior love. There is only one covenant love that will change our hearts and it’s not a love that can come from our human nature. Our society talks a lot about love—loving and accepting ourselves and others. However, love apart from God—apart from truth—is not love. God is love, and pure love flows from Him alone. It flows from the heart of the Father to us, through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 says,
“…hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
If there is an absence of His love, there will be an abundance of division. If we aren’t full of His love, our own hearts will be divided. If a church isn’t full of His love, the body will be divided. If a nation isn’t full of His love, a people will be divided.
Colossians 3:12-15 says,
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Above all, put on love. Love, aligned with His Word, binds everything together in perfect harmony, within the body of Christ. We can love those who we don’t necessarily like, when we are full of Him.
Ephesians 4 also speaks of God’s love in the context of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:1-2 says,
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The chapter concludes in Ephesians 4:15-16 saying,
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
The body of Christ can only be built up in love. We cannot have love apart from the truth of God’s Word, but truth must be delivered in love. The giftings of the Holy Spirit must operate through us in love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says,
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
This may seem like a very elementary message, and it is the most fundamental message of the Word of God. We teach children to sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know,” but do we know? Have we been filled with the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge? Can we say we’re filled with all the fullness of God? There is always more. The revelation of His love will allow us to live in healing, peace, unity, freedom, and joy that we won’t know any other way. His love makes us unoffendable. His love makes us indivisible. His love binds us together in perfect harmony. We will be whole, individually and as the body of Christ, only when we are built up in the truth and full of the love that comes only from Him!
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