Eph 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

None of us want to be unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.  I mean if we know God loves us we want our lives to be shaped by His love.  Experiencing the love of God in our lives is what fills us with the fruit of the Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit is really the only thing we all need for this life.

But, where can we find the love of God?  How can we see our lives anchored and shaped by the love God has for us?  What are the stumblingblocks to experiencing the love of God?

There were times in my life where I knew God was my Father.  I knew I was beautiful to God.  I knew He’d never been ashamed of me.  I knew He’d never condemned me but I was still tormented in certain areas.  I knew in my head God loved me but I was struggling to experience God’s love and his joy and his peace and the fruit of His life.  Now I’m not talking about getting a goose bump or feeling discomfort.   I’m talking about my heart and my mind being put to rest.

I spent all my days trying to figure out what was causing me to stumble.  It became like a game of hide and go seek for me.  Or like hidden pictures?  Or finding Elmo.  There was this morning show I watched before work when i lived in Colorado and they had a segment called where in the world is matt lauer because he was always somewhere different.  Well I started to feel like where in the world is the love of God.  

If we look at Jesus the power behind his life is that He really knew He was loved by the Father.  Jesus was fully persuaded of His Sonship and walked in the power of the Father’s love for him. 

Why was Jesus rooted and grounded in the Father’s love for him?  Where did that come from?  It wasnt a function of his will.  He didnt will himself to believe.  He didnt make an intellectual choice and make a stand on his choice.  

The love of God is contained in something very specific.  The power to be persuaded of the Father’s love and to experience a life shaped by His love is found in something very specific.  

when I was always asking God why I was feeling tormented and where my unbelief was.  I heard him say in my heart “have you considered the resurrection lately”.  You see God was trying to tell me that His love is contained in the resurrection.  He was trying to tell me His love is contained in the word of life.  

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 

When John says what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us he’s talking about Jesus.  He’s talking about the word of life that manifested in the resurrection of Jesus.  John is talking about the Father pouring out of Himself the Spirit of His life on all flesh through Jesus. 

Remember John began this letter by saying that which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life. 

The word of life is that the Father has a life in Himself that overcomes death in the flesh and the death that’s in the world, and He has given us that life as a gift in the man Jesus. 

What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that He has poured out on all flesh the life He has in Himself.  What manner of love the Father must feel for us that He has given us of Himself a life that overcomes death in the flesh, and overcomes the tribulation in the world.  What manner of love is it this guy must have for us that He has come and given us His most precious gift, His very life and immortality.   

We judge the value of something by how rare it is.  The fewer there is of something the more valuable we say it is.  Well God is the only immortal.  He is the only one possessing immortality.  He is the only one possessing a life that can overcome death.  Think of the value God sees in you if He has come and gifted you with His most precious possession.  

It’s like a jordan river moment for John... just as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the jordan River, carrying the Fathers words “you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”.  John sees the Father has poured out of Himself the Spirit of His life on all flesh through the man Christ Jesus, and in that, He hears the Father’s voice saying you are my beloved children in whom I am well pleased.  

John says in the first chapter of his gospel, in Jesus is life and the life of God that is in him is a light to all people.  He goes onto to say Jesus is the light that lights up every person that enters the earth.  Meaning the life that manifested in Jesus is a light to every person that enters the earth. 

The life that manifested in Jesus and overcame death in his flesh, is a light to all people because it reveals the love the Fathers has in His heart for us. 

1st John 1 says our intimacy is with the Son and through the Son with the Father.  Intimacy with the Father is to be intimate with His life. 

Jesus is the Christ.  To be the Christ means you are the anointed One.  The Father anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the fulness of the life He has in Himself, with the intent that through Jesus, He could pour out His Spirit on all flesh and anoint us with His incorruptible life.

The Father manifested His life in Jesus so it could be a light to us, telling us He loves us just as much as He loves Jesus.  The life that manifested in Jesus leads us into intimacy with the Father’s love.  It lights up our lives with the Father’s love.  Its through intimacy with the life we see in Jesus we are immersed in the Father’s love.  In our eyes being fixed upon the life the Father manifested in the Son, overcoming death in his flesh, we are immersed in the love of God.  It anchors us in the Father’s love ...... It purifies our hearts from the life that is of the world and the fear that is contained in the life that is of the world.

The love of God is found in walking in His life.  Walking in the light is to dwell in the Father’s love on account of walking in His life.  If we look at Jesus, the reason he was fully persuaded of His Sonship.  The reason his life was shaped by the Father’s love for him is because He walked in the light of the Father’s life.  

In Mark 1 Jesus was in the Jordan River and the Father pours out of Himself the Spirit of His Life onto Jesus.  The Spirit of the Fathers life descended on Jesus as a dove, and through that Jesus hears the Father say to him you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.  If we could interview Jesus after he came up out of the Jordan he would say what manner of love the Father has bestowed on me that He has poured out His very life onto me. 

Remember Jesus hadnt done anything yet when that happened.  He hadnt resisted the temptation of the devil.  He hadnt gone to the cross. He hadnt performed any miracles.  His ministry hadnt even started yet.  

Jesus received strength from the Father’s love for him.  His fellowship was with the love of the Father on account of his gaze being fixed upon the life he shared with the Father.  He walked in the light of the Father’s life.  He knew His life was of the incorruptible seed the Father has in Himself.  

In Matthew 23:9 Jesus says call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.  

A father has a seed in themselves that can reproduce after its own kind.  There is genetic code and dna within their seed to be able to reproduce itself. 

Jesus says don’t identify with the life that is in your earthly Father because there’s no man on earth that possesses within themselves a seed that can reproduce an incorruptible life in you.  The Father of Lights in Heaven is the only one who possesses a seed within themselves that can reproduce an incorruptible life in you.   

The life that is in the world; the life that has been Fathered by the world does not contain the love of God.  In fact it works against us experiencing the love of God.  The life that is but dust, that is born of the world.  The life that is in the world and of the world, is the life that has fathered all the death and tribulation we see in the world, and that is what wars against us experiencing the love of God.  

There’s a song called looking for love in all the wrong places.  Trying to experience the love of God by looking at how its going for you in the world.  Will leave you picking pedals off a flower saying He loves me, He loves me not.  

The fruit contained in the life that is in the world is the fruit of fear.  The life that is in the world can only reproduce after its own kind.  The life in the world is like a seed, and within that seed is only contained the ability to reproduce the fruit of fear because the seed is corruptible and a corruptible seed can only yield the fruit of fear. 

Example of eating junk food and eating healthy and how it makes you feel.  The junk food contains within it something that makes you feel that way...

The love of God is found in the word of His life.  God pampers us with His love through the life that manifested in Christ.  God poured out onto you the life He has in Himself, a life that overcomes death in the flesh and overcomes the tribulation in the world, so we can walk in the light of His love.  As you walk in the light of a life that has overcome death, never to be able to be corrupted by sin again, the love of God will have its perfect work in you.

Prayer