Don’t You Know?!
“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of GOD, GOD dwelleth in him, and he in GOD. 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. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
1 John 4:15-18 KJV
This week, I had a Come to Jesus meeting with the LORD… and I came to Jesus, again. Twice, in two months, I’ve been ill, and I found myself questioning GOD about some things in my life… the “Why’s”… thinking about things I did that I felt certain were right but did not have the outcomes that I expected. There were moments as I was reflecting that I felt like John the Baptist in prison questioning Jesus and other moments I felt like Elijah sitting under the Juniper tree, angry at things he was going through. My thoughts were basically, “LORD, I’ve done all this… and THAT has happened!” I wanted to be angry and wallow in self-pity in the midst of this sickness, but at the same time I felt the championing of the LORD for me to stand up in faith. But, I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to have to work to muster up the faith… to even try to speak to this attack against my body. Then, I heard the voice of a young minister going through my mind saying, “Pick up your sword!” I could hear it so plainly. I began to confess healing over my body and bind up the enemy’s assignment against me. It was while wading through all those different thoughts and feelings that I realized, it wasn’t even about being sick. At the root of everything, I had been carrying offense toward the LORD in my heart over many things. Without even realizing it, I was doubting His concern for me. I felt totally disregarded and dejected. At the heart of it all, I was questioning His love for me. It’s really something when the LORD starts exposing your own heart to you. As I began to realize what was happening, I knew it was time to lay those things on the altar, to release them to the LORD and to repent for my faithlessness.
As I opened my Bible, my eyes fell on 1 John 4:15 and I began to read. What captured my attention was this passage where John is writing about the love of GOD, “And we have KNOWN and BELIEVED the love that GOD hath to (for) us. GOD is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in GOD, and GOD in him.” I decided to run some word searches in the Greek.
KNOWN – “Ginōskō” – It basically means “To Know Fully”.
BELIEVED – “Pisteúo” – It means “To Be Firmly Persuaded”.
Both of these words have the idea behind them of being unwavering. We have to be fully persuaded that GOD LOVES US and that can only come by dwelling IN Him. What does that “dwelling in” look like? It’s spending time with Him continually. As we look back at verses 15-18, there were two things that were required for success: 1) Confession that Jesus is the Son of GOD and 2) Dwelling in GOD.
When things happen in our world that don’t go according to our timeline or our plan, we have to know, that is, to know fully, to be unwavering, that GOD is still good, that He loves us and cares for those things that concern us.
There is another verse that comes to mind right here:
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: My GOD; in Him will I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2 KJV
DWELLETH – (Gr) “Ménō” – To remain, abide, dwell, live. In this context though, it further represents, “the relation in which one person or thing stands with another; thus to remain in or with someone (i.e. to be and remain united with Him, one with Him in heart, mind, and will.) It also speaks of remaining steadfast, persevering.” -CWSB
DWELLETH – (Hbr) “Yāšab” – It is a verb, meaning “to sit, to dwell, to inhabit, to endure, to stay. To sit is the root idea, and other meanings are derived from this.” – CWSB
Our success is in the abiding. It’s in the dwelling. We cannot go by what our eyes see (or fail to see) and we cannot go by the thoughts to the contrary the enemy would plant in our minds to cause us to doubt GOD.
Jeremiah recounts the LORD saying to him, “I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3 KJ2000
We must KNOW our GOD and be confident of this fact, that He Who formed us, Who breathed life into us and keeps a constant count of the very number of hairs on our head loves us and cares for us, never doubting that He is on our side and He IS Faithful.