“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He (Jesus) is, so are we in this world.” – 1 John 4:17

Many of us are familiar with this passage…”as Jesus is, so are we!” We’ve heard it quoted quite often and many of us have spoken it ourselves even more. “As Jesus is, so am I.” This is one of the greatest miracles that takes place in the life of the Believer; that through a new birth in Christ, through a re-generation by His Spirit, and through a new life by His shed Blood, we are made one with Him even as He is one with and in the Father (John 17:21).

And the scripture above tells us that it is in this that “our love is made perfect.”

We may look at our lives today and it may seem difficult to understand what the Bible calls “perfect love.” So many people have so many ideas and positions about “love” that if we are not careful, we will get sucked right in. We would soon find ourselves stating our own self-righteous positions on what we think love is, in comparison to other philosophies in the world.

Our own definitions of love, if we would admit, are selfish; they stem from past hurts; they’re influenced by what we choose as entertainment; they’re based on how we feel or how we would like to feel; and they are based on what we think, our cultures, our willingness to forgive, and how much of a “risk” we say that we are willing to take.

We will soon begin again to demand this “love” in all of our relationships, and not know that the growth of that idea would become the ultimate destruction of those relationships. Why? Because the world’s idea of love, however many of those ideas actually exist, they all deny the absolute truth that “GOD IS LOVE” (v. 16).

The above chapter opens by instructing us to NOT believe every spirit, but to TEST every spirit to see if it is from God. It lets us know that we will know this, by whether that spirit will proclaim or deny that Jesus was and is truly God in the flesh; that He was sent by the Father for you and I!

So we need to identify what spirits did we start believing before ever testing them. Are you believing depression? Are you believing defeat? Lack? Condemnation? Loneliness? Discontent or unworthiness? All of these are spirits, and all of these deny the truth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and died for you because He loves you. How do we know this? Because no where do we read of Christ ever being depressed, defeated, sick, discontent or unworthy!

And did now we say, that as He is, so are we?

Saints, rejoice! The love of Jesus breaks the stronghold of any spirit that will deny Christ! And in your testing through God’s word, you will quickly find out that the Holy Spirit is the only Spirit that you need!

I pray that today and for all the rest of your days to come, you will grow in the knowledge of His great love for you and I! Read the following scriptures, and take the stand today that you will never think any less of love again, for the love of God is powerful, the love of God is real, and the love of God is true!

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.” – 1 John 4:9

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

The God of all creation has a different perspective than our own. Yet, He offers us to “see” again by the power of His wonderful Holy Spirit. I want to “see” what God sees, especially when everything in the world consistently begs for our attention. Get connected! Stay connected! Keep the faith!

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8