Today’s HEART NOTES post is one that is definitely written from personal experience. Bless you for reading.
Have you ever been LOVE CHALLENGED? Has there ever been a person in your life who was a challenge for you to love? Whether it was something they did to you, or your own lack of willingness to allow yourself to love them, has there been a person whom you did not feel like loving?
Many years ago I was challenged to find love in my heart for someone in my extended family. Today, with the benefit of a deeper walk with Jesus, I can make no sense of the fact that I couldn’t love them. The only explanation I have for it is that I allowed Satan to engulf me up in the tentacles of a stronghold of hatred. I was powerless to change until I experienced the truth of Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV).
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
As I engaged with the fruit of the Spirit through Beth Moore’s Bible study entitled Living Beyond Yourself in 2002, I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit concerning my lack of love for my family member. To be painfully honest, I didn’t want to change, but God wanted me to, and boy, did I need to. I tried to ignore the conviction, but as is always the case with our magnificent God, He loved me too much to allow me to stay immersed in such an ungodly pit.
When I finally grew weary of hating AND fighting the Holy Spirit on the thing, I fell to my knees in 2002, and cried out to God.
“Ok, God, I confess that I do not love this person. And what’s more, I don’t even want to. So, if you want me to change you are going to have to give me the desire to change. I confess my sin of hatred, and I ask you to fill my heart with love for them.”
Two weeks later, when that family member came to visit us, I did not feel one ounce of hatred in my heart. The Holy Spirit had flat-out done a miracle in my stinking heart. Today, that family member and I share a wonderful, loving relationship that is as sweet as Domino’s Ten X powdered sugar. What grace the Lord has lavished upon me! What love he poured into my heart, because He first loved me. I praise Him loudly, and often, for His miraculous love that He placed in my heart toward this person.
