My loved ones, let us devote ourselves to loving one another. Love comes straight from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and truly knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
- 1 John 4:7-8 (The Voice)
The Lord is doing a new thing!
Can you feel it? It's happening in you and me through our deeper 'yes'. It's a yes that's been built on time and trust, a yes that's been growing within our surrender.
Understanding has taken place - is taking place - because of this deeper yes.
This yes in our spirit is being built on our trust in God and our obedience unto Him.
This yes is saying no to selfish ways, to what I want. It's quieting the offers of offense and choosing honor and love.
This yes puts others before self, even when they don't seem to deserve it. (And who of us does?) It surrenders everything to what God wants - to going His way.
Consider how Jesus is so worthy of our complete yes:
Because of this, the love of God is a reality among us: God sent His only Son into the world so that we could find true life through Him. This is the embodiment of true love: not that we have loved God first, but that He loved us and sent His unique Son on a special mission to become an atoning sacrifice for our sins. So, my loved ones, if God loved us so sacrificially, surely we should love one another. No one has ever seen God with human eyes; but if we love one another, God truly lives in us. Consequently God’s love has accomplished its mission among us.
1 John 4:9-12
Our yes is releasing our brothers and sisters - forgiving them seventy times seven. And because of our yes, bondage is being broken in the spirit realm. Our obedience is demolishing strongholds! It's crushing the enemy's plans and setting multiple captives free: you, and me, and those we release!
Give in to Love Himself. Discover the beauty that He will bring about in your life through your yes: peace in your relationships, joy of His presence whether you're in a crowd or all alone, and fullness of life as the beauty of God emanates from within. His is a light that doesn't go out. It's a light that never leaves, a light that outshines every darkness, always.
This yes - building within you and within me - will echo into heaven and sing throughout eternity, through you and me and those we set free, giving glory unto Christ, our beautiful King.
So, say it again or let it begin with a whisper; let it build like a strong bridge - your yes to a life laid down in full surrender. Your yes given on a daily cross.
Your deepest yes, growing new life within, shining brighter and brighter in the dark of night.
A Prayer of Response -
Father,
Thank You for releasing Your power through Your Spirit and Your Word in me. Because of You, I am able to forgive, I am able to say yes to Your will and Your way.
I yield to You now. I release those who hold something against me and I choose to love them anyway. I choose to honor and do things Your way.
Please help me forgive, and walk it out with wisdom and discernment. Help me to do what makes You smile.
My yes is allowing You to do a new thing in me, and that is what I want. I want to look like You!
I praise You, Lord!
Thank You for loving me so well and for always working for my good.
I love You too.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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