Holding Back Love
The revelation God gave me yesterday, concerning "Withdrawing Love", woke me up this morning, with added thoughts that went something like this:
God is Love... Love is:
1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8a Love never fails....
* When you withdraw God from any scenario, you are walking outside His will.
* To not walk in God's will (which is LOVE) is to walk in "ego" - or, as the Bible calls it "the flesh".
Galatians 5:16-18
New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit,
and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.
They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
* The absence of love looks like this:
4 The absence of love is impatient, it is unkind. It envies, it boasts, it is proud.
5 It dishonours others, it is self-seeking, it is easily angered,
it keeps records of wrongs.
6 The absence of love delights in evil but does not rejoice with the truth.
7 It never protects, never trusts, never hopes, never perseveres.
8a The absence of love fails....
* When you deny love, you deny God before others.
* When you withdraw love, when you hold it back, you stop it from functioning in your heart and therefore stop it from functioning in your life; and when you do that the other moods enter your heart and take over. ie Impatience, unkindness, envy, pride, self-seeking, distrust, and so on... (Go back over 'The absence of love' list.)
* When you withdraw, or withhold love, you're giving room for all that is opposed to love to enter your heart, your world, your thoughts, your relationships, and your decisions, and you start to feed off their poison.
* The more poison that gets into your system - from 'the absence of love' moods - the more bitter you and your heart will become. You will turn away from patience, kindness, honouring others, forgiveness, trust, hope, perseverance and so on.
* When the poison gets into your system, you will honour it, you will trust it, because it is now feeding your ego; it is now feeding your emotions and you trust your emotions. It is this trust that will then go on to guide your thoughts, actions and reactions, and your temper. It is this poison that will cause your heart to become callous, bitter, unforgiving, judgemental and so on - all the things that love is not.
* Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God... However, by denying love, you've moved back into ego, back into the flesh; you are no longer walking in the spirit, therefore it is no longer God's word, truth and love you're gaining 'faith' by - or righteous faith by. You are now less likely to care what God's word, or love, says. You have turned your ear to all the negative moods that oppose love - and God. You now find faith in listening to the bitter words of such moods, and you will bow your knee to these moods.
However, when you take in these moods, when you allow them into your heart - therefore making them yours and becoming responsible for them - it's actually the absence of love you're feeling. And that feels terrible.
But the good news is, you can turn that feeling around in a heartbeat, simply by deciding not to withhold love. In doing this, you instantly step back into love, you step back into God's will, and the presence of God and His heart always brings peace and a sense of celebration - which unleashes hope, and faith, and joy, and all that God and love is, and life becomes easier again.
That's not to say you have to live with that person again - so to speak; you don't even have to walk the same path as them. But when you walk in love your heart is right again, and your path is now easier to walk.
Try it. :)
Oh, and another thing God placed on my heart with this (and hopefully there will be more to come), is: "The world will know His children by their love..."