Finding Anchor in God's Unconditional Love | Christian Faith

Understanding God's unconditional love is the foundation of Christianity.

Christ dwelling in our hearts is made possible through faith.

We are rooted in love and founded securely on Christ's love.

The Holy Spirit strengthens and establishes us inwardly, increasing love in our hearts.

The following is a broadcast recorded live with Patricia Evans from Shining Light 7 Ministries. May the Lord bless your ears to hear and your heart to receive as you listen to God's holy word. There's a scripture I've pondered and meditated upon quite some time. And as it is with God's word, understanding comes a little at a time in the depth and richness of any word. And the scripture I have read and reread so often that has been stirring in my heart is found in Ephesians 3.17. Ephesians 3.17. May Christ through your faith actually dwell, settle down, abide, make his permanent home in your hearts. and may you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. The word says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith and that you will be found rooted deep in this love and grounded securely on this love. And I'd like to tell you that this is the substance of Christianity. This is the summary or the whole of Christianity, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, and that you'll be rooted deep in love and founded securely on this love of Christ. It seems that scripture always uses some vivid description in word and type that we can visualize in picture form or see it like a painting. And the word through the illumination of the spirit of God makes it live in our hearts. And Paul uses the term rooted. And rooted is an image from a tree. And grounded means foundational, like the piles or foundations of a building. Nevertheless, whether a tree or a building, these roots or pilings go very, very deep in its being established and firmly set and founded. And since our faith is founded on our Lord Jesus Christ, we must see him as our tree of life in whom we are rooted, in our foundation whom we are built upon. As a little girl growing up, I remember a tree my father planted by our home many, many, many years ago. And today this tree is so big around and so high and old. And it has shown its age during these years and has withstood many storms, cold Montana winters and hot summers. And it's withstood five of us children, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well, climbing up into its branches and even a treehouse being nailed to it. My father used to tell me that as far as you could see to the top of the tree, its roots would go as deep as that tree was high. And there were other roots of that tree which would spread out beneath the ground to meet that same circumference of the tree below. That tree by my father's house must have had very deep, deep roots. It certainly is a mighty tree. This word Paul speaks of is an eternal word with eternal consequences for every believer. And this love, this faith comes from one source and it is unseen. Jesus Christ is the one in whom our faith is anchored to on and in. Let us read Ephesians 3 from verse 12 and catch the scripture above what we have just read. Ephesians 3, 12. in whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness, courage, and the confidence of free access, of unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear. So I ask you not to lose heart or not to faint or become despondent through fear at what I am suffering in your behalf. Rather, glory in it. For it is an honor to you. Verse 14. For this reason, seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ, I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that Father from whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name. Verse 16. May he grant you out of the rich treasury of his glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit himself indwelling your innermost being and personality. Verse 17. And may Christ, through your faith, actually dwell, settle down, abide, make his permanent home in your hearts. And may you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, God's devoted people, the experience of that love. What is the breadth and length and height and depth of it? Verse 19, that you may really come to know practically through experience for yourselves the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being unto all fullness of God, may have the rich measure of the divine presence and become a body totally filled and flooded with God himself. Jesus made it possible for his mighty power and love to dwell richly within each one of us. And just like that treehouse at my father's house, which was nailed to the big oak tree and nestled in its branches, Jesus made it possible for us to be firmly fixed in his arms of love and dwell permanently in his presence and power. Our scripture in verse 16 said, may he grant you out of the rich treasury of his glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit himself indwelling your innermost being and personality. May Christ through your faith, verse 17, actually dwell, settle down, abide, make his permanent home in your hearts. And may you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have the power to be strong, to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, God's devoted people, the experience of that love. What is the breadth and length and height and depth of it? The mighty power in verse 16 speaks it for us. The Holy Spirit is God. And he is the power who strengthens and establishes us inwardly. And he is the one who stirs up your faith and increases love in your hearts as you hunger after him. the first fruit of the Spirit flowing from the love of Jesus is realized in your soul and is the basis on which should rest all understanding in the great vastness and price of Christ's love let us understand Jesus was the first fruit of the Spirit's work of love in our hearts And this is the reason Jesus came. And when he went away to be with his Father, he sent us his Spirit. 1 John 4, 7. In 1 John 4, 7, let's look at that. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is, it springs from God. And he who loves his fellow man is begotten or born of God and is coming progressively, progressively to know and understand God and to perceive and recognize and get better acquainted and clear knowledge of him. Verse 8, and he who does not love has not become acquainted with God, does not, never did know him, for God is love. Verse 9, in this, the love of God was made manifest, displayed where we are concerned, in that God sent his Son, the only begotten or unique Son, into the world so that we might live through him. In this love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Verse 11, Beloved, if God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No man has at any time yet seen God. But if we love one another, God abides, lives, and remains in us. And his love, that love which is essentially his, is brought to completion, to its full maturity, runs its full course, is perfected in us. us, verse 13, and by this we come to know, perceive, recognize, and understand that we abide live and remain in him and he in us because he has given imparted to us His Holy Spirit So we are instructed here that we need to abide to live in to remain in Him There within our souls, Christ lives because His Spirit lives in us. and the only way of this abiding in love brings us back to one word called faith. And if we have no faith, we do not have love, nor do we have Christ, nor his spirit. And if these have grown cold, nor have ever been established and rooted in your hearts, Then there is a clear warning at the end of the book as a solemn warning for such believers. Revelation 3, verse 1. Revelation 3, verse 1. And to the angel messenger of the assembly church in Sardis write, These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God, the sevenfold Holy Spirit and the seven stars. I know your record and what you are doing. You are supposed to be alive, but in reality you are dead. Rouse yourself and keep awake and strengthen and invigorate what remains and what is on the point of dying. For I have not found a thing that you have done, any work of yours meeting the requirements of my God or perfect in his sight. So call to mind the lessons you received and heard. Continually lay them to heart and obey them and repent. And in case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief and you will not know or expect what hour I will come. Verse 4. Yet you still have a few persons' names in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes, and they shall walk with me in white because they are worthy and deserving. 5. Thus shall he who conquers is victorious be clad in white garments and I will not erase or blot out his name from the book of life. I will acknowledge him as mine and I will confess his name openly before my father and before his angels. Verse 6. He who is able to hear let him listen to and heed what the Holy Spirit says to the assemblies. Since love is founded on faith in Christ, we dare not that he be just an empty expression on our tongue or the thought of him flipped through our brain, but a deep and abiding understanding through his Spirit be properly seated in the walls of our hearts, which comes again from Christ dwelling there through his Spirit. This deep love which comes through faith in Christ and love which flows from the Spirit gives us the understanding and the power to be settled in his love, never being removed from its rooting. We are given strength and insight, precious church, to apprehend, to grasp along with others, to understand that love is a tangible experience, that it is the substance and the weight of God's presence, which is his glory and the expression of his love to his creation. Ephesians 3, 17. May Christ, through your faith, actually dwell, settle down, abide, make his permanent home in your hearts. And may you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth of that love is. That you may come, really come to know, practically through experience for yourselves, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience. That you may be filled through all your being unto all the fullness of God. And may the richest measure of the divine presence and become a body totally filled and flooded with God himself. This is experience. This is real. And the weight and the presence of God filling and flooding your whole being. This was God's design and plan for all of his children. That they live and move and have their being in him. And this is being steadfastly fixed in your love to God. That is God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. And to all the saints, the beloved of our Lord. Many people have some love to God and to his servants. But it is as fleeting to say the least. Like fireworks that goes off in loud and great bursts of noise and flashes. But it's gone just as quickly as it bursts forth. It's not lasting. Dear church, we should earnestly desire that love be established in us, that we may be rooted and grounded and founded in God's love, which is fixed in faith and brought about and birthed and made real by God's Holy Spirit. We love him because he first loved us. The family of God is love. And this love is God's expression constantly being manifested by his spirit to his children and then demonstrated as well by his children to others and each other. This is personal fellowship in your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our supreme head and lover of our soul. It's receiving Christ by faith. And if you continue to receive him, then he will dwell richly in your hearts by faith through the power of his Holy Spirit. That is, by heart sanctifying love. This is consecration of your heart. this is total devotion to your Lord this is saying all of my desires I now lay at your feet dear Jesus I even give you my eyes my mouth my ears my heart my hands my feet I give you my thought life and ask you to purify them everyone you see to enjoy this anchoring in the love of God, there can be no substitute. Any other substitute for this is a prostitute or spiritual adultery. A prostitute has many lovers and she is not devoted to anyone. There can be no real Christianity for the one who does not personally take Christ's sacrifice by faith. And there's no substitute for this personal experience because it is the only way for any to come to God the Father, and that is through his Son. These are the conditions for all true believers. Total dedication of our carnal desires, our appetites and senses to be put on the altar of God in order to truly know him, to love him and come to him by faith is called renewal of our minds, our whole being to be prepared to house the power and the presence of God Almighty. Read with me again and please bear with me while I make my point in this word today in Ephesians 3 verse 17. May Christ, through your faith, actually dwell, settle down, abide, and make his permanent home in your hearts. And may you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, God's devoted people, the experience of that love. which is the breadth and length and height and depth of it, that you may really come to know and practically through experience for yourselves the love of Christ which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being and to all the fullness of God and may have the richest measure of the divine presence and become a body totally filled and flooded with God himself. Doesn't it make sense then, dear church, since God is love that the foundation or the ground of everything is anchored on his love? The book of Romans declares, God shows and clearly proves his own love for us. by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And because God is love, his love goes forth to sinners. And because his love went forth to sinners, he's provided a way by which he would restore sinners back again to happiness and to himself. and this was through his son Jesus Christ death burial and resurrection this was a great cost and price for our Heavenly Father in giving His Son A great cost and price. He gave His Son willingly to sinners, that is, to you and me. This was truly a love the world could never understand or know in its depth, width, or length. God our Father, at the time his Son hung bloody and naked upon the cross, with all of our sins and wretchedness upon himself and in himself, had to turn his back on his Son, whom he loved so much. Their love, precious ones, is the ultimate of all love. And the love of God is an ever-flowing fountain which never ends. This fountain of God's love flows freely from his veins. From his veins. Jesus shed his blood for sinners. Jesus died for sinners. And Jesus provided the way by which he would restore sinners back to his Father's love. Therefore, I can now say, God chose me. He drew me, and he pardoned me, and he spoke peace to me. You could say that too. You and I are now pardoned and loved with this undying one-time act of grace and mercy, which drew us into and anchored us in faith by divine roots of affection. God has not withheld anything from us. Jesus did not struggle against his Father's will to go to the cross for us. He didn't struggle against that. He was like a lamb, the word says, who went to the slaughter. And when he did cry out, please remember his words were, Oh my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And this cry was in the moment in which he regretted the most and this precious church was spiritual separation from his beloved Father. This is why he cried in the garden. God the Father and God the Son withheld nothing at all from us. Jesus came and died for us so that we too would have the opportunity to be anchored and grounded and rooted in his father's love and this is truly where our affections rest in this great love and act of kindness for a better life hereafter this is individually worked out in the heart of every member of the God family and you must apprehend the greatness of this love for yourself. You must desire to know this love. But it will cost you something. When you personally accepted our Lord Jesus Christ sacrifice for eternal life upon the repentance and forgiveness of your sins you then by faith through the spirit of God given you Begin to wind this precious truth like a golden thread through your whole being. And this precious thread is like the root of the tree which anchors itself, its affections down into the character and the very being of God. Your desire should be that you want his attributes, his presence, and his love so much in your life. that you go after him. You become God-hungry, and you will not settle for anything less. And you begin to taste holy zeal. And this is the drawing of the Spirit of God within you who gives you every one of these desires. You wind these around and about yourself with the help of the one given you. and you begin to strike these attributes into his promises and drive them deep into his faithfulness. Ah, now there are roots and this is where the roots of your affections lie. Oh, the roots of these affections begin to drink in the nature of the love they live in now. and oh the silent cries and joy and sweetness which these little golden threads are always running to after their source, the fountain. Receiving the nourishment from that tree of life. my words my actions my whole being now cannot help but desire and choose to be molded and shaped into this precious love and to drink continually from the source and fountain you can't see it but your whole being is rooted and anchored in Christ's love I now love because I am established and rooted in love. And my heart draws the tenderness from the root I am grounded in, which is necessary for my new nature. And my intellect rests upon its foundation and my heart longs for greater attachment to its root. I grow by resting and I am confident in this love. and I'm assured by the word of God first that I belong to him. I belong to him. I am his and he is mine. And my spirit and the spirit of God within me cry out in agreement that Abba Father is my God and I am his. In Romans 8, 15 please. Romans 8, 15. For the spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption and the spirit producing sonship in the bliss of which we cry, Abba, Father, Father. The spirit himself thus testifies with our own spirit assuring us that we are children of God. Verse 17. And if we are his children, then we are his heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing in his inheritance with him. Only we must share his suffering if we are to share his glory. And you see this love being established is a divine process of every level. And the Spirit of God is so jealous over us in presenting us to Christ that he goes to great lengths to keep us in each level of rooting and establishing. And even the winds and the storms of time, which come unexpectedly, cannot play havoc with our minds and drag us back to the former doubt life we once muddled in. And the Spirit of the Lord's work is to adopt us higher and higher in this redemptive process. Colossians 1.21 Once you were alienated from God, and you were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Verse 22. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you wholly in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Hallelujah! And if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel, this is the gospel that you've heard and has been promised, it has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. I can only think of that great old tree I knew as a little girl growing up, how massive and an enormous column or trunk that tree has. That huge tree has such great and strong branches, which have gone through generations and provided shade and comfort to many a people. And how often the storms over the years have struck it and wrestled with it, but still it stood. And the lessons of this old tree has been that it withstands the storms that come, and yet it remains. It has received its nourishment from the hidden and secret streams as its taproot has gone very deep to seek out its source of life. Oh, that we too may be so rooted in the love of God and grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ, his son. That we will stand and be firmly fixed and established thereto so that any storm or torrent that may come our way will not shake us. Colossians 2.6, please. Colossians 2.6. So then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continued to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Oh, such a key. And overflowing with thankfulness. Verse 8. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depend on human tradition and basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Though you see not precious one be encouraged that as long as you stay connected to him you remain in faith through spiritual eyes which do see And this divine life is being built in your soul and spirit through the great and powerful mighty helper given you and me. Holy Spirit is busy at work developing his nature and godly character in your members. And just as any parent looks for growth and progress in their child, and if they do not see the growth they expect to, it is a reasonable thing for them to be concerned, is it not? Every good parent looks for progression and perfection in their children. And even as a farmer looks for growth in the seed which he has scattered in the soil which he's prepared, the spirit of God within the believer strengthens us by the might of his spirit these aren't idle words I'm speaking to you these are not idle words please understand the might of the Holy Spirit is the greatest power you and I will ever know There is no greater power And the spirit of Christ in us Is greater than the spirit of Antichrist in the world God's word says Greater is he who is in me Than he who is in the world Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Rejoice He is strong And he strengthens you by the power of his spirit because he lives within you. Jesus Christ dwells in your heart by faith. And you being rooted and grounded in his love, he makes you strong. He makes you strong in the form of sound words in Scripture, which is life to your bones. And he makes you strong in contending for the faith once delivered to the saints and cleaving to the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. and he makes you strong in your real, very real and personal, close and abiding love in him. He who is in you and me is God. God abiding in you and giving you his spirit. he is in you not merely on your side or at your right hand or around you but he is within you and he's working in you and he's working in you to make your home going safe and triumphant in this great fight of truth against all air over the devil over the world and yes even yourself and he's busy in your life building and increasing your faith your trust your confidence in his mighty love so you even this day today will be established in him more greatly than you were yesterday so you can come before his throne of grace and mercy in the mercy seat and make your petitions known. He awaits your entrance and your request and your love in return. Ephesians 3.12, please. Ephesians 3.12. Bear with me through this word. Feast on this word. Ask the Spirit of God in your heart to give you clearer understanding that you be rooted deep in this word today and understanding. Ephesians 3.12 In whom, because of our faith in him, we dare to have the boldness and the courage and confidence of free access and unreserved approach to God with freedom without fear. So I ask you not to lose heart, not to faint or become despondent through fear at what I'm suffering in your behalf. For it is an honor to you. For this reason, seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ, I bow my knee before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. That Father from whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name. And may he grant you out of the rich treasury of his glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit himself indwelling your innermost being and personality. 17. May Christ through your faith. May Christ through your faith actually dwell, settle down, abide, make his permanent home in your hearts. And may you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love. That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, God's devoted people, the experience of that love. What is the breadth and length and height and depth of it. That you may really come to know practically through experience for yourselves. that you may have the experience yourselves to know the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being unto the fullness of God and may have the richest measure of the divine presence and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God himself. I believe through the various ways and angles that we have looked at this word today, you are better able to see the work of God's Spirit in your life to anchor you in his love. Such a great heart cry of Paul through these scriptures we've just read today and reread, which is really the cry of the spirit of grace through him in great appeal and desire to adopt us all upward and inward into this incomprehensible, infinite and undying love. His desire is that we be filled with the fullness of Christ's love, his presence, and our whole beings become overwhelmed with God himself. Ephesians 3.19, one more time. Ephesians 3.19, that you may really come to know, practically through experience for yourself, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being, unto all fullness of God, may have the richest measure of the divine presence and become a body totally filled and flooded with God himself. Let me leave you with the question. Should we all individually not be concerned about our own growth? Should you not be concerned with your own growth? I ask myself that question as well. Should we not grieve the Spirit of God within if we do not view the lackadaisical or indifference to any sin issue we may have? And the older we are as children of God, the longer we have had the opportunity to develop a sweet and pure fellowship with God's Spirit given to us. and for that very reason for this very reason we should have grown to hate everything that is sinful shall we not be concerned if we are not gaining greater power over sin which easily besets us should we not be concerned and should we not be concerned if we have not grown more humble more heavenly minded more gentle in spirit and yes even more forgiving more like more Christ like than we were remember precious one God our Father gave us his son and Jesus gave us his spirit how kind how loving he did this all for one reason. I repeat that. He did this all for one reason. Ephesians 3.19 That you may really come to know practically through experience for yourselves the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being unto the fullness of God that you may have the richest measure of the divine presence and become a body totally filled and flooded with God himself. What love! The whole purpose and plan of God in calling us his child was to fill us with himself and anchor us in his love. this is the summary of our Christianity this is the substance of Christianity and this is divine love in motion we would like to hear from you if this message has touched your life in some way either by encouragement, healing, deliverance or simply if you've been enlightened by the word of God in an area of understanding in your Christian growth Contact us and remember, your information will be kept strictly confidential. May our Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you this day.

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