Love’s Loveliness

WordSword said:

It may seem a strange thing to say, but I say it after considerable thought, and some years of experience in talking to people of all kinds, that there is hardly anything so little understood by Christians generally as the love of God

When I say “the love of God,” I do not mean His love to the world, His love for those who have sinned against Him with hard hearts and a high hand. That love is beyond comprehension—too great, too utterly stupendous for mere words to set forth. I refer rather to that special love which God has to us His children, the Father’s love to those who belong to His dear Son.

Ask the average Christian how he knows that God loves him? “Well, God has been very good to me: He has brought me through many a trial, and though I have had many ups and downs, yet here I am today, still trusting and following.”

Perhaps some reader of these lines is rather astonished that one should regard such a reply as anything but very right and good. Well, we do not find fault with it; we thank God for all the causes He gives us to speak of His abundant delivering mercies in times of a trial, and of His abundant goodness and constant care. But I ask, what about those who have not been delivered in the hour of their trouble?

A Christian, who intended to go from Europe to America by the ill-fated Titanic, but prevented by some unforeseen event, took it as a great proof of God’s love that He allowed that event to hinder him from taking that vessel. But what about the Christians who were not thus providentially hindered, who did take that vessel, and who went down with her in mid-ocean? Were not they equally the object of God’s love?

God has mercifully and providentially intervened in times of persecution and distress on behalf of one another of His poor troubled people. The readers of such a book as “A Thousand Miles of Miracle,” will be at no loss to quote instances of this. On the other hand, numbers were not delivered; no “miracle” of providential mercy was wrought on their behalf. They were left to be cruelly slaughtered by their savage persecutors. Did not God love them as much as those that He was pleased to succor and deliver?

The mercies which we enjoy every day, and which we are accustomed sometimes to speak of as “our common mercies,” were often denied to the Apostle Paul. He knew what it was like to lack food and clothing, to have no roof over his head, and to go from day to day in danger of his life (2Co 11:23). Did not God love Paul?

Let me go further. Let me speak for a moment of Him who came from eternal riches to be poor from love for us. He was acquainted with grief (Isa 53:3); worse off than the foxes with their forest lairs and the birds with their roosting-places. He had nowhere to lay His head (Mat 8:20). Others could go to their homes, while He spent the night on the lone mountain side. Mercies which you and I take as matters of course were withheld from Him. Why? Was He not ever the worthy subject of His Father’s infinite and everlasting love? Aye that He was. Then why the poverty, suffering and grief during His lifetime on earth, when it was no question of making atonement?

Mark the answer: Because the Father’s love does not express itself in the form of earthly and temporal mercies, or at least, is not to be measured by them, though He may give us many , and we may rightly take them all from His gracious, loving hand. God is good to all creatures. He bestows His mercies on the unconverted as well as upon those who belong to His Beloved.

There is a well-known story of Charles Spurgeon’s visit to a Christian farmer. I was relating it to a God-fearing widow by whose fireside I was sitting. She had been passing through sore and bitter trial, and the enemy had taken advantage of this to sow in her heart the seeds of distrust and doubt. She felt that God had forgotten her; that at all events, His love was not such a reality towards her as towards others.

So I told her of Spurgeon’s visit to the farmer, and of his inquiry when he notices that in the place of the usual bird, fish or arrow, a text “God is Love,” had been placed upon the old barn as a weathervane. “Do you mean to say by that,” he asked, “that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “Nay, nay,” replied the farmer, “my meaning is that God Is Love, whichever the wind blows!”

This is the lesson we need to lay at heart. We must in no wise measure God’s love by circumstances. The gentle breeze from the south may blow upon us, bringing ease and prosperity; or the biting blasts may sweep down from the frozen north, bringing trials, grief, suffering and disappointment. But nothing changes the love of God. The grand truth is that He loves us as He loves His Son. Wonderful words, and they are true; for read the precious words for yourself in John 17:23. It is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus who says: “Thou … hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me!”

Lying before me on a table is a picture of a small hotel. Stretched across the full width of the building, above the door, is a long board bearing these words: “Free Board Every Day The Sun Doesn’t Shine.” If an unwary traveler should enter the hotel on some gloomy day and demand a meal, free of charge, on the strength of this inscription, he would of course, be blandly asked by the proprietor, “Why, sir, do you imagine that the sun has ceased to shine? It may be gloomy here, but the sun is shining in all its glorious brightness!”

And so with us. We might make the most extravagant promises for the day upon which the sun of God’s love does not shine. For such a day will never be, in winter as in summer, on dark days as in bright ones, for the Father’s love to us abides in its infinite greatness, because His love to His Son ever remains the same.

—Harold Primrose Barker (1869-1952)

MJS daily devotional for June 23, 2025

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6).

“Ignorance insures insecurity; scriptural knowledge secures strength. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

“In mechanics, wobbling is weakness. Power issues from God’s restfulness. Are we resting in the Lord? Can we wait patiently for Him to act? Anxiety reduces spiritual energy. Lack of rest of heart is one of the most serious hindrances to Christians.

“Fret of soul when wronged, or fuss over financial or other concerns, is a depletion of power, a dissipation of energy. From the rock basis of rest in Him we can put forth the whole of our energies. Perfect peace is our promised portion.

“Martha gets instruction; we all get that, for our Lord neglects none of us; but she did not get His company; company is what gives rest to the heart.

“Nothing can separate the believer from the love of God, and under no circumstances whatever can he come under the infliction of wrath from God. He may have to correct His saints for their sins, and where there has been no failure He may chasten (child train) them for their profit, that they may become partakers of His holiness; but all this is in love, not in wrath. Every action of God toward His saints is in grace and blessing; it is ever the outcome of His love.”

—Miles J Stanford

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ." None But The Hungry Heart (Phil. 4:70)

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To me, the loveliness of God's love is known when we actually feel his love.

WordSword said:

It may seem a strange thing to say, but I say it after considerable thought, and some years of experience in talking to people of all kinds, that there is hardly anything so little understood by Christians generally as the love of God

When I say “the love of God,” I do not mean His love to the world, His love for those who have sinned against Him with hard hearts and a high hand. That love is beyond comprehension—too great, too utterly stupendous for mere words to set forth. I refer rather to that special love which God has to us His children, the Father’s love to those who belong to His dear Son.

Ask the average Christian how he knows that God loves him? “Well, God has been very good to me: He has brought me through many a trial, and though I have had many ups and downs, yet here I am today, still trusting and following.”

Perhaps some reader of these lines is rather astonished that one should regard such a reply as anything but very right and good. Well, we do not find fault with it; we thank God for all the causes He gives us to speak of His abundant delivering mercies in times of a trial, and of His abundant goodness and constant care. But I ask, what about those who have not been delivered in the hour of their trouble?

A Christian, who intended to go from Europe to America by the ill-fated Titanic, but prevented by some unforeseen event, took it as a great proof of God’s love that He allowed that event to hinder him from taking that vessel. But what about the Christians who were not thus providentially hindered, who did take that vessel, and who went down with her in mid-ocean? Were not they equally the object of God’s love?

God has mercifully and providentially intervened in times of persecution and distress on behalf of one another of His poor troubled people. The readers of such a book as “A Thousand Miles of Miracle,” will be at no loss to quote instances of this. On the other hand, numbers were not delivered; no “miracle” of providential mercy was wrought on their behalf. They were left to be cruelly slaughtered by their savage persecutors. Did not God love them as much as those that He was pleased to succor and deliver?

The mercies which we enjoy every day, and which we are accustomed sometimes to speak of as “our common mercies,” were often denied to the Apostle Paul. He knew what it was like to lack food and clothing, to have no roof over his head, and to go from day to day in danger of his life (2Co 11:23). Did not God love Paul?

Let me go further. Let me speak for a moment of Him who came from eternal riches to be poor from love for us. He was acquainted with grief (Isa 53:3); worse off than the foxes with their forest lairs and the birds with their roosting-places. He had nowhere to lay His head (Mat 8:20). Others could go to their homes, while He spent the night on the lone mountain side. Mercies which you and I take as matters of course were withheld from Him. Why? Was He not ever the worthy subject of His Father’s infinite and everlasting love? Aye that He was. Then why the poverty, suffering and grief during His lifetime on earth, when it was no question of making atonement?

Mark the answer: Because the Father’s love does not express itself in the form of earthly and temporal mercies, or at least, is not to be measured by them, though He may give us many , and we may rightly take them all from His gracious, loving hand. God is good to all creatures. He bestows His mercies on the unconverted as well as upon those who belong to His Beloved.

There is a well-known story of Charles Spurgeon’s visit to a Christian farmer. I was relating it to a God-fearing widow by whose fireside I was sitting. She had been passing through sore and bitter trial, and the enemy had taken advantage of this to sow in her heart the seeds of distrust and doubt. She felt that God had forgotten her; that at all events, His love was not such a reality towards her as towards others.

So I told her of Spurgeon’s visit to the farmer, and of his inquiry when he notices that in the place of the usual bird, fish or arrow, a text “God is Love,” had been placed upon the old barn as a weathervane. “Do you mean to say by that,” he asked, “that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “Nay, nay,” replied the farmer, “my meaning is that God Is Love, whichever the wind blows!”

This is the lesson we need to lay at heart. We must in no wise measure God’s love by circumstances. The gentle breeze from the south may blow upon us, bringing ease and prosperity; or the biting blasts may sweep down from the frozen north, bringing trials, grief, suffering and disappointment. But nothing changes the love of God. The grand truth is that He loves us as He loves His Son. Wonderful words, and they are true; for read the precious words for yourself in John 17:23. It is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus who says: “Thou … hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me!”

Lying before me on a table is a picture of a small hotel. Stretched across the full width of the building, above the door, is a long board bearing these words: “Free Board Every Day The Sun Doesn’t Shine.” If an unwary traveler should enter the hotel on some gloomy day and demand a meal, free of charge, on the strength of this inscription, he would of course, be blandly asked by the proprietor, “Why, sir, do you imagine that the sun has ceased to shine? It may be gloomy here, but the sun is shining in all its glorious brightness!”

And so with us. We might make the most extravagant promises for the day upon which the sun of God’s love does not shine. For such a day will never be, in winter as in summer, on dark days as in bright ones, for the Father’s love to us abides in its infinite greatness, because His love to His Son ever remains the same.

—Harold Primrose Barker (1869-1952)






MJS daily devotional for June 23, 2025


“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6).

“Ignorance insures insecurity; scriptural knowledge secures strength. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

“In mechanics, wobbling is weakness. Power issues from God’s restfulness. Are we resting in the Lord? Can we wait patiently for Him to act? Anxiety reduces spiritual energy. Lack of rest of heart is one of the most serious hindrances to Christians.

“Fret of soul when wronged, or fuss over financial or other concerns, is a depletion of power, a dissipation of energy. From the rock basis of rest in Him we can put forth the whole of our energies. Perfect peace is our promised portion.

“Martha gets instruction; we all get that, for our Lord neglects none of us; but she did not get His company; company is what gives rest to the heart.

“Nothing can separate the believer from the love of God, and under no circumstances whatever can he come under the infliction of wrath from God. He may have to correct His saints for their sins, and where there has been no failure He may chasten (child train) them for their profit, that they may become partakers of His holiness; but all this is in love, not in wrath. Every action of God toward His saints is in grace and blessing; it is ever the outcome of His love.”


—Miles J Stanford


“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ." Jhttp://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/esus (Phil. 4:70)

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When one actually meets God Himself as Jesus did in Matt 3:16 and opens up all of who He is and all of His heaven in us, the stark reality of is we become like Him, we walk as He walks as He walks, same mind, same disposition that of Love that God is. It is who we are.

Jesus said ye must be born again with that same renewing of mind that he received from God in Matt 3:16, and went on to say that I am the way, the truth and the life and no one come to the father but by me, and that guarantee is that not you, not I, not anyone else is going to receive from God any other way than he did. Jesus was very clear in that.

When Love that God is becomes one own disposition of mind instead of trying to follow some law that says ye must. It become who we are not by law, not by beliefs, not any other way than from God Himself open in us the very same kingdom that He opened in Jesus in Matt 3:16.

In Luke 17:20-21 where did Jesus say God resides in His kingdom? It doesn't come with observation as most ar looking for that they can go to and observe some day for the sweet by and by. It is within you. Sadly not many actually listen to what Jesus had to say about it, the make their own ideas for it instead of letting God Himself open it in you.

Here is the kicker in -- John 16:23. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Not many actually do hear God Himself. Their plate if full of mans beliefs about it instead. Beliefs are not real only speculations, the only reality in any of it come by God Himself communicate it in you that you may be in His same image that He creates man to be spiritually by the Spirit of Love that God is be your own disposition and the image of the living God that is Love and man anointed of it, which is Christ in you. You anointed of the same anointing that Jesus was of from God Himself.

Now will I hear how wrong all that is!

WordSword said:

Hi Brother, and like everything you shared. The only belief that counts the most is faith in the Lord Jesus. This is the "faith" that's given by the Holy Spirit. He knows if one truly wats to believe in Christ, and when we ask God for this faith it's the Spirit the gives it (Gal 5:22).

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Thank you, not many actually believe Jesus that God opened in Jesus who He is and all of His heaven in him in Matt 3:16, they don't see it as necessary and that Jesus didn't need that renewing of his mind from God Himself Who actually did open it all to Jesus.

WordSword said:

It may seem a strange thing to say, but I say it after considerable thought, and some years of experience in talking to people of all kinds, that there is hardly anything so little understood by Christians generally as the love of God

Click to expand...

It's a difficult teaching because everything in our world is conditional, whereas God's love is unconditional.

The world teaches us that we are rewarded for our good deeds, whereas The Word says our good deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). In Christ, we are loved when we are at our worst as equally as we are loved when we are at our best.

ThatDumbChicken said:

It's a difficult teaching because everything in our world is conditional, whereas God's love is unconditional.

The world teaches us that we are rewarded for our good deeds, whereas The Word says our good deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). In Christ, we are loved when we are at our worst as equally as we are loved when we are at our best.

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What is amazing to me is people read who Jesus said we should be and would be in the Fatrher the very same as he was in the Father, even prayed to his God that we be in John 17, we be in the Fatrher and the Father be in us as one as Jesus was in the Father and the Father was in Him as one.

These religious minds are scattered in their own interests that never were in Jesus interests. He wasn't interested in a man as a god, his interests were for us to be of the same God as he was of confirmed in John 17 by that prayer that we be, where God is actually acting in you who was acting in Jesus. Walking in Gods perfection as he commanded of us in Matt 5:48, be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

The only thing on this planet that is perfect and never changes is Love, everything else changes, everything. It was the same 6000 years ago as it is today and it will be the same tomorrow and man is the temple of it, it is who we are spiritually not what we are physically.

Christianity isn't what we believe of it but what God Himself puts in us. Sabbaths, whether Friday, Saturday, Sunday Monday, or baptisms such as being sprinkled dipped or splashed. Circumcisions, or communions is only mans rituals and has noting at all to do with God coming to you Himself and opening up who He is and all of His heaven in you. All those laws dissipate when that revelation from God Himself comes to light.

In that -- God only comes where He demands that we leave. As long as a man is beholden to a concept instead of the reality of God be our own disposition of mind, He can't come into that being at all. As long as that old temple of carnality stands, that new one of Spirit cannot be built.

WordSword said:

I think it might be difficult to always go by feeling, but that's ok if you like it. It's an encouraging knowledge that we can always know God is there for us! Thanks for your comment.

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I agree -- It isnt a feeling at all.

In Christ, to be anointed of God ourselves, never is a feeling at all. It is a clear and precise message from God Himself just as He was in Jesus in Matt 3:16 when He opens in Jesus who He is and all of His heaven in that man and where all of His heaven Kingdom resides. It is who we become in the Father.

Where is His kingdom? Jesus was very clear in that in Luke 17:20-21, the kingdom of God doesn't come with observation, it is with you. God creates us in His same Spiritual image, he in me and I inHim are one just as Jesus prayed to his God that we be in John 17.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 Jn 4:16)​

To me, the loveliness of God's love is known when we actually feel his love.

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WordSword said:

I think it might be difficult to always go by feeling, but that's ok if you like it. It's an encouraging knowledge that we can always know God is there for us! Thanks for your comment.

Click to expand...

GaryMac said:

I agree -- It isnt a feeling at all.

In Christ, to be anointed of God ourselves, never is a feeling at all. It is a clear and precise message from God Himself just as He was in Jesus in Matt 3:16 when He opens in Jesus who He is and all of His heaven in that man and where all of His heaven Kingdom resides. It is who we become in the Father.

Where is His kingdom? Jesus was very clear in that in Luke 17:20-21, the kingdom of God doesn't come with observation, it is with you. God creates us in His same Spiritual image, he in me and I inHim are one just as Jesus prayed to his God that we be in John 17.

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One person says he feels God's love (citing 1 John 4:16). Another person says always going by feelings is dificult. Still another person says feelings are not involved at all. It raises questions. What does it mean to "know and believe the love God has for us"? Is there no actual perception/awareness/consciousness of His love? Is it only knowledge of facts?

Similar questions can be asked about seeing God's glory ("But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" 2 Co 3:18). What does it mean to "behold the glory of the Lord"? Is there no actual perception/awareness/consciousness of His glory? Is it only knowledge of facts?

I say it is an intimate personal relationship. We do see His glory shining brightly in the depths of our own hearts. And we do experience His love that He pours out on us to the point that we feel loved. Certainly our feelings are involved.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

I say it is an intimate personal relationship. We do see His glory shining brightly in the depths of our own hearts. And we do experience His love that He pours out on us to the point that we feel loved. Certainly our feelings are involved.

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I agree. Feelings do play a part. The prompting of the Holy Spirit is, by its nature, a "feeling". However, feelings can be manipulated so we must be careful (Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world- 1John4). In those times where the "feelings" don't come, we should rely on the knowledge that we've been given about Him and rely on that Truth, not our (lack of) feelings.

NewLifeInChristJesus said:

One person says he feels God's love (citing 1 John 4:16). Another person says always going by feelings is dificult. Still another person says feelings are not involved at all. It raises questions. What does it mean to "know and believe the love God has for us"? Is there no actual perception/awareness/consciousness of His love? Is it only knowledge of facts?

Similar questions can be asked about seeing God's glory ("But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" 2 Co 3:18). What does it mean to "behold the glory of the Lord"? Is there no actual perception/awareness/consciousness of His glory? Is it only knowledge of facts?

I say it is an intimate personal relationship. We do see His glory shining brightly in the depths of our own hearts. And we do experience His love that He pours out on us to the point that we feel loved. Certainly our feelings are involved.

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Amen it become who we are, the same Love of our own mind that Jesus had of the Father in himself. We walk in it as He walks in it. It is who we become, not what we only believe about it. It is who we are or are not like Him and in His same image. Not that of flesh but that of Spirit that Love is and God is. The mind of Christ, anointed of Love.