LOVE DENIED

^{I    J O H N  4 : 8 – 1 2}

⁸ He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

⁹ In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

¹⁰ Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

¹² No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

THE SPIRIT of CHRISTMAS is LOVE! "God so loved the world that He gave..." (John 3:16).

It's a spirit that the devil despises.  And you can be sure he is doing all that hell can do to destroy that spirit.

THE DEVIL DENIES GOD'S LOVE.

He tells us "God does not love us."  The old liar denies the existence of God, questions the reality of love, and rationalizes that we are simply pawns in a cosmic accident.  Just as he lied to Eve, "God hath not said," he lies to us, "God does not love you."

THE DEVIL DIMINISHES GOD'S LOVE

The enemy urges us to look around at the problems, the circumstances, and realities of a world gone awry, and then he suggests that God is either powerless to do anything, or that He is love-less.  "What kind of a loving God would make a world like this?" he suggests.  

Of course we know the truth, the world that is is not the world that was.  In fact, the world that is not the Creator's fault, it is the Desecrater's (The de-creator's) fault!  "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12).

THE DEVIL DEPERSONALIZES GOD'S LOVE

If he cannot get us to deny the reality of God's love he convinces us that God's love is abstract and impersonal.  Sure God loves the world, but He really doesn't love me.  

THE DEVIL DILUTES GOD'S LOVE

Should we ever begin to entertain the notion that God loves us, the enemy dilutes God's love into an unconditional grant of divine favor without personal implication.  "Of course God loves us.  He made us! He has to love us.  So what?"  By diluting God's love, the enemy renders the love of God powerless and inconsequential.

THE DEVIL DISTRACTS US FROM GOD'S LOVE

If we fall into believing that God's love is strong, sincere, and serious, the enemy sets about distracting us from thinking about God's love. By keeping us away from prayer, away from God's Word, and away from solitude, He keeps us away from the Author of Love.

THE DEVIL RE-DEFINES GOD'S LOVE

Finally, when all else fails, Satan strikes at the meaning of love.  He whispers that love is relative not absolute. He rationalizes that God's love is of a different sort than the love we have, or can have.

God loves us unconditionally.  We love Him conditionally.

God loves us with an everlasting love.  We love Him occasionally.

God loves us sacrificially.  We love Him selfishly.

And that's all just fine, because after all we're just human.  

But it's not just fine.  

GOD SO LOVED...and His great purpose is that we would SO LOVE AS WE HAVE BEEN LOVED.

SATAN SO HATED ...and his great purpose is that we would HATE AS WE HAVE BEEN HATED

I choose LOVE DIVINE all love's excelling!