Our Father God in heaven loves us so much. That is why He tells us that, “. . . I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you” (Jeremiah 31:3). That is why He gave up His only begotten Son Jesus to die in our place. We were separated from God by sin. But by the death of Jesus, that gap of separation was bridged, so that we can be one with our Father for all eternity. There has never been, and will never be a greater love story than that. Hence 1 John 3:1: Behold what manner of love that Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
But the equation was never meant to stop at the Father loving us. He expects us to reciprocate that love. We are supposed to love Him who first loved us (1 John 4:19). This we do first and foremost by obeying His commandments. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3).
Whenever I write about this subject of us reciprocating God’s love for us by obeying His commandments, I can’t but narrate a dream Joan Isoke had on 13th June 2019. In that dream, Joan found herself in a church building. Inside there was Rick Joyner, an American preacher, on his knees deep in prayer. Joan wanted to ask him how she could love the Lord with all her heart. Since she didn’t want to interrupt his prayer, she decided to wait until he finishes. But after waiting for some time and realizing that Rick Joyner was not going to finish soon, she decided to gently tap his shoulder in order to get his attention. There and then, he got up and asked that, “Joan, do you want to know how to love the Lord with all your heart?” She replied that, “Yes.” Then while holding a Bible in his hands, Rick said to her, “Just do what this Bible says, and you will have loved the Lord with all your heart.”
God bless you.