Abide in My Love

John Hunt Publishing Ltd.

Contents

Love's Brightness

My love, though often only dimly realised, will always grow in the hearts of those who, at all costs, abide in it.

My love is the only true source of lasting light for the journey through this world.

My purpose through the ages has always been the awakening of a sense of My love in the hearts of My children.

Yes, there are forces dedicated to opposing this purpose, but it will not be denied.

My child, where My love is not realised there is darkness, and the outcome is disillusion.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.

(2 Corinthians 4.6)

My child, My universe is constructed as it is, so that in all its apparent imperfections and contradictions, My love may be seen the more sharply, once it has been realised.

My love has to be in contrast to all the manifestations of a fallen world in order that it may have power in the lives of My children.

The light shines in the darkness.

(John 1.5)

It may be hard for the human race to understand, but My love gains power and poignancy as it is filtered through the pain and the apparent inscrutability of the created universe.

Love is made complete among us.

(1 John 4.17)

My child, there are many false roads to knowledge of the Godhead. All of them prove bitterly disappointing.

The world's need is only met in Me – its light.

I came to earth not merely to 'reveal' the Father, but to demonstrate His love for all time.

Let it content you that, in Me, you are Truly enfolded by the love of My Father.

The only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John 1.14)

The uniqueness of My love is increasingly realised as you rely upon it! It begins to go beyond intellectual grasp and becomes your life's motivation.

You are able both to rise to effort and achievement and to be utterly rested in spirit by the same love.

As you feel more and more 'at home' in My love, you will reach the state of desiring nothing else ... which is the ultimate state planned for My chosen ones.

I count everything as loss compared with the all-surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ My Lord.

(Philippians 3.8)

If you are able to see beyond that which has been marred by the original rebellion against Myself, you indeed discover that all creation is love's expression.

My child, love is still triumphant in creation and you can know that, as you yield to that love, you are a part of that triumph.

All things were created by Him and for Him.

(Colossians 1.16)

Love, as seen supremely upon the Cross, now ceased to be abstract, and apart from the struggles of mankind.

Such love now became a power in human hearts ... By His wounds we are healed.

(Isaiah 53.5)

At the Cross, the essential darkness of a world from which I am so often excluded, could no longer be denied.

All the sense of life's futility, and all the heartbreak that can be the human experience, was seen there.

There, too, could be seen the bewilderment and the unfulfilled longings of mankind.

As it is contemplated, the Cross permits no lie about the reality of life on earth.

In the world you will have tribulation.

(John 16.33)

In spite of the agony there, the Cross becomes the place of hope ... even before My victory over death.

It is accomplished.

(John 19.30)

If the Cross is deeply contemplated, it is saying that love is supreme, and that the darkness and the apparent unfairness of life can be endured.

In the Cross, love is able to speak ... speak to any human situation, whether of loss, of persecution, of disillusion.

He laid down His life for us.

(1 John 3.16)

Although the Cross may be seen as a place of shame, the light of My love burned brightly for all who, in the succeeding years, would receive Me.

The Cross is saying that the pain of life cannot be avoided, but it is also saying that such pain can be transformed when the divine love is given an entrance. As pain is shot through by My love, heights of endurance and a patience undreamed of can be reached.

Made His light to shine in our hearts.

(2 Corinthians 4.6)

To the seeking heart there is the privilege of coming to an early realisation of the divine love ... present from the very beginning of existence, and giving existence its true meaning.

My child, I can already see the day of your complete release from worldly suffering! Share this vision with Me and let it help you to endure.

God will wipe away every tear.

(Revelation 7.17)

Because My love is the one reality, the One permanency of existence, the only true wisdom (not realised by so many), is to cultivate a knowledge of that love.

This is not easy in the setting of your world, with its deceptions and its discouragements, but if you simply show Me your desire to know My love, that is what I look for in order to reveal that love, increasingly, to you.

Is that desire there? If this is so, be assured that, knowing your heart, I am at work, even now, to grant you that priceless knowledge.

Turn to Me with all your heart.

(Joel 2.12)

My child, can you see that the coming to your world at Bethlehem and the Cross of Calvary are one whole?

He made Himself nothing.

(Philippians 2.5)

It is hard for mankind to realise that the love with which I created – on a scale which can only be dimly realised – was focused in the events of Bethlehem and Calvary.

These were places of the Divine identification with human suffering, which became a lasting identification.

He took upon Himself our griefs.

(Isaiah 53.4)

The great power of My love upon the Cross produces the miracle of love in the previously loveless.

Love always awakens love – though a love that is still imperfect at the human level.

The divine love is able to provide a true and worthy objective, to which the barren heart can, at last, turn.

We love because He first loved us.

(1 John 4.19)

My love, once realised, enables life to be held on to, where previously there may have been the desire to escape from life.

Realise that love is a strength in rescuing the fainthearted.

My child always see My love as closer than every painful aspect. The shield of My love!

Who can separate us from the love of Christ?

(Romans 8.35)

My Incarnation transformed knowledge of your suffering into an eternal sharing of that suffering.

Such sharing will continue until you are released from all earth's bondages – because I have taken your humanity into the heavenly places.

Made Himself poor ... that we might become rich.

(2 Corinthians 8.9)

Where the light of My love illuminates a situation of suffering or despair, it shines more brightly than in any other surrounding or circumstance.

Love's brightness is readily seen, not only when confronting darkness, but when it is exercised sacrificially.

In Him there is no darkness at all.

(1 John 1.5)

My child, the love behind the creation in which you are set is a place of welcome – shining around the hardest road, and enabling you to see that, in the end, all must be well.

Remember to rest, as a child, in that love:

whatever the events ...

whatever the problems ...

His goodness and mercy will follow me all my life.

(Psalm 23.6)

Almost always, the love I receive from My children is rooted in circumstances, far from perfect, often almost unbearable.

In this way, there is a faint reflection of the self-giving love from the Godhead – which is always a suffering Godhead, intensely conscious of human pain, and experiencing it.

A man of sorrows.

(Isaiah 53.3)

It is vital that you do not listen to evil's lies, but always believe in your worth as My precious child.

No 'achievement' or 'lack of achievement' can in any way affect My love directed towards you as you are.

I require no intense effort – only the trust of a child who is greatly loved.

If you could but see how privileged you are as My especially chosen ...

Bring the best robe and put it on him.

(Luke 15.22)

My child, remember that all disturbance of spirit is evil-caused. Meet it by an even greater surrender to the influence of My love.

Turn immediately from these intrusions of evil and let My love be victorious – restoring peace.

Keep your gaze upon My light.

Do not look away and falter.

Keep the word of trust upon your lips.

Never waver in your belief in My power to drive out evil and to heal the wounds caused by its inroads.

Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

(Ephesians 6.10)

When fear is strong ...

Let there be an earnest looking to My love.

If the sense of My love is strong, your mind cannot simultaneously hold a strong sense of fear.

Therefore, let My love's protecting arms lift you above the fear which darkens your mind.

Still looking to My love, express your thanks for victory over fear, and you will see that victory realised.

Perfect love casts out fear.

(1 John 4.18)

The reflections of My love in a human life may be seen as weakness. This is an illusion, because in that life there is a conquering power.

Many things conspire to hide the presence of My love upon earth, but it is the one supreme fact of existence, and eventually its light will be seen by all.

My strength is made perfect in weakness.

(2 Corinthians 12.9)

I am never more truly at work than at a time of your being laid aside, through illness or weakness, which you have offered to Me.

God chose the lowly things, and the things that are not ...

(1 Corinthians 1.28)

My child, realise that waiting upon Me always ensures the real progress of your life.

Only one thing is vital.

(Luke 10.42)

As you follow Me closely, the victories you win are largely unconscious!

His power at work within us.

(Ephesians 3.20)

Although some of My children may seem to be completely unable to respond to My love, and others may appear deliberately to reject it, the dimension of eternity must be remembered.

Just as to the human mind there is a vastness about My creation, there is a corresponding vastness about the welcoming realm of My love, and the working-out of My desire that no human soul should be lost.

I will search for the lost.

(Ezekiel 34.16)

No human soul – even those greatly disadvantaged, seemingly lost by the imperfections of your fallen world – is completely closed to My love's influence.

In the very depths of a human soul, no matter what is seen on the surface, there is a stirring of that love, as My love guards that soul for eternity.

Nothing can take My children from My hand.

(John 10.28)

Your appreciation of Myself ... this is the key to appreciating what is of true worth in your world.

I am reflected in so many things, but this reflection can be missed if there is not the basic devotion to Myself. In many things there is only a partial reflection due to the inroads and spoiling activity of forces opposed to Me.

The hard lesson to be learned is never to be dazzled by any manifestation of creation other than that of My person.

As you keep centred upon Me, I will always light up for you that which can be trusted, that which can be responded to, in the material world.

My light is to dispel for you both interior darkness and all that surrounds you, in which the Divine presence has been obscured.

I am the Light of the World.

(John 8.12)

No matter at what stage of life My love is discovered, its effects are the same.

The element of hope has now entered, and the duration of that hope is limitless, as limitless as is My eternity.

As love turned darkness to light in the victory of the Cross, so it begins its work in darkened lives.

That they, too, may be truly sanctified.

(John 17.19)

When circumstances seem beyond your control, it is important to remember My control, so that you can relinquish yours!

He will not let your foot slip.

(Psalm 121.3)

The opportunity is always there for you to leave all behind and to rise to a completely new quality of living.

All that is needed for this new life to start is the initial surrender of every aspect and then trusting Me, from that point, to overcome all with you.

My child, as you simply allow yourself to be lost in My love, I will do the rest!

Come, follow Me.

(Mark 1.17)

An empowering light ...

A light to draw out your worship ...

As you consciously rise into it, other factors lose their power against you.

To live in My light is essentially to experience My upholding, because in that light, love's power is conveyed ...

Yes, in love's shelter, fear must recede.

The Lord will be your everlasting light.

(Isaiah 60.19)

Try to see every present 'adverse' factor in its reality ... as able to contribute to My purposes for you, as you give it to Me.

Able to do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine.

(Ephesians 3.20)

My child, where else can you find a love which is unwavering, understanding and all-sufficient in meeting every need that arises?

The greater the entrance to My love (by feeding upon it, thanking Me for it), the smaller is the field for evil to enter and lure you into dangerous by-paths.

Your choice to remain in My love, amid the distractions and varied circumstances of each day, means that our wills are then in harmony.

Obeying My commands, you will be kept in My love.

(John 15.10)

Love for Me is the great avenue to freedom. The imprisoned self is able to look to Me, absorb My love, and finally to reach out beyond oneself.

The glorious freedom of the children of God.

(Romans 8.21)

My child, the narrow way is the easiest way ... it is the way of repeated victories because of My unfailing assistance.

Along the narrow way (keeping your gaze upon Me and wishing above all to do My will), you can be sure that I go before you. I go before you ...

to open doors;

to smooth your path;

to send you those who are needed as part of my provision for you;

to over-rule.

Using the refuge of My love, evil is always rendered powerless against you.

My sheep follow Me.

(John 10.27)

Your frequent realisation of how precious is My company.

An essential part of our closeness is our ministering to each other.

Our love-relationship to become stronger and stronger.

My child, I wish to be more and more aware of how thankful you are at possessing Me!

I have called you friends.

(John 15.15)

Unless there was darkness in the created universe, unless there was darkness in the human experience, love would not be tested, and would be incomplete.

Without the element of darkness overcome, love is a transient thing.

How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

(Ephesians 3.18)

You see the inseparability of My love and light. This is why I long for My children to lift up their gaze from the toils of earth towards the unquenchable light of divine love.

I long for that light to infiltrate every human experience.

Every turning to the light sets free the soul to enjoy the influence of My love.

Walk in the light.

(John 12.35)

The beauty seen in creation's higher aspects (in the natural world, or in human nature) is simply an imperfect reflection of the divine love.

See the beauty of human love (as it exists in children created in My image), as a light to reveal the truth of existence.

When true human love is seen in its radiance, it has taken on something of the divine creative love in its over-riding beauty and its permanence.

The righteous will shine like the sun.

(Matthew 13.43)

Human love, rooted in darkness or pain – (love for Me, love for one's fellow human beings) is part of the great mystery of creation.

Such human love is then copying the divine love in being inextinguishable amid the forces of chaos, suffering and evil.

Love always perseveres.

(1 Corinthians 13.7)

My child, we enter together the places where darkness apparently reigns.

The Creator, here, is essentially Companion. What would have been unbearable, has in it, now, the seeds of triumph.

I will fear no evil for you are with me.

(Psalm 23.4)

The look to My love and all is accomplished!

Love never fails.

(1 Corinthians 13.8)

My child, as acquaintance with Me grows, you realise the emptiness of life without Me.

The acuteness of how the emptiness is felt is only experienced by those who have loved and trusted Me when, for some reason, faith is temporarily lost.

The desperation to recover the sense of My presence when doubt occurs is merely a sign of the bond between us ... a desperation which will always be met by faith's restoration because of My love for you.

The incomparable riches of His grace.

(Ephesians 2.7)

My child, you are indeed wrapped around by My love and, more than all present details, you are My concern.

Allow Me to cherish you; allow Me to heal you.

Do not work against My healing by your striving or by inviting strain.