Love for Jesus is a love for the Word

We don’t just believe in Jesus, we love Jesus. And we love Jesus for who He Is. and Jesus is worthy to be loved. We love Jesus for His Amazing Grace, for His goodness and kindness. We stand in awe of the glory and Majesty of Jesus Christ, we are speechless before the beauty of Jesus Christ, we admire and tremble before His power, might and the strength of His Right Arm, and we also stand in awe before the Holiness of Our God. And we also fear God, because He is Holy. We should not be afraid of God, but we should fear and respect Him. But we also love Jesus.

I want to be loved by Jesus and people primarily for who I am, not for what I do. Jesus has the same wish, that we first of all love Him for who He Is. We thank Him for His gifts, His blessings and His miracles in our lives, but We thank Jesus first of all for who He Is and we love Jesus for who He Is. That’s the way Jesus wants to be loved.

And the Bible says that Jesus is The Word, so when we love Jesus, we love His Word.
And to love is very much to listen. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: love for my brother starts when I listen to him, and love for God starts when I listen to His Word. To listen is a sign of love, and to not listen can be a sign of pride, arrogance, disrespect and lack of interest in the person that speaks. If I come and speak to you and you don’t listen, I would not feel loved, respected and appreciated. To listen to Jesus is a sign of love for Jesus.

And Jesus loves when we come to Him and to the house of God to listen to His Word. Jesus loves all people, but those who choose to sit as Mary did at the feet of Jesus Christ and listen when He speaks, that’s the kind of heart that really loves Jesus and Jesus will show that kind of people so much love, He will give you so much spiritual blessings, He will fill you with His love, His Holy Spirit, His grace and peace.

Draw a picture of Mary at the feet of Jesus. Full of peace. Listens with attention. Full of love for Jesus. She is longing to hear Him speak, the words coming out from the Mouth of Jesus is like honey to her soul. Her heart is saying: Jesus, I love to listen to You. She is eager to hear Jesus speak. Open my heart and my ears so that I can hear! She says: When You open Your mouth Jesus, it’s like Heaven being opened above me. Jesus, I listen, and I love every word that comes from Your mouth. Mary is so in love with Jesus, she wants to be with Jesus all the time.

When I read the Word of God, I am spending time with Jesus. Yes, we also do that in prayer, but maybe even more so when we are in the Word. To listen to His Word is to be with Him, to get to know Jesus. In the Bible “to know” is a synonym with “to love”. It’s even used between husband and wife. So to love Jesus is also to know Him, and we get to know Jesus when we get to know His Word. Jesus said that the Words He spoke was Spirit and life. When I listen to Jesus’s Words, something happens to my inner man. I get new life, strength, love, I am filled with the Holy Spirit.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit. My inner person is shaped and formed when I read the Word into the likeness of Jesus Christ. It’s amazing, but true. The Word will fill me, correct me, encourage and strengthen me. And When we hear the Word, our faith is made stronger, because faith comes by hearing.

And there is nothing stronger in the Universe than Jesus’s Word. Jesus said: Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away.  If you build your faith upon the Words of Jesus, you will never be shaken, and you will never pass away. You will reach Heaven and be given Eternal life.

Jesus said that if anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word. David Wilkerson said: Jesus didn’t come to make us believe in His miracles, Jesus came to make us believe in His Word,

Jesus came to give His life and speak His Word, so that we hear and believe in Him and in His Word. I believe in every miracle that the Bible tells about, and I have seen many revelations and miracles in my own life, and I know that Jesus can do anything, but I don’t build my faith on that, I don’t build it upon spiritual revelations or wonders, I build my faith upon the cross and the Word of God.

Jesus had a problem with those who were more interested of seeing Jesus do signs and wonders, than of being with Him, listening to the Words Jesus spoke and getting to know Him. We believe and we know that Jesus can do any miracles He wants, but we love Jesus just because who He Is.

Today in the church of the Western World and in Sweden we read the Bible too little, and that’s one of the great reasons for our falling away. We read many books about the Bible, but we don’t read the Bible so much. That’s a great problem.

To hear the Word is the most central part of our faith, since faith comes by hearing. And since Jesus Christ is called “the Word”, Jesus Is the Word. But In the West and Sweden today too few come to hear the Word of God. In one part of the church people come to hear poems, in another part they come for emotional experiences and to see miracles. But not many come because they want to hear the Word. That’s sad. In Sweden we used to say a 100 years ago: you don’t love Jesus more than you love His Word. I say amen.

If you listen today and you think: I don’t love the Word as I should, don’t judge yourself. No, go to Jesus and tell Him the truth, tell Him like it is, that you don’t have the love for His Word as you should, and just ask Him to give you a love for the Word, a hunger and a thirst for it, and I believe that Jesus will give it to you, sooner or later! Ask and it shall be given. Jesus hears and loves that kind of prayer!

(And if you are a pastor today and you listen, I strongly advise you to always make sure that the Word is really preached, and as it is written, not twisted. I say yes to worship, I say yes to praying for the sick, but always make room for the Word to be preached.)

The greatest thing is love. To be loved by Jesus Christ is the greatest thing in life, but to love Jesus is not far behind. But we can’t love Jesus until we are first ourselves touched and filled with Jesus’s Love.

But our love must be based on truth, otherwise it’s mere words, and must also be shown in our acts, because faith and love which doesn’t show in acts, is dead.

Prophetic speak will end, so also speaking in tongues. But love will never end. Be rich in love, and you are rich before God. Ask Jesus to give you a heart filled with love for Jesus, and I believe that Jesus will answer your prayers, and the treasures of Heaven will dwell in your heart. It’s written in Isiah 45:3: I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

You will be given a foretaste on earth by the Holy Spirit inside of you, and in full measure in Heaven. Because it’s written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

We are not saved by our love for Jesus Christ, but by His grace, by His finished work on the cross, and by believing in Him and what He did on the cross. But we all want to love Jesus, and if our love for Jesus is growing cold, if you are loosing your first love, there is a danger of turning lukewarm, and that’s dangerous. but Jesus doesn’t want to judge you, He wants to woo and draw you back to Him, He wants to say: come back to Me, My beloved child! So if you are here today and you feel that you have lost some of your love for Jesus, if you want more of Jesus’s love inside of you and if you want to love Jesus more, you can come forth and we will pray for you. Jesus loves everyone of you here today, without exception. We can first stand up and those who want can pray after me, and then after that those who want can come forth and we will pray for you