The focus of everything you do should be based on walking in love toward God and people, and the inspiration for walking in love should come from God’s love for you.  This verse gives us the foundation of how to express the divine nature.  We walk in love effectively by receiving God’s love for us personally.

The love that God expressed toward us should be the motivating factor for us to express the divine nature.  Receiving God’s love personally is to be our inspiration for loving God and man.  According to our Success Scripture, the degree to which you receive God’s love for yourself personally is the degree to which you can effectively love God and people.

The intimation here is that unless we receive the love of God personally, we’ll never be able to love God and others fully.  Receiving God’s love personally enables us to love God and it empowers us to love others.

Receiving God’s love personally includes receiving Jesus, living according to who you are in Christ, and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to express the divine nature by walking in love.

You can learn more about how receiving God’s love helps you express the divine nature by ordering our 6 CD series: The DNA of God. When you do, you will also receive a BONUS CD entitled: The DNA of God, Walking in Love and Success in Relationships and the “Love Affirmations” Study Card.

Love comes from God because God is love.  If we claim to have received the nature of God, then we must love one another.  Only then can we say that we truly know God.  We can hardly talk about the God-kind of love without talking about getting along with other people, and getting along with other people means loving them.  Therefore, when we fail to get along with other people, we cannot say that we truly know God.

When the Bureau of Vocational Guidance at Harvard University made a study of thousands of men and women who had been fired, they found that for every one person who lost his job for failure to do the work, two persons lost their jobs for failure to get along successfully with other people.  The percentage ran even higher in a study reported by Dr. Albert Edward Wiggam, in his syndicated column, “Let’s Explore Your Mind.”  Out of 4,000 persons who lost their jobs in one year, only 10 percent or 400 lost out because they could not do the work.  Ninety percent, or 3,600 of them, lost out because they had not developed the personality for successfully getting along with other people!

Success in life is synonymous with getting along with other people. Developing your people skills is one of the most important things you can do to enhance your life.  Walking in love is how you can enhance your people skills and improve your ability to get along with other people.

To learn more about getting along with people, walking in love and success in life, order our NEW 6 CD series, “The DNA of God.”  We will also include a BONUS CD entitled, “The DNA of God, Walking in Love and Success in Relationships.”

Is God your heavenly Father today or is He just God to you?

Galatians 3:26 (NLT)
So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Notice it doesn’t say that you are a child of God because you are a human being born in a physical body living on planet earth. In other words, being a child of God is not a universal status into which everyone enters by natural (physical) birth. Becoming a child of God is a supernatural gift one receives through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus came to introduce us to God as Father. Jesus called God “Father” over 200 times in the Gospels alone. “Father” is the Christian name for God. True believers are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and not because they are a part of some religious organization or a member of a particular church or denomination.

You may be asking yourself, “Pastor Jim, how do I actually become a child of God?” We find the answer in John Chapter 1 and Romans Chapter 10:

John 1:12-13 (NLT)
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
13 They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan – this rebirth comes from God.

The phrase “believe Him” refers to believing in what Jesus did for you when He died on the cross. The phrase “accept Him” refers to receiving Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Believe in what Jesus did for you and become a child of God. Receive Jesus and become a child of God. Romans chapter 10 tells us how to do it:

Romans 10:9-10 (NLT)
9 For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Before we talk about the benefits of being a child of God, say this: “I confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I believe God raised Him from the dead so I could be right with God. I’ve placed my faith in Christ and now I’m saved. God is my Father and I am His child. Amen.”

When you place your faith in Christ and confess Jesus as your Lord, you gain all the benefits of a child in God’s family. Two of those benefits include God’s protection and provision. God the Father now has the responsibility to protect you and provide for you because you are His very own child.

If you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, the work of the Holy Spirit will confirm that God is your Father and you are His child, and when the love of the Father begins to manifest in your life, God’s protection and provision will become a reality in your life.

When you are born physically, you take on the life and nature of your earthly father. When you are reborn spiritually, you take on the life and nature of your heavenly Father.

When you became a child of God, you become a partaker of the divine nature, which is called eternal life. Eternal life is the life and nature of God imparted to you at the new birth making you a new creation. A child of God is one who has received eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Jesus was talking to His Father (and our Father) in John 17:3 when He said:

John 17:3 (NLT)
“And this is the way to have eternal life-to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

Jesus came to earth to introduce us to God as our Father, and the hallmark characteristic of God’s nature is love. Jesus came to earth so that we could both receive and enjoy the Father’s love. When you receive the Father’s love for you personally, His protection and provision become a reality in your life.

The love of God becomes real to you when you understand that God loves you as much as He loves Jesus. As Jesus was praying to His (and our) heavenly Father in John 17:23, He said:

John 17:23 (NLT)
“I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.”

Jesus is saying that the world will know God as Father when they understand that God loves them as much as He loves Jesus.

Say this: “God loves me as much as He loves Jesus.” Now say this: “God’s protection and provision belong to me.”

See yourself as God’s child! See yourself as a child in God’s royal family! See yourself receiving good things from your heavenly Father!

Galatians 5:14 (AMP)
For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.

When you find out what it means to “love your neighbor as you do yourself” and then apply that information to all the relationships in your life, you will be one step closer to becoming successful in life. Success in life is dependent upon being successful in your relationships. We are in relationships at work, we are in relationships at home, we are in relationships in our personal lives; therefore, success in life is synonymous with success in relationships.

Whoever you get in agreement with, that’s whose plan is going to come to pass in your life. The experience of your life is actually determined by the agreements (covenants) you enter into during the course of your life. (i.e. marriage, business partnerships, mortgage, car lease, credit cards, etc.)

The first person you must get in agreement with is God. You get in agreement with God by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. When you get in agreement with God, you not only become right with God (2 Corinthians 5:21), but the peace of God comes to make its home in your heart. Agreement with God equals peace.

Romans 5:1 (NKJV)
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

A relationship takes place when you get in agreement with God by placing your faith in Christ and confessing Jesus as Lord. Fellowship takes place when you stay in agreement with God by living on His frequency – by walking in love on a daily basis. The Holy Spirit shows you how to walk in love during your fellowship time with Him because He is the One who put the love of God in your heart when you got born again and became a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Romans 5:5 (NKJV)
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Notice that the phrase “has been poured out” is past tense. This phrase indicates a present status resulting from a past action. When you first placed your faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit poured out God’s love into your heart, and His love for you continues to dwell in you today.

As a result of your relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the God-kind of love dwells, abides, and makes its home in your heart, but it cannot be expressed until you yield to the Holy Spirit by confessing it and acting on it. One of the ways you act on God’s Word is by confessing God’s Word. Another way is by practicing it on a daily basis. You have to make a habit of confessing and practicing the love of God in your life, both toward yourself and toward others.

God’s love for you is constant and never ending. “Love your neighbor AS YOU DO YOURSELF…” You get in agreement with yourself by accepting the love that God has for you. You see yourself the way God sees you – in right standing with Him. Now let’s shift our focus to walking in love toward other people.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (AMP)
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

Right in the middle of this verse is the challenge – people skills. In the midst of the storm, in the midst of challenging circumstances, we see both the cause and the solution – dealing effectively with people.

Challenges with people produce patience with people and patience with people produces character and character produces hope. (Romans 5:3-4) We do not let ourselves get disappointed with people because we see them through the eyes of love. The ability to do this comes from the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It comes from the indwelling presence of Love, the indwelling presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit gives you a “believe the best” vision that causes you to see beyond the imperfections and limitations of the people who have disappointed you. By holding on to a “believe the best” image of those people, by faith you see the potential of those people, and you pray for them until God brings it to pass. That is the God-kind of love in action!

You can believe the best of people by seeing them conform to the image and likeness of Christ, which is how God not only sees them, but the way He sees you. You got saved because God believed the best of you! God aimed His faith at you; He saw your potential, even when you were disappointing Him. He believed that one day you would receive the Holy Spirit and be conformed to the image and likeness of Christ.

Hope will never disappoint us because no matter how discouraged we get, not matter how many disappointments we encounter in life, no matter how many challenges we have with people, we have the blessed assurance of our future destiny with God. Your future destiny is based on God’s love, which is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. God’s love was demonstrated to you in and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Because Christ died for you while you were still a sinner, you can love others sacrificially even when they hurt you, disappoint you, and let you down. You can believe the best of every person because God does!