“THE POWER OF GOD’S LOVE”
Bro. Bong Lozano
June 4, 2008
(The Original texts)
It has been a long time since I ask the
questions, “Who am I?” “Why I was born in this world?” “What is in me that, I am?
“I have experience a lot of trials and tests from birth to my present life. Moreover,
every time I experienced them, questions are always bothering me Every time I
am in the eye of the cyclone of life, I always ask myself “Why am I here in
this world? Why I was born in this world?” and lot of questions bothers me.
Until such time I answered my own question.
“Man is born to die”. We were born to die. That is the idea that came out of my
human mind. Man was born and after this life, man dies. Logically accepted.
Again, I ask myself “I was born to die, just like that?”I have no worth, No value
at all. I am no difference with animals and other living things.
No! There is
something else. I am not convinced with that idea. I am just confounded with my
own human idea when I answered my own questions.
I turned to God
and ask His wisdom, knowledge and understanding to have a little bit of an
answer to my questions. Here I saw the difference of human mind wisdom and
understanding. I ask Him to help me answer the questions I have been asking my
self long time ago. God’s inspirations came to me and inspire me to write, “Man
is born to LOVE to be LOVED and to experience my CONSTANT and UNCONDITIONAL
LOVE”.
First, I was inspired just to write, “Man
is born to love and to be loved” But I told Him, “Lord any ordinary man can
easily understand, what you mean, How about dying? “What does it mean? For
what? He never gave me an answer. Until the day when my grandfather died on December 9, 1997 and my
grandmother on October 18,
1999, that is why I am so much affected when they died. Those
questions again rose up and ask God “Why do we have to die, Lord? “Man is born
to love, to be loved and to die”. The purpose of “being born” in this world is
to experience, love and to be loved and life is all about loving. Loving God
and loving one another. It is already an experience of what heaven is all
about. To die is the end of our physical being, our mortal being, but the
beginning of our next life.
I am going to share with you an inspiration
that the Holy Spirit wanted me to share. A reflection that will open our minds
and hearts.
Man was born because it is Gods will. He
created man out of His love for us…”because
you are PRECIOUS to me and because I LOVE YOU and give you HONOR” Isaiah 43:4.
Therefore, because He created us out of His Love, He made us; He created us not
just a mere human being but cloth with honor and dignity because we are
PRECIOUS to
Gods eyes. He
created us like Himself. We resembles Gods image. “Then God said, “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us
and resembles us”Gen.1:26 and in Genesis 1:27, “So God
created human beings, making them to be like HIMSELF, He created them male and
female”. It is God Himself made and created man, He did not stop there but
continuously said, “…they will have POWER over the fish, the birds, and all
animals, domestic and wild, large and small”Gen.1:26. God made man, His
LIKENESS and that resembles Him the power over animals. Therefore, here man is
superior to animals. God gave man the POWER; He is the source of our power
because God Himself is POWER. He is the creator. The POWERFUL ONE. HE IS GOD
(Ps.90:1)
Some of the
power He gave man physical strength, an ability to procreate, talents, the mind
to think, work, controlling influence, authority and a lot more. Nevertheless,
the highest of all power He gave us is the POWER TO LOVE. LOVE is the greatest
of all power. LOVE IS POWER. God gave this gift to us, for power is a gift from
God. Love is the greatest of all, “…the
greatest of these is love.”1Cor.13:13. God created us because
He loves us, He
wants to share what He Has and wanted us to experience, His Power of Love. We
were born because of the POWER OF HIS LOVE. Moreover, this power of His love is
in us. We are capable of loving because we have the power of His love. We
received this power the time when we were conceived in our mothers’ womb. Our
life is love. Life is love, because it is God who gave us LIFE and God is Love.
“Whoever does not love, does not know
God, for GOD IS LOVE.”1Jn.4:8
In the creation story, Gen.1:1-31, 2:1-7,
God did not just create man but He breathed on them. We are lifeless; we are
just made, out of soil from the ground. When God breathed on the soil in the
form of man, man begun to live and that
breath is life, The breath which
is His love to us, Genesis 2:7.
Moreover, after doing it God was very pleased, “God looked at everything He had made and He was very pleased”Gen.1:31.
The story of creation tells us that God
Loves us first, He formed us, He created us in His own image and likeness, He
breathed on us to have life and gave us the power over all the creation because
only man, God gave the power to love. In order to experience this
power of love,
we have to love others too. In addition, by loving others we will be able to
see and experience what love is. No encyclopedia or dictionary can ever define
or describe what love is. No computer or high tech gadgets can ever search the
exact meaning of love. Only in God, we find the real love in the person of
Jesus in the heart of man by experiencing love. Only in experiencing love, we find
the true meaning of life.
The
exact and perfect description of what love is, when the Son of God, Jesus
Christ was born, suffered and died on the cross. There, by our eyes as we
looked at Him hanging on the cross, telling us the perfect definition, the
perfect description of what love is all about. “For God so LOVED the world that He gave His Only Son …”Jn.3:16.
Dying of ourselves and dying for others, that is what Jesus wants us to do.
God loves us first so that we will also
share that love to others. Let all of us experience how God loved us, so that
we know how to love others. This is the very reason why we were born. “Above everything, love one another
earnestly, because love covers over many sins”1Pet.4:8
There are three ways in my own reflection
and understanding how God loved us. He loved us in WORDS, which is proven in
the story of creation. God created everything by His powerful words (Gen.1:1-30).
God loves us in FLESH. He sends His Son Jesus to tell the whole world how much
He loves us. He gave up His life for us. He offered His body and blood for our
salvation from sin through the cross. Through His passion, and death we are
saved. God loves us in ACTION through the life and works of Jesus, His Only
begotten Son, He showed us how God loves us (Jn.3:16)
Man should also love God and others by
WORD, FLESH (selflessness) and ACTION by expressing love that can be seen and
felt by God and our neighbors.
Loving God, loving our neighbor are just
some of the requirements in order to inherit our final home, our final destiny
after death…HEAVEN.
We have to die, to end our physical nature,
the soil that God formed in the story of creation. “…you were made from soil and you will become soil again”.Gen.3:19.
In dying, it is the beginning of another life with the Lord but the end of our
mortal body.
One of my professor in college said, “If to
die is to see God, I would rather embrace death.” she said it during our
religious studies class, it really penetrated the deepest part of my heart and
until now, whenever I feel the fangs of death I do not fear because I know only
through death I may see God. I want to see God face to face. However, the
question is, “Can I look at His face? Can I look at His eyes? I am a sinner. A
sinful man. Am I going to be with Him when I die?”
We all know that Jesus came to the world
to save us and we are now saved by His blood on the cross, “Christ himself carried our sins in His body to the cross, so that we
might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by His wounds that you have
been healed; 1Pt.3:24. However, do we continue to live that salvation in
our daily life? Man existed physically, because man occupies space and
spiritual existence for man has the breath of life, his soul, man has a spirit.
This existence is written in the First epistle of Peter 4:6.
“That
is why the good news was preached also to the dead, to those who had been
judged in their physical existence as everyone is judge; it was preached to
them so that in their spiritual existence they may live as God lives”. That
will answer the question, “What does man compose of?”
There are two meaning of death. Physical death, which is (1) the end of
our life, our physical or bodily existence and (2) the punishment of our
spirit, the eternal damnation that is our Spiritual
existence. This is when God retrieves His breath on us. Psalm 89:48, “Who
can live and never die? How can we humans keep ourselves from the grave”. We
all know that if we follow Jesus and obey His teachings we will be with Him in
His kingdom. We can be with Him by passing through death, and after death, life
forever is waiting us.
Let us go back
to life in the Old Testament. God formed man from soil and lifeless. He
breathed on them and man began to live,” He
breathed life giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live”Gen.2:7.
Man is Gods image and likeness and He gave the power and authority over
all creation next to angels (Hebrew 2:5-10). After breathing on them man begins
to have life, and then God gave man the power and authority, “You will trample down lions and snakes,
fierce lions and poisonous snakes” Ps.91:13. “…I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds and all the wild
animals”Gen.1:28. Man is blessed by God and loved by Him that is why He
gave Life, Power and Authority because
man is Gods Likeness and His Image.
In the New Testament, Jesus the Son of God formed us through His
teachings. He molds us like clay, to be like Him when He said, “Come follow me…”Lk.18:22. Jesus came
to give us life to the fullest. The life, God the Creator gave Adam and Eve in
the Old Testament was lost, because of the disobedience of man to God, they
died. Jesus
came to give us
life,”Jesus answered him: I am the way
the truth and the LIFE; no one goes to the Father except by me”Jn.14:6. In
order to have this life from God, Jesus promised His followers that when He is
back in His kingdom, He would send His Holy Spirit the Paraclete, the Power. “But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
you will be filled with POWER” Acts 1:8
When God in the
story of creation, He breathed on man, He begins to have LIFE then God gave him
POWER and AUTHORITY. In John 20:22
says, “Then He breathed on them and said,
“Receive the Holy Spirit”. When the apostles received Gods Power and
Authority in its fullness,”Listen! I
have given you Authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and
overcome all the power of the enemy and nothing will hurt you” Lk.10:19. In
addition, in Mark 16:17-18 “Believers
will be given the POWER to perform miracles, they will drive out demons in my
name; they will not be harmed. They will place their hands on sick people and
these will get well”.
The apostles
perform miracles in the name of Jesus after they received the Holy Spirit. “Many miracles and wonders were being
performed among the people by the apostles” Acts 5:12
In the Old Testament, the WORD is God. “In the beginning the
Word already existed; the Word was with God and the Word was God…the Word was
the source of Life and this Life brought light to people”Jn.1:1-4. In the
New Testament, miracles and wonders do happen through the Word, JESUS. In the name
of Jesus Impossible became POSSIBLE. In just a WORD, miracles do happen. “This is impossible for
human being, but not for God; everything is possible
for God” Mk.10:27. In Luke
1:37 the angel Gabriel
said to Mary”…for there is nothing that
God can not do”. Actually, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the FIRST human being who received the Holy
Spirit in fullness before anybody
else, when she said “YES” to God in her FIAT. “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and Gods POWER will REST upon you” Lk.1:35.
Where the Holy Spirit is, Jesus is present. When Mary said “I am the Lords servant…may it happen to me as you have said”Lk.1:38,
immediately the Holy Spirit Lives in Mary, and in her, the Holy Spirit rests. Jesus
is in Mary. Whoever has the presence of the Holy Spirit he is blessed. Mary was
the first person called blessed for she is the one who first received and
accepted the Holy Spirit in her. “The
angel came to her and said “PEACE be with you! The Lord is with you and has
greatly BLESSED YOU”Lk.1:28. In Luke 1:48, “…all ages to come shall call me BLESSED”. AVE MARIA!
Man was given by God dominion over all
creation in the Old Testament same with the New Testament through the Holy
Spirit man was given by God the Power over all creation and even greater
things, the Son of the Living God, Jesus have performed here on earth. “I am telling you the truth; those who will
believe in me will DO WHAT I DO-Yes will
do even GREATER things…”Jn14:12
Therefore, if we summarize from the story
of Life – CREATION, to the life of Jesus – FULFILLMENT OF CREATION the BREATH
of God is the HOLY SPIRIT that gives LIFE. “The Holy Spirit has given us LIFE; He must also control our lives”
Gal.5:25. After the resurrection of Jesus, He appeared to His disciples, “Jesus said to them, PEACE be with you”,
“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” BREATHED on them and said
“RECEIVE the HOLY SPIRIT”Jn.20:21-22
The New
Testament is the FULFILLMENT of what is written in the Old Testament. Man must
receive the Holy Spirit the breath of life in order for us to have the power of God, to have authority over
all creation of God. Life is a gift it is Gods love to man and because of this
love He gave us Power and Authority through the Holy Spirit. This gift must be
used and taken care of according to Gods will.
The irony here is that all of us living now
have life therefore; all of us have the Holy Spirit? No! man have life which is
the breath of God, all of us was breathed of God, but these breath of God is
just simply to give us life and be alive and just to live. The fulfillment of this
life, the breath of God is the Holy Spirit and only
those who obey God be given the Holy Spirit and the gifts. By these gifts, Gods
mark of ownership is on you (Eph.4:30). We will know that the Holy Spirit is in
us by bearing much fruit. “My Fathers
glory is shown by your bearing much fruit and in this way you become my
disciples”Jn.15:8. In Genesis 1:28
“Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth
and conquer
it”. A person with the
Holy Spirit must be fruitful. And what are the fruits that man should multiply?
In Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Spirit
produces LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, HUMILITY
and SELF CONTROL”. A person with the Holy Spirit in him must bear fruit
because Jesus is our vine, “I am the
vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them, will bear
much fruit, for you can do nothing without me”Jn.15:5 Here LOVE is again
mentioned.
If we are truly
disciples of Jesus, “We must live like
Him and controlled by His Love”Eph.5:1-2. Remember that God created us in
His image and likeness. God is Love. He breathed on us to have life, to
experience His unconditional constant and untiring
love. For life
is Love, because God is Love. God’s
power of Love is so intense and great. “But
Gods mercy is so abundant and His LOVE for us is so GREAT that you have been
saved”Eph.5:1-2. Gods love is constant, “I have always LOVED YOU, so I continue to show you my constant love”Jer.31:3
Love therefore is the answer to the
question of life. “Love is the tough, essential answer to the riddle of human
existence, of human wholeness and happiness.” The answer to the question, why
we were born? Why we exist? Without love, human life is seriously incomplete
because to love is to live, and to live is to love. The fulfillment of loving
while living is “TO LOVE IS TO DIE FOR ONESELF IN ORDER THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE IN
THE LOVE OF CHRIST”. We begin our life with God and will end with God.
I would like to
share with you a poem of a young girl:
“If I had only a
short time to live, I would immediately contact all the people I had really
loved and I’d make sure they knew I had really loved them. Then I would play
all the record that meant most to me and I would sing all my favorite songs. And,
Oh! I would dance. I would dance all night. I would look at my blue skies and
feel my warm sunshine.
I would tell the
moon and the stars how lovely and beautiful they are…I would say “Good bye” to
all the little things I own, my clothes, my books and my stuff. Then I would
thank God for the great gift of life and die in His arms” (College Girls Journal)
Glory
be to God the Father, the source of life and Love.
To
Jesus His Son, the Fulfillment of Gods Love
To
the Holy Spirit, the love of the Father and Son, the breath of Life, the source
of the
POWER
OF LOVE.
AMEN!!!
