“We live in Him.”
What do the internal outcomes of living loved look like?
When we know our Source of being loved, we will begin to recognize internal results. How we perceive the world will be altered, our thinking will start to change, and our hearts will be transformed when we live from a place of being loved by God.
“And he has given us his Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that he lives in us and that we live in him.” (1 John 4:13 TPT)
The Holy Spirit activates inside us the power to live through Christ, and the Spirit sets off these internal changes when we tap into the Source of our love. We need to be on the lookout for these internal shifts. The absence of these outcomes is a sign we are not living loved.
Let’s look at a few results taken from 1 John 4.
Internal Results from Living Loved
NEW IDENTITY
“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” (John 1:12-13, NLT, bold added for emphasis)
John reiterates in the book of 1 John that we are God’s children and connects our identity as His daughters and sons to a life that lives loved. “Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
Gaining our identity from our heavenly will be the first result to catapult other internal results. Children of God who know who they are will naturally respond differently out of love compared to the world’s type of love.
Living Loved knows who they are.
NEW BELIEVING KNOWLEDGE
“Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him.” (1 John 4:7, TPT, bold added for emphasis)
The Greek word for “know” in verse seven is ginosko. The TPT above translates it well with “an intimate knowledge” of God. Being a child of God is where the love conversion begins, but knowing God intimately is the fuel that keeps God’s love growing inside of us.
Ginosko is a deep knowing, an understanding that is intimate and reshaping. As we grow more and more in our ginosko, knowing, we are supercharged from the inside, neutralizing and burning away anything that holds us back from living loved.
Living loved will know their Source.
NEW STRENGTH
“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9, NRSVUE, bold added for emphasis)
Living loved means we understand we are not to rely on our strength, but the strength that comes through Christ. We can easily fall into our sufficiency and try to push through life. But when we stop to remember who we are, we will not forget our Source of being loved is also our Source of strength.
Living loved lives through Christ.
NEW POWER SOURCE
“This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:6, BSB, bold added for emphasis)
Children of God know Christ gave us the gift of His Spirit. “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us his Spirit” (1 John 4:13, NLT). Internally, we shift away from our sufficiency and rely on Christ’s resurrection power through the Holy Spirit within us.
We grow in our knowledge of our heavenly Father and His Son, but we will also grow in our understanding of the Holy Spirit. We rely on the Spirit to guide us and comfort us.
Living loved relies on the power of the Holy Spirit.
NEW INITIATOR
“This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.” (1 John 4:10, TPT, bold added for emphasis)
When we think we are the initiators, that somehow we woke up, and turned to God, places the responsibility of living loved on us. Turning to God is an action step that must be taken, but we must remember our movement towards Him was not the first step.
God loved us while we were still sinners. He pursued us. He loved us first. The pressure to get it right, work harder, and that being loved is reliant on us is alleviated by God’s intiation to love us first.
Living loved rests in God loving us first.
WHOLENESS
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12, NIV, bold added for emphasis)
Complete is a word that releases pressure. We serve God with our whole selves. We give Him everything we have, but humbly, we know our efforts will fall short. Gratefully, we do not allow our imperfections to affect us because we are deeply loved, and we rest in the truth that Jesus makes up for all our shortcomings.
Living loved will breathe in deeply the completeness Christ brings to us.
FEARLESS
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18, NIV, bold added for emphasis)
When we come from a place of loved, we will handle fear differently. We will wrestle fear with the truth of God’s faithfulness and promises. We will fall back into our net of deeply loved. In doing so, we can harness fear’s control over us, and allow God to transform our fear into something beautiful.
Living loved will offer fear on the altar of God’s truth.
I pray that “you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” In Jesus’ name, so be it. (Ephesians 3:18-19 TPT)
Meditate: I live and love through Christ.
Reflect: What internal results have you seen in your life as a result of God’s love for you? What other internal results from living loved would you add to the list from above? Is there one or two internal results you feel you need to grow more in from the list above? What could you begin to do to grow more in those areas?
Deeper: 1 John 4:1-10; Titus 3:3-7; Isaiah 43:18-19
For further encouragement, listen to the PODCAST on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, IHeartRadio, and Podbean. Search God’s Word Gives Hope. LISTEN NOW
Receive Hope Every Week with Janae’s Thrive Newsletter, blog link included – Subscribe here
JSC Life & Leadership Coaching – I believe God has created each of us to thrive. Where are you not thriving? Work? Home? Life? Let me coach you. Contact me to schedule a consultation, and let’s get you moving forward. Contact Janae
Did you know you can follow God’s Word Gives Hope on Facebook and Instagram?
(Bible References: NRSVUE – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, NLT – New Living Translation, NIV – New International Version, BSB – Berean Standard Bible, TPT – The Passion Translation)
#GodsWordGivesHope
#Hope #Bible #christianity
#Love #christianitytoday #LivingLoved
#JSCLifeandLeadershipCoaching
