| PART ONE : How Jesus Taught Me to Overcome My Hatred |
| PART TWO : How Jesus Taught Me to
Forgive |
| PART THREE : How Jesus Taught Me
to Love |
|
| HOW JESUS TAUGHT ME TO LOVE |
| My Great Fall |
| First I have to love God and then I have to love myself
and after that I have to love others in the same way as I love myself. |
| When Jesus showed me that God never punished Adam and
Eve in the Eden Garden, only then did I realize that in my life so
far, I have never loved God, myself and others. |
| During my financial crisis when my mind was not allowing
me to mingle with my people and with my Society (because of my ego
and complex), I thought that God did not love me. That period I saw
God through my failures. |
| At this stage Jesus took me to John 15:5: “I
am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I
in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.” |
| Through this word Jesus made it clear to me that I
can love God only if Jesus is revealed in my spirit. |
| In Ephesians 3:19 it is written “Yes, may you
come to know his (Jesus) love – although it can never be fully
known; and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.” |
| In Romans 5:5 it is said, “for God has poured
out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s
gift to us.” |
| Through these words Jesus taught me that I can receive
God’s love in Jesus only through the Holy Spirit, and only into
my spirit. |
| Before knowing this truth, I thought that God’s
love is coming into me through money, power, people’s acceptance
and other material things. |
| Because of this wrong knowledge I worked hard for material
things. |
| This untruth about, how can I receive God’s love
made me love money and the other material world. |
| This belief was the cause of my great fall. |
| That is why Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “Do you
gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your soul?” |
| How I can receive God's love and Jesus into my Spirit |
| Here I am sharing a thought that Jesus gave me, when
I asked the Lord how I can receive God’s love. Jesus loved his
disciples so much that the Lord treated them as his friends. From
the time the Master was arrested by the soldiers, he was abandoned
by his disciples. He was alone. None of his disciples were there to
talk to the higher authorities for Jesus. Even when Jesus was bodily
present in this world (at the time the Lord was persecuted), we see
that the disciples, were controlled by fear. After Jesus’ resurrection
he appeared to them several times and taught them about the Kingdom
of God. In John 21:3 we see the disciples going fishing. |
| And then Jesus asked me to go through Acts 2:1-42.
There I saw the same disciples who earlier ran away from Jesus during
his persecution were now proclaiming God’s Gospel without their
Master’s bodily presence in this world. In Acts 2:14 it is written,
“Then Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and in a
loud voice began to speak to the crowd: Fellow Jews and all of you
who live in Jerusalem, listen to me and let me tell you what this
means.” |
| I was surprised to see the change that happened in
the disciples, especially in Peter who denied his master three times.
I asked Jesus how this happened. From where did they get the courage?
Then Jesus took me to John 17:26 “I made you known to them,
and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for
me may be in them and so that I also may be in them.” |
| My mind was hooked on to these words “I will
continue to do so.” |
| Jesus’ disciples were with Jesus for three years.
He treated them like his friends. He taught them about God’s
Kingdom. But when their master was persecuted every one ran away,
leaving their Master alone. |
| Jesus after his resurrection came to the same disciples.
He appeared to them several times and asked them to pray for the Holy
Spirit. (Acts 1:4,5) And when they came together, he gave them this
order. “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told
you about, the gift my Father promised. John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” |
| After Jesus is taken up to Heaven, the disciples gathered
frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary
the mother of Jesus and with his brothers to receive God’s promised
Holy Spirit. |
| After they were filled with the Holy Spirit, what we
see is that the same disciples proclaiming, Jesus’ message to
the Jews in Jerusalem without fear. From that day onwards they never
lived for the world, they never went for fishing to live. But lived
for Jesus. |
| Jesus explained these words to me in this way when
the disciples received the Holy Spirit, then Jesus revealed: |
>> God to their Spirit
>> God’s love in Jesus to their Spirit
>> Jesus himself to their Spirit
>> What Jesus taught them to their Spirit |
| When Jesus revealed God, God’s love in Jesus
and Jesus himself to his disciples’ spirit, from that moment
onwards they started to live for Jesus. |
| When Jesus reveals God into my Spirit through the Holy
Spirit, then only could I receive God’s Love in Jesus into my
spirit. That is why St. Paul says in Romans 5:5 “For God has
poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who
is God’s gift to us.” |
| It was a great breakthrough for a person like me, who
believed that God’s love is coming to me only through money,
power, social acceptance and other material things. |
| Through the same word in John 17:26 Jesus explained
that when he reveals God to my Spirit through the Holy Spirit then,
he reveals himself to my Spirit. That was a great revelation for me
that when Jesus reveals God and God’s love in Jesus, then he
reveals to my spirit the life giving tree in the Garden of Eden that
is “Jesus Christ” himself. |
| Jesus showed me that when this will happen in me I
will start to live for my Lord, Jesus Christ. Then only can I love
God, love myself and love others. |
| To reveal God’s love in Jesus in my Spirit and
to reveal Jesus in my Spirit, Jesus showed me that I have to pray
for the people who have given me the wrong knowledge about God and
for those who have given me the wrong knowledge about how can I receive
God’s love. Jesus also showed me how to pray for the people
who have given me the wrong knowledge about how can I receive him.
He also helped me to pray for the other people to fill them with God’s
best gift - the Holy Spirit. |
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