The Nature of His Love by Jason Tax
© 2012 Jason Tax All rights reserved.
Please Visit www.onewithlove.org to order/download the full version


Introduction

Hello my dear friends and family! I greet you in the love and glory of the mighty name of Jesus! These are exciting times that we are living in, and God is definitely on the move. I am very excited, blessed, and honored to be able to share with you some very important revelations and mysteries that have been lacking in the church for many years. We are in a time of reformation! God is unveiling the mysteries of His nature and glory! He is beginning to build the Church into the glorious sons and daughters He originally created us to be. And with this reformation means change. For many years there have been many original understandings, revelations, and foundational doctrines of Christ that have been “missing” from much of the church body as a whole.
This is a time of God transforming the foundations of His body and bride to be founded only on the solid rock of the Lord Jesus! 1 Cor. 3:11 “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” In order for this to happen though, we must be open to change. Then when the true foundation comes, we must be willing to get rid of the old one to make way for the new. I believe that the greatest need in the world is the unconditional, highest benevolent affection, agape love of God. Unfortunately right now that is also the greatest absence in the world. This is due largely in part because of the lack of knowledge of the nature of God’s love. Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
This book is designed to challenge the way you think, to help reveal the true foundations of God’s love to all people, and help every person be empowered in encountering the incredible love of God! My hope, prayer and desire is that the revelations contained in this book will help our family (the body of Christ) come back to its true and original foundation of being rooted, grounded, founded, established, and perfected in the agape love of God! Enjoy!


Ch. 1
All of God is Found in Love

There was a period of my life where the Lord started stirring up my heart to seek Him, and to know His attributes. I would enter into my time with the Lord with thanksgiving, praise, and then worship. When I got to the worship part I would begin to worship God for the different attributes of His nature like goodness, joy, peace, kindness, favor, blessing, wisdom, etc. I quickly discovered that it seemed that there were many attributes of God that I never knew were actually attributes. This really sparked an even deeper hunger to want to know, and explore, the many attributes of God’s nature. Then there came a point where one day the Holy Spirit showed me that there was only one fruit of the Spirit. In the Bible it says in 1 Cor. 12:4-6 that there are many gifts of the Spirit, ministries of the Lord, and activities of God. In Gal. 5:19 there are also works, or acts, of the sinful nature. But in Gal. 5:22 it says “fruit” (singular) of the Spirit. Not plural like the other verses…hmmm. I realized by the Spirit that the 9 attributes of God that are listed in Gal. 5:22-23 are only a few of the many attributes that come with the Holy Spirit. When we get the Holy Spirit we receive all the attributes of God in one package, or fruit! Within a few days after that the Lord brought 1 Cor. 13 to remembrance. I suddenly realized that all of the 9 attributes of God listed in Galatians 5 were either directly written, or implied, as being found in God’s love!! Instantly I began going into an encounter with the Father heart of God that massively overwhelmed my entire being! It would be challenging to describe in just a few words the overwhelming experiential manifestation of the love of God that occurred at that time, as God began to reveal to me that ALL of His attributes are actually found inside of His love!! That night, and for the next week, I would be overwhelmed constantly by various expressions of the Father’s heart of love. From weeping and mourning over the hurting, lost, and broken with an intensity I had never experienced before; to the overwhelming pleasure, and ecstasy, of the most pure and unconditional love I had ever experienced. Followed by great periods of revelation and downloads of the nature of His love that would often lead to more encounters. And I am very thankful to say today that these experiences haven’t stopped, but have only increased since then! My prayer for you right now is that even as you continue to read, that you too would be overwhelmed by the endless and infinite expressions of the Father’s heart of love, that you may know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge!!

The Fruit of The Spirit is Love

Let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NIV

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (8) Love never fails.”

And also 1 Cor. 13:5b-7 NKJV says love:

“thinks no evil; (6) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Now let’s look at Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control.”

Now take some time and compare these two versions of 1 Corinthians 13 with Galatians 5:22-23.
You can find all of the 9 attributes of God listed in Galatians being defined as love in 1 Corinthians 13 (either directly or by implication). You can also find multiple other attributes of God being defined as love in this passage as well, including faith, hope, trust, truth, and more! To make this easier there is a list below of the 9 attributes of God from Galatians 5, with the references to the parts from 1 Cor. 13:4-8 where I found them. After that is another list of some other attributes of God found in 1 Cor. 13 (directly written or implied) that are not listed in Galatians.
Here is the first list, and a little explanation for how I separated the different parts of the list. The first part is taken from different sections of 1 Cor. 13 (both versions). The second part lists which of the 9 attributes from Galatians 5 is written or implied here. There are also explanations included with some to help explain how they are connected:

1. Love (Love)
2. Love is patient (Patience).
3. Love is kind (Kindness)
4. Love does not envy (Self-control). It takes self-control to not envy something another person has or does. It is his love that gives us power over self.
5. Love is not rude (Gentleness) Rudeness and roughness go hand in hand. So the opposite of that is to be gentle in love.
6. Love thinks no evil (Goodness). A purely good God could never think evil of one He loves, but only good thoughts all the time.
7. Love is not easily angered (Peace) A peaceful God of love is not easily angered, nor is one who is at peace with God.
8. Love rejoices with the truth (Joy). It takes the joy of love to rejoice!
9. Love never fails (Faithfulness). A faithful God of love will never fail His people.
That’s all nine!

But it gets even better, it also says LOVE:

1. Does not boast (Meekness)
2. Is not proud (Humbleness)
3. Is not self-seeking (Selfless or Unconditional)
4. It keeps no record of wrongs (Forgiveness/Mercy)
5. It always protects (Protecting)
6. It always trusts (Trusting)
7. Believes all things (Faith/Believing)
8. Hopes all things (Hope)
9. Endures all things (Enduring)

Which is at least 9 more major attributes of God that are found in love, including all of faith and hope!! That is INCREDIBLE! Lord Your love is amazing!
This began hours and hours; and days and days of revelations, encounters, and experiences with the unconditional and extravagant love of God! As I said before I quickly began to realize that ALL of God’s attributes are found in His love! Which means that for years I, like many others, had learned many wrong understandings and false perceptions of the nature of God. The Lord began to show me that one of the biggest reasons that so many have misrepresented and misguided people concerning His nature is because we have been building on an incomplete, or partially right/partially wrong foundation.
Many believe that God is love, joy, peace, justice, mercy, wisdom, etc. As if all the attributes of God were all separate from each other, in a straight line, and love is a little bit greater than the rest. This wrong foundation of God’s nature makes it easy for us to wrongly perceive who He is, because it separates the attributes of His nature from His love, and from each other. This was also taught to me many times in the past as if God was some kind of split-personality being that one moment He loves you, and the next moment He wants to punish you, because He's just, and you just sinned. As if these attributes had nothing to do with each other.
But after this experience I began to know that the true foundation of Christ is that God is LOVE, and in His LOVE is: joy, peace, wisdom, excellence, majesty, perfection, justice, kindness, and every other attribute of His nature. Meaning that the greatest, most defining characteristic, word, and attribute of God is: LOVE! His love is excellent, His love is kind, His love is compassionate, His love is just, His love is merciful, His love is peaceful, and so much more! It also means that the nature of God is not a bunch of attributes in a straight line, and separate from each other. The nature of God is more like a circle of LOVE, and in that circle are found: joy, peace, patience, wisdom, mercy, truth, pleasure, justice, power, and much more! Wow! No wonder why 1 John 4:16 says “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.”
Now this may not seem like a big deal at first, but believe me when I say that it changes the understanding of those attributes greatly. When we look at every attribute of God as being found in His love, we can see the depth of God’s heart of love behind each and every attribute. It also doesn’t mean that everything that’s been taught of His nature currently is wrong. Besides the bad teachings, I’ve also heard some really truthful and amazing teachings of the nature of God as well. I believe knowing God’s attributes in His love though will help us more rightly know our Father’s heart of love, while also helping clear up many of the common misperceptions of God that are running rampant in the church today. I’ll give you one example of many more in this book:

Love is Merciful

Let’s look at God’s mercy.

Psalm 51:1 NIV “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;”

Mercifulness is an attribute of God’s love. God has mercy on us according to His heart of unfailing love for us. The definition of mercy to many is that it means: to relent a deserved punishment, or to forgive someone’s debt. God’s mercy has been viewed by some in the church as meaning that we need to cry out, and beg for forgiveness, so that the great almighty God might relent from punishing us for our many, many sins. As if God was saying, “Ahh you’re lucky I’ll forgive you guys today, cause I’m in a good mood and you cried out long enough. But don’t test My patience, or next time I might have to punish you for all your many, many sins.”
Agape love (God’s love) is an unconditional love that always seeks the highest goodwill of another, without requiring anything in return. And not only does it not require anything in return, but even seeks the absolute best for all people, including its greatest enemies. That’s why Jesus said:

Matthew 5:44-45: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, (45) that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Paul said in Rom. 5:8 “While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Mercy defined and understood in the context of the agape love of God is so much different. God loves us sooo much that even when we were at our worst, and hated Him the most, He sent Jesus to die for us. He did this so that He could forgive us of all sin, and remove all of our punishment the moment we accept Him. In fact He did that before every person on the earth today was even born! Then His love took it even further when God decided that it wasn’t enough to just forgive us, and relent our punishment, but He loves us so much that He even forgets all our sins the moment we accept Him, as if none of them ever even happened (Heb. 8:14)!! Wow! It’s like God saying, “Hey don’t worry about it, I forgive you, and not only do I forgive you, in fact I don’t even remember you ever doing that. I love you so much I could never see you doing anything wrong, because you’re made in My image, and are as righteous as I am (2 Cor. 5:21 and 1 John 3:9). And I would never want anything to stand between My love for you, so lets just forget about it…What were we talking about again? Oh yeah, how great you are in My love…”
He’s such a good Father! See God doesn’t want to just forgive a deserved punishment, His love desires to forget that there was ever any wrongs done at all, and to only think about all the good things He placed in us. That’s why God forgets all our sins, and relents all our deserved punishment, the moment we ask forgiveness! You ever hear the phrase “love is blind.” That’s because when you’re truly in love with someone it causes you to see past all the faults and weaknesses of the person as if they aren’t even there. That’s the way God loves us. He sees past all our faults, weaknesses, and sins, and instead chooses to constantly be infatuated with all the goodness that He placed in us! What a great God! Also the Bible says that God delights in showing mercy (Micah 7:18). Which means that it brings joy and delight to God’s being whenever He has the opportunity to show mercy to His beloved children. There’s no more reason to fear coming to God for forgiveness, because He delights in showing His merciful love to us! Now that sounds a little bit more like mercy with the foundation of God’s agape love!

Love is All in God

There is much more that I could say about God’s mercifulness, and there are many more attributes yet to cover, but for now I want to share some more Scriptures to help show that all of God’s attributes really are found in His love:

Eph. 3:17-19 “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- (19) to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

So according to this passage we are to be rooted and grounded in love. That word grounded in the Greek means “founded”. Which means the foundation (or root source) of all that we are and do is God’s love! Wow! And this is so that we may be able to comprehend (understand) the width and length and depth and height of God’s love, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Meaning that we must first be founded in God’s love, and only then can we begin to understand the supreme vastness of God’s love, because His love is the measuring line for the height, width, depth, and length of all that He is! Which also means that we can only be filled with the measure of God's fullness, that we are filled to the measure of the fullness of His love!! Because everything that God is, is found inside of His love!! Woohoo! Thank You Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit for how immensely incredible and spectacular Your love is!!!
Here’s another Scripture:

Phil. 1:9-11 NIV “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, (10) so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, (11) filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.”

This passage reveals that the knowledge and insight of God’s love is the key to be able to discern what is best, be pure and blameless until the day of Christ (without sin), and be filled with the righteousness of Christ. Which means knowledge, righteousness, purity, discernment, and blamelessness are all fueled by, and found in love! It also means that the key to overcoming sin is the love of God!
And another:

Col. 3:12-14 NIV “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (13) Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (14) And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Boldness added)

Here is a list of some of God’s attributes that we are to carry and walk in as believers. If you notice, almost all of those attributes we saw earlier in 1 Cor. 13 being defined as love. At the end Paul says that over them all we need to walk in love, because love is what binds them all together in perfection. Love is God’s gloriously binding “glue” that keeps every other part of Himself together and working perfectly! Haha.
Here’s some good ones:

Matt. 22:35-40 “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ (37) Jesus said to him, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’"
Gal. 5:14 “The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Rom. 13:10 “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
1 Tim. 1:5 “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.”

Wow! So the greatest commands of the law is to love! Not only that, but the purpose of the entire law, the prophets, and every other command of God is: LOVE! Which is even more astoundingly great proof that all of God’s attributes are found inside of His love! If God’s attributes were separated from each other, then Jesus would not be able to say that the entire law is summed up by love. If righteousness, peace, wisdom, mercy, justice, and the other attributes of God were found outside of His love, then it would take more than just love to fulfill all the commandments of God. But because all of God’s attributes are found inside of His love, by walking in love we will fulfill everything that God wants us to be and do!
Almost there:

1 Cor. 16:14 “Let all that you do be done with love.”

Everything we do should always be done with love, and nothing we do should ever be done without it. It’s as if we are in an eternal tango with love, and are to be overflowing expressions of that love at all times. Every work of God is a work of His love!
Last one:

1 Cor. 8:1 “Now concerning the eating of things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”

Knowledge outside of love will puff a person up, and make them proud. Knowledge founded and perfected in God’s love will always edify, or build people up. It is the knowledge of God’s love that builds us up into His image! Even knowledge outside of love can actually cause more harm than good. No wonder why there’s so much division in the family and church of God today. Too many are building their life on doctrines of knowledge without love, instead of letting God’s unconditional agape love be the supreme foundation of all that we do together as one family in Christ!
There are many more revelations, experiences, and Scriptures to go through, but for now lets do a quick summary of some of the main points so far: Love is the foundation, root, height, width, length, depth, perfection, bond, motivation, and fullness of all that God is. It is also only through love that we will be able to understand His attributes, knowledge, be pure, walk blamelessly, discern what is best, edify one another, have faith, have hope, trust God, be humble, fulfill the law, and so much more! Wow!! Also God’s nature is not love, joy, peace, vengeance, wisdom, etc, as separate attributes. That kind of thinking can view God’s attributes as being more individually separated, and in something like a straight line. (Though there are many other views that people have of God’s nature besides this one, that are also incomplete/not fully accurate) Instead God’s love is like a big circle. The circle is His LOVE, and inside of the circle is every other attribute of His nature: joy, peace, patience, mercy, wisdom, honor, righteousness, holiness, justice, power, etc. All founded, perfected, held together, unified, and rightly understood in love! Love is the all in all of everything that God is! This is a much more accurate and truthful way of seeing God’s nature.
Take some time now and think about these things. How awesome is it that God really is love? What does that mean about your relationship with Him? Are there things that you’ve believed about God that don’t reflect a God who loves you unconditionally, seeking your highest good at all times? Do you think that this changes the understanding of the attributes of God? Are there attributes of His nature that you may not have looked at as being from a heart of love? Ask God to show you His truths in these situations. Selah 

Before we go on, just in case you’ve never accepted this amazing God of love into your life before, or if you’ve fallen away from Him, I want you to say this prayer with me:
“Father, I ask that you would reveal the awesomeness of Your love towards me. I ask you to forgive me of any sins that I’ve committed. I ask you to come into my heart and make me new. I believe that Jesus died for me, so that I could live forever with You. Lord, help me experience Your love in ever-increasing measures now, and throughout all eternity. In Jesus name, Amen.”


Ch. 2
All Things Were Created From Love and For Love

Hopefully by now we can all see that God really is love. So what else is there to know of this amazing love, and why have so many not known these things about God? First of all I think it’s important to understand that God is the one who defines love, not man. There are many versions, opinions, and “definitions” of love that are in the world today. But none of them can even compare with God’s definition of what His love truly is. Even the definition of the Greek word agape, which is the New Testament word for God’s love, hardly even begins to reveal the infiniteness of the love of God.
Man often defines attributes by looking at each attribute as being separate from all the other attributes. God sees things much differently. Since all of God’s attributes are found in His love, that means the definition of His love is far greater than what man has thought. God is the definition of love. Love is more than an attribute of God, it is the only attribute that actually represents His entire being. Every other attribute of God is an expression, or extension of His love. All of God’s attributes add to the complete definition of His love. God’s love includes every revelation of truth that is contained within His being. Love can never truly be experienced apart from God, for He is the source of all love. The definition of God’s love is found in everything that God is, and everything that He does. His love is so infinite in scope that no dictionary on earth could possibly define it completely, for it fills eternity. Every manifestation of God’s love represents a piece of the complete definition of who He is, because everything that He is, is Love.
So when we use the word “agape” to define God’s love, know that the true definition of that word according to the mind of God is infinite in measure, and MUCH more complex than the Greek definition. There is no earthly language that even comes close to expressing the fullness of God’s love. It is something that has to be experienced in order for us to know. The infinite expressions of the love of God are found in all the other attributes of His nature. His Love is Jealous, Excellent, Majestic, Holy, Righteous, Faithful, Vengeful, Just, Perfect, Encouraging, Correcting, Funny, Creative, Powerful, and sooo much more. Every attribute of God expresses His love in such a variety of different, and at times seemingly opposite ways, but they are all perfectly joined together as one nature: The Nature of His Love!

If you want to read/download the entire E-book free, purchase a printed copy, or listen to the audiobook for free please go to: www.onewithlove.org
Thank you and God bless!

Impressum

Texte: Jason Tax
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 20.10.2012

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