God’s love for us is at the nth degree of perfection—pure, faultless, without blemish and never-ending! It’s “impeccable.” It’s all but impossible for our minds to comprehend without divine inspiration!
Listen to what God tells us in 1 John 4:16-21 when personalized: God is love, and when you abide in love, you abide in God, and God abides in you … and when this love is perfected in you, you will have confidence for the Day of Judgment … there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear … whoever fears has not been perfected in love … you love because He first loved you … when you love God you must also love your brother.
God’s Love Is ‘Impeccable‘
God loves you with impeccable love, and He wants you to live your life loving Him, and everyone around you, with this same impeccable love. God has no higher aspirations for your life! It’s your natural inclination to talk about what you’re most excited about. If you’re not talking about God, you’re not excited about God, and that’s more than a small problem.
The degree to which you’re telling others about Jesus reveals the degree to which God is your God.
You see, sharing your faith is not optional for Christians. When Jesus said, “Go ye,” there were no qualifiers. He didn’t limit His call to those who were gifted, or trained or paid. He also didn’t say, “Go ye into the world and pray, or read your Bible or be a good person.”
Most evangelicals now believe being a good person is being a good faith sharer. But being good doesn’t get you or anyone else into heaven. There’s only one prerequisite for heaven, and it’s not knowing who Jesus is. It’s accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, living for Him and no longer yourself.
Being Good Doesn’t Get You Into Heaven
Over the last 50 years, most Christians have sat under “feel-good” messages requiring nothing more than setting their lives on cruise control. That’s the polar opposite of how God made us, to be in sync with Him, and why the American church is now silent at this epic moment in human history.
The current trend is for Christians to define their spiritual health by the depth of their devotion to a critical issue of our day like elections, abortion, human trafficking or caring for the poor. Clearly, these are battles to be fought for right-thinking Christians.
But the line is crossed when the issue grows into a consuming fire for their attention, and focus, and joy, leading Christians to ask God to help them with their god. And when things go wrong with their god, blaming God.
In His letter to the church at Ephesus, God admonishes faithful Christians who have left Him as their “first love” and are no longer doing the “first work” (telling people about Him). Instead, we have “faithful” Christians making their issues their god and attracting others to worship their “god.” With the best of intentions, Christians have become more focused on winning issues than winning the lost. God help us!
God’s letter to the church at Ephesus concludes by calling the church (us) to repentance and return to honoring Him as our first love, and doing the first work (telling people about Him). And if we don’t, God will remove the candlestick, being our testimony. If you want to know why the American church has lost its testimony, its influence in America, this is it.
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Most Unbelievers Are Unbelievers Because of Believers
Unbelievers don’t want to be like us! A contributing factor is that most believers who are fighting the great issues of our day believe their war is against those who oppose them. But Satan wins when we forget that he’s our enemy.
Those who oppose us have an excuse. They’re blinded by Satan and see evil as good and good as evil. They’re not evil. They’re lost! And they’re going to stay lost until we tell them God loves them. When you hate those who oppose you, you’re hating people Jesus died for and loves just as much as He loves you. This is true no matter what they’re saying or doing. And because of your hate, they may be lost for eternity.
Not Sharing Your Faith Offends God
While it’s Old Testament Scripture under the law, God never changes. And in Ezekiel 33:1-6, God tells us if you fail to warn those under your influence the enemy is coming, and they die in their sins, their blood will be on your hands.
This brings us back to God’s impeccable love that He gives to you in abundance. This makes it supernaturally possible for you to love Him back, and everyone around you, with impeccable love, blameless, faultless, pure and unaffected by how others treat you. It’s extremely hard for people to hate you long term when your love for them is “impeccable” and never-ending.
As He hung on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34b, NLT). In our own strength and emotions, we want to react to the world with equal negativity. But Jesus gave us the ultimate example for responding to those who hate Him.
John 14:15 explains how we tell God we love Him by keeping His commandments, with the most important being loving God and loving your neighbors as yourself. Here’s how that works: When you love your neighbor (everyone) as yourself, including those who oppose you, you’re as concerned for their salvation as you are your own.
There’s no separation between loving God and loving your neighbors as yourself.
When you see and respond to the lost through God’s eyes, you’ll satisfy all the commandments by doing everything you can to move everyone, every day, closer to Jesus.
This is your “Great Commission,” when you understand the depth of God’s love for you and for everyone around you. There’s no separation between loving God and loving your neighbors as yourself. This includes those who oppose you and God and America. We hate sin and love sinners!
This Message Is for You
It doesn’t matter if you’re into politics, an activist in the battle or an armchair quarterback shaking your fist at the TV screen. This message is for you! The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results (James 5:16). We need to get over our anger and start praying for the lost.
Over 80% of the unchurched know the world is out of control, are looking for someone to tell them about God and already have at least one Christian in their life that they trust. We could ignite America with revival in 30 days if we wanted to. Do you want to?
Perhaps the second most luxurious promise in the Bible is in Romans 8:28, where God promises to make everything in your life work for good from now until you get to heaven. It sounds too good to be true, and most Christians believe it is. But this is God’s promise to you when you do the very same things described in the two most important commandments.
“All things work together for good to those who love Me, to those who are called according to My purpose.” Here again, God explains that your love for Him is expressed by living for His purpose to seek and save the lost. God’s ultimate rewards are reserved for those who dedicate their lives to getting as many people as possible into heaven before they’re left behind. And time is running out!
God’s telling you when you live to seek and save the lost, He’ll make everything in your life work for good. God’s telling you when you live to seek and save the lost to move everyone, every day, closer to Jesus, He’ll make everything in your life work for good. That’s the end of fear and worry, and the launching of wholehearted faith. Who doesn’t want that for their life?
As wonderful as this message may sound and how powerfully it will impact the rest of your life, it’s only half of God’s promise to you. What you may not know is that God’s mandate that you share your faith is secondarily about winning the lost and primarily about winning you!
God Wants to Love Everyone Through You
It’s true! God loves you and people know you’re His disciple when His impeccable love flows through you, to them. It’s way beyond the normal human experience and psyche when the Holy Spirit leads you into conversations you don’t expect and gives you the words to say.
The instructions in Mark 13:11 tell you not to prepare in advance what you should say. Doing that puts your words instead of God’s words in your mouth. Then Luke 12:12 adds that the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say when you need them. This transforms every faith sharing experience from high drama to an adventure that changes your life forever.
Unless, and until, you experience the intimacy of having God ignite a conversation, giving you the words to say and watching a life being transformed in front of you, you have no idea what being a Christian is all about. This is when your desire to be in the Word and on your knees become insatiable. It ignites your life!
Sharing your faith and having faith are inseparable. They are, in fact, two sides of the same coin that defeats fear with effortless faith. This is the end of struggles in your life. God obligates Himself to answer your prayers (James 1:6) and direct your steps (Prov. 3:5) when you achieve wholehearted faith by sharing your faith. Hallelujah!
Sharing your faith is how you achieve wholehearted faith.
In Jeremiah 1:5, God explains that before He placed you in your mother’s womb, He set you apart to be His spokesman. Isaiah 43:10 tells you why: “I appointed you as My witness so that you will believe!” Notice He didn’t say that you will believe more. In essence, God is telling you that sharing your faith is how you achieve wholehearted faith in God’s impeccable love.
This is what being a Christian is all about!
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Barry Meguiar is the third‐generation president of Meguiar’s Inc. He is also the founder and president of Ignite America, a ministry focused on mobilizing Christians to ignite America with revival. His television show “Car Crazy” aired for many years on the Discovery Channel, and his ” Ignite Your Life” television show airs on Christian television in the U.S. and online. Ignite With Barry Meguiar radio features air daily on over 900 Christian radio stations, with a podcast by the same name. His recent new book, “Ignite Your Life: Defeat Fear With Effortless Faith” is available on amazon.com.