It is unfortunate that people are not ready or humble enough to receive what the Bible says about God’s love for them. People are ready to receive the words of umpteen college professors and fellows with new notions and theories on morality, but they are not prepared to believe the Word of God. You should put away that kind of attitude. Be humble and child-like and go to God and say, “God, your wisdom is definitely superior to mine.”

In Jeremiah 31:3 we have a great declaration: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.” These words were addressed to a rebellious people, a people who had broken the law of God. And here God says: “Notwithstanding your rebellion, I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

Friends, the word “love” is a very misused and misapplied term today, and its meaning is misunderstood. Somehow, we do not understand what love is all about. What a perverted people we have become: wrong is right, infidelity is love, and the breaking of every covenant makes a gentleman. That is not God’s love. You will not find that kind of love in the Bible. You will not find that kind of perversion in the Book.

Neither will you find a narrow, religious fanaticism. God loves the whole world and gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for it. He did not love just a section of people. Everywhere people are erecting barriers on the strength of old prejudices. We are educated and able people, but here we are, cutting our little world into little strips. And we are asked to relate to a God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever—everybody, anybody—believes on Him should have everlasting life. Love!

We do not relate to that word “love”. We relate to the stuff from the gutters of Hollywood. We relate to adultery, fornication, divorce. We relate to anything else but we do not relate to the God of love.

God looks at us as individuals. God wants us to relate to Him, and God sees each one of us very plainly. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.” Love! “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Well, how do we love Jesus? Our love is so tiny, hardly worth speaking about, because it is not at all up to that measure: if He loved us and gave His life as the sacrifice for our sins, there ought to be a practical outworking of our love. We do not see that practical outworking in many Christians today. We only see a lot of verbiage, a lot of profession, a lot of noise. “Herein is love, not that we loved God…”: our love toward God is not at all proportionate with God’s love.

We all like to say, “I am a Christian and I love God and I pray.” But why does God say: “Herein is love, not that we loved God…”? Some of you have learned from the cradle that God is love, that God is light. You have learned from the cradle that lying is wrong; cheating, stealing, immorality is wrong. How many people there are today—some very devout and earnest people, apparently—but a people with big walls of pride and prejudice. So they cannot see Jesus. We have got a bunch of hypocrites in churches today who call themselves Christians. In response to the hypocrisy of Christians, we see people of the world who, like a bunch of “ignoramuses”, have convinced themselves that Christianity cannot be true. They make this decision without ever investigating the Lord Jesus Christ. A man who decides something without every investigating it personally, faithfully, and earnestly, is an ignoramus. “I don’t believe Jesus died for me. Don’t tell me that God is love.” How sad.

There are 96 or 97 attributes of God in the Koran. Yet “love” is not one of them. Then what is God? The English poet Shelley has a notion that God is a tyrant. He wrote “Prometheus Unbound” where God is depicted as a tyrant. The kind of picture that some people have is that God is a tyrant. God is so despotic, so capricious; you don’t know what He is going to slam you with next, and all you can do is to call on Him and cry to Him. No.

The Bible says, “Can a woman forget her sucking child …? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). Did your mother ever forget you? I do not think mothers are so constituted that they can forget a child. But, “yea, they may forget you,” says God, “yet I will not forget you.” So when you think of a mother’s love and you think of God’s love, you multiply a mother’s love with the knowledge of God and there you have God’s love. You multiply a mother’s love with the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, and the everlastingness of God and then you have got the right proportion.

"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). Live—not “exist”. “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Look at the manner of life we are all living today. We are all caught up with bills. Money, job, car, house—that is all our world. What a world! What an ugly world! If there is no room for God there, there is no room for living there. That is no place to live. So we have reduced our lives to these four horrid, gloomy walls. We have become shut-ins. You are going to exist and live within those four walls and die and stink within those four walls. What a world we have created for ourselves, we educated people!

“In this was manifested the love of God … that we might LIVE through Him.” For living, you need loving. Without love, you do not live. We have so projected money into every area of our lives that God is gone. The love of God is gone. The motivation to love your neighbour is gone. You are merely existing. The Son of God was manifested that you may love, that you may live. But for you, life has become a drudgery, a bore. If God loves you and has saved you, then can’t you reflect His love to others?

We cannot rise above our usual selfish existence, and yet we talk about a God who loves people and changes them. Is it a joke that we want to perpetrate? Or are we going to be real and down-to-earth and begin to LIVE through God’s love?

God’s love has tremendous implications. God has engineered you so perfectly that you are really made to tick with love. You are really made to operate with love. You are really made to show forth God’s love—that is His design for you. If you break that design and put another motor in—such as materialism or selfishness—your life will be empty and meaningless. God’s love intends that we should live.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:11-12).

How to love others

“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). The essence, the practical outworking of God’s love, is revealed in Jesus, this perfect person who not just symbolizes God but portrays the fullness of the Godhead. If the fullness of the Godhead portrayed in Jesus Christ is not accepted by you, then God does not dwell in you. There is something wrong with your whole concept of religion. This is the love of God and if you do not accept this, then you are going to exist without this love. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:15-16).

A group of people were watching a forest fire. A bird was frenzied and frantic, hovering around a nest in which it had its little ones. And soon that tree was on fire. And these people thought the bird would fly away. With one great act, it spread its wings and just settled on the little ones and was burnt. That is the love of Jesus Christ.

—Joshua Daniel

Matthew 25:4: “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

When a man comes to Jesus, he learns wisdom. It is wise to take oil in one’s vessel. When one professes to follow Christ, he must have oil. One does not grow if he has no oil, and he prevents others from growing. He takes a diversion from the right path. If a converted person does not bear fruit, there is something very wrong. This shows he has no proper union with Christ. God decided there should be a new heaven and a new earth. Zechariah and Malachi prophesied that the Messiah would come but people did not believe it and ignored it. It is a foolish thing to believe that sin reigns and will continue to reign victoriously. Will you believe darkness is more powerful than light? No. When light comes, darkness flees. Jesus conquered even death.

Some trees can only be used for firewood. They cannot bear fruit. But man is created with the purpose of bearing fruit. He should not amass wealth. Communism is fighting capitalism tooth and nail. Is. 65:17: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind,” God says. His word will prevail. Do not doubt the Word of God. Do not run against the Rock. You will be broken. You may gather many degrees and titles for yourself and emptiness in the soul. Dare you think you will be successful in your life without believing the Word of God? No! The people who mocked at my prayer and my love of the Bible in their youth are now in misery. God has commanded a new world into being. The Bridegroom is preparing Himself. It is up to you to prepare oil. How many of your classmates join you in following the Lord? The call of the Bridegroom will come. He has laid the foundation for the new heaven and the new earth on the cross. Are you building on the Rock? The kingdom of Heaven is within you. Do not look here and there for the Kingdom. If we are divided personalities, hell will find place within us.

Dr. Johnson was a man of letters. He was also a man of God. He lived a life of faith, purity, and integrity. He was straightforward in his speech. He had no bed to lie down, no hearth to warm himself. His toes peeped out through his worn-out shoes. He was not afraid of poverty. He seemed to be rather fond of it. But we are afraid of poverty, want, and privation. Great men went through these experiences and came out none the worse. There is wickedness in highly educated circles. Students when they enter college have faith in God. But by the time they finish their studies and leave college, they have lost their faith and they have no peace. Education will not make us happy. We will be miserable if we do not accept Christ. Why did the Bridegroom lay down this condition that the virgins should come with lamps burning? Are our lamps burning? New hearts are the beginning of the new earth. New holiness, pure living, new joy and peace and faith! These are the new force of heaven that will be released through your selfless life. This is the meaning of lamps burning. Peace restores and recreates. This is the beginning of the new heaven and the new earth...

Pastor Hsi was working for the Lord in China. Once in one of his meetings two men broke into a fierce quarrel. One threw a knife at the other and the thigh of the other man was cut and bleeding. The people around wanted to kill the man who threw the knife. But Pastor Hsi threw himself into their midst and speaking words of wisdom tied up the wound. Peace was restored. People die early because of quarrels. The tongue turns into a sword when Christ is not in our hearts. When a family knows Jesus, they build the kingdom of God. They bring forth children who rise and shake the world. Susanna and Samuel Wesley brought forth John Wesley who shook England.

The call of the Bridegroom cometh! It came to Hudson Taylor, John Bunyan, and John Wesley.

Some may be converted, but have they got the oil that will make their lamps burn? Where will you get the oil? At the feet of Jesus. Go alone there to pray and meditate on the Word of God. Do not seek prominence. If you believe the Word of God, wherever you go, you can breathe peace on people.

In a certain place, Christian workers made a show of their unfaith, striking for higher salaries. This way churches in South India pave the way for communism (materialism). The church gives you a discipline and some understanding more than the Hindus. But that is not enough. We must go to Christ. Do not go against the Rock.

The call will soon sound, “The Bridegroom is coming.” Have you got the faith that shines in darkness? Christ deserves your all. Those who have faith in Him will lack nothing. I served Him 19 years full time. I lacked nothing. The only lack I feel is that I do not have enough of Christ Himself. I want more of His Spirit. If you and I live like Him, the power of the risen Christ to heal people and to love our enemies will shine forth out of us. If Christians will not prepare themselves for the Bridegroom, God will choose a Sikh like Sunder Singh, or a Brahmin, or a Mohammedan to be His light. God wants us to be filled with His faith and peace. Our life will create faith in others. I took a Kshatriya (High caste Hindu) classmate to Sunder Singh. He was converted and his whole family is enjoying faith in Christ. Now he is an honest man. The Bridegroom is calling! Have you oil in your lamp?

—N. Daniel

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:6). After hearing this Bible verse one Sunday, young Ann Preston—an untaught, unlettered Irish girl—knelt down voluntarily for the first time in her life and began to cry out.

While crying out, Ann had a powerful revelation of her distress. “I see all the sins that ever I did from the time I was five years old all written on the chair in front of me, every one,” she told the mistress for whom she worked. Looking down, Ann cried out: “Oh, ma’am, worse than all, I see hell open ready to swallow me.” She began to smite her breast, and cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” In desperation, she repeatedly cried for mercy.

At midnight, Ann jumped up: “No mercy, Lord, for me?” But as the question passed her lips, assurance filled her heart. Ann always said that as she looked up she saw the Saviour as He was on Calvary, and knew there and then that His blood atoned for her sins. “I felt then something burning in my heart,” she would later say, “I just longed for the morning, that I could go home and tell my father and mother what the Lord had done for me.”

Ann picked up a Testament, and then prayed her first simple request as a child of God. “O Lord,” she said, “You that have taken away this awful burden, intolerable to bear, couldn’t You enable me to read one of these little things?” putting her finger on a verse. She read: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:13-14).

There is, however, a class of Christian life which God makes possible and Ann did not immediately possess. It is where the human will is surrendered to its Maker, the whole life is consecrated, and the Holy Spirit of God fills the soul. The years proved that Ann had a great battle: an ungovernable temper. She wept over it, confessed it, fought with it—but would fall again.

One evening, Ann heard Psalm 34 read out. Verse 16 impressed itself strongly upon her: “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” She asked the reader to mark the verse for her, went to her room, knelt down, and prayed for light. She opened the Bible at the place where the leaf had been turned down. “You can’t read it,” the devil said. “Well, the Lord will give it to me,” Ann replied. Wonderfully, Ann was enabled to read the verse repeatedly. (From thence, unlettered Ann could read the Bible although no other book.)

While still upon her knees, Ann said: “Lord, what is evil?” The answer came: “Anger, wrath, malice,” and so on. Ann wept and prayed all night long as her inward sinfulness was revealed. Toward morning, she cried out: “O Lord, how shall I know when I get deliverance?” The answer came: “Well, Jacob wrestled until he prevailed.” In her simplicity, Ann asked: “What does ‘prevailed’ mean?” The reply came: “Getting just what you came for and all you want.” Again she queried: “And what will it do for me when I get it?” The reply came back: “It will enable you to rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. You will live above the troubles of this world and the things that now upset you.” Ann fervently desired to be sanctified [made holy] throughout—body, soul, and spirit (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The following day, Ann persisted, pleading Jesus’ promise: “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. She cried: “Lord, I have been knocking all night. Open unto me! Open unto me!” The answer came.

For two hours it seemed as if Ann had entered into heaven. The house was filled with her shouts of praise! The following years felt as though lived in the heavenly places. When one morning Ann found her lips dumb instead of the usual praise, it was revealed to her that “the just shall live by faith” and that she should simply trust God. Ann applied these principles and obtained perfect peace.

Ann’s life became a witness to the power of faith, holiness, and “prevailing” in prayer; she went to be with Jesus in 1906.

—See Helen E. Bingham, An Irish Saint: The Life Story of Ann Preston (“Holy Ann”)