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"I have a dream." Two thousand years earlier, Someone else declared that He had a dream. Well, He didn't say it in so many words, but when He spoke as recorded in John 17:21-26, He declared the dream He had for us, for the world:
That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. Why? So that the world would know.
That the world would know what?
That the Father sent the Son, that the Father loves the world as fiercely and wildly as He loves the Son. That the Father loves the Body of Christ as deeply and as intimately as He loves Jesus. And, that this same love with which the Father loved the Son may be not just for us, but IN US.
We look at the world around us, we realize that Dr. King's dream is still far from being fulfilled. We look at the world around us, and we see that Jesus' dream is still far from being fulfilled.
Freedom from tyranny does not reign for all people...yet. Freedom from the fear of not being fully loved does not reign for all people yet either.
I don't know about you, but the day I started catching hold of the truth that my heavenly Father loves ME with the same kind of love as He loves Jesus, I began to experience how precious I am to Him.
That's when Perfect Love begins to cast out all fear... to cast out the ultimate fear that I am not fully loved, not fully accepted in the Beloved, or that I am not fully welcome in this world, and that I won't be in the next either.
When I look around, I still see so many not living in the experience of that Perfect Love. We are not yet free from the tyranny of fear. Although many of us will assent that God loves us (our head knows it well), yet so many do not experience Love so perfect that it literally casts off all fear.
Oh Lord Jesus, I want Your dream fulfilled in me. I want Your dream fulfilled in my brothers and sisters. For when that happens, then the world will know that You love them too.
That's when Perfect Love begins to cast out all fear... to cast out the ultimate fear that I am not fully loved, not fully accepted in the Beloved, or that I am not fully welcome in this world, and that I won't be in the next either.
When I look around, I still see so many not living in the experience of that Perfect Love. We are not yet free from the tyranny of fear. Although many of us will assent that God loves us (our head knows it well), yet so many do not experience Love so perfect that it literally casts off all fear.
Oh Lord Jesus, I want Your dream fulfilled in me. I want Your dream fulfilled in my brothers and sisters. For when that happens, then the world will know that You love them too.
That the world would know. It's going to happen... it is happening!
This is beautiful, Brenda, and full of hope and confidence! And i love the picture too.
ReplyDeleteYes, that photograph is magnificent. And what a prayer for everyone. If only we can overcome that tyranny of fear, of the urgent, of the overwhelming, of materialism, then it would be a better world, and love will prevail...one day!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, thought provoking piece, Brenda. :)