The Ultimate Quest - The Great Commission, P

Week 7, 2014

Rick Joyner

     Last week we discussed how Jesus prayed in John 17 that the love the Father had for Him would be in us. If I had time here, I believe I could biblically prove that the love of the Father for His Son and the Son’s love for the Father is the greatest power in all of creation and is personified in the Holy Spirit. The ultimate experience, fulfillment, or ecstasy that we could ever feel is this love. When we touch this love, it will overflow into a true love for everything and everyone, even our enemies. This love is the ultimate quest, the ultimate treasure we could ever find.

     I’ve been asking for this love for over twenty-five years now. I have not attained it yet, but I don’t intend to quit asking for it. I trust that the Father is answering this prayer by working to prepare me for it. As I have written and often said, “Anything that happens too quickly or easily is usually insignificant.” This is a sound biblical truth. We see this in what it took to prepare the great messengers and servants of the Lord in Scripture and in history.

     Although I have not yet acquired this love, I have been given foretastes. For short periods of time, I have been so flooded with God’s love that everything I looked at I loved so deeply I think I could have easily given my life for it. I would see a tree, a dog, a cat, a fish, and love it like I have never felt love for anything before. I would even look at an inanimate object, like a chair, and be overcome by love for it. Before I knew Christ, I tried a lot of different drugs, but I never experienced anything remotely close to the wonder of being flooded with the love of God.

     I’m addicted. I crave my next fix of this love. The most incredible thing is that I know that before the end of this age, God will have a people who do much more than merely have temporary experiences like this—they will walk in His love.

     Now these experiences may sound wonderful, and they were, far beyond anything I have experienced. However, it was really hard to live and function this way. I was not mature enough, strong enough, or wise enough for it, and the Lord had to take it away. Even so, I now know there is nothing else that we could ever experience greater than the love of God. This is the ultimate quest.

     I also realize that my quest for this love could be selfish, and certainly is, to some degree. Nothing I have ever felt compares with this. However, true love does not simply pursue a feeling, but converts that feeling into doing what is good. I think this experience is to see with God’s eyes and to feel with His heart. The Lord does not only look at us to love us, but also to help us. If faith without works is dead, then love without works is also dead. As Heidi Baker once said, “Love looks like something.”

     Jesus walked in this love, and Scripture says that Jesus went around doing good and destroying the works of the devil. Everyone who is walking in God’s love will walk that way, not so we can be high on love rolling around in a wonderful feeling. It is so we can become like Him and do the works He did.

     I also realize that the reason I have been praying for this love for so long and have only had a couple of foretastes could be because I have more flaws than most, which must be overcome before I can walk in this. It may not take you nearly as long. Even if it takes you longer, it could work out for your good. As deep as evil has gotten its roots into us, that is how deep the Lord can fill us with Himself when the evil has been removed.

     It is also true that we grow gradually in love as we stay on the path of life. In this way, it is probably most effectively converted into practical action. We will discuss this more in weeks to come. If we are true disciples of Christ, then this love for Him, for God, and for one another must always be the primary devotion of our life. A primary job assignment as human beings is to love God and, after that, it is to love one another. This will be the primary thing we will be judged on as to whether we were successful in this life or not.