THE ENDLESS, ENDURING, PURSUING LOVE OF GOD

DAY 5: THE ENDLESS, ENDURING, PURSUING LOVE OF GOD

JUICY JULY 2026: ZOE UNLEASHED!

TEXT: JEREMIAH 31:3; JOHN 17:23

BIBLE STUDY: MATTHEW 5

 

Welcome to Juicy July 2026, Day 5!

First of all, let me sincerely congratulate you for making it this far. I know some of the things we have been studying over the past few days have been deep. Some have challenged the way we have always thought. Some have answered questions we may never even have thought to ask. Yet, by the grace of God, you are still pressing on. Thank you for refusing to grow weary. Thank you for giving the Holy Spirit room to lay these foundations in your heart.

 

My dear sisters, foundations are extremely important.

 

A building can only rise as high as the strength of its foundation. (ponder on this before going on)

 

Now cry, before going on: 

“Father, I want to go deeper in You! Dig deep in me. Lay foundations that can carry the weight of Your glory. I want the higher life, but I know there is no height without depth. As You dig, help me not to resist Your dealings. Help me not to escape Your process. Help me not to become impatient with Your work in my life.

Father, continue to dig in me until Christ is firmly established in me. Give me the grace to embrace Your pruning, Your discipline, Your breaking and Your shaping. I refuse to rush into heights that my foundation cannot sustain.

Build me according to Your eternal pattern, oh Lord. Make me deep, so that I may stand tall for Your glory. I surrender to Your dealings. I surrender to Your workmanship. Father, do not leave me half-built. Complete Your work in me, until my life becomes a dwelling place worthy of Your Presence. In Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen.”

 

So, sisters, our prayers can only carry as much authority as the revelation upon which they are built!!!

 

That is why we have not rushed this journey. We are not merely trying to teach or learn; we are allowing the Holy Spirit to reshape our understanding so that our faith, our prayers, and ultimately our lives are built upon truth. May the Lord kill the hastes in our hearts in Jesus Name. Amen. 

 

Over the past four days, we have journeyed all the way back to the beginning. We discovered that man was not merely created to exist, but to carry the very Life of God. We saw how Satan violently interrupted that journey because he understood what mankind would become if they ever entered into that Life.

 

We uncovered his strategy of keeping humanity trapped in the flesh, creating strongholds that continually resist the purposes of God.

 

Yesterday, we saw the beauty of God’s indestructible Life: the Life that cannot be conquered by death, sickness, sin, or Satan, and we discovered that God’s intention has never been merely for us to possess Zoe, but for Zoe to possess us, to reign over every area of our lives.

 

But today, we arrive at a very important question.

 

What happened after Eden?

 

When Adam was driven out of the Garden, was that the end of God’s purpose for mankind?

 

Was the way to the Tree of Life permanently shut?

 

Did the Father simply abandon the very people He had created in His own image?

 

Or…

 

Did He already have a plan?

 

My dear sisters, today’s study is one of the most beautiful revelations in all of Scripture because it unveils the heart of our Father. We are going to discover that from the very day man fell, Heaven never stopped pursuing him.

 

The Bible is not merely a record of man’s failures; it is the story of a Father whose love refused to give up on His children.

 

My prayer today is that before this study is over, the Holy Spirit will remove every wrong perception you have ever had about the Father. May you see His heart. May you behold the depth of His love. May you become absolutely persuaded that the God who created you has never stopped pursuing you, and never will.

 

May the Lord open our eyes as we continue this journey together in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

DO NOT LEAVE ME OUTSIDE, LORD by Dynamite Films Africa

AUDIO: 

LYRICS

(Verse)
Father, here I am…
With my Bible open…
With my heart open…
Teach me…
Teach me…
Teach me…
Teach me…

—

(Chorus)
Don’t leave me outside…
Don’t leave me outside…
Bring me in…
Bring me in…
Into understanding…
Into Your heart…
Don’t leave me outside…
Bring me in…

….
(Verse 2)
Speak to me plainly…
Break Your Word open…
Come to my level…
And lift me into Yours…

Don’t speak above me…
Teach me…

Until I understand…
Teach me…

Until I know…
Teach me…

—
(Chorus)
Don’t leave me outside…
Don’t leave me outside…
Bring me in…
Bring me in…
Into understanding…
Into Your heart…
Don’t leave me outside…
Bring me in…
—

(Prayer Cry)
Open my eyes…
Oh dear Lord

Anoint my eyes
with eye salve…
Let me see…

Open my ears…
Remove every wax…

Open my ears…
Remove every wax…

—
(Prayer Cry)
Don’t leave me in parables…
Speak to me plainly…

Don’t leave me in parables…
Speak to me plainly…

Your Word is Life…
Oh, Your Word is Life…

I cannot walk away from Life…
Help me enter in
—

(Bridge)
Give me ears that hear…
Give me eyes that see…

Give me ears that hear…
Give me eyes that see…

Give me a humble heart…
Oh Lord, I pray

…….
Take me deeper…
Take me further…

Reveal Your Heart…
Reveal Your Life…

Reveal Your Ways…
Reveal Your Face…

—
(Final Cry)
I will not stay outside…
I will come in…

I will know You…
I will understand…

I will behold You…
Until Your Life…
Breaks forth in me

Until Your Life…
becomes the life I live

(Chorus)
Don’t leave me outside
Don’t leave me outside
Bring me in
Bring me in
Into understanding
Into Your heart
Don’t leave me outside
Bring me in

 

YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Before You Continue…

One very important note.

We must not make the costly assumption that everyone reading this bulletin has already been born again.

The Zoe we are talking about throughout this month is first received at the new birth. Before we talk about its manifestation, we must first be sure we have received it.

If you have never truly surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, or you are unsure of your salvation, we encourage you to prayerfully read the article here before proceeding.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Father, thank You for bringing me into another day of this glorious journey. Open the eyes of my understanding today. Remove every veil from my heart, and let me see Your truth as You desire me to see it. Let Your Word become life to me, not just knowledge. Teach me by Your Holy Spirit, and let the life of Christ become more real to me than ever before. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

EXHORTATION: THE ENDLESS, ENDURING, PURSUING LOVE OF GOD

Jeremiah 31:3 (KJV)

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

 

John 17:23

I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 

 

Love Revealed: Seeing the Father’s Heart

My dear sisters, before we go any further today, there is something I believe the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish in our hearts. The Lord wants us to know the Father!

 

You see, many believers know about God, but very few truly know His heart. Many people relate with Him from a place of fear instead of love. Some see Him as a harsh Judge, always looking for an opportunity to punish them. Others see Him as distant, difficult to please, or impossible to approach. Sometimes this comes from the kind of earthly fathers we had. Sometimes it comes from religion. Sometimes it comes from the wrong picture that has been painted before us.

 

But my dear sisters, I want you to know this today:

 

God is love!

 

Not that God loves.

 

He is Love.

 

The Bible says,

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

 

And again,

“…God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)

 

Think about our benediction for a moment.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

 

Notice how the Scriptures describe the Father.

 

The love of God.

 

That is how He introduces Himself to us.

 

My dear sisters, your Father loves you so much.

 

I don’t think we have even begun to understand the magnitude of that love.

 

Everything we call love in this world is only a faint shadow of His love. Gather together every genuine expression of love that has ever existed on this earth. Put them all together, multiply them beyond measure, and they would still not amount to a drop beside the endless ocean of the Father’s love.

 

His love is immeasurable.

 

His love is inexhaustible.

 

His love is beyond human explanation.

 

And have you also ever stopped to consider something that has always amazed me?

 

When Lucifer rebelled against God, and when the angels who followed him fell from their glorious estate, there was no plan of redemption for them. God did not pursue them.

 

Why?

 

Because they were not deceived!

 

They sinned in the full light of God’s glory!

 

They had lived in His immediate presence. They had beheld His majesty. They knew exactly who He was. There was no veil. There was no ignorance. There was no deception. Yet, with full knowledge, they deliberately chose rebellion.

 

But mankind’s story was different.

 

The Scriptures tell us that Eve was deceived (1 Timothy 2:14). Adam sinned knowingly, yet together they represented a race that had only just begun. They had not stood in the eternal glory that the angels had known.

 

They had only been drawn away through the serpent’s deception, and in His infinite mercy, God began revealing the salvation He had already prepared for mankind.

 

This was not because man deserved redemption more than the angels.

 

It was because the Father had already purposed something extraordinary for mankind.

 

Man was created in His image.

 

Man was created for sonship.

 

Man was created to become His dwelling place.

 

Man was created to carry His very Life.

 

And the Father was not willing to surrender that purpose.

 

That is why Hebrews tells us,

“For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants.” (Hebrews 2:16, NIV)

 

Or as the King James Version beautifully says,

“For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”

 

God did not become an angel to redeem angels.

 

He became a Man…to redeem mankind.

 

Why?

 

What kind of a love is this?

 

Sometimes I watch documentaries about space. As the camera continues to move farther and farther away from the earth, this entire planet becomes almost invisible. It is not even up to a tiny dot.

 

Yet on that tiny dot live billions of people.

 

If, hypothetically, one billion people were to die in a single day, the earth would not stop spinning. It would not fall out of its orbit. The sun would still rise. The planets would continue in their courses. The universe would carry on as though nothing had happened.

 

And yet…

 

The God who created this immeasurable universe knows every one of us by name. He knows the number of hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30). He knows when you sit down and when you rise up (Psalm 139:2). He knows your thoughts from afar. He knows your tears. He knows your fears. He knows your story.

 

Then I remember the words of David:

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4)

 

The writer of Hebrews repeats these same words (Hebrews 2:6–9), almost as though Heaven itself was still marvelling at the Father’s affection for mankind.

 

What is man?

 

Who are we, that the Creator of the universe should pursue us with such determination?

 

Dust!

 

We were formed from the dust of the earth.

 

Yet He has set His love upon us.

 

My dear sisters, perhaps the greatest prayer you can pray today is not for a breakthrough, not for provision, not even for healing.

 

It is simply this:

“Father, reveal Yourself to me.”

 

Jesus said,

“No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27)

 

You cannot truly know the Father unless the Son opens your eyes. The revelation of the Father cannot be learned from books alone. It is not merely a theological concept. It is an unveiling by the Holy Spirit.

 

I remember trying for years to understand many of these things. I asked questions. I read books. I listened to teachings. Yet the explanations never fully settled in my heart. Then one day, the Holy Spirit Himself began to teach me. Suddenly, what had been confusing became beautifully clear.

 

That is exactly what Jesus promised.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost… he shall teach you all things…” (John 14:26)

 

So before we continue today’s study, I want us to pause.

 

Lift your heart to the Father and sincerely pray:

“Father, remove every scale from my eyes. Remove every wrong picture I have ever had of You by Your mercy. Lord Jesus, reveal the Father to me. Let me know Him as He truly is. Help me to see the immeasurable depth of His love.”

 

I believe that if the Father reveals Himself to you today, every prayer you pray afterwards will carry a different confidence.

 

Every act of obedience will come from a place of love rather than fear.

 

Every battle you fight will be strengthened by the assurance that you are deeply loved by your Father.

 

With that prayer in our hearts, let us pause and worship Him with our song “Who Am I, Father?”

 

As you sing, don’t just sing the words. Pray them. Allow the Holy Spirit to unveil the Father’s heart to you. I pray that before today’s study comes to an end, you will never see the Father the same way again in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

Who Am I, Father? by Dynamite Films Africa

AUDIO: 

LYRICS

(Verse 1)

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

That You would know my name.

That You would hear my cry.

You loved me before the beginning.

You knew me before time began.

You chose me though You knew the cost.

What manner of love is this?

—

(Chorus)

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

What manner of love is this?

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

That You should call me Your own.

—

You knew the cost.

You knew the cross.

You knew the price

Love would have to pay.

Yet You chose me.

Yet You wanted me.

What manner of love is this?

—

(Verse 2)

Who am I

That mercy should bring me here?

Who am I

That the blood should speak for me?

You opened the way before me.

You brought me to Your heart.

What manner of love is this?

—

(Chorus)

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

What manner of love is this?

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

That You should call me Your own.

—

(Verse 3)

Not my service.

Not my songs.

Not my sacrifice.

You wanted me.

Before the ministry.

Before the assignment.

Before the works of my hands.

You wanted me.

—

(Chorus)

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

What manner of love is this?

Who am I, Father?

Who am I?

That You should call me Your own.

—

(Bridge)

You saw Calvary.

You saw Calvary.

Before You called my name.

You saw Calvary.

You saw Calvary.

Yet You called me anyway.

—

You knew the pain.

You knew the shame.

You knew the wounds

Love would have to bear.

You knew the cost.

Of bringing me this near.

Yet You chose me.

Yet You wanted me.

—

(Worship Flow)

Father…

Father…

I cannot understand it.

Father…

Father…

I cannot comprehend.

That You would bring me near.

That You would call me son.

That I should stand before Your face

And not be consumed.

—

(Final Response)

Take all of me.

Take all of me.

The heart You won,

The life You bought,

Take all of me.

—

Have all of me.

Have all of me.

For all I am,

And all I’ll ever be,

Belongs to You.

 

Love Came Looking: The Pursuit Began in Eden

Now, with the Father’s love established in our hearts, let us return to the Garden of Eden.

 

The moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God, everything changed. The glory that clothed them departed. The fellowship they had enjoyed with God was broken. Sin entered. Death entered. Fear entered. Shame entered. The entire course of human history changed in one tragic moment.

 

But I want you to notice something very important.

 

What did Adam do immediately after he sinned? He ran. He hid.

 

The Bible says,

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

 

Isn’t that still the nature of man today? Whenever man sins, his natural instinct is not to run towards God. It is to run away from Him. Sin always drives people into hiding. It makes them withdraw from prayer. It makes them avoid the Scriptures. It makes them stay away from God’s presence. It whispers, “God doesn’t want to see you anymore.”

 

But that is the greatest lie Satan has ever told.

 

Because while Adam was hiding…God was looking.

 

The very next verse says,

“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9)

 

What a question! Do you think God did not know where Adam was? Of course He did. The question was never about Adam’s location. It was about Adam’s condition.

 

“Adam… where are you?”

 

“How did you get here?”

 

“What has happened to you?”

 

“My son… where have you gone?”

 

Can you hear the Father’s heart?

 

This was not the cry of an angry Judge looking for someone to punish.

 

This was the cry of a loving Father searching for His lost son.

 

In fact, Luke’s genealogy calls Adam “the son of God” (Luke 3:38).

 

God was looking for His son. He had not stopped loving him. He had not abandoned him. He had not replaced him. He came looking.

 

My dear sisters, this is the Gospel. The Gospel is not primarily the story of man searching for God. It is the story of God searching for man!

 

Long before you ever thought about seeking Him…He was already seeking you.

 

Long before you ever prayed your first prayer…He had already begun making a way back to Himself.

 

Long before you ever loved Him… He first loved you.

 

The Apostle John writes,

“We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

 

And Jesus Himself declared,

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

 

Notice the order.

 

He came to seek…before He came to save.

 

The pursuit began in Eden.

 

From the very day Adam fell, the eternal purpose of Heaven began to unfold:

 

to bring man back to the Life he had lost!

 

Love Made the First Sacrifice: The First Blood

As Adam stood before the Lord that day, something had happened to him.

 

When God asked, “Where art thou?” Adam answered,

“I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)

 

That statement has always fascinated me.

 

Adam did not say, “I was ashamed because I was naked.”

 

He said,

 

“I was afraid.”

 

Why?

 

Because this was no longer ordinary nakedness.

 

Adam had lost something far greater than clothing. He had lost the glory. The glory that had been his clothing!

 

He had lost that glorious covering that enabled him to freely walk with God, enjoy His Presence, and fellowship with Him without fear. The intimacy that once came so naturally had been interrupted. Now, instead of running towards God, he was running away from Him.

 

My dear sisters, this is exactly what sin does. Sin builds a wall.

 

The prophet Isaiah said,

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you…” (Isaiah 59:2)

 

Just one verse before, the Lord had declared,

“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” (Isaiah 59:1)

 

Do you see that?

 

God was not unwilling to save. His hands had not become weak. His ears had not become deaf.  The problem was sin.

 

God is perfectly holy. There is no darkness in Him. There is no trace of evil in Him. His holiness cannot fellowship with sin.

 

If you ever want to understand just how holy God is, look at the Cross.

 

From before the beginning, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit had existed in perfect, unbroken fellowship. Never once had there been separation within the Godhead. They were eternally one.

 

Then came Calvary.

 

As the sins of the whole world were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, something happened that had never happened before.

 

Jesus cried out,

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 

And see, throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus continually spoke of “My Father” or simply “the Father.”

 

But here, bearing the sins of the world, He cried,

“My God…”

 

For the first time, the fellowship He had eternally enjoyed with the Father was interrupted because He was carrying our sin.

 

Many people think Jesus feared the nails. Some think He feared death. But Jesus had already told His disciples repeatedly that He had come to die (Matthew 16:21; John 10:17–18). He never shrank back from that assignment.

 

The deepest agony of Gethsemane was not the physical Cross. It was the thought of experiencing that separation.

 

For the first time in eternity, the Son would taste what humanity had chosen in Eden!

 

Anywhere God is absent…there is hell.

 

Jesus entered that loneliness for us.

 

My dear sisters, if the holy Son of God experienced such anguish because of a temporary separation from the Father, what does that tell us about the holiness of God?

 

It tells us that sin is no small matter! That even the Godhead could experience it! Oh my!

 

Yet it also tells us something else.

 

The Father’s love was so great that He was already determined to bridge that separation.

 

That determination first appeared in Eden.

 

The Bible tells us,

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21)

 

Pause there.

 

Where did those skins come from?

 

Animals do not remove their skins and continue living.

 

Something died.

 

Blood was shed.

 

We are not told how many animals.

 

We are not told which animals.

 

The Scriptures simply tell us that before Adam and Eve left the Garden, God Himself provided another covering.

 

His own provision.

 

Why?

 

Why was blood necessary?

 

Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remssion of sins.

 

LOVE CLOSED THE GARDEN

Now, after clothing Adam and Eve, the Lord did something that many people have misunderstood for years.

 

He drove them out of the Garden of Eden.

 

At first glance, it almost looks as though God had become angry with them. It almost appears as though He wanted them out of His sight. Many people have read this passage with that impression, but when you read it carefully, you discover that the exact opposite is true.

 

Listen carefully to the Lord’s words:

“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden…” (Genesis 3:22–23)

 

Do you see that?

 

The Lord was not acting out of anger. He was acting out of mercy.

 

There was something about the Tree of Life that Adam, in his fallen condition, must never touch.

 

If man, now separated from God, had stretched out his hand and eaten from the Tree of Life, he would have become eternally fixed in that fallen state. Just as there is no redemption for the fallen angels, there would have been no hope for mankind. He would have been forever imprisoned in death.

 

So what looked like rejection…was actually protection.

 

What looked like judgment…was actually mercy.

 

The Father was saying, in essence, “Not like this. I will not allow My children to be lost forever. I already have redemption in My heart.”

 

What a Father!

 

Can you see His love?

 

Even while pronouncing the consequences of sin, He was already thinking about restoration.

 

Even while sending Adam out of the Garden, He was preserving his future.

 

The Bible then says,

“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.“ (Genesis 3:24)

 

Note that emboldened line as it is very important. 

 

The cherubim were not placed there to destroy the Tree of Life.

 

The Tree remained exactly where it had always been. God did not uproot it. He did not replace it. He did not change His mind concerning His original purpose. The Tree was still there. The destination had not changed. Only the access had been interrupted!

 

Ayaaaa! God’s purpose for Eden was never cancelled, it was only postponed. Satan interrupted the journey, but he cannot terminate God’s purpose.

 

The way was closed….but only for a time.

 

The Father already knew that one day, somehow, He would open that way again.

 

One day, mankind would once again have access to Life.

 

One day, the journey back to Eden would begin.

 

Love’s Pursuit Continues

Now, if you continue reading your Bible after Genesis, you will notice that it is the story of God’s relentless pursuit. God simply refused to give up.

 

Sin, however, was not slowing down. It was multiplying. The corruption that had entered through Adam began to spread into every aspect of creation. Violence filled the earth. Wickedness multiplied. Man’s imagination became continually evil.

 

The Bible says,

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

 

Can you imagine that?

 

This was the creature God had made in His own image. The very one He had intended to carry His Life had now become a carrier of corruption. Sin is terrible.

 

Sometimes we read the story so casually that we fail to see its devastating consequences. Sin did not only affect man. It affected the entire creation. Animals that were never created to be violent became violent. The ground itself was cursed. Thorns and thistles appeared. Disease, decay, suffering and death entered the world. The whole creation was thrown into bondage.

 

That is why Paul later wrote,

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Romans 8:22)

 

Creation itself is waiting. Waiting for restoration. Waiting for the sons of God to be manifested. Waiting for Eden to return.

 

But although mankind continued to rebel, He continued to pursue.

 

He found Enoch. In an entire generation that had almost forgotten Him, one man chose to walk with God.

 

The Bible simply says,

“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24)

 

What a testimony!

 

The Father then found Noah.

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:8)

 

Can you see the pattern?

 

Generation after generation, the Father kept looking for someone through whom His purpose could continue.

 

Then God found Noah and decided to start afresh with him. 

 

He sent the flood to ‘reset’ the earth. The waters washed the earth, but they could not wash away sin. Noah and his family stepped out of the ark carrying the same fallen nature that Adam had passed down.

 

The flood cleansed the earth..but it could not cleanse the human heart. So the pursuit continued.

 

Then, one day, the Father found another man. Abraham.

 

What a remarkable man! There was no Bible. There was no church. There was no pastor. There was no nation called Israel. Yet when God spoke, Abraham believed and obeyed Him.

 

“Leave your country.”

He left.

 

“Look toward heaven and count the stars.”

He believed.

 

“Offer your son.”

He obeyed.

 

What kind of man is this?

 

At last, God had found a man who loved Him enough to trust Him completely! So He made him a promise:

“…in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

 

See that?

 

The blessing was never intended for Abraham alone. The Father was still thinking about the whole world! He was still pursuing mankind. He was still unfolding His great plan of redemption.

 

From Abraham came Isaac. From Isaac came Jacob. From Jacob came Israel.

 

And through that chosen people, God continued writing the greatest love story the world has ever known.

 

“LET THEM MAKE ME A SANCTUARY…”

The descendants of Abraham had become a great nation, just as God had promised. Yet they found themselves in bondage in Egypt for over four hundred years. But even there, the Father had not forgotten them.

 

He raised up Moses, brought them out with a mighty hand, divided the Red Sea before them, fed them with manna from heaven, and led them by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

 

Everything God was doing had one purpose: He wanted His people back. In holiness.

 

When they finally arrived in the wilderness, the Lord made a request that reveals the deepest longing of His heart.

 

“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)

 

Please stop there for a moment.

 

He did not say, “Let them make Me a sanctuary so they can perform sacrifices.”

 

He did not say, “Let them make Me a sanctuary so they can establish a religion.”

 

He did not even say, “Let them make Me a sanctuary so they can have somewhere to worship.”

 

His desire was much deeper than that.

“…that I may dwell among them.”

 

Can you hear Eden speaking again?

 

From the very beginning, God had desired to dwell with man, sis!

 

In Eden, He walked with Adam in the cool of the day. After the Fall, that fellowship was interrupted, but His desire never changed. Generation after generation, century after century, the Father’s heart continued to cry the same thing:

 

“I want to be with My people.”

 

But there was still a problem.

 

Sin!

 

God is perfectly holy. His Presence could not freely dwell among a sinful people without a provision being made. So although He came down in His glory, access to Him was still restricted.

 

There was an outer court.

 

There was a holy place.

 

There was a Most Holy Place.

 

There were priests.

 

There were sacrifices.

 

There was a veil.

 

Everything in the tabernacle preached one message:

“God is here… but the way is still not open.”

 

Then came one of the saddest moments in Israel’s history.

 

At Mount Sinai, the mountain trembled. Fire descended. Thunder rolled. The voice of God shook the earth. The people witnessed the majesty of the God who had just delivered them from Egypt.

 

Yet instead of drawing near, they drew back.

 

They said to Moses,

“Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19)

 

How heartbreaking!

 

The Father wanted intimacy. The people wanted a representative.

 

The Father wanted relationship. The people wanted a mediator to stand between them and God.

 

“Moses, you go. You hear from God. You tell us what He said. We don’t want to come near.“

 

My dear sisters, has much really changed today? How many believers are still living exactly like that? They want their pastor to hear from God for them. They want their mentor to pray for them. They want a prophet to tell them God’s will. They want someone else to enjoy intimacy with God while they remain at a comfortable distance.

 

But that has never been the Father’s desire!

 

His desire has always been personal fellowship.

 

He wants you to know Him.

He wants you to hear His voice.

He wants you to walk with Him.

 

The tabernacle was never God’s final destination. It was only a picture. A shadow. A promise that one day something far greater was coming.

 

The Father was still pursuing His people.

 

And soon, He would do something that no human mind could ever have imagined.

 

Then God Came Down!

By this point, my dear sisters, the Father had pursued mankind for thousands of years.

 

He pursued Adam in Eden. He pursued the generations before the flood. He pursued Noah. He pursued Abraham. He pursued Israel. He pursued them through judges, kings and prophets. He pursued them through the tabernacle and the sacrifices.

 

Yet something was still missing.

 

The problem of sin had still not been dealt with once and for all.

 

The way back to Life was still shut.

 

Then, at the fullness of time, something happened that no one could ever have imagined.

 

But before we go there, I want to briefly explain something that is very important. If we do not understand this, we may not fully appreciate the depth of what happened.

 

The Beauty and the Mystery of the Holy Trinity

There is only one God. Not three gods. One God.

 

Yet within the Godhead are three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son (the Word), and God the Holy Spirit.

 

They are distinct, yet they are one.

 

But sis, this is not just a doctrine for you to memorize o. It must break open to you as a revelation!

 

In fact, if you do not understand the Trinity, it becomes difficult to relate deeply with God. The Godhead is a profound mystery, and no amount of intellectual effort can fully explain it. It is something the Holy Spirit must unveil to your heart.

 

I remember trying for many years to understand it. I asked questions in church. I read books. I listened to different explanations. Yet none of them truly settled the matter in my heart. Then one day, the Holy Spirit Himself began to teach me. Suddenly, everything became clear. That is exactly what Jesus promised.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13)

 

So do not struggle to understand these things merely with your mind. Pray for revelation. God delights in revealing Himself!

 

Now, throughout the Old Testament, it was primarily God the Father who was relating with mankind. He was the One making covenants. He was the One calling Abraham. He was the One speaking through Moses. He was the One sending the prophets. Through all those centuries, the Father was expressing His heart and pursuing the people He loved.

 

Then, when the fullness of time had come, the Godhead did something astonishing.

 

The eternal plan that had been hidden from before the foundation of the world began to unfold in history.

 

The Father sent the Word into the world. The Word had always been with the Father and had always been God (John 1:1–2). But at the appointed time, the eternal Word took upon Himself human flesh.

 

The Scriptures say,

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” (Galatians 4:4)

 

The Son was “made of a woman.” This was the Incarnation. This referes to the process by which the eternal Word became flesh, entered our world as the Son, and walked among us to reveal the Father and accomplish the redemption that had been prepared before the foundation of the world.

 

The Word clothed Himself with humanity. The One who had always existed with the Father entered time, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and received the name Jesus.

 

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14)

 

What an incredible humility and love!

 

The God before whom angels covered their faces…The God whose glory filled heaven…

 

Now lay in a manger.

 

He walked our dusty roads.

 

He sat at our tables.

 

He touched lepers.

 

He wept with the broken.

 

He fed the hungry.

 

He embraced little children.

 

God had not stopped pursuing mankind. He came Himself, because love would not give up.

 

Love Came to Live Within

After the Lord Jesus had accomplished everything the Father sent Him to do, He returned to the Father. But the story of redemption did not end there. In fact, it was only entering another glorious chapter.

 

Before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples something that must have sounded very strange to them.

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you…” (John 16:7)

 

How could it possibly be better for Jesus to leave?

 

Because the Father’s plan had always been greater than simply having God among His people. His utmost desire was to have God within His people!

 

So the disciples waited, just as Jesus had commanded them. About five hundred people witnessed His ascension (1 Corinthians 15:6), but when it came time to wait in the upper room, only about one hundred and twenty remained.

 

They prayed. They waited. They tarried. Then suddenly…

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come… they were all filled with the Holy Ghost…” (Acts 2:1–4)

 

The Holy Spirit came.

 

For the first time since Eden, God was no longer dwelling in a building made with hands. He was making His home within men and women!

 

What an incredible privilege!

 

But my dear sisters, here is the painful question:

 

Have we really received Him?

Yes, many of us have received the baptism.

 

Yes, many of us profess faith in Christ.

 

But have we truly received His government?

 

Sadly, we often treat the Holy Spirit exactly as humanity treated the Father and the Son.

 

The Father spoke……and man rejected Him.

 

The Son came…and man did not just reject Him….they crucified Him!

 

Now the Holy Spirit speaks…and how often do we reject Him?

 

He says, “Forgive.”

We refuse.

 

He says, “Apologize.”

We harden our hearts.

 

He says, “Do not marry that person.”

We insist on our own way.

 

He says, “Turn away from that habit.”

We negotiate.

 

He says, “Spend time with Me.”

We choose distraction.

 

He says, “Obey Me.”

We delay.

 

Do you see it?

 

The Holy Spirit has not merely come to comfort us. He has come to establish the Kingdom of God within us. He has come to form Christ in us. He has come to produce the very Life we have been studying these past few days.

 

But every prompting we ignore…Every conviction we silence…Every instruction we resist…delays the work He longs to accomplish in us!

 

Yet, in spite of all this…He remains patient. He continues to teach. He continues to convict. He continues to draw us.

 

What incredible love!

 

How Shall We Escape Such Love?

My dear sisters, as we come to the end of today’s study, I want us to pause for a moment and simply look back. Look at the journey.

 

The Father pursued Adam in the Garden. He clothed him. He protected him from eternal destruction. He pursued mankind through Noah. He pursued through Abraham. He pursued through Isaac and Jacob. He pursued through Moses. He pursued through the prophets. He gave them the tabernacle because He wanted to dwell among them. When they rejected Him, He did not stop.

 

Then came the Word! Oh this one must also come to you as a revelation and you’d forever love the Lord Jesus! My my!

 

He did not merely come to visit us. He came to become one of us. He emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6–8). The eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He stepped into our humanity so that we might one day share in His glory. He became our Elder Brother. The Firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). He came to make us sons. He came to bring many sons unto glory (Hebrews 2:10). He came to reveal the Father. He came to show us what a son looks like. He lived the life that Adam should have lived. He walked in complete dependence upon the Father. He obeyed perfectly. He loved perfectly. He forgave perfectly. He overcame perfectly. He became the perfect pattern for every son who would come after Him. He did not simply preach the life. He lived it before us. He became the Example. So that we who follow Him would know exactly how sons live.

 

He humbled Himself. He allowed Himself to be misunderstood. He allowed Himself to be rejected. He allowed Himself to be mocked. He allowed Himself to be spat upon. He allowed Himself to be struck. He allowed Himself to be scourged. He allowed a crown of thorns to be pressed into His head. He stretched out His hands for nails. He poured out every drop of His precious blood. He emptied Himself completely. He tasted death for every one of us (Hebrews 2:9). He entered our judgment so that we could enter His righteousness. He entered our death so that we could receive His Life. He opened the way for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell within us. He did all this so that Christ could be formed in us. So that we could become conformed to His image. So that one day we would share His inheritance. Share His glory. Share His Kingdom. Share His throne.

 

For He promised,

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne…” (Revelation 3:21)

 

What manner of love is this?

 

What kind of Elder Brother gives away His own inheritance to make room for His brothers and sisters?

 

What kind of King dies so that rebels might reign with Him?

 

Yet…

 

Even after all this…

 

They rejected Him.

 

They crucified Him.

 

They nailed Love to a cross.

 

But even then…

 

His love did not stop!

 

The Holy Spirit came to dwell within us! I mean, inside of us! 

 

Tell me, my dear sisters…

 

What more could God have done?

 

This is why the Apostle Paul prayed one of the most astonishing prayers in the Scriptures.

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith… that ye… may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge…” (Ephesians 3:17–19)

 

Did you notice that? Paul himself admitted that this love passes knowledge. It cannot merely be studied. It must be revealed!

 

The more you know God, the more you discover that His love has no end. Just when you think you have understood it, He reveals another dimension. It is like an endless ocean. Many of us are standing on the shore. Some have only dipped their feet into it. Some have taken a few steps. But very few have allowed themselves to be completely carried away by the current of the love of God.

 

My dear sisters, we were created to explore God the way astronauts explore space! Every day should be another discovery. Another revelation. Another unveiling of His beauty. Another encounter with His heart. That is eternal life.

 

Jesus said,

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)

 

Not merely know about Him. Know Him. Walk with Him. Love Him. Become like Him. And one day, all of Heaven will bear witness that the Father was just!!!

 

The Scriptures say,

“That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7)

 

One day, when we stand before Him, we will finally see how patiently He pursued every single one of us.

 

We will remember every warning we ignored. Every invitation He gave. Every time He called us back. Every act of mercy. Every undeserved kindness. Every opportunity to repent. Every moment His Spirit pleaded with us.

 

Then we shall truly understand how immeasurable His love has always been! He will be justified! He will! Ayaaaa

 

My dear sisters, if there is one thing I want you to leave with today, it is this:

 

Your Father loves you. He has always loved you. He has never stopped loving you. From Eden until this very moment, Heaven has been pursuing you.

 

Prayer

Father, thank You for loving me with an everlasting love. Thank You for never giving up on me, even when I wandered away from You. Open my eyes to know You as You truly are, and let Your love cast out every fear, every lie, and every wrong perception I have carried about You. Draw me closer to Your heart, and prepare me to behold the glorious New and Living Way You have made for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

SONG FOR TODAY

Before we pray, let us first lift our voices in faith and confidence. No matter what the enemy may try, he has never been able to frustrate God’s ultimate purpose. As we sing, let your heart be strengthened and your faith stirred, so that when we come before the Lord in prayer, we do so from a place of authority, confidence, and full assurance in Christ.

 

THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE FATHER by Dave Hunt

 AUDIO ON YOUTUBE MUSIC

 

 

 

TAKE CHARGE

• Father, in the mighty Name of Jesus, I present myself before You today. I sanctify my spirit, my soul, my body, my home, and this entire atmosphere unto You. Let every part of me and every space around me come under the government of the Holy Spirit.
• By the precious blood of Jesus, I declare that this atmosphere belongs to the Kingdom of God. I establish the Lordship of Jesus Christ over this place. Let every power, every influence, every imagination, every distraction, and every operation of darkness be silenced and brought into absolute submission to the authority of Christ.
• I declare that I am a vessel of the living God. My spirit is open to Heaven alone. My ears are open to hear. My eyes are open to see. My heart is soft and ready to receive. Every veil over my understanding is removed in the Name of Jesus. Every resistance to the working of the Holy Spirit is broken.
• Father, breathe upon me afresh. Let Your Zoe arise within me. Let every dead place receive Your life. Let every weary place receive Your strength. Let every dark place be flooded with Your light. Let everything in me that is not of Christ bow before the power of Your indestructible life.
• I command every strange spirit, every demonic presence, every satanic interference, every spirit of heaviness, confusion, fear, distraction, slumber, deception, oppression, and resistance to the Word of God to leave this atmosphere now, in the mighty Name of Jesus. You have no place here. Jesus Christ is Lord over this home, this room, this meeting, and my life.
• I release the rivers of living water from within my spirit to flow freely throughout this atmosphere. Let the presence of God fill this place. Let the ministry of angels prevail. Let the voice of the Holy Spirit be loud and clear. Let Heaven invade this atmosphere.
• Today, I take my place as a son of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit, and a carrier of the life of God. I refuse every distraction. I refuse every condemnation. I refuse every limitation. My heart is fixed on Christ, and I receive all that the Father has prepared for me today.
• Father, take absolute charge. Glorify Your Son. Let Your Kingdom come. Let Your will be done in me and through me. Let Zoe be unleashed afresh in every part of my life. In the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

 

 

START PRAYING

Cry out from your heart:

 

• Father, I thank You because before I ever knew You, You knew me. Before I ever sought You, You were already pursuing me. Thank You because my salvation was never an accident. Thank You because before the foundation of the world, You had already prepared redemption for me in Christ. Thank You for Your endless, enduring, pursuing love. Thank You because You never abandoned me, even when I wandered away from You. Thank You because Your mercy kept looking for me. Blessed be Your Holy Name forever.

 

• Father, don’t let me merely read about Your love. Let me experience it. Baptize my heart into the depths of Your love, oh Lord. (Dwell here for a while)

 

• My spirit, hear the Word of the Lord! Come alive to the love of your Father! Wake up from every slumber! Every veil upon my heart, tear now! Every wrong picture I have carried about God, catch fire! I decree that my spirit shall no longer be dull to the Father’s affection. I receive eyes that see, ears that hear, and a heart that understands. Holy Spirit, awaken my inner man until I become deeply conscious of how loved I truly am.

 

• Father, every wound that has made it difficult for me to trust You, heal it today. Every disappointment that has caused me to question Your goodness, heal it. Every rejection that has distorted my view of You, heal it. Every lie planted by the enemy that says You have forgotten me or abandoned me, uproot it completely. Let Your perfect love cast out every fear. Teach my heart to rest in Your love again. Lord, I surrender, have Your way in me. 

 

• Father, if You must dig, then dig deeply. Don’t leave anything in me anything that cannot enter eternity. Don’t let me escape Your dealings because they are painful. Break what must be broken. Uproot what must be uprooted. Expose what must be exposed in the mighty Name of Jesus.

 

• Father, You have always desired to dwell in man. Let that desire be fulfilled in me. Let my heart become Your sanctuary. Come and inhabit me. Father, dwell within me by the Holy Spirit. Come afresh in me in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

 

• In the Name of Jesus, I reject every orphan mentality. I refuse to live as though I have no Father. I refuse to struggle for significance, fight for acceptance or compete for affection. I belong to the Father! I am deeply loved! I am accepted in the Beloved! My confidence shall come from His love and not from people’s opinions

 

• Father, I refuse to stand afar off like Israel at Mount Sinai. I refuse to know You only through another person’s experience. Draw me into personal fellowship. Teach me to hear Your voice. Let me know Your ways and not merely Your acts. Make me a woman who walks with You like Enoch, trusts You like Abraham, and delights in Your Presence above everything else.

 

• Father, conform me to the image of Your Son. Let the humility of Christ become my humility. Let the obedience of Christ become my obedience. Let the compassion of Christ become my compassion. Let His purity, His holiness, His meekness, His courage and His complete surrender to Your will become my own life. May Christ be fully formed in me.

 

• Holy Spirit, forgive me for every time I resisted You. Every prompting I ignored, every conviction I silenced, every instruction I delayed, have mercy upon me. From today, I choose complete surrender. Rule over my thoughts, my words, my desires, my relationships, my home, my work and my future. Establish the Kingdom of Heaven in every area of my life.

 

• Father, let today’s revelation mark me forever. Don’t allow me to return to ordinary Christianity. Let me never recover from the revelation of Your love. Let it affect my prayer life, my worship, my marriage, my parenting, my ministry, my relationships and every decision I make. Let the consciousness of being loved by You become the atmosphere in which I live every day of my life.

 

• Father, let not all that You have done for me be in vain. Let not the Cross be wasted in my life. Let not the blood be wasted on me. Let not the Holy Spirit be grieved because of my stubbornness. Let not Your pursuit of me end in disappointment. Complete Your eternal purpose in my life until I become everything You ordained me to be before the foundation of the world in the mighty Name of Jesus. 

 

• Father, I am Yours. Pursue me until every part of me belongs to You. Love me until every resistance melts away. Deal with me until Christ alone remains. Empty me of myself and fill me completely with Your Life. Let my life become a testimony of the immeasurable riches of Your grace, the inexhaustible depths of Your love, and the surpassing greatness of Your mercy.

 

• I will not stop until I know You. I will not stop until I love You as You deserve. I will not stop until Christ is fully formed in me. So help me God, in the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

 

Round off with thanksgiving when you are done. 

And then continue below. 

 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT

Don’t forget! Our Juicy July Bible Study holds tonight at 9PM (WAT) on Google Meet (Ladies only). Please ensure you are studying the Scriptures as you fast and pray. God bless us all. 

Text for today: Matthew 5

See you there, dear daughter of my Father!

 

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