This is the word that I preached this past Sunday (November 25) here in the church service at the El Shaddai orphanage here in Swaziland. I had a translator translate as I was speaking. God ministered to me through this word and because of my obedience in getting up and sharing it, He answered my prayers and broke me and changed me (but that’s another blog). I believe it blessed some people and I hope you are blessed by it as well.
　
　
Imitators of God
Ephesians 5:1-2
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you have been adopted by God into His family. God is our father. We are His “dearly loved children”. Young children like to copy what there parents do. They want to be like their mommy or daddy when they grow up. So the word of God says to be imitators of God. We should want to be like our Daddy. God gave Himself as a sacrifice for us by Jesus dying on the cross. So we need to sacrifice ourselves as well. We need to surrender all, die to ourselves, and give God full control of our lives. Our prayer should be for God to make us more and more like Him. We need to love like He loves. God shows us His love through Jesus.
　
John 15:9-13
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”.
Jesus laid down His life for us. Sacrificing himself and also rising from the dead so that we could be intimately connected to God the Father. That’s how much Jesus loves us. And that is the love we need to display to others. A sacrificial love.
　
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
“And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing”.
This is how we need to love. With our whole heart. Whatever we do, we must do out of love, or it will mean nothing. Anyone can do kind acts or be very wise or have a strong faith in something. But as children of God we must stand out. We are different. People will know who we are by the way we love.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus says “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”.
　
God also calls us to love our enemies.
Luke 6:32-36
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”.
It is not always easy to love those who hate us, but this is the love our Father has. We were once in darkness, but because of His great love for us, God made us alive in Christ.
　
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, it describes what love is. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”.
Colossians 3:12-14
“Therefore as Gods chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have with one another. Forgive as the Lord forgives you. And over all of these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity”.
This is what we must imitate. God is love. That means we must be love.
I want to be like my Daddy God and I pray you feel the same. And not when I grow up, but now.
　
