Teachings of John Robert Stevens

The first thing to do is to accept love. We read in I John 4:16, …we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. Unless you believe that you are loved, the whole process falls apart. When someone loves you, accept it. God loves you; accept that love. Believe in it. You cannot love without faith. You must have faith in the love that comes to you, even if it comes through an imperfect channel—which it always does except when it comes from God. But does God’s love flow directly to you? Not as much as you might think. Probably you never felt much flow to you until you came into the house of God. It was through worship and prayers and the manifestation of love in other people that you finally received it. When God invites you to accept His love, you may wonder where that love is. You may have tried to tune in to that love and wondered what kilocycles to dial in order to find it. You will not find it that way, but look at your brother’s heart and you will find the love of God reaching to you. Listen to the word, listen to your pastor, listen to the elders; accept the ministry. He has a thousand ways of manifesting love, and they are all through imperfect channels. So you have to accept people’s love. “But they said the most unlovely thing to me.” Look a little deeper and see if you can find the love they really had for you.

The second point is to let yourself be needed. I am applying this on a spiritual plane. If you want the love of God to be in your heart, then let yourself be needed. The first thing the Lord did was open the door for us to have an important place and a ministry. He tells us, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you; I have commissioned you and sent you forth. I am making you needed” (John 15:16).

“Thank You, Lord. You could have done all of this without me.”

“Yes, but I want you to be needed, and I want you to know that you are.”

That is an amazing thing which involves love even on the human level. When you love someone and you believe he loves you, let yourself be needed. Do not stand off nor withdraw; let yourself be needed. Some people run when told they are needed, because they do not know how to love. They get the idea that love is a strange trap which ties them down, which is true. Then they run from it. “Oh, I don’t want that! I want to get out of this situation. I don’t want anyone to need me.” You are supposed to be needed.

Number three is to need others. Do not withdraw from recognizing your own need. It can be tragic when you are not able to convey to someone that you have a need. There are a thousand ways for it to be expressed. Husbands and wives may have a sexual need of each other, but I think it is far less than other needs: the need they have for communication, for a oneness, a closeness together. In fact, to need another person and to face your need of it is a mark of maturity in love. It is not a mark of dependency and helplessness and immaturity. True maturity is not dependence nor is it independence; true maturity is interdependence.

A man may feel he can get along in life without a certain woman and the woman may feel she does not need him, that she can get along without him. Nevertheless, they fall in love and open their hearts to each other. They accept the love, letting themselves be needed by the other, opening their hearts to need one another. We can apply this to the spiritual realm. Do not be afraid to come and accept the love of the Body. In so many churches I have seen people slip into the back row fifteen minutes late and run out before the benediction, not wanting to get involved. They listen to the sermons; they even enjoy the sermons, but they do not want to be involved.

A person is foolish to think he can walk with God without becoming involved. You cannot even love God unless you love the brothers, so you must get involved. What gives people the idea they can sneak in, get their daily rations, and take off? You cannot do that. The church is a big family. Come in and be prepared to accept and to give love. Determine to be needed and to recognize your need for the others in the Body of Christ. Then you have love.

Point four: Believe in love that is given you. You have to have faith in love. I have seen many things frustrated because that was lacking. It is like putting up an insulation against the flow of current, then wondering why there is not the tingle you receive in love. You may not feel a thing. You may not be getting anything out of the service; nothing may be coming through to you. You are the one who is insulating it. You are the one stopping it. Love is flowing for a lot of people, but you stop it by your own emotions, your unbelief, your withdrawal. You are saying in effect, “I don’t believe in this love that is being given me. They don’t really love me; they just want what they can get out of me.” That is not so. In a walk with God, you must have faith in the love of the Body. Remember our opening Scripture: And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has in us. You have to believe it.

No matter how many incidents or individuals, individually or collectively, seem to go against it, a walk with God comes by revelation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and a revelation of the Body. You cannot have a revelation of either one unless you have understanding that love is there. Believe in it, because it is divine love.

Another thing you must do is express your love. Act on it. Fulfillment is an action. Sometimes we wish it were not so. You can have feelings in your heart, deep emotions, deep attitudes, and they will not get you into trouble unless you act on them. Suppose a young couple falls very much in love. It is very difficult to keep their actions the way they should be. They may whisper in each other’s ear, “I love you,” and they may hold hands. But chances are, if they really love each other they want to act on it. And to channel their actions consistently the way God wants it to be is sometimes a problem, because the expression of love is very necessary. When a couple comes for counsel to see if their relationship is in the will of the Lord, they are taking good action. They want direction on how they can act on their love. In that very act of asking guidance, they are taking action. In many New Testament churches, people have such faith in God and submission to the Lord that they will not take matters in their own hands and express their love in a way God does not approve, but they come and submit it to the elders. They come asking for direction about what they should do, about what should be the expression of their love, about how they should act upon it.

The same thing is true on the spiritual level. We are always comparing the natural and the spiritual because they are so interrelated. You come to the Lord telling Him that you love Him, and He tells you to act accordingly. If you want to get the love moving, then act on it.

In His message to the Ephesian Church (Revelation 2:4–5), the Lord said, “I have somewhat against you because you have left your first love. Repent from where you have fallen, and do the first work. Go back and do the actions over again.”

“I’m just building up a lot of love for the Lord.”

Act on it.

“I love my brother, and I have compassion for him. He has holes in his shoes and holes in his pants, and he’s hungry. I bless him.”

If you see your brother in need and shut up your bowels of compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in you? Let us not love in word, but love in deed; love in spirit and in truth (I John 3:17–18). This is what the epistle is talking about. Love must be expressed. It has to be expressed in action.