God Pours His Love

Devotional Reading: And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:5 NLT

The Holy Spirit does many things for us. He seals us, dwells in us, baptizes us, fills us, teaches us, comforts us, convicts us, guides us, empowers us, and more. But one of the most important of all the ministries of the Holy Spirit is found in Romans 5:5: He pours God’s love into our hearts.

How absolutely vital is this ministry? If we do not feel loved by God, then we won’t fully love God back, nor will we fully trust Him, enjoy Him, worship Him, obey Him, or rest in Him.

Our entire spiritual life hinges on whether we experience God’s love for us. This is what the Spirit does for us: He reveals to us how much the Father loves us. He does not pour out God’s love when we’ve been good, dutiful, devout, disciplined, or because we’ve had our quiet time. We don’t earn God’s love. Rather, the Spirit pours out the Father’s love simply because this is the Spirit’s nature—to pour the Father’s love into our hearts.

The word ‘pour’ used by Paul suggest an emptying of oneself. In other words, the Holy Spirit resident in us, makes us see how God empties His love to us and that He not only loves us casually but unconditionally. So I urge you to rest in this truth and drink it in.

Prayer and Confession
O Spirit of the Living God, pour out the Father’s love afresh in my heart! Amen.

Further Reading: John 3:16, 1John 3:1