1 John 4:16 And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.
I love this explanation of knowing God because observing is exactly what we have done if we know God, and that He cherishes us.
If we have taken the time to get to know God and observe to understand and be conscious of what is important to Him, we will know (by experience with God) that He is Love, He is in love with us—and His love will dwell in us.
The love God holds for us, we will hold for each other because we have observed God.
I am reminded of a day when I felt compelled by love to do something I didn’t really want to do. So to for strength to do what was right, I ask God what to do. His answer was, “What would Love do?”
God often tells me how concerned He is with all of His children, not just me. He loves me, but it is not all about me, but it’s about all of His children. Therefore if I think something isn’t fair and start thinking about me, He reminds me of the maturity He calls me to in love— and that I should prefer the other person all the time.
God needs us to understand the importance of Love and that, “Love” is who God is, and to have confidence in God we have to adhere to love.
God is love and to love as He loves we have to abide in Him, To observe God is to abide in Him. When you know by observation and experience with God, the greatness of His care and concern for others, when He reveals such importance to you— you also know the love He holds for you.
If something isn’t fair and you love the other person anyway, you have preferred God’s way and that means you know and have observed His way. When you choose God’s way, you will experience so much love from God that what’s fair or unfair doesn’t matter to you anymore. Why? Because His love for you reaches far above and beyond any other love. His love, God’s love, Love reaches right down on the inside of you and does something you can’t explain. Love fills you with an unexplainably fullness of love that then reaches out to show Love, who God is to others. His very intention.
Love is undeniably the most powerful and thrilling way to live —and love is the way to become intimate with Love, God.