Our normal thinking leads us to be like someone we admire most but our renewed minds lead us to become like Jesus Christ. Be imitators of Christ. Be Christlike. There is nothing more that God desires but for us to be like Him, talk like Him, think like Him, see like Him, move like Him and love like Him.

When we read and hear more and more about a person we admire most, we tend to imitate that particular person.  How about setting our hearts on Jesus, meditating on the word on Who He is?  The more we know Him, the more we are inclined to become like Him.
How do we know then that we are beginning to be like Him?  We mind how we treat others.  Hmmmm … the degree of how much we love God is according to the degree of how much we love others.   It is somehow directly proportional.  Loving our neighbors, both lovable and unlovable, is the expression of our love for God.  Whatever we do to the LEAST of the brethren, we do it to Him.  Haven’t you wondered why does it have to be “the least”?  I believe it’s because the least is the hardest to love which is impossible to do without His mercy and grace flowing in and through us.  We need Him to be able to do it.  He is the Source of it all, Who is Love, Who loved us first.

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” 1John 4:20 NIV

Our relationship with others is an overflow of our intimate relationship with God. Nothing comes out EFFORTLESSLY unless we are filled and flooded with Himself.  Apart from our hearts beating with the UNFORCED rhythm of His love, we forcefully do it that may yield a little fruit or no fruit at all.

An overflow within us is akin to a fountain in us.  To have this fountain, we are to drink of the water that Jesus is offering us which is springing up for a LIFETIME.

“But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become IN HIM a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:14

I was searching about how a fountain works and this is what I discovered.  Until the late 19th century most fountains operated by gravity, and needed a source of water HIGHER than the fountain, such as a reservoir or aqueduct, to make the water flow or jet into the air.   Hmmmm … isn’t it amazing to the think that there is a fountain in us and the Source is the one from ABOVE?  As the water keeps pouring down, it’s keeps filling us up to overflow.

Or how about at present where mechanical pumps replaced gravity and allowed fountains to recycle water and to force it high into the air?  Could it be that in the spirit realm, the Holy Spirit Who is the all surpassing greatness of God’s power at work in us, is the very force that makes the water of God’s word push out the unnecessary concerns of our lives and fills us with Himself?  It is He Who fills us and floods us with the richest measure of His divine presence and expresses His divine nature in and overflows through us to love others the very way He does.  Then loving others become a delight than a burden.  Very interesting indeed when I see parallelism between the spiritual and physical realms.

Do you know that when He opens our eyes to see what He is doing in our lives, we get to see it in others, too?

One day, I had this craving for a certain delicacy from our province.  It isn’t a very popular one.  It’s rarely available.  I haven’t had it for two decades.  Lo and behold, a few days ago I mentioned it to a friend of mine and she suddenly said, “I know where to get that!”  Oh wow!  Knowing this friend, I wouldn’t have thought she knew about it.  A couple of days later, it was in my hand.

The next day, someone saw it in my facebook wall and suggested how and what to eat it with.  I agreed and a few hours later, my househelp came in that morning and brought exactly what was mentioned by my friend.

Now as I look back, I keep thinking … oh wow, Lord, YOUR thoughts indeed are full of my desires and not just filled but you made them manifest before my eyes.  Simple it may seem but He opened my eyes to see how He is so mindful of me.  Those three people that I’ve mentioned earlier never had an inkling what I was craving for but Daddy God knew. He said, before we even ask, He already answered (Isaiah 65:24).  That’s love.

The very same way, in the past, I was passing by a watch store.  For three weeks I had been stopping and looking at the same watch until one day, I had a strong prompting in my heart to buy it for a friend and I did.   A few minutes later, I texted my friend that I had a surprise for her and guess what???? She told me that the Lord revealed to her that I was going to buy a watch for her.  I never knew that she had that desire but God knew. That’s love.

Let us not take for granted the promptings in our hearts to bless someone for they are expressions of the love of God flowing in and through us.  In those practical experiences wherein I count them as divine encounters, they never appeared to be “spiritual” but in reality they are.  My friends didn’t struggle and I didn’t either.  Why?  Because it was all done by His grace and love.  He is the Author and the Finisher.  He is the Source of all. He is the Source of our desires.  He is the Source of our promptings.  He is the Source of our provision.  He is the Source of our strength, the grace that compelled us to do what He authored to do, so that He will be known by us and through us.  He is LOVE!