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Script: Yvette l Narrator: Josh l Mix: Yujie
Hello friends! This is the tenth episode of the series of Outstanding Leader. We are still on the Power Source of the Leader and today, we focus on Love Blockers.
What are the blockers?
Ephesians 3: 16-19 say, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of God which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Our experience of God’s love must be unceasing. We must guard it jealously for it is possible for us to be disconnected from His love. Revelations 2: 4 says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” It prevents God’s love from flowing into our hearts if there is sin or bitterness, and we would miss His grace (Hebrews 12: 15). When we succumb to our sinful nature, we fail to abide in the love of God. Our natural love is corrupted and selfish and determined by performance, works and religious practices. This is why we hear of disillusionment with the church, people being stumbled and Christian leaders dismissed as hypocrites.
There are four obstacles that prevent us from receiving God’s love:
We have the ungodly belief that if we serve God more, He will love us more. That’s a wrong idea and we should not feel guilty in our relationship with God when we fall short or fail to practise our spiritual disciplines.
We have to learn to pursue a guilt-free, no-condemnation relationship with God. If our conscience is troubled, our faith leaks (1 Timothy 1: 19). Our faith and conscience go hand in hand. If the leak is not stopped, we will be weighed down by guilt and lack the confidence to come before God.
We often inherit wrong images of Father God from our imperfect relationships with our earthly fathers. A man recalled that when he was 12, his father told him clearly that he would sponsor his education up to ‘A’ levels only. After that, he would have to provide for himself for further studies. As a result, this young man grew up thinking that he had a heartless and unsupportive father. When he became a Christian, this ungodly belief became a stumbling block – he could not properly connect with God as a Father who would provide for his needs.
Let us illustrate this point with a testimony:
Joe grew up in a Christian family and accompanied his parents to church. When he reached teenage, he became rebellious. He started taking drugs and had many sexual encounters and continued this lifestyle through his young adult years. One day, he had a personal and dramatic encounter with God. He saw a bright light shining directly at him. The next thing he knew, he was weeping uncontrollably on the floor for three hours. He knew he had a visitation from God. Immediately, he flushed down all the drugs in hand and told the woman he was living with that they needed to get married.
The young man shared that his father was a sergeant in the army. He taught him and his brothers to make their beds every morning before leaving for school. One morning, he was late and did not manage to make his bed and rushed to school. When he returned home, his bedroom was empty – his father has thrown his bed and wardrobe out in the backyard. This negative experience of iron-fisted discipline traumatised him. That became a blockage years later when he became a Christian. He could connect with the Lord Jesus and pray with the Holy Spirit but he could not pray to Father God. He projected the image of his earthly father upon Father God and viewed Him as someone who was demanding, hard to please and did not love him.
2 Corinthians 10: 4-5 tell us that there are two components to strongholds that block our experiencing the goodness of God: ① arguments and ② every high thing.
Arguments are logical reasoning. For example, if we had an abusive or absent father in our childhood, logically, it is impossible to love him as he never cared for us.
Arguments can be likened to a concrete path where people walk on without problem. If a 10-tonne truck drives over it, it will crack under its weight. But if that concrete path is strengthened with reinforced steel bars, the heavy truck can pass over with ease. The solid reinforcements in this analogy are the high things which are demonic spirit-guides combining with humans to erect a stronghold that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
The knowledge of God here means every blessing, promise and grace that God wants us to experience in Him. Demonic strongholds block the believer from continually receiving and experiencing the love of Father God.
An orphan always thinks he never have enough and that leads him to striving and hoarding. It manifests in comparison, jealousy and envy. He becomes competitive and believes that there must always be a winner and a loser in any case. His spirit is a disposition powered by the evil one and is often linked with the spirit of fear and rejection.
Compare to the spirit of sonship which we know we are our Father’s children. We receive love from Him and know that our Father cares for us and provides all our needs. From this kingdom prospective, there will always be a win-win situation.
The orphan spirit focuses on the big ‘I’. His concern is himself alone. On the other hand, the spirit of sonship emphasises self-care because we can love others as we love ourselves. We must be rooted in the Father’s love and see God come through for us continually.
Testimony: Emily grew up in a family whose father never cared but caused the family in debt. Her mother caned her violently out of frustration towards her husband and because she favoured her son over Emily. Therefore, Emily grew up with an orphan spirit – driven to work hard for good results, win every competition and earn success in life in order to obtain love and recognition from her parents. In her heart, she never felt contented although she looked successful outwardly. Her subordinates viewed her as a slave driver – tough, impatient and uncaring!
On one significant occasion, Emily cried out to the Lord. She was brought back to her childhood where she was trapped in a corner while her mother caned her vigorously and stopping her to cry. Emily detailed: “ God stood in front of me and said ‘My child, you can cry, it’s okay to cry’ and for the first time in life, I cried my heart out for a very long time and then I found myself sleeping peacefully and soundly in His arms like a baby.” Since that day, she continues to receive the Father’s love pouring into her whole being and experiencing His deep love.
Her relationship with people began to change – her marriage strengthened and her relationship with subordinates improved tremendously.
All mankind are orphans because we have been separated from God. However, the moment we receive Jesus as our Saviour, we receive adoption into the family of God and He becomes our father. This is mentioned in Romans 8: 15 and 16. When we receive the love of Father God in increasing measure, we will no longer live as orphans but as mature sons and daughters of the kingdom, knowing the love of God in all its dimensions.
THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S LOVE
When we receive and experience God’s love, we are filled with the fullness of God. According to Ephesians 3: 20, God will answer our prayers threefold more than we ask – that is, exceedingly, abundantly and above all we can ask or imagine. How does God come through threefold for us? For example, when we ask for food, He gives not only a burger but adds toppings and side dishes! When we pray for healing, He not only heals us, He gives us a new burst of strength and energy.
If we want to experience the fullness of God’s love, we must increase our spiritual capacity. The height, depth, breadth and length of the love of God are experienced to the degree of our spiritual capacity.
In 1 Kings 17: 8-16, the widow did what Elijah told her – poured the little portion of oil into the containers and it flowed until all containers were full. Likewise, the oil and richness of the fullness of God will not stop flowing until we run out of capacity. We can then rest certain of the Father’s love for us and have full confidence to come before Him 24/7 and 365 days a year. Luke 11: 11-13 say, “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
In conclusion, we need a fresh revelation of God’s love in our lives, as illustrated in the stories of two mighty men, David and Joseph, in the Bible. Both men were faced with sexual temptation but their responses were completely different. David proceeded to commit adultery with Bathsheba and later plotted the murder of her husband, Uriah. On the other hand, Joseph was able to withstand the advances of Potiphar’s wife.
The difference lies in their experiences of their earthly fathers’ love. David did not experience the love of Jess, his earthly father. He even forgot about him when the prophet Samuel asked him to present his sons to select the new king. That left a void in his heart which caused him to search for substitutes to this love. Psalm 27: 10 says, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.” In contrast, Joseph was greatly loved by Jacob, his father, who made him a multi-coloured coat and showered favour upon him in his younger years.
If we have the wrong image of God as an earthly taskmaster, are burdened by traumatic experiences, or if we have been living under the lie that we must perform and work to earn the Father’s love, we need a fresh revelation of His love which will empower us to be outstanding leaders.
We trust that as you listen or read our sharing, you are blessed as the Spirit leads and guides you along. Please join us again next week on the third part - the Light of the Word. Stay tuned. Goodbye.
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Excerpted from outstanding Leader by Pastor Daniel Foo; first published by Armour Publishing Singapore and the book can be purchased from