You Know It — But Do You Believe It?

I'm excited about this one. I have to be honest with you — this is probably one of the messages I am most excited about. In a lot of ways it's a hallmark message of this ministry, and it's a little weird because of how late in my walk with God it came. But this is a message that changed my life forever, and I believe it will change yours too.

Now, what we're going to talk about is going to take us a while to get through. But if you'll go back and read it, and chew on it over and over again, it will change your life. All right.

Let's open up in 1 John 4:16. There's a lot here, and I want you to key off on something John says: 

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:16 (NKJV)

See, John makes a distinction between knowing and believing the love of God. And quite frankly, this was a difference that hampered me for more than a decade of my Christian walk — because I knew about the love of God. I just didn't believe it. I just didn't.

What does it actually mean to believe the love of God?

I guess I should give you an operational definition of believing the love of God, because people ask me, "Why do you feel the need to give an operational definition?" Well, I deal with people all the time. We pastor a lot of pastors through our ministers organization, Ministers of Victory, part of Kurt Owen Ministries — and not all of them are tactical pastors like yours truly, but they're good people.

Believing the love of God means it has affected you. It means you pray in line with the love of God. It means you think in line with the love of God. It means you count on and are assured by the love of God. I was talking to a pastor's wife recently, and she said, "I know God loves me" — but she really didn't. It was obvious, because she was afraid of the future. She was afraid of what people were going to do to her.

Each of those things tells you something. We're going to talk as we go along, and I'll give you some diagnostics about whether you actually know and believe the love of God — not just know about it.

I could tell you about His love. I just couldn't believe it for myself.

Here's where I was at. I knew about the love of God. I could sit with you — anywhere — and emphatically tell you God loves you, even if you were a drug dealer on the street. You'd say, "God could not love me after all the things I've done." And I'd say, "No, that's not true. God knew everything you were going to do, and loved you anyway. He knew everything you were going to do, and died for you anyway." And I believed that for you.

But at 2 o'clock in the morning, when I needed God to help me, I would disqualify myself. Why would God help me? Even though people kept telling me, "You just need to know the love of God," I already knew about it. I could teach it. I could quote you Scripture on it. I just didn't believe it. It wasn't affecting me. It wasn't changing me.

And there are a lot of people today who don't believe the love of God — they just know about it. You can go to football games and see John 3:16 written under a player's eyes. We've seen it on roadways, on signs, even pulled behind a plane. We see it everywhere. But we don't believe it.

My grandmother preached the love of God her whole life — and was still afraid to leave.

Do you know how many older people when it's been their time to go home with the Lord, and they were afraid to leave, because they didn't know what the next life would bring? Why is that? Because you don't believe the love that God has for you. You know about it, but you don't believe it.

My own grandmother preached the love of God to me before she left this earth. She'd been in hospice for a couple weeks and couldn't even communicate — basically comatose, just lingering. I'd been out of town and got a phone call asking if I'd go see her. While I was driving over, the Lord said: 

"She won't let go because she's afraid."

Anytime you're afraid of anything, you don't believe the love of God. You cannot believe the love of God and be afraid. I'll prove that to you later — I just don't have time right now. So I went to my grandmother with the Lord telling me this. I sat there and ministered to her about Heaven. I told her how much Jesus loved her, and that though there were some corrections He'd make when He saw her, she'd be welcomed with open arms. He loved her and was looking forward to visiting with her.

Once I ministered to her, I left. After hanging on for about two and a half weeks, she was gone in thirty minutes.

It really is dangerous not to believe the love of God. And I'm going to prove that as we go. There is a difference between knowing about it, being able to talk about it, quoting Scriptures about it — and you actually believing it.

Just because you know about a thing doesn't mean you believe it.

When I was coming up, we had to learn ballistics. I don't remember a lot of it, but I remember this: if you're standing next to me with a gun and you fire a bullet, and I take that same exact bullet — same size, same weight — but I just drop it, those two bullets will hit the ground at basically the same time. Yours travels a long way off. Mine drops straight down. But they hit the ground together.

I was sitting there with a buddy of mine, and the instructor was teaching this. The textbook was right in front of us saying it. My buddy looks at me and says, "I don't believe that. I don't believe it." And I'm thinking, well, he knows more about this than we do. He believes it. But my buddy says, "I don't believe that." Now, did he know about it? Yes. In fact, it was on our test, and he knew the right answer. He was able to say the right thing — say what the teacher wanted to hear, say what was in line with the book — and still not believe a word of it.

Do you think people can do this in Christian circles? Obviously they can — that's why John felt the need to emphasize it. Folks, we don't just know about the love of God. We actually believe it. It's not just an intellectual exercise. It's not mental reasoning. It is truth, and we believe what we know about His love.

Martha knew the right things to say — and still didn't believe them.

Let me give you a biblical example of somebody who knew but didn't believe, so you understand the difference. Go with me to John chapter 11. This is where Lazarus is dying — and then he's dead.

Notice in verse 5: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was." That's an interesting statement. He loved them, so He stayed where He was. That is not the way most people think love behaves. If you truly loved Him, Jesus, you'd have jumped and run. You'd have been near panic-stricken. Right?

No — He explains why He waited. "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world." He's talking about the will of God. As long as I walk in the will of God, I cannot be made to stumble. It's when I start walking in darkness that I stumble.

Now here's a side journey for you and your family, because a lot of people are compromising their walk with the Lord because of their family. The most loving thing you could do for anyone you love is stay in the will of God. Because when the people you love hit a tragedy or a crisis, you'll have an answer. Many of us compromise the power and will of God for our lives — and our ability to help other people — because we're trying to act in so-called human love instead of staying in the light of God's will.

Why I didn't move when a child stopped breathing.

Let me tell you this story, and I'll try to make it brief. Years ago, the Kurt Owen Ministries offices were in a two-car garage. We had four desks. My administrator's desk was to my right. All of a sudden his wife bursts through the door with one of his kids in her arms — the child is blue, and it doesn't look like he's breathing.

She's screaming, "Do something, do something, do something!" My family member runs over. Now they're all panic-stricken, looking at this blue child. The only person who hadn't moved in the room was me.

Why hadn't I moved? Because I didn't know what to do yet. I was listening in my heart. People say, "Shouldn't you do something?" One aspect of faith is this: if I wait on God, I know it will not cost me. I don't mean blow God off and call it waiting on God — I mean truly waiting to hear what He says, then knowing it won't collapse.

Then all three of them turn and look at me — the guy whose name is on the wall, Kurt Owen Ministries. Like, "Why are you standing over there? You're the man of faith and power. Why don't you do something?" It was a mixture of grief and judgment all at once. But I still didn't know what to do yet. I loved them enough that I would not be moved by their faces. I would not be moved by their judgment. I would only be moved by what God told me to do.

Then God spoke and told me what to do. I went over, ministered to the child. The child coughed. All the color came back. That child is alive today — in fact, I think he's married today.

I do not believe I would have gotten the same results if I'd been moved by fear, by their judgment, or by their pain rather than by the will of God. And that's nothing special about me, because there's nothing special about me. This is all free.

Never mistake your love for Jesus for your trust in Jesus.

Now go back with me to Lazarus. Jesus tells the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go to wake him up." They thought He meant natural sleep, so He told them plainly: "Lazarus is dead. Nevertheless, let us go to him." Even after saying he's dead, He immediately speaks faith again.

Then Thomas — most of us know him as Doubting Thomas — says, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." He doesn't believe a word Jesus is saying about not stumbling, but he's willing to die with Him. You need to understand this: 

Never mistake your love for Jesus for your trust for Jesus. There are many people who love Jesus who do not trust Him. There are many people who love Jesus but do not believe Him. Is Thomas committed? Absolutely true. Does he trust Him? Absolutely not.

Even now, I know — but did she really?

When Jesus came, Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Martha, as soon as she heard Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But Mary stayed sitting in the house. Martha doesn't bring anybody with her — not even Mary.

Martha says to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." I used to think she was blaming Him. Now I think she was trying to build Him up. "But even now, I know that whatever You ask God, He will give You."

She's saying all the right things. Is she able to pass the test? Oh, yes. Does she know it? Yes, she knows it. Does she believe it? 

Not at all. Not at all.

And that's where we're going to pick up next time, because knowing and believing the love of God is what matters here. Not just being able to say it like Martha — but actually believing it.

I want you to do something. Don't just settle for knowing about the love of God. Press into it. Feed on it daily. Let it get all the way down into your heart until it changes the way you pray, the way you think, the way you face whatever's standing in front of you.

Don't settle for knowing about it. Feed on it. Renew your mind to it daily. Let it get into your heart until it changes the way you move, the way you trust, and the way you live.

Fight To Win.