Imagine being so hungry for significance that you trick your father into giving you your twin brother’s inheritance. Okay, now imagine living in anxiety for your safety and the safety of your family for years and years of your precious life, which is a blip in the light of eternity. 

If you’re familiar with Jacob’s story, you will remember that he has a track record of trickery and manipulation. This may seem extreme but he’s not very unlike us in his core desires and fears. He did what he needed to, to get what he wanted. Most of us have experienced pressures of life and sometimes when we are squeezed, what comes out of us doesn’t always look like love. 

He wanted what he thought he deserved and he knew how to get it. His soul was not at rest. 

You may also remember him as the man who wrestled with God and prevailed. He walked away with a limp and we call that winning. But, that’s not the only reason why. Jacob got into a tussle with God and left changed. After all of his pursuits and deception in life, He ended up face to face with the only one who wouldn’t be a victim to his endeavors but would change him and his family for generations. 

Jacob had an encounter with love. 

Love always reveals your true character and destiny despite your past faults. Papa God sees you through the lens of love. Our names reveal our character and Jacob’s name was to follow at the heel, supplant, pursue and chase down. This was his identity up until this point; his life’s work. In one moment the past was no more as Papa declared “Israel” – one who wrestles with God. God had given him a new identity. No longer would he be known as the heel grabber but by the fact that God had gotten ahold of him. 

You see, after this, the way he would maneuver through life would change physically and in his heart posture as well. When Esau and Jacob met again after 14 years, Jacob wasn’t running from him. He wasn’t trying to trick him. They weren’t going to have another falling out or showdown. No. There was an embrace. The healing had come. Jacob faced God, and himself, then he got to face his brother, with no fear. He had heaven’s eyes.

He was awakened to love. 

Is there an area in your life where you need to stop running after what this life has to offer? What Papa God has is an invitation to be transformed by His presence. 

My new book The Love Awakening is available now! Sign up today to receive a sneak peek of the first three chapters, click here >>> https://www.leifhetland.com/resources/the-love-awakening/

I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus by the well. The time and distance that lie between us and the stories found in scripture can sometimes dull their impact. Jesus had been ministering all day and was on his way back to Galilee from Judea. He took the route through Samaria. This already was unusual, as many devout Jews would take the longer route around Samaria just to avoid running into any Samaritans. The history between Jews and Samaritans carried both religious and racial weight. Mutual animosity was deeply seeded in both cultures. Perhaps this is why Jesus used them as examples so often. The differences between men and women were much more pronounced during this period of history. It would have been considered inappropriate for a man to speak to a woman he did not know while she was working at the well.

 It was unheard of for a Jewish man to speak to a Samaritan woman. Despite all these cultural boundaries. Despite all the potential for offense or misunderstanding. The woman recognized Jesus for who he was. She not only opened the door for a personal encounter with Jesus, but she also opened the door for her entire town. Later in the story, we see that many Samaritans ended up having an encounter with their savior, all because this one woman chose to believe.

I’m fascinated by this story because it reminds me of how delicate encountering Jesus can be. It wouldn’t have taken much for this story to have gone completely different. What if the woman had been too embarrassed by Jesus’ questions? What if she had seen a Jewish man sitting next to the well and decided that she would just come back later? What if she had let her social prejudices, or the prejudices she would have expected Him to have, prevent her from hearing the truth behind Jesus’ words? It seems to me that her need to know Jesus was greater than her fear of social norms.

The Pharisees were put to the same test, time and time again. Christians like to poke fun at the Pharisees, and I understand why. It is easy to see how foolish they were to miss that their Messiah had come. However, I sometimes think that the story of the Pharisees is one of the most tragic in the Bible. They had their Messiah. The one they had dedicated their lives to studying. They knew all the prophecies that foretold his coming. They likely knew everyone by heart. Yet they missed the Messiah even as He stood in front of them. It can be easy to poke fun at them, but I would rather learn from them.

It can be frightening, to see how easily and consistently the people that dedicated their lives to studying the Messiah missed Him when he came. If these master scholars were able to make such a huge mistake, then what hope does the average Christian have? Thankfully, we have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. We can learn to avoid the traps that ensnared the Pharisees. I believe that there are three simple keys that can help posture our hearts to recognize and receive His love when it comes. 

 

Be expectant, but don’t have expectations. God’s ways are mysterious. Sometimes my best times with Him are when I spend hours in my room worshiping, praying, and diving into the word. Sometimes my best times with Him happen during the ten minutes it takes to get to my office. Sometimes the best thing I hear from Him is a single word. Sometimes it is a rich and detailed vision. God likes variety and values unique expressions of His love. If we expect Him to only show up in certain ways and at certain times, then we are likely to miss out when He shows up in a new way. Expect Him to speak to you, but don’t be surprised when it comes in an unexpected way. 

Look for the fruit first. It can be disconcerting when God comes in a way that we have not experienced before. There have been great debates within Christianity over whether speaking in tongues, being “slain in the spirit,” “holy laughter,” spiritual gifts, and other such manifestations are legitimate expressions of God’s presence. Many of these debates have led to bitter arguments, church splits, or even the formation of new denominations. While I do think it is important to test all manifestations, I believe that we should test their fruit first.

If a gift or manifestation releases love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control then I am much more likely to trust it. I believe that testing everything by the letter of the law is what caused the Pharisees to mistrust and eventually betray Jesus. They rejected Him because He did not fit their exact interpretation of the Messiah. I think we do better when we keep our tests simple. Look for the fruit of the Spirit first. 

Get to know God’s heart, then get to know His ways. First, we need to experience God, only then can we understand Him. Our God is living and relational. He is interested in a personal relationship with us, not a professional relationship. The only way we can understand what He does is to become familiar with His heart. To do this we must also be more interested in a personal relationship than a professional one. We must seek to understand who He is, not just what He can do for us.

The Pharisees made it their priority to analyze every detail of the law. They strove to bring clarity and specificity to every letter of the law. It is my opinion that this focus was the beginning of their downfall. When we forget the central purpose that lies behind everything that God does, when we forget that God is love, it becomes easy to miss the message behind the letter of the law. We fail to see the forest through the trees. If we understand the heart of God, that everything He does is in service of love, then we can see how His word and His actions are all expressions of that same love. Otherwise, we are likely to make the same mistake as the Pharisees and sabotage the savior we sought to serve. 

What do you expect God’s love to look like as it begins to transform your life, how will it come? Are there any prejudices, hurts, or lies in your life that might limit your ability to experience God’s love? What would it look like if those were completely removed?

 

My new book The Love Awakening is available now! Sign up today to receive a sneak peek of the first three chapters, click here >>> https://www.leifhetland.com/resources/the-love-awakening/

God is always looking for ways to reveal His love to us. Every time we see it, there is an opportunity to be transformed by it. He revealed the key in scripture that had been on my heart for years. I did not learn it through knowledge or by decoding a mystery. I learned it by experiencing a miracle. The transformation that comes from encountering God’s love is always permanent. His love is not fleeting. It is not temporary. He gives it and does not take it away. He gives and keeps on giving. Every scripture, every miracle, and every divine coincidence is a touch from heaven, reminding us of the love that He has given.

Since God’s love is steadfast and permanent, the enemy attacks us in other ways. He seeks to make our sensitivity to God’s love grow dull. If we want to make the transformation of love last in our lives then we must continually tune our hearts to Papa God’s. To do this we must learn to respond to His every touch, listen to every word, and see every move of his presence. The same principle applies to marriage. If we, as married people, do not protect our love, it will grow stale. We can’t afford to let “I love you,” become nothing more than a casual phrase we say on our way out the door like “See you later,” or “Have a nice day.” We must work to keep our love sharp, to keep it alive so that its meaning does not become dull. How do you keep love fresh in a marriage? You buy each other gifts from time to time, write love notes, try new things together, share kind words, learn about each other’s interests, and go on dates. Keeping our love fresh with God is not all that different.

Here are a few practical ways to help perpetuate the transformation of love that God is releasing in your life. 

Pursue Prophecy. We are meant to eagerly desire the gift of prophecy. Both the receiving and giving of it. They are the kind words of a loving father. A personal declaration of affection and encouragement. 1 Corinthians 14:1 says:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 

Each prophetic word you receive is not only a word for you, not just a piece of information but a window into how God thinks of you. It is a love note from Him. Furthermore, every prophetic you give is not only a word for that person but a window into how God thinks about His people. Having a constant inflow and outflow of prophetic declaration gives us a regularly refreshed view of His heart. 

Read The Word With Him. The Bible is God’s sovereign word; a divine tapestry illustrating his pursuit of mankind, woven over thousands of years. The best part is that you get enough to read through every piece of that masterwork sitting with the one who inspired it. You get to ask Him questions, get His opinion on specific events, and feel what He felt as those things were happening. It should be obvious, that God was present at every event recorded in the Bible. He was there watching, working, guiding His children, and releasing His love just as He is today. Imagine all the wonderful things He has to tell you about the history of His love. And ask Him questions. The Holy Spirit is with us to introduce answers and new mysteries through His word. It is a divine scavenger hunt for God’s glory.\

Go On Walks With Him. This may seem overly simple and practical, but I find a certain romantic charm in the idea of walking with God in the cool of the day as Adam and Eve did. Jesus has paid the price for our journey back to the Father’s heart. Nothing is holding us back from Him. If we can boldly come to the throne of grace, then surely we can go on a walk with Him. Besides, a walk gives your body just enough to do to keep it from being distracted. Not to mention it’s good exercise. 

Tuning our hearts to God is a daily process. Just like our bodies need food and rest, our spirit needs to be reconnected with our creator. Take time today to connect with Him. Tell Him what you love about His creation. Lay your burdens at His feet. What do you think your day-to-day would look like if you lived every moment connected to His heart?

My new book, The Love Awakening, will be released on April 19th. Sign up today to receive a sneak peek of the first three chapters and other bonuses, click here >>> https://www.leifhetland.com/resources/the-love-awakening/

What is the most breathtaking sight you’ve ever seen? 

Maybe you love the mountains-how they reach into the clouds and tower of beautiful river valleys below. Maybe you’re a beach-you can’t resist a colorful sunset over a peaceful sea. Perhaps you’re captivated by the mystery of life seeing a newborn baby gaze into its mother’s and father’s eyes for the first time. Whatever your favorite scenes are, you know how beauty can overwhelm you. You know what it’s like to see something amazingly beautiful and let your heart be captured by it. Whatever the picture for you, there is love behind it. Creation is a reflection of God’s glory and an expression of His love. Eden was the canvas of God’s love, and God did more than paint beautiful scenes there. 

This is where He could reproduce the kind of relationship that characterized the heavenly family, where sons and daughters could live out their calling as images of His nature. He created human beings to look like Him, to live like Him, and to love like Him. In this landscape of love, the relationships of the first family were meant to reflect divine values, their work was meant to further Papa God’s purposes, and their hearts were meant to align with each other’s hearts. We know this is not how it turned out. 

If we were able to peek into Heaven before time, I think we would see one particular created being who didn’t “get” what love was all about. He did not love himself the way the Father loved him. He broke the covenant and violated the family culture. He went his own way. Everything that is broken came from a created being who lost sight of perfect love-who did not know how to be loved, and therefore did not know how to love, and therefore left the warmth of the Father’s living room and tried to build his own kingdom. 

Everything wrong in this world happened because someone opted out of love. And then he tricked the first human beings into opting out of love too. This is where rebellion entered into creation. So, in light of all this, who are you? What was your original design?  The real you, the original you, was in the heart of Papa God before time. He already had a plan for forgiveness, redeeming, and restoring every one of His people. Amazingly, none of our sins, mistakes, flaws, failures, offenses, fears, and insecurities-no other sources of guilt and shame, no matter how long they have weighed on you-define your story. From God’s perspective, they are intrusions on your journey. In God’s mind, His idea of who you are fit within His idea of the perfect environment of the garden and everything else He created in love.  

This is why we need restoration. We need to be restored back into the image God envisioned for us before time began. This means that not only does our journey begin in the heart of the Father before the foundation of the world, but it also ends there too. From start to finish, the love of God sees who we are and is constantly leading us into our true selves. His love is always there, never changing, never wavering, measureless and timeless, always sustaining, always pursuing. 

 

My new book, The Love Awakening, will be released on April 19th. Sign up today to receive a sneak peek of the first three chapters and other bonuses, click here >>> https://www.leifhetland.com/resources/the-love-awakening/

 

Love is never stagnant, it is always moving, like a river flowing to the low places. The world was created as an expression of love because that’s what love does. It reaches out, it brings in, it looks for ways to express itself. 

Many people long for the kind of love that transforms nations but have trouble with the kind of love that reaches out to a difficult relative or neighbor. They want the Father’s love for ministry purposes but do not pursue it for family or community purposes. All of it is available, but it does not work well just to go for helpings of certain kinds of love like they are items on a buffet. If you want to go for it, then it is very important to go for it ALL!

Our Papa’s love is extraordinarily powerful. It releases the power of Heaven on earth. It is relentless, tenacious, and unquenchable. It will not be denied. It brings the justice of Heaven to every injustice on earth, the kindness of Heaven to every offense, the restoration of Heaven to every area of brokenness, wounding, and loss.

This is where we are now–in the middle of the story of God covering the earth with His glory, which is characterized by His love. We participate in this mission because the only way knowledge of the glory/love of God will cover the earth as waters cover the sea (see Habakkuk 2:14) is through the people who carry God’s love and glory in them, just as Jesus prayed in John 17:22-23). “The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that the may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

In your mission as an ambassador of love, you will find yourself walking among the remnants of brokenness. It will be important for you to walk through them without fear, or at least without letting fear overcome you. You will need to replace your fear with love and hope. The heavenly environment within you will need to be stronger than the earthly environment around you. Your love will need to be greater than your fear–or your discouragement or your concerns or your questions.

Ambassadors of love can thrive in the midst of fear and chaos because we bring good news. Darkness actually presents an opportunity for light. We speak the language of love and honor the way Jesus honors. We bring the love of the perfect family into broken relationships and cultures. We bring the environment of Heaven into places that look and feel like hell.

This is what the world needs from us–supernatural love carried by fearless hearts willing to serve as ambassadors of Heaven’s perfect love wherever we go on earth.

Have you experienced the same love from the Father that Jesus experienced from the Father? This is the power that begins the agape reformation that will cover the earth with the Father’s glory.

My new book, The Love Awakening, will be released on April 19th. Sign up today to receive a sneak peek of the first three chapters and other bonuses, click here >>> https://www.leifhetland.com/resources/the-love-awakening/

 

Let’s go back to the beginning.

What would it look like to live in the delight of the Father’s gaze 24 hours, 7 days a week?

Does anyone do that? Is it even possible?

From the beginning, you were created to live from the life source of perfect love. Did you know that your home was intended to be in the heart of God; in the pleasure of being with the family of love: the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit?

That’s our original story. We were created for delight. You were created for delight.

One day, a voice that rejected love, the orphan spirit, gained influence in the Garden, shifting humanity’s connection and perspective of the God of the universe. Shame and fear affected the psyche of mankind for the first time. There was a rift in our home.

The best news is that nothing and no one could separate us from the love of Papa God as He has brought us close to Himself through His beloved Son. While Jesus walked the Earth, He was mending the image of God. Jesus showed the world what Papa looks like. He showed us that we were made for unbroken communion.

Has your heart been steeped in fear? Have you been affected by shame? Has life felt purposeless?

Let us return back to the beginning where shame couldn’t keep us from intimacy and we could experience the transformational love of the Father. This is the place where we see in full color and love is the only way. It’s the place where we go to rest with our Father and we wake up to love. 

My new book, The Love Awakening, will be released on April 19th. Sign up today to receive a sneak peek of the first three chapters and other bonuses, click here >>> https://www.leifhetland.com/resources/the-love-awakening/

 

Once when I was ministering in Norway, a very frustrated man came up to me. “You prayed for a baptism of love the last time I was here, but the opposite is happening.” He explained that he was having more trouble with anger and fear. The gentleman wondered why his life took a turn for the worst after a prayer imparting supernatural love.  

Sometimes after an impartation of love people come up and tell me how much their lives have changed. Other times, love is a process that takes time and I’ve learned to appreciate both scenarios. When love moves in, fear moves out because “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). When the bad things manifest on the way out, it’s a good sign. I excitedly answered this man, “Good!” To which he looked at me like I was crazy.

Of course, my encouragement was shocking and didn’t meet his expectations. When love starts to move in, everything else has to move out. Fear comes up. Anger resurfaces. Our transformation is an inside-out process. The baptism of love was doing a deep work. It was uprooting the things that cannot coexist with love. When we get squeezed, whatever is inside starts to come out. 

Imagine perfect love at work in everyday life, in the ordinary experiences on cloudy days and dark nights. Imagine the carpentry that went on in Jesus’ earthly father’s workshop.  What happened if Mary ran out of olive oil? Did her son, Jesus make more? 

Love does not just live among us in the mountain top experiences, in our encounters with God and the noteworthy stories of the Gospels. He lived⸺and still lives⸺among us in the ordinary days. This is one reason it’s so important to value both your mountaintop experiences and the valleys between them. The Father is not loving you and ministering to you only during those intense, overwhelming moments. You need to listen for His endearing whispers as you go about mundane tasks like washing the dishes or taking out the garbage. 

Love thrives in the ordinary. 

Some people saw the dove come down at Jesus’ baptism and the radiance of Heaven at Jesus’s transfiguration. But in between those highlights, lepers saw the face of cleansing, paralytics saw the face of healing, sinners saw the face of forgiveness, parents, and elders saw the face of honor and respect, and the poor saw the face of generosity. 

Jesus did not just receive love and show love; He is a perfect manifestation of the Father’s love. Jesus became the face of love for everyone who encountered Him.

 

The Parable of the Vine and the Branches, in John 15, contains secrets to the Kingdom lifestyle. It gives keys to fruitfulness, abundance, intimacy, authority, favor, joy and fullness of life. This parable outlines how we should live our lives on this Earth, as citizens of the Kingdom of God. The essence of our Christian life is captured in Jesus’ words saying, “Abide in Me and I will abide in you”. This is what divine union is all about and it is possible through the Holy Spirit alone. 

We have access to be in the presence of God, at all times by abiding and remaining in Jesus, organically – in a living, love-relationship.

Intimacy brings us to the depths of God in Christ. What is true of Christ becomes true of us in that place. Just as the life-giving sap of the vine flows throughout the branches, the same life that is in Christ flows through us as we remain in Him. 

Eternal, spiritual fruits are natural by-products of this divine union with Him. These fruits are born out of the inner workings of the Holy Spirit in and through us, as we respond in faith and obedience. These fruits lead to the expansion and demonstration of the Kingdom of God to the world around us.  He is glorified when we bear much fruit and that our fruits remain. These fruits can be signs, wonders and miracles through us. It could also be breakthroughs, victories, exploits, creativity, wisdom and everything that is available from heaven to us, His children.

The fruits of our union with God in the secret place can be manifested in every aspect of our being. What happens in the secret will be rewarded in the open.  This goes beyond our responsibility and ministry in the church. It encompasses our spirit, our soul and body.  In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house for three months. “And the Lord blessed his family with all that he had.” (1 Chronicles 13:14). The Ark is the only physical thing in the Old Testament that ‘housed’ the glorious presence of God.

God’s presence brings blessings and fruitfulness. David confidently declared in the wilderness while Saul, driven by jealousy, was running after him to kill him, yet he said, “my soul is satisfied with marrow and fatness” (Psalm 63:5). The physical setting around him was contrary to this proclamation, but David was so assured of the blessings and the abundance of God coming his way. Why? Because God was with him and he made His Presence his dwelling place and refuge. In Psalm 23 he wrote, “…surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”  How’s that for boldness and confidence?