4:161 John 4:16

To know and trust the love God has for us is the first step toward Him, and to live in that love is to live in God Himself with God living within. AA 560.1+2 God is love in His very nature and character, and His life flows out to all His creatures in unselfish giving like light from the sun. ST Mar 8, 1905+2 This dwelling comes through Christ abiding in the heart by faith, known by the gift of His Spirit, by confessing Jesus as the Son of God whom the Father sent to save the world, and by beholding His character until the beholder is changed into His likeness. AA 560.1+3 To believe this love brings true conversion and sanctification, purifying and ennobling the character into practical godliness that cannot be hidden but springs up in words and conduct. AA 560.1+4 Living in this love means loving one another as Christ loved, fulfilling the whole law toward God and neighbor, and that perfected love casts out fear and gives boldness in the day of judgment. Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+4

The declaration was the burden of John's testimony to the churches, held to his latest days as he followed his Lord into very old age after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin of the stately temple, a symbol of the final ruin of the world.DA 816.4 Its wording voices the assurance that comes when the Holy Spirit bears witness with the human spirit that a person is a child of God, carrying its own evidence that makes belief and certainty possible.Ms 20, 1906, par. 31–32 That same Spirit leads to the written Word as personal witness, and speaking these words gives strong evidence of the power of truth to believers and unbelievers alike.Ms 20, 1906, par. 31–32+1 They supply language believers can speak: they have known and believed God's love, God is love, and the one who lives in love lives in God with God living in that person.Ms 20, 1906, par. 31–32+1

It is the language of every soul in whom Christ abides, whether living or dying as the Lord's.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9+1 God's Spirit makes such a person like Jesus in temper and disposition, conforming character to the image of Christ so that Christ is represented to others.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9 That indwelling cannot be hidden but springs up like a well of water into everlasting life, showing itself in character, words and conduct that reflect His likeness.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9+1 That manifestation awakens in others a deep, abiding and increasing love for Jesus, with the Spirit witnessing that they are God's children.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9+1

To have known the love God has, to confess that God is love, and to dwell in love is to dwell in God with God dwelling in the person.Ms 46, 1894, par. 1 Herein love is made perfect.Ms 46, 1894, par. 1 That perfection gives boldness in the day of judgment because as Christ is so are believers in this world.Ms 46, 1894, par. 1

God's very nature and character is love, and love itself is of God.ST Mar 8, 1905+3 His love toward His people can be known and believed, and to dwell in love is to dwell in God with God dwelling in that person.ST Mar 8, 1905+3 That indwelling love is joined to confessing Jesus as the Son of God, is revealed through the Spirit, takes practical form in loving one another as Christ loved, and brings confidence in the day of judgment, for believers love because God first loved them.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30+2

His very life is the outflow of unselfish love. Like rays of light from the sun, love and light and joy flow out from Him to all His creatures, because it is His nature to give. Because He is love, righteousness is holiness and likeness to Him, which is love, the light and life of God. That righteousness means conformity to the law of God, it is embodied in Christ, and it is received by receiving Him.

Love is power, bloom and grace, a reviving essence beneath whose presence a flower buds and a heart sings. It operates to make all things diviner, it is the beauty of God to which all other graces are lesser, it pours like fire and dew through hearts, it refines the soul, and it makes kings and priests of humble peasants. Because God is love, the evil in the world does not come from His hands but from the great adversary whose constant work is to deprave man and enfeeble and pervert his faculties.FE 429.1 He has not left men in the ruin wrought by the fall, but as Heavenly Father has placed every faculty within reach so that through well-directed effort they may regain their first perfection and stand complete in Christ, expecting them to do their part, for they are His purchased possession costing Him and His Son an infinite price.FE 429.1

God abides only in the hearts of those who love Him and do righteousness.Ms 46, 1904, par. 13 He does not live in the sinner and does not abide in the sinner's heart, for the enemy abides there.Ms 46, 1904, par. 13 This denies that God is in all things and in all people, as in the flower, in the leaf, and in the sinner.Ms 46, 1904, par. 13 His love is also seen in the way He gives His beloved rest in death as sleep until the morning of the resurrection, which to the dead will feel only as a moment.LSEGW 449.3 To the living the wait is short, because Jesus is coming soon to gather His loved ones home.LSEGW 449.3

Knowing and trusting the love God has for us is the very first step in approaching Him, for it is by the drawing of that love that we are led to come to Him. Knowing and believing that love is the one thing needed in order to receive His forgiving love and to give it to others, and it must be held fast against every deception that would hide it.

The deceptions to be resisted make sinners think their mistakes and transgressions are too grievous for the Lord to hear their prayers and bless and save them, that they see only weakness in themselves with nothing to commend them to God, that it is no use trying because they cannot remedy their defects of character, and that prayer is useless because of past evil and a violated conscience. The answer is that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, so that when a sinner feels he has sinned and cannot pray, that is the very time to pray, ashamed and deeply humbled yet praying and believing that Christ came into the world to save sinners. Forgiveness and reconciliation with God come not as a reward for works and not because of any merit in sinful men, but as a gift founded on the spotless righteousness of Christ.

Knowing and believing God's love makes a person rich in faith and able to live by God's promises, and learning that God is love and that to dwell in God is to dwell in love is the important lesson amid imperfections, discouragements, afflictions, trials, disappointments, and bereavements.Lt 43, 1892, par. 7+1 Knowing and believing the love He has means taking Him at His word and believing He will do just as He said, trusting that even His chastening is love given to make partakers of the divine nature and to carry on daily sanctification.ST Oct 11, 1899 This love is known by experience that the Lord is gracious and that Jesus loves you, through experimental acquaintance with the love and tender compassion of the Heavenly Father.Lt 252, 1903, par. 5–6+3 So known and believed, God's love makes the believer secure, an impregnable fortress against Satan's delusions and attacks.ST Jul 27, 1904

Men are led to know and believe the love God has for them by seeing that love lived out in His followers. When disciples manifest the Father's mercy and goodness, with divine love glowing in the heart and Christlike harmony in the life, the world gets a glimpse of heaven and of a God whose character is worthy of praise and imitation. That belief in God's love then purifies and transforms hearts once sinful and corrupt, to make them ready to stand faultless with exceeding joy before the presence of His glory.

To live in love is to live in God with God living in that person, and that means Christ abiding in the heart by faith as safety.AA 560.1+1 Remaining in love is known by the gift of His Spirit, by seeing and testifying that the Father sent the Son to be Saviour of the world, and by confessing Jesus as the Son of God.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6 That confession is joined to confessing faith and to loving because God first loved.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+1 Believers know and trust the love God has for them, for His nature is love, and living in love means living in God while God lives in them, bringing confidence in the day of judgment.Lt 123, 1901, par. 5–8

Dwelling in love comes by keeping Jesus ever as pattern and by beholding and appreciating the virtues of His character, full of grace and truth.Ms 8a, 1888, par. 13–15 By that beholding the beholder is changed from glory to glory into His likeness and becomes one with Him in spirit.Ms 8a, 1888, par. 13–15 Remaining in love comes from meditating day and night on His character, walking in the way of all His commandments, and letting truth abide in the heart.Lt 145, 1902, par. 11–13 Unselfish faith opens the door of the heart to the Saviour, and as faith grows by exercise love for the Redeemer increases until the heart glows with a sense of His love and the message of mercy is spoken with sanctified lips.Lt 145, 1902, par. 11–13

This dwelling requires crucifying and surrendering self to God in deep repentance and reformation.RH Feb 24, 1903 It is shutting in with God in full surrender, having Christ dwell in the heart by faith, with self crucified so Christ lives within by union through living faith.RH Feb 24, 1903+1 It is not mere assent to truth or hearing the Word but daily living the truth, to refine and elevate the soul and give power to walk in newness of life.ST Oct 11, 1899 Dwelling in God is Christ's likeness in believers as a grand practical truth.Lt 25a, 1895, par. 18–19 It means being a child of God begotten to living hope full of immortality and glory, not merely something loved and left to temptation.Lt 25a, 1895, par. 18–19

Purity in the believer is like purity in God, and love in the heart is a living principle like the love in the heart of God.Lt 25a, 1895, par. 18–19 Because of redemption by the blood of the Lamb, all the treasures of heaven are at the believer's command.Lt 25a, 1895, par. 18–19 Dwelling in God means walking in His light and love, accepting forgiveness of sins by faith, and being changed in moral affections by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit to be complete in Jesus Christ and stand in the moral excellence of His character.Lt 25a, 1895, par. 18–19 This love is not merely emotion or impulse and not the act of the impulsive tongue or hand.Lt 175, 1902, par. 8–10+1 It is the loving impulse of a renewed, sanctified, converted, self-renouncing heart, and the loving impulses of a converted heart come from God.Lt 175, 1902, par. 8–10+1

It is an active principle that works through the will, brings obedience, and grows through beholding Christ's sacrifice.Lt 7, 1900, par. 28–34 That indwelling love is of priceless worth, to be seen among workers, growing more mellow with advancing life.Lt 175, 1902, par. 8–10 It makes its possessor a partaker of the divine nature, steadfast and unchangeable, working in harmony with Bible principles together with God, sharing His wisdom and revealing His power, and calls to being perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect and merciful as He is merciful.Lt 175, 1902, par. 8–10

Knowing and believing the love that God has toward us brings true conversion and true sanctification.Lt 105, 1898, par. 18+1 That change alters views and feelings toward God and toward one another.Lt 105, 1898, par. 18+1 To dwell in love is to dwell in God, with God dwelling in the person.Lt 105, 1898, par. 18+1 Such a life calls for increasing faith and for knowing the sanctification of the Spirit.Lt 105, 1898, par. 18+1 It is sought by earnest prayer for the divine Spirit to work within, so that God is glorified by the life and the believer becomes a worker together with God.Lt 105, 1898, par. 18+1

True sanctification comes through living out the principle of love.AA 560.1 That indwelling means Christ abiding in the heart.AA 560.1 It produces practical godliness in the life, with character purified, elevated, ennobled, and glorified.AA 560.1 Then pure doctrine blends with works of righteousness and heavenly precepts mingle with holy practices.AA 560.1 This love is revealed through the Spirit and takes practical form in loving one another as Christ loved.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30+1 It is to shape conduct in every part of life, including business, and the truth received in the heart brings mind, soul, and strength into harmony with God.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30+2

Its life-giving power is like leaven, bringing all of mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30+1 It is joined to faith that works through love and purifies the soul.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30 Dwelling in love and dwelling in God is not mere assent to truth or hearing the Word but daily living the truth.ST Oct 11, 1899 It means shutting in with God in full surrender, having Christ dwell in the heart by faith, with self crucified so Christ lives within by union through living faith to refine and elevate the soul and give power to walk in newness of life.ST Oct 11, 1899 It gives the work and privilege of presenting to others growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.ST Oct 11, 1899

Love and purity are the traits most prized by the Father and by the crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour.Lt 86, 1895, par. 28–29+1 This love is charity, purity, and fidelity, the character most prized and sought in men.Lt 86, 1895, par. 28–29+1 Living in love means living united with God and having God live within.Lt 86, 1895, par. 28–29+1 Having a tender, humble, sympathetic, pitying heart is not weakness to be ashamed of but strength drawn from Christ.Lt 86, 1895, par. 28–29 Believing this means living not to please self but to please the Lord.Lt 252, 1903, par. 5–6 It is known by experience that the Lord is gracious and that Jesus loves the believer.Lt 252, 1903, par. 5–6

Such faith gathers divine rays of light to the soul and brings the brightness of Christ's life into daily life.Lt 252, 1903, par. 5–6 It talks faith and lives faith with cheerfulness that represents Him, for talking faith gives faith.Lt 252, 1903, par. 5–6 That indwelling cannot be hidden but springs up like a well of water into everlasting life.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9+1 It shows itself in character, words, and conduct that reflect His likeness.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9+1 It awakens in others a deep, abiding, increasing love for Jesus, with the Spirit witnessing that they are God's children.Lt 52, 1894, par. 9+1

Those who truly know that love impart light and joy wherever they are.MYP 363.2–3+2 Their presence and influence are like the fragrance of sweet flowers because they are linked to God and heaven and communicate the purity and exalted loveliness of heaven to all brought within their influence.MYP 363.2–3+2 This makes them the light of the world and the salt of the earth, savors of life unto life and not of death unto death, cheerful and happy.MYP 363.2–3 Gloomy professors who throw darkness over Christian hope and make God's requirements seem a burden show they do not have the genuine article.MYP 363.2–3 This dwelling must be practiced and cultivated like a precious plant through exercise of the spiritual powers until it gains strength of character, moral vigor, and rich fruit-bearing that expresses itself in the whole character.FE 280.1

Entering more fully into the love of Jesus by practice brings advancement as Christians and molds the character of those brought into relationship with them.FE 282.1+1

To dwell in love is to love one another as Christ loved, and love for Christ and love for one another rise together so that the more love is held for Christ the more love is held for one another.10MR 144.1–4+4 It is impossible to have Christ's love in the heart while acting discourteously toward one another, drawing apart without love and sympathy, or showing no affectionate or compassionate interest, and those who do so are not sanctified to God and do not have His love in their hearts.10MR 144.1–4+4 That cherished love casts out enmity and petty differences and transforms coldness into Christlike affection, growing into strong love for Christ and for one another.RH Feb 24, 1903 This belief calls for humble united prayer, repentance of sins, and confession of faults to one another, with exceeding care to do or say nothing that creates ill will, but to act courteously and with sympathy and to live in unity.10MR 144.1–4+1 There must be a reformation on this point, for without mutual love there is a perilous departing from God.10MR 144.1–4+1

To dwell in God is to dwell in love, so hatred and false assumptions against a brother prove a spirit that cannot stand acquitted before God, and such bitterness is displeasing to Him.Lt 391, 1906, par. 15–16 Treasuring untrue grievances, prejudice, enmity, and accusations against a brother brings present and eternal injury.Lt 391, 1906, par. 15–16 What is required is a decided change of spirit, coming to the senses and laying them aside.Lt 391, 1906, par. 15–16 Those who truly love God must manifest lovingkindness of heart, judgment, and righteousness to all in sanctified association cooperating with Christ.Ms 8a, 1888, par. 13–15 Love is not in word nor in tongue but in deed and in truth, perceiving God's love in Christ laying down His life and being ready to lay down life for the brethren and to open compassion and goods to a needy brother.Ms 8a, 1888, par. 13–15+1

The entire law is fulfilled by loving God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving the neighbor as oneself, the two principles on which hang all the law and the prophets.Lt 86, 1895, par. 28–29+4 Only those who share the divine nature live in this love, and only by it can men fulfill God's law.SPBC 167.4+1 Where this love is lived there is glory to God in the highest and peace on earth with goodwill to men.Lt 86, 1895, par. 28–29+4 Coldness and lack of sympathy are not of God, while charity, purity, and fidelity are the character most prized.Ms 115a, 1897, par. 14–15+2 Disciples are to love one another as Christ loved them, and this mutual love is their testimony to the world that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory.ST Oct 20, 1898 It defines religious obligation to one another and gives the test of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth, with action fashioned after the divine standard and with the Holy Spirit and the Word agreeing in divine unity and universal brotherhood that brings order and harmony in the church.ST Oct 20, 1898+1

When believers love one another God dwells in them and His love is perfected and matured in them, and that love cannot be restrained but flows out to others.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30+2 It binds them in holy union by the golden chain of love as evidence to the world that God sent His Son, and makes them one as Christ is one with the Father.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30 It begins in the home and extends to church, neighborhood, community, and nations, quenches thinking evil and speaking evil against brethren, and makes believers a savor of life unto life.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30 God's love must be lived out in practical religion, including respect and kindness toward every person and especially one's own family, rather than pressing extreme personal views on others, for love and purity are the fruits of a good life.Lt 39, 1901, par. 10–12+1 Selfishness chills the hearts of others and can bring sickness of soul.3T 528.1

This love is learned by practicing Christ's constant forgiving love that binds erring souls to oneself instead of expelling the guilty from saving, uplifting, educating influences.FE 282.1+2 Those dealing with tempted and erring youth must give up what they think is their right, expel selfishness and human dignity, and show love, gentleness, tenderness, compassion, forbearance, forgiveness, and sympathy rather than hastily thrusting them onto Satan's battleground.FE 282.1+2 It enters into the feelings of the tempted so trials bring out the gold and consume the dross, tells the erring that God loves them, weeps and prays with them without anger, and shows respect that restores lost self-respect.FE 280.1 It is given most earnestly and untiringly to those who need it most, the most unfortunate, disagreeable, rough, stubborn, and sullen who try patience, treating the undeserving with grace as Christ treated humanity.FE 280.1 In genuine conversion even a rich man devoted to money-getting who worshiped mammon, when he cooperates with God and beholds Jesus in lowliness, self-denial, and self-sacrifice, sees himself as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, becomes small in his own estimation, prefers Christ to himself, and lays hold on eternal life.Lt 47, 1894, par. 15–16 Then Jesus dwells in his heart and His love is perfected in him, so the whole law is fulfilled in loving God with all the heart with the natural and sure result of loving his fellow man as himself.Lt 47, 1894, par. 15–16

This loving, soul-saving life was the work of Christ in giving His life so sinners do not perish in sin but are clothed with His salvation.SPBC 167.4+2 When His followers appreciate and represent His work, cherished in the heart and quickened by the Holy Spirit with brotherly kindness, tenderness, and acts testifying to God's character, the great result is reached in the joy set before Him in saving souls for whom He gave His life.SPBC 167.4+3 That heart-to-heart union cements and strengthens union with those of like faith, and strengthening love for brethren and sisters strengthens love for Christ.RH Mar 17, 1910+1 It is not sentimentalism but the working of a healthful principle.RH Mar 17, 1910+1

Remaining in love is remaining in God with God remaining in the person, and that indwelling is completed in loving one another so that love is matured within.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2 This matured love gives confidence and boldness in the day of judgment, because as Christ is so are believers in this world.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2 It is known by the gift of His Spirit, by seeing and testifying that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and by confessing Jesus as the Son of God, joined to loving because God first loved.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+1

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear that brings torment.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+1 Love for the unseen God is proved by love for the brother who is seen.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6

The love God has toward us is known and believed because in love He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save sinners as a propitiation for sins, that we might live through Him.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+3 This was not because we loved God but because He loved us.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30 In sending His Son, Christ took human nature and joined divinity with humanity, so that through grace human beings may share in the divine nature and stand on vantage ground with God.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6

After the great controversy is ended, the truth that God is love will be declared by all things.GC 678.3+1 When sin and sinners are no more and the entire universe is clean, one pulse of harmony and gladness will beat through the vast creation.GC 678.3+1 From Him who created all, life and light and gladness will flow throughout the realms of illimitable space, from the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things animate and inanimate, in unshadowed beauty and perfect joy.GC 678.3+1