Benefits Of Being Justified Through FaithSample

The Love Of God Is Poured In Our Hearts

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

The Holy Spirit does many things for us. He seals us, dwells in us, baptizes us, fills us, teaches us, comforts us, convicts us, guides us, empowers us, and more. But one of the most important of all the ministries of the Holy Spirit is found in Romans 5:5: He pours God’s love into our hearts.

How absolutely vital is this ministry? If we do not feel loved by God, then we won’t fully love God back, nor will we fully trust Him, enjoy Him, worship Him, obey Him, or rest in Him.

Our entire spiritual life hinges on whether we experience God’s love for us. This is what the Spirit does for us: He reveals to us how much the Father loves us. He does not pour out God’s love when we’ve been good, dutiful, devout, disciplined, or because we’ve had our quiet time. We don’t earn God’s love. Rather, the Spirit pours out the Father’s love simply because this is the Spirit’s nature—to pour the Father’s love into our hearts.

Paul chooses a strong word: pour. “It has the sense of an initial outpouring that remains a permanent flood,” says John Stott. “It is like a cloudburst on a parched countryside,” states James Dunn. But this is a cloudburst that leaves the ground permanently soaked in God’s love.

Receive the Father’s love afresh. Drink it in. “O Spirit, pour out the Father’s love afresh in my heart!”