By Robin L. Capers

Kisses on cheeks, friendly hugs, and tight squeezes are common greetings shared among Christians and Messianics at churches, bible studies, para-church meetings, and other gatherings. These types of greetings often arouse warm fuzzy feelings, but are they truly love? This raises questions: Are physical greetings actually love? How should believers love each other in truth? Let’s find out as we explore the answer to: “What is Divine Love?”

False Love

Even the phrase “I love you” is meaningless without actions to back it up.

Don’t let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from evil and cling to what is good. Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples in each other for showing respect. (Complete Jewish Bible, Rom. 9:10)

This is my command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. (John 15:12-14)

Who would do that? How many of us would be willing to lay down our life for a friend? Since Yeshua has Divine DNA, His Love must also be Divine. He instructed us to love as He loves; therefore, we are to love with Divine Love. Sadly, it appears we have a long way to go to be filled with Divine Love.

Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body. (Eph. 4:25)

I may have the gift of prophecy,
I may fathom all mysteries,
know all things,
have all faith — enough to move mountains;
but if I lack love, I am nothing. (1 Cor. 13:2)

In many cases and situations, this seems to be a huge issue. So, what is the cause of this disconnect?

One source of false love is individualism, which we discussed in our initial post. You may recall that individualism takes the focus away from the core social group and places it onto the individual. The result is selfishness. Everything is always about me, me, me or my ministry, my church, my bible study. Get the drift? Apostle John wrote:

For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning: that we should love each other and not be like Kayin [(Cain)], who was from the Evil One and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. (1 John 3:11-12)

Then I heard another voice out of heaven say:
‘My people, come out of her! so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not be infected by her plagues.’ (Rev. 18:4)

It is evident that the spirit of Jezebel, the controller of false love, must be overcome! The above scripture (Revelation 18:4) appears to reveal God’s purpose for our current global crisis and plague. Agreed? That Command to come out of her sins and avoid her plagues introduces our next topic: True Love.

True Love

Yeshua answered, ‘The most important is,
Sh’ma Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the Lord our God, the Lord is one], and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You are to love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other mitzvah greater than these.’
The Torah-teacher said to him, ‘Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that he is one, and that there is no other besides him; and that loving him with all one’s heart, understanding and strength, and loving one’s neighbor as oneself, mean more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.’
When Yeshua saw that he responded sensibly, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’ (Mark 12:28-34)

[Divine] Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. [Divine] Love does not gloat over other people’s sins but takes its delight in the truth. [Divine] Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures.  (1 Cor. 13: 4-7)

Not many believers actually practice Divine Love.

I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other. (John 13:34-35)

It’s time for a new cultural shift from individualism to the group culture mindset of the Kingdom of God. Our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom is a Spiritual Kingdom built on the foundation of His Torah and Divine Love.

The Book of Ruth contains great examples of love and self-sacrifice as well as working together for a harvest. We need to start asking each other: How can we work together to accomplish more within and for the Kingdom of God?

Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. Also there are different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord being served. And there are different modes of working, but it is the same God working them all in everyone.

Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good. To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues. One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses.

For just as the body is one but has many parts; and all the parts of the body, though many, constitute one body; so it is with the Messiah. For it was by one Spirit that we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Cor. 12:4-13)

First Fruits Harvest

The Biblical Feast of Shavuot aka Feast of Weeks aka Pentecost marks the yearly celebration of God’s giving of the Torah through Moses on Mount Sinai. It was the first time God revealed His Glory to all of Israel. Shavuot also signifies the harvest of first fruits. It was the time of year when the Hebrew people brought their early grain offerings to be presented to God as their first fruits offerings with anticipation of the greater fall harvest. Check out the video below to learn more about this feast.

What is the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot or Pentecost)?

Supernatural power from heaven came down on a core group of believers who followed “The Way” of our Messiah, the Living Torah, during the Feast of Shavuot.

The festival of Shavu‘ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh [(Holy Spirit)] and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak. (Acts 2: 1-4)

Think about it for a moment. Supernatural power from heaven came down on a core group of believers who followed “The Way” of our Messiah, the Living Torah, during the Feast of Shavuot. They were together in one place and united as one in mind, heart, and Spirit. They were filled with God’s Divine Love and Presence and received Spiritual Gifts.

Believers in the upper room were not Roman Catholics. They were not Lutherans. They were not Baptists. They were not Pentecostals. They were not from any church, para-church organization, or denomination. They were not even Christians or Messianic Jews. They did not “agree to disagree.” Rather, they were “anointed ones” who joyfully followed “the Way” of Torah because of their love for God and His Son and each other.

They continued faithfully in the teaching of the emissaries, in fellowship, in breaking bread and in the prayers. Everyone was filled with awe, and many miracles and signs took place through the emissaries. All those trusting in Yeshua stayed together and had everything in common; in fact, they sold their property and possessions and distributed the proceeds to all who were in need. Continuing faithfully and with singleness of purpose to meet in the Temple courts daily, and breaking bread in their several homes, they shared their food in joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and having the respect of all the people. And day after day the Lord kept adding to them those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

Thus, the Kingdom of God is about groups. It’s about small core groups of people working together with Divine Love and compassion and for the common good of all.

Vision of the End-Times Harvest

In March of 1982, my husband, James, fasted to know his purpose in life. This was three years before we met and married. On the second day of his fast, a Voice spoke to him and said, “If you were living the way you ought to, you wouldn’t need to fast.” James replied, “Well, I’m not, and I want an answer. So, I’m going on with it.” And he did.

On the sixth day of his fast, James was given a vision of his future spiritual house, which began as a green colored house (symbolizing growth) that turned white (symbolizing purity). Inside the house, James saw his future wife (me) and his future family (our four children). From the house, the vision continued with an aerial view of the End-Times Harvest.

During the harvest, James saw many workers coming down from surrounding mountains (an elevated, spiritual position) and into a valley below (the non-spiritual world) to work the fields. After their work, they returned to their villages in the mountains. In the fields, there were five different crops being farmed (Eph. 4:11; five-fold ministry: Emissaries, prophets, proclaimers of Good News; shepherds, and teachers). After James asked three times what our Lord wanted him to do, finally, at the end of the vision, our Lord told him: “Feed My People.”

After that vision, our Lord led our family to the Wilderness to begin our training. He began with a lengthy prophecy, in which He said He was pleased with us, that He was going to teach us “line upon line, precept upon precept,” and that He had “another phase and another step for us.” He also said He would provide for us and teach our children.

Within weeks, we were invited by a Jewish rabbi to visit his synagogue and share in their Friday Shabbat service. On the wall of the synagogue were plaques of the families who were members there. One of the plaques had James’s maternal grandmother’s maiden name: Glaesman. That was a divine introduction to James’s Hebraic and Israelite roots.

Prophecy

On November 15, 2019, James and I received a prophetic word that confirmed the above vision at a gathering of believers in Eugene, Oregon. Ritchie prayed for us and was given a vision. He saw James and me as farmers planting crops among groups of people. The people he saw were 20- to 30-years old (millennials). James and I harvested the crops and moved on to the next group. As an aside, it took 38 years for James to receive a confirmation of his 1982 vision.

End-Times Dream

James’s vision brings to mind a prophetic dream given to Tommy Hicks in 1961. Tommy Hicks was a major figure in the powerful 1954 Argentine Revival. Please take a moment to read his prophetic dream on our Victorious Life Ministries website: Vision of the Giant.

What stands out to me is their “divine love;” plus, the fact that the harvesters work together and live together. Was God sending us a message through the hippies, after all?

Of course, communal living doesn’t mean sinful living. It could be living in the same community. It could be living in a co-op apartment building owned by its residents. Whatever it will be, I’m sure there are other possibilities. And harvesting definitely does not refer to harvesting marijuana plants. Rather, harvesting refers to reaping a spiritual harvest of people and the eternal well-being of their souls.

We would love to hear from you! What are your thoughts on Divine Love and end-times harvest workers? Please register to sign-in and leave a comment below.


*Note: If you feel convicted of committing the sin of False Love, please repent and, as much as it is possible and feasible, ask forgiveness of those you have offended (Rom. 12:18). Then pray a prayer of forgiveness. like the following, from your heart:
Heavenly Father, I come to You as a little child. I realize that I have not been loving others, especially my fellow believers, as You do. I have not been loving them with Your Divine Love. I confess that I have had False Love, and that it is a sin. I do not want to have False Love. I renounce and reject Jezebel and all of her lies. I want to have Divine Love, like You. Will you cover my sin of False Love with the Blood of Your Precious Lamb, Yehoshua, blot it out forever, and forgive me? As You forgive me, I receive and accept Your Forgiveness, and I make it mine. Now, will You fill me with Your Divine Love and help me to love others as You do? I ask this in the Name of your Precious and Only Begotten Son, Yehoshua. Amen!

Robin & James

Coming soon! What is Church?

Coming soon! Transformation: From Church to Kingdom Culture.