Unveiling The Breakthrough Power Of Love by Bishop David Oyedepo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Unveiling the Breakthrough Power of Love

Every child of God is redeemed for the top. Matthew 5:14 calls us a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. He came to raise the poor out of the dunghill and make us sit among princes — Psalm 113:5-8 says He humbles Himself to behold the things in heaven and in the earth, He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill to set them with the princes of His people. He became poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich. He came down to take us up.

What establishes our access to the top is genuine love for God. The anchor scripture for this is 1 Corinthians 2:9 — eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things God has prepared for those who love Him. Genuine love for God is the mystery behind supernatural breakthroughs in life. Romans 8:28 tells us all things — not most things, all things — work together for good to those who love God. There is no other platform under heaven that guarantees that.

We saw it in Abraham, a friend of God, and love is the cement of friendship. Isaiah 41:8 — "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." You cannot befriend Him and not reflect Him. But the anchor proof of our love for God is delightful obedience to His instructions. John 14:21 — he that has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. 1 John 5:3 — this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. Psalm 112:1-2 — blessed is the man that fears the Lord, that delights greatly in His commandments; his seed shall be mighty upon the earth, the generation of the upright shall be blessed. The breakthrough that love engenders is generational — it does not stop with you, it goes on to your children and your children's children.

What then is love? In our context, love means a God-first lifestyle. Matthew 22:36-40 — thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things that others are struggling to get shall be added unto you.

Twelve Characteristics of Love

1. Love is not a gift. Love is a choice.

   "Who is on the Lord's side?" Exodus 32:26. "Choose you this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" — Joshua 24:15.

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2. Love is not a calling. It is a decision.

   "Do you love me, Simon, son of Jonas?" "Yes, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you" — John 21:15-17.

3. Love is not an endowment. It is a commandment.

   The first and great commandment — Matthew 22 — makes great men and women in the kingdom.

4. Love is not what we know, say, or teach. Love is what we do.

   1 John 3:16-18 — hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God dwell in him? Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

5. Love is not a state. Love is a lifestyle.

   He who loves God loves his brother also — it is a continuous thing, not something reserved for a particular season.

6. Genuine love for God is unquenchable.

   Song of Solomon 8:6-7 — love is strong as death; many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. When God's love is genuine in your heart, no circumstance of life can quench it.

7. Love is stronger than death.

   The three Hebrew boys said, "Our God is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us... but if not, we will still not bow to your image" — Daniel 3. Romans 8:35 — who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

8. Love is of the heart, not of the face or words.

   "This people draws near me with their mouth... but their heart is far from me" — Isaiah 29:13. "If any man love God, the same is known of Him" — 1 Corinthians 8:3. God knows those who genuinely love Him.
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Bishop David Oyedepo
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9. Genuine love is never offended in God.

   "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" — Job 13:15. "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me" — Matthew 11:6. Every time you begin accusing God for your situation, you have become offended in Him.

10. There is no fear in love.

    When God's love comes alive in you, fear vanishes. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil" — David had a heart for God and no fear. "There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear" — 1 John 4:18. David faced the lion, the bear, and Goliath without fear, because behind every defeat in battle is fear, and light and darkness cannot coexist.

11. Love engenders favour.

    God gave Joseph favour because Joseph feared God — the fear of God and the love of God amount to the same posture of heart. Genesis 39 and Genesis 42:18. Daniel was also brought into favour because he was found faithful, and would not defile himself — Daniel 1:9.

12. Genuine love is shown through a right attitude toward God.

    "Let God be true and every man a liar" — Romans 3:4. God is always right; if anything goes wrong, I must be the one responsible. "That which I know not, teach me. If I have done iniquity, I will do no more."

What Love Unlocks

When a believer is truly in love with God, and God is in him, he becomes a breakthrough personality on the earth. Psalm 24:7-10 — lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in. No door can be shut against the King of glory, and where you are in Him, it is God the gate sees when you approach it.

All true lovers of God are sold-out servants who command the supernatural without struggling for it, simply because they are responding to His commandment. Mark 3:14 and Mark 10:28-30 — Peter said, "We have left all and followed you; what shall we have?" Jesus answered, "A hundredfold." Every true lover of God is ordained a pathfinder, a pacesetter, and a trailblazer.

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There are two proofs of true love. First, one who is in love with God will be committed to studying His word — Psalm 119:97, "Oh how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day," and verse 162, "I rejoice at thy word as one that finds great spoil." Second, it is not only the study of the word but the practice of it — Luke 6:46, "Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" James 1:22-25 — be doers of the word, and not hearers only.

Two Examples: David and Peter

David became a breakthrough personality because he was a man with a heart for God. When confronted about his sin, he did not dodge it — "I am the one who has sinned; what have these others done? Let your hand be against me." That transparency brought a generational blessing that carried his name into the New Testament, where the crowds cried, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me," and where Revelation 5 speaks of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.

Peter, a frustrated fisherman, let Jesus into his boat after a wasted night, launched into the deep at His word, and saw the nets break with fish. He abandoned the boat, the nets, and his old life to follow — Luke 5:1-11. Even after he denied Christ and wept bitterly, that failure did not define him; he became the rock who stood on the day of Pentecost, because of an unfettered, all-out love for Jesus.

The Key to Open Doors

Revelation 3:7-8 — He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens: "I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it, for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name."

You don't have to force a door open. The key to an open door is doing whatever He commands you to do from His word. That is the whole substance of it — not deliberation, not a decision arrived at by argument, but simply obedience: whatever He tells you to do, do it.

Five Ways to Walk in Open Doors

1. Be born again, and remain so. You keep overcoming — 1 John 5:4, whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world. Don't assume salvation; experience it.
2. Keep walking in the fear of God as a lifestyle, the way Joseph did, taking utmost delight in keeping His commandments.
3. Stay in love with God, and all things will keep working together for your good. All doors will open on their own accord.
4. Lay hold on the right word concerning the doors you desire to see open. It is not enough to say it — lay hold of the specific, right word from Scripture.
5. Enter into covenant to keep serving God and the interests of His kingdom as a lifestyle, and keep renewing that covenant. No door will succeed in staying shut against you.