Nothing Seperates Us from the Love of God?

I love how definitive the Scripture is in making declarations of truth and freedom, Romans 8:38 and 39 declare that nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ. Why is this such a wonderfully powerful couple of verses that so many do no experience? As my Papa has been touching some deep places of loneliness and emptiness in my heart, I realize the pain often came from believing I was alone. These lies are deeply rooted in my experience as a little boy, where I often was alone and then even isolated inside a shell to protect myself from being hurt. My deeply held belief is does not override the truth of the Word but my heart cry is to experience the Life the Word writes about. So it is through deception that we can choose to believe we are separated from God and then experience this painful separation. Since we were born to be radically and deeply loved by God, any separation results in some form of death (like it did for Adam and Eve). Since we are now "in Christ" we will not be separated from God ever but each one of us are on a journey to have our experience line up with the Word. If there are places in your heart of loneliness or emptiness, these are an invitation to experience God's love on a deeper level. We are relational creatures by design, just as the God is relational (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). We often choose loneliness or isolation for fear of rejection, disappointment, or loss. Yet I do not see any rejection under the New Covenant, Jesus freely welcomed all who came to Him but not all came to Him. As I have learned more about the New Covenant I was amazed to find out much of the original language (Greek) is not individual but applies to believers corporately. This means our individualistic and self-sufficient culture is directly opposed to the environment God desires to be in the Body of Christ. I believe loneliness is epidemic in our culture because so many have bought into the original lie of Satan that we are to be gods running our own little world and not showing anyone our weaknesses. It is love that allows our weaknesses to be exposed and healed, not put on public display for attack. I pray that God would begin to renew our mind to Christ's love which is to be manifested in the Body of Christ. I see so many believers who desire this and are frustrated with the institutional church because they don't see Christ manifest but they don't know where else to go. I pray that God would birth in each of us a desire for His vision of the Body (see Ephesians 3:14-21) and that we would be part of the coming change rather than part of the division or tearing down of the church.

In His Grace,
Bret