Editor’s Note
by Editor(s)

This issue of The Intercessor is dedicated to the topic of Love. We begin with a close look at the true meaning of love, in our lead article "What is Love?" Norman beautifully unravels the implications of that well known verse "God is Love." He then exposes the false belief that we can and do love God: "We can-not love God, no man ever has or ever will love God: only divine love can love Him." A shocking statement. However, he doesn’t leave us there. Norman continues on to show us the one and only way that perfect love can be obtained.

On a personal note, Norman shares in "The All, in All" and in "Long on Faith, Short on Love" his own struggle to become more loving, only to find this is an impossibility: "I saw that we humans do not exist to become some-thing but to contain someone." What marvelous revelation!

In "Divine Love," an excerpt from William Law’s The Spirit of Prayer, we catch a glimpse of how God communicates his goodness and Love to His creation, by sending forth "nothing but good to all eternity". "But what about all the ‘bad’ things that happen in the world?" some might ask. If this is you, read Only Two Alternatives–Which? In this article Norman describes how God became eternally fixed as a Lover-Father and as a result everything He brings into our life is "always perfect love with a perfect outcome." Furthermore, we see in "We Only Know Right Through Wrong," that evil is necessary. Through a closer examination of Adam and Eve in the Garden, Norman reveals how the Devil is in actual fact God’s "convenient opposite." Through the existence of evil we learn what it is to be a person: to be aware of alternatives, to be free to choose between them and ultimately learn the right way, having experienced the consequences of the wrong way. Continuing in this vein, Norman digs further into "The Law of Opposites" expounding upon the relationship between the negative and the positive, and how each is necessary to the other.

This issue’s Bible study, "Unconditional Love," tackles the issue of whether, as Christians, we should accept each other the way we are. Brett Burrowes considers how we deal with our brother if there is sin involved and furthermore, what if the person is not sorry or won’t admit they have sinned? As always, Brett goes back to the Bible to find the answers. An examination of how God views sin and how He deals with people provides a clear answer: "God did not just accept us ‘the way we were.’ In spite of ourselves, He loved us and did something about our plight." Accompanying this insightful Bible study is a shorter article on the same topic, "About Unconditional Love." This provides further light on the true meaning of unconditional love.

Often times, it is easy for us to mistake emotions/feelings for the reality. In particular, the word live is often misused as an emotion that comes and goes. But what about when we don’t feel loving, or we have other negative feelings such as fear, doubt etc.? Page Prewitt’s article "Body, Soul, Spirit," Page draws the distinction between thoughts and feelings, which are temporary, always changing, and the Spirit dimension./reality. God as Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He is joined to our spirit. "Our putting our faith in the reality of the changelessness of Him who is Spirit gives us a poise and stability to life that is  unrealizable when we invest ourselves in some-thing or someone other than Him." If we do invest ourselves in something or someone other than Him this can become an inordinate affection which Norman talks about in another poignant article "Inordinate Affection." Here we are reminded to "keep thy heart with all diligence." Even something innocent in itself, whether people or things, can become idols that we believe we could not live without. Sadly, when we are pre-occupied and spend all our time and energies on some selfish, inordinate affection, God is unable to use us for what he made us for: "to have all things, to love all things, to serve all things. See "A Love Letter" for an example of someone who saw the danger of this before marriage and made sure the one Lord of his heart would remain his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Finally, for a catalog of devices and defenses against Satan’s commonest tricks read "To The Soldiers of God: Going or Gone to the Heart of Africa." Written originally by C.T. Studd in a pamphlet for missionaries in 1915, you will be sure to recognize some, if not all, of the Devil’s favorite traps. In this cleverly written article, Satan is magnificently exposed.

We trust you will benefit from reading this issue’s extensive collection of articles on Love.