Upgrade in Love: Developing a Lifestyle of Receiving, Becoming & Releasing God's Love

By Leif Hetland and Paul Yadao

I've traveled all over the world trying to serve God, so He would be proud of me as His son. I didn't understand that I already was His beloved son. When I discovered that He was already pleased with me, not because of what I was doing, but because of who I am in Jesus—I was forever changed. I had been striving for affirmation and approval without realizing that God already affirmed me and approved of me in Jesus because of His love. I no longer needed to strive for His affection or love—I could just receive it. This revelation allowed me to see in new ways and live a new life.

This is a book about receiving an upgrade in love and becoming an ambassador of love. Many believers know about the Father's love without experiencing His love for themselves. The world is waiting for a revelation of the sons and daughters of God who know His love. They need ambassadors of His kingdom to present His nature to them. Will you manifest His love to them? This is your invitation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578735856

Book preview

LOVE

INTRODUCTION

I remember the first time I stood before government leaders and was addressed as the ambassador of love. I was in a Muslim country among some of its top Imams, and it did not feel like a very warm environment. But one of them with a long beard walked up to me, stared at me, and said, You are the ambassador of love. This was not a normal expression in their culture, but as surprising as it was to me, it stuck. It started to spread, and today I am known in many countries as an ambassador of love. But I immediately realized that this title of an ambassador of love to the nations was not just for me. It is really a description of every believer. I made a commitment to help other people step into this calling to re-present the love of the Father to the world.

As a Norwegian, I have traveled many times to the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. When I go into the building, I am actually in Norwegian territory; the embassy belongs to Norway. It is a little piece of my home country on American soil. I can speak Norwegian there, perhaps even enjoy some Norwegian chocolate, and see a lot of things that remind me of home. The ambassador has a special role. He is a citizen of Norway living in a host country. He represents the king and the government of Norway to the United States. He is there on behalf of Norway, even as he lives and travels throughout America. He is an embodiment of his own country’s interests.

That is a picture of every believer’s assignment. We represent Papa God and the environment of heaven—actually re-presenting them, as in presenting them again and again—while we live and travel on earth. Just as God sent Jesus into the world to manifest His nature, we have been sent into the world to embody Jesus’ nature. We are sons and daughters of the King who have become ambassadors of His kingdom. We are an embodiment of the Father’s interests, character, and love.

This is a book about receiving an upgrade in love and becoming an ambassador of love. Many believers know about the Father’s love without knowing His love for themselves. They still have not experienced it fully, really seeing it as it is. Though you are already thoroughly, completely loved by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we will talk about ways to receive that love, then to become that love, and then to release that love to those around us. The world is waiting for a revelation of the sons and daughters of God who know His love. They need ambassadors of His kingdom to present His nature to them. They need someone to manifest His love as it really is.

I hope you will be encouraged by the journey we take together in this book. By the time we are through, I trust that you will experience an upgrade beyond your dreams. I believe you will experience the love of your Father in new ways and know some practical ways to transform the world around you. And I am convinced that others will begin to see you as an ambassador of love who looks very much like Jesus.

CHAPTER 1

WELCOME HOME

I still remember the day I gave my life to Jesus. A Swedish couple sang a song that introduced me to Him, and even though my feet felt like lead, this 13-year-old Norwegian boy managed to get to the altar. It was a beautiful time; I was just overwhelmed with Jesus. For a moment, everything felt right.

I didn’t realize at the time that there was still something missing in my life. I was still carrying a lot of pain, and pain always seeks pleasure. It very often leads us to look for love in the wrong places. I did not yet know my identity in Christ or the authority that God gives us, and I didn’t know how to have friendship with Him, so I sought friendship with some peers who were not very good for me to be around. They introduced me to some unhealthy habits, and my search for love actually took me further away from it. The further I moved away from real love, the further I moved away from God. I didn’t even realize what was happening. After five years into this journey, I was very messed up. I was kicked out of school for drug abuse and ended up in a park in Oslo.

So I knew at 18 that I was very broken. I was filled with guilt and shame. I felt bad not only for what I had done to God but also for what I had done to my family. I knew my parents were very worried about me. I knew I didn’t deserve anything from them. But my level of pain at that moment was so high that I had to do something. I didn’t want to live in that park, and as embarrassing as it might be to go home, that would be better than what I was experiencing. So I called my family—not necessarily out of repentance (that would come later) but for some relief.

A lot of thoughts went through my mind as I sat on a train winding through southern Norway. I didn’t know what to expect. But when I saw my father at the train station, he ran toward me and embraced me. We started a long ride, took a ferry across a fjord, and then arrived home. My 15-year-old brother was an apprentice caterer and was just learning to bake cakes. He had made a beautiful cake that said, Welcome home, Leif. I will never forget that scene. I did not deserve such a welcome, but it was a glorious homecoming. I was received with open arms. Something inside me was transformed. It changed my life.

But there was still something missing. I was excited about Jesus, and I wanted to serve. I turned my life around and made a commitment to Him. I determined to be a faithful servant, so I worked hard to do all the right things for God, to work for Him diligently so I could become that faithful servant I wanted to be. What I didn’t realize is that I was still looking for love. I was following a very common pattern that most human beings follow: We do something in order to get something, and we want to get something in order to be someone. I was trying to find my identity as a faithful servant in the things I did. I even traveled all over the world to serve God so I would know I was one of His beloved sons. I didn’t understand that I was already one of His beloved sons. When I discovered that—that He was already pleased with me not for what I was doing but for who I was in Jesus—it changed me. I had been striving for affirmation and approval without realizing that He had already affirmed me and approved of me in Jesus because of His love. I didn’t have to get His attention. I didn’t have to strive for His love. I could just receive it. I began to see in new ways and live a new life.

If you are familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, you may have noticed some similarities in my story. It’s a story of a son who rebelled against his father and a son who faithfully and religiously served his father. I have been both the son who was lost and the son who was working in the fields. But when I came home to my Father, He did not rebuke me for all the things I had done wrong. He ran to me and embraced me, just as my earthly father did, and He told me I was His beloved son in whom He was well pleased. I received both His robe and His ring—the family identity and the family authority, which we will soon explore in more depth—and this glorious homecoming has given me new life.

God has a glorious homecoming prepared for every single person. He wants us to live like we have a home—not straying far from home, and not even just working in the fields near home. He doesn’t want us to live for Him nearly as much as He wants us to live from Him. That is the journey that He is taking us on, and it all begins with love.

THE SONS’ JOURNEY

How do you think your life would change if you were able to see the same face of the Father that Jesus saw and heard the same voice that He did? For those who have come home to the Father and received their robe and ring, this is possible. Jesus gives us a wonderful picture of what the Father is like. (If you are not familiar with the story, I would encourage you to read it in Luke 15:11-32.) He tells this story so we can experience the Father in the same way too.

A father had two sons, and the younger son demanded his inheritance from the father. He didn’t want to wait. He wanted everything life had to offer. I believe he was so impatient because he was not comfortable with love and did not know how to relate to his father. He was looking for love in the wrong places. Jesus always demonstrated that God is love, and if you are uncomfortable with love, you will be uncomfortable with God. You will also be uncomfortable with yourself, and the pain in your life will take you away from the Father and His love. This younger son is a picture of being uncomfortable with the father, and the further he went from the father, the closer he got to the pigpen. He