A Space Filled With Love

A revelation received over a night and morning of worship, Saturday October 24 – Sunday October 25, 2026.

The revelation, in my words

There is a space, a space I know, being filled with Love. It has been largely elusive. My eyes are opening to it.

I have been distracted by self, focused on the wrong things. So many around me live by faith. I am seeing it and recognizing it everywhere: a heart of worship, prayer without ceasing, not being triggered by emotion.

I’m onto real life. And it is a choice. God overcomes all, if I trust Him. And I do.

It’s a space I want to remain in constantly. That’s the battle. Love conquers fear. And I am built by love, for love.

It starts with seeing myself as God sees me. My true identity. The true nature of my heart, my heart’s true desire, is Love.

How I got here

Decades of sobriety and pain regardless
Step 11 practices daily, since January
Forgiveness for family members, and self (ACA work)
The retreat, and the peace that followed it.
Darlene at Home Depot, the day after. She shared her faith, told me she sings, and served with a great attitude. I want to be that way. Her joy came first, then her kindness: Faith → Identity → Attitude → Action.
Weeks of worship — Zach Williams, Guy Penrod, Kim Walker-Smith, Kari Jobe, Jenn Johnson. Revelation Song. Love Has a Name.
Kim Walker-Smith’s testimony — hurt, abuse and forgiveness, and how she gave it all to Jesus. She described being with God, and I knew what she meant because I’ve experienced it.
The realization: I’m not missing anything. I have what she has. I can choose to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

What grieves the Spirit

R.T. Kendall: find out what grieves the Spirit, and don’t do that. Ephesians 4:30–32 names it — bitterness, rage, anger — and the cure: kindness, compassion, forgiveness. The Dove doesn’t leave with a bang; the sweetness quietly lifts. When I notice it’s gone, ask what just happened, set it down, and turn back.

Ephesians 5:18: keep being filled. Not a one-time event — a posture I return to.

Love has a name

1 Corinthians 13:4–8, with Jesus:

Jesus is patient and kind; Jesus does not envy or boast; He is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful; He does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never ends.

With my name:

Geoff is patient and kind; Geoff does not envy or boast; he is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on his own way; he is not irritable or resentful; he does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Geoff bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

It ends with Jesus never ends — not my name. I’ll fall short. He won’t.

To remain

John 15:9 — “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Abide (menō) is the same word as 1 Corinthians 13:13: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three.” The space is always there. My part is abiding.
1 John 4:18 — Perfect love casts out fear. I don’t win the battle by willpower; I keep turning toward the Love that’s already winning.
Hebrews 4:16 — Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. The access is already open.
Philippians 3:10 and Psalm 42 — the longing to know Him more is a mark of already knowing Him.

When it feels elusive again

It will, some days. That isn’t failure or lost ground. It’s the moment to choose again.

Seeing clearly now is grace, not a verdict on who I was. God was patiently opening my eyes the whole time.

Built by love, for love.

Verses for encouragement

For the days the enemy tries to discount and discourage me.

When I wonder if the space is really mine

John 15:9 — “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 — “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Hebrews 4:16 — “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

When fear pushes in

1 John 4:16 — “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
1 John 4:18 — “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

When the sweetness lifts

Ephesians 4:30–32 — “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 5:18 — “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”

When the longing feels like lack

Psalm 42:1–2 — “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”
Philippians 3:10 — “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

When the enemy tries to discount me

Psalm 42:11 — “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Romans 8:1 — “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
1 John 4:4 — “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
John 10:10 — “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”