LOVE

LOVE-

It is the subtleties in the Bible that I love! They are the hidden nuggets of gold! You need to search for them because they are so cool when found! Read this verse, Paul talks about the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in people. That is pretty cool right! The subtle part is way at the end...

1 Corinthians 12:31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. 
 AND NOW I WILL SHOW YOU THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY.

LOVE
1 Corinthians 13
1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, BUT HAVE NOT LOVE, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, BUT HAVE NOT LOVE, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, BUT HAVE NOT LOVE, I gain nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
12. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 13. And now these three remain: FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. But the greatest of these is LOVE.

2 Peter 1
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.


There is a secret wisdom here. Deeper then face value. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the Gifts of the Spirit. How come sometimes we struggle to receive a gift even to the point we act in FAITH yet it never manifests itself. WHY? I tell you the truth is here before you. The key Paul points out. LOVE! You can have HOPE and FAITH, but not LOVE and that what you confess/desire shall not show itself. OK, your question is WHY is LOVE such an important vital key in this? Let us look at this:

1 Corinthians 8:3 But the man who LOVES God is known by God.

I know what you may say, God is no respecter of persons, true, (Just to clarify.respector of persons means, your title as a human, ie; president, governor, pastor) but God connects to one who LOVES. WHY? Let's see...
1 John 4:8 Whoever does Not LOVE does Not know God, because GOD IS LOVE.

WOW! So God is LOVE! Is love an emotion? Yes, but more so. It is a total connection to God if we LOVE one another. So is this a symbiotic relationship? Yes, let's see...

1 John 4:12-13 No one has ever seen God; but if we LOVE one another, God lives in us and His LOVE is MADE COMPLETE in us. We know that we live in Him and He is us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

OK, so I can access the Spirits Power if I connect with God, by LOVING on another. Yes! How can I be sure? How can I rely on that? Let's see...
1 John 4:16 And so we KNOW and RELY on the LOVE God has for us. GOD IS LOVE. Whoever lives in LOVE Lives in God, and God in him.

Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Now that's good stuff. OK, so how then do I know I am walking in LOVE? How can I change my current ways to Love more? and this FAITH that I have to see Miracles happen seems strong but haven't seen anything manifest yet. Why?

1 John 5:1-5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our FAITH. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

So we come full circle from LOVE to FAITH to being OBEDIENT then back to LOVE.

LOVE is key. Before you stop and pray for someone, Stop, turn your heart to them, LOVE them, connect with God, then pray for them.

1 John 4 (God's Love and Ours)
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 5 Faith in the Son of God
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
 6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.


1 John 3
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Love one another
11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
18 Dear children, LET US NOT LOVE WITH WORDS OR TONGUE but with ACTION and in TRUTH.
19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.