Good morning all!

Father, we ask today that you would birth something new in our life, that you would put that skip back in our step. Like your servant David skipped over hills and leaped over mountains, nothing got in his way or stopped him. What makes a person do that Lord? Love, a new love that hasn’t been seen or experienced before. You won’t quench our smoking flax so we ask You to fan that flame and increase it, make it big enough for the world to see and let it totally consume us, Amen.

1 Corinthians 13

4 Charity suffereth long, [and] is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Love will endure pain and in return be kind. Love is not jealous nor puts itself first or look down on others.

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
It is not rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth of the gospel.

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall vanish away.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and knowledge they will all fail eventually and vanish away But love will NEVER die.

Bottom line

One of the most popular chapters in the entire bible, it is often used in weddings because it’s known as the “Love chapter”. What does true love look like? Most of the passage deals with what love isn’t, don’t you find that strange? The creator of love itself has to tell us what it is NOT, why? Like the Boston song it is “more than a feeling”, it is a lifestyle. Jesus said they worship me with their lips but their heart is far from me, don’t tell me show me. Who do you love? Do you keep a record of how they’ve wronged you? Do you suffer long for them? Did you give up on them? Your love will be tested and it’s NOT going to be based on how you feel, true love reaches beyond feelings, it is the power of God that enables you to do the supernatural…bless the one that curses you, do good to the one that has mistreats you…your feelings can’t do that, only the power of God in you.

[Deu 13:3 NLT] Do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Don’t listen to who? The voice inside your head telling you it’s okay to give up and
then anyone else that supports that foolishness. There are only two things in this life that will never fail you, God’s word and love…that’s it. When we make any other choice outside of them they will eventually fail whether in this life or the next but rest assured when God says it will fail, it will FAIL! Now this passage isn’t speaking of our love for God (although we should) it’s speaking of our love for one another, I mean is anyone rude to God? No, of course not we can’t even see him, so who then?

[1Jo 4:20 NLT] If someone says, “I love God,” but rejects a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? Do you love the people you see in your life? Good then don’t be rude to them, don’t become so irritated, don’t keep a record of wrongs. Now if we’re honest we don’t always do that, do we? Why? Simple we don’t FEEL like it. Here’s the problem with our feelings they are often controlled by prideful thoughts and NOT faith, those voices in your head that’s pride speaking NOT God. God would never tell you to do anything that’s contrary to His word, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. I mean really do you think God would tell you to give up on someone? Doesn’t He leave the 99 to go after the one? You know the one. Here’s what I see this morning, we have 99 reasons to give up on somebody but you only need one to stay…LOVE. Are you willing to let go of the 99?

[Gen 17:24 KJV] And Abraham [was] ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. We have to leave the 99 and circumcise the flesh, what is our flesh? John says it is lust of the eyes, lust of flesh and the PRIDE of life. It has no place with the Father and only serves the world. The bible says we must be born again to enter the kingdom…leave the world, I believe when we truly start to love the way God has outlined it in this passage we give birth to a new love, a new beginning, we become born again.

[Jhn 13:34 KJV] A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Was it a NEW commandment to love each other? Or was it a new commandment because I now have a NEW understanding of what love looks like? I mean if we’ve never loved anyone like that before then wouldn’t that make it new? Of course. And when you fall in love don’t you feel like different person? Maybe even do crazy things? Like put that person’s happiness before yours? Hmm…call me crazy but that sounds like I’m born again. Remember Abraham was circumcised at 99 and then had Isaac when he turned 100, new life…new love. It’s time to enter the kingdom, it’s time to start living a new life, it’s time to start loving like there’s no tomorrow…it’s called eternity and it never fails.

Point to Ponder

Do you have enough faith to love? [Gal 5:6 NIV] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. The only thing that counts in the kingdom of God is our ability to love, don’t worry about all the do’s and don’ts…God doesn’t think they’re worth anything anyway.

Let’s all love like that’s all that matters, In Him Phil

Faith – Family – Friends