Love Strong..
Love with your whole being. When you love God the Father in Jesus with your whole being. Meaning with your mind and soul(body) to the upmost with all your might. When that’s done, you’ve learned, and experience what sacrifice is. You’ve learned not to be selfish, because you’ve giving yourself over unto him. Then, with that being done, you’ve become so close to him, and you’ve allowed yourself to be influenced by him. These traits become part of you, because you’ve become part of God, and one in the mind with him:
Psalm 108:3-4
3. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
4. For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.
Your mercy and compassion began to increase for mankind. His mercy is great above the heavens. Your mercy began to climb the chart, reaching unto the heavens, as long as you’re in him. Also this too.
Psalm 86:15
15. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
These characteristics start to manifest and grow within yourself, because you desire him, and have giving yourself unto him in truth, complete truth.
Eventually, as he notice your sincerity in him, he’ll open up himself to you even more and more. He’ll show you the reason of things, and why. While going through these growth spurts mentally and spiritually, you’ll learned what it is to give yourself over to him. Then, in return, you understand what it is to give yourself over unto mankind, your family, your friends, strangers, husband or wife, even your enemies. God(Jesus) has given himself unto mankind so that they can have a chance at eternal life, even gave himself as a living sacrifice. We are, all of us, are here to be a sacrifice for one another, because none of us have all we need, at all times. Question: Whose around, or available that we can reach out to?
For instance, we might find ourselves doing something for someone and they insist on paying us for our services. Let them pay, because in their mind, they will not have peace within themselves if they don’t pay for services that you made available. They appreciate it. Second, they don’t want you to feel like their just using you. They just want to do right, and reward you for your time and services. I remember, this situation with my older sister and I, every now and then I borrow her hair dryer that you set up on a table or something and set under it and it covers your whole head, similar to the one’s at a Beauty Salon. I use it sometimes to dry my dread locs, after washing my hair. One day I borrowed it, and it maybe had been about 2 or 3 months. So I got it, and proceeded to set it up, pushing the release buttons and all, but I forgot one. I was rushing while setting it up, I aint gone lie. If I had been patient, I might have notice that the other release wasn’t pushed in, but anyway uhm… So I started forcing to open it up and immediately it broke, but it opened though, yet it wasn’t able to stay open on it’s on. I broke the hinges. I felt bad, not because I couldn’t dry my hair with it, but because it was broke. I didn’t have the money right then. So..maybe a day or two before I got my next check, I told her I broke it. She’s was cool, she wasn’t mad. She said, “Don’t worry about it, It was old, I’ll get another one.” In my mind, I was like, “I’m gonna get you another one, brand new.” I told her that,and within a day or two, I bought one and brought it to her house. She was still like, “Naw.. you didn’t have to do that. You didn’t have to pay all that money.” I replied “I broke it, I pay for it.” I pay for mine as much as possible with all my might. Why should she have to withdraw from her money to replace something I broke. Her money is for her to enjoy, not use to take care of my screw ups. I love my sister. I do right by her, not just because she’s my family, but because it’s just right, no matter who it is.
This is what God the Father considers love:
2 John 1:6
6. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Exodus 20: 1-17 is the foundation of his commandments. His commandments expresses love, yet there’s an extension of this love within the fruit that’s on the branches of the tree of life where love begins. Jesus is the tree of life. Let’s take a quick look at the tree of life:
Genesis 2:9
9. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
((Food for thought: We not only eat(consume) by the mouth, but we consume information by sight(reading) and hearing. The tree of Life was God(Jesus) in the beginning and is God now. The serpent(Satan) was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Let’s proceed with the tree of life.
Proverbs 11:30
30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
How is that? Because the fruit of the righteous comes from the tree of life. Let’s confirm that, that was Jesus back there in the beginning.
John 17:5
5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 14:6
6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Question: If no one can reach the Father without going through Jesus first, what God was that back there dealing with Adam and Eve, teaching them and instructing them? Your answer – It’s the God, we presently call Jesus the Christ. Everybody has to go through Jesus, from Adam down to the last born child upon this planet to reach the Father, even to learn what love is. Before being born of Mary, he was called God Almighty, Jehovah, or Jah.
Exodus 6:3
3. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
Psalms 68:4, 7-8
4. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.
7. O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:
8. The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
Let’s confirm more that, the God of the Old Testament was indeed Jesus dealing with Adam, even the children of Israel in the wilderness.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
1. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2. And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3. And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4. And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Jesus been around forever. He is the tree of life. Let’s look at the fruit he bear, which is the fruit that we should seek to obtain and behold:
Galatians 5: 22-23
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
The Fruit of the Spirit Defined:
Love, meaning devotion- being earnest, showing dedication and implying selflessness. A true friend.
Joy -the emotion of great happiness, make glad or happy, feel happiness or joy
longsuffering – patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship
gentleness- cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of, having or showing a kindly or tender nature, quiet and soothing, soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe
goodness- the quality or state of being good, honest, righteousness, uprightness, virtuousness
faith- (ref. Hebrews 11: 1) the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Additional meaning – loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person, complete confidence in a person or plan etc , a strong belief in the divine power or powers that control human destiny
meekness- a disposition to be patient and long suffering, the feeling of patient submissive humbleness
temperance – moderation and self restraint as in behavior, expression, action, thought, or feeling. Discipline in personal and social activities, the state of being physically constrained. Basically, self-control with awareness.
You can look at the “fruit of the spirit” that’s on the tree of life’s branches as the super glue for love. When experiencing the benefits of it, and the connectivity of it, it makes you never want to let go. Let’s look more into this love, this super glue:
1 John 4:18
18. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Fear is connected to unbelief, which is doubt, which leads to no action. Once love is understood, witnessed, and obtained, fear dissipates(disappear). That’s how, “There’s no fear in love.”
“Perfect Love casteth out fear” – How? By beholding those attributes in Galatians 5: 22-23. The “fruit(benefit) of the spirit(word of God) is love, ref. John 6: 63. It’s all about consistency, and persistent with all your might, you hope and seek not to harm anyone in any way, shape, form, or fashion, whether mentally or physically, without ill will, only desiring what’s good and right for all people. That’s when perfect love, starts to appear. When you love strong(seeking perfect love), it cast out the fear of being abandon, misused, and manipulated of the one desiring to be loved by you.
“Fear hath torment” – meaning without freedom of expression, or should I say, “without comfort of freedom of expression.” Scared of what might be, and/or what you don’t understand. Fear is connected to feeling inadequate or incapable which leads to feeling unaccepted. That’s why I push being secure within yourself unto God the Father in Jesus first, therefore, you’re able to combat this state of mind, no matter who likes you or not. If in that state of feeling unaccepted, doubt can creep in and overtake your self-esteem which leads to feeling unworthiness of oneself. If in that state of mind, it can affect all your surroundings, even in your personal and business decisions.
“He that feareth is not made perfect in love” – How is your fear not made perfect in love? You fear not being loved back, therefore you don’t put forth the effort to love strong. Basically, not wanting to possibly suffer the hurt and pain of not being shown love in return. Plainly, creating an invulnerable safe zone, comfort zone. Therefore, perfect love is not allowed to manifest within oneself. There’s a time, season, and place for everything. We have to understand when to be vulnerable, and I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about availability, time, helping hand, lending hand, giving hand, courteous, understanding, patience, sharing, basically selflessness. We sometimes witness, see, and hear about situations concerning siblings. Sometimes there’s one child out of the bunch that the parent or parents call on, or ask to do stuff all the time. A lot times it’s because they’re reliable, they care, and they don’t do a half job. Those are traits of love. Love is reliability, without selfishness, carefulness. Not thinking of what you can benefit in return from everything you do. You know, thinking within yourself, “If I do this, I’m gonna see if they can do this, or see if I can get them to do this or that.” So…what? If, they can’t give you anything back in return, your not gonna help, especially if it’s a necessity, and you have the means to help? Come on..now. Hey, sometime just do it because it’s a necessity, and needs to be done, looking for nothing in return. You know, thinking, “What can I get out of this or that?” Well.., I say, “Eternal Life,” if not anything else. What can be compared to that?
More Encouraging Scriptures of Love:
Colossians 1:7-11
7. As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
8. Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
9. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11. Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
2 Peter 1:5-8
5. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6. And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7. And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.