GROWING IN LOVE

12 And the Lord make you to increase (grow) and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. 1 Thess 3:12-13 (KJV)

HOW DO WE KNOW OUR LOVE IS PURE

1. Think in Love - don't think of what others have done. Replace negative with the positive. Quote scripture i.e., Phil 4:8 Think on these things.. Lovely, .. Pure, .. Honest , … True, .. Good Report, .. Virtue, .. Praise Worthy.
Think on the good not the bad, beautiful not ugly. Don't fill your mind with bad, like the News Media - Knowledge of Good and Evil. Say something good about everyone. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Be merciful.

2. Listen with Love - not with a condescending attitude. Care about and with the other person. Hear what the other person is saying. Truly listen. Hear what they are really saying, not just their words, but their heart. Don't be in a hurry to get away or give a quick answer. Respond with proper scriptures that give grace to the hearer, that build-up, encourage, give hope and strength.

3. Look with Love - Christ had compassion. Luke 19:41-- "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it," (Beheld - was moved with compassion.)
See their need and minister to it. Look at faults and failures with forgiveness, compassion, and mercy. Don't put down or jump upon. Galatians 6:1 " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." Don't be judgemental and condemning.

4. Speak words of Love - Ephesians. 4:15 "Speak the truth in love." Prov. 15:1-4 "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. 4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit." Speak words of understanding, faith, hope, encouragement, comfort, consolation, grace, compassion and mercy. "29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Eph 4:29-32
Usher people back into the grace of God or into church. Don't be quick to expel or ostracize them. Don't speak the words of hate, doubt, fear, failure, condemnation. Our words should never be said in a harsh or cruel, demeaning manner. Our words should be said respectfully, softly and gently. Even in a stern rebuke, our words should never come across in a harsh, self-righteous manner. Our concern should be towards the other person. Don't build dividing walls against your brethren. Don't cut people off. Even if you have to separate for a time, don't shut down the avenue of restoration.

5. Labor with Love - 1 Thes. 1:3 " Remembering without ceasing your *work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;" * operational faith and laborious love.
If it's worth having, than it's worth working for; and being patient as it grows and grows. Christ's work was a work of love: People oriented - not buildings and equipment. - Doing the work of His Father, forgiving sins, healing the sick setting the captives free. Giving of self and time. Stopping and taking the time to help and love someone, even if you are busy.

6 Walk in Love - Eph. 5:1-2 " Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. Give of yourself so others can be blessed. Give your best! Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Col. 1:10 "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" When we walk in love, we walk worthy of our Master and we please Him.
Faith works by love! Galations 5:6

1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:1-13 (RSV)

The Results of Not Spending Time in Intimacy with the Lord of Love

What happens when we don't spend time alone with the Lord?
This is scarey:
You become impatient, have little or no endurance.
You become unkind, harsh, not gentle, nor meek.
Because of the lack of love, you become envious, jealous, untrusting and non-assured; you become boastful, conceited - arrogant and inflated with pride; you become rude, won't respect or honor others.
Because of the lack of love, you are not humble and esteeming others better than yourself - You esteem yourself, your work or ministry, your values, ideas, friends and family, better than others.
When you have a lack of love, you have to make yourself look good, you have to always-be-right, out-do, be-on-top or be a know-it-all; you will tear others down, be prejudice, judgmental; you will love the praises of men rather than give praises and encouragement to others.
The lack of love, acts in anger, acts unbecomingly, (temper tantrums- displays self); you insist on your own rights or your own way; for you are seeking to fulfill self, selfish; greedy and unsatisfied, restless, and not contented, complaining; you become manipulating, deceitful, and controlling.
With the lack of love (love that comes from intimacy with God and His word) you become irritable, touchy, fretful, and misunderstand or misinterpret, read-things-into what others say or do; you are not easily approached; you become anxious, fearful and unbelieving, resentful or bitter; you take account of evil done to you; you remember the suffered wrong; you become fault-finding, petty, or peevish.
Because of the lack of love, you justify yourself, blame shift, and deny, make excuses; you condemn others.
With the lack of love, you rejoice when others receive "what's-coming-to-them" or when injustice or unrighteousness is done to others, you are sad when right and truth prevail. You are hurt or upset when others are blessed instead of rejoicing with them; you can't hurt with the hurting, you are full of self-pity, easily offended. You are ever ready to bring up the sins-of-the-past of others, but get upset if your sins are brought up. You cannot bear up under: pressure, criticism, or anything, or everything that comes your way. You are ready to believe the bad or worst of others; and willing to expose the sins of others; you won't give people the benefit-of-the-doubt. You become hopeless, negative; you lose endurance, become weak; your hopes fade. Without love, you find yourself becoming a failure -for love never fails-; you become faithless, full of doubt, joyless, unconfident, unaffectionate, drying up inside; but a burning fire consumes within.
Reverse of 1 Corinthians 13
A loving heart is soft, caring, sensitive to others needs, thinks first of God's desires and then of others, considerate, humble and self-denying, tenderhearted, full of mercy and God's grace, and forgiving, thankful, obedient to God and authority, submissive, truthful, honest and pure, and holy. A heart void of love is hard, uncaring, insensitive to others needs, thinks first and only of self, inconsiderate, prideful and self exalting, and stubborn, unmerciful and can't grasp God's grace, and unforgiving, unthankful, disobedient to God and authority, not submissive, unyielding, untruthful, dishonest, defiled, and unholy.
When we have a lack of love, we seek pleasure (some seek pain) to fill the gap. When we lack in love, we become performance and work oriented instead of relationship minded.

REMEMBER: Selfishness is sin. Spend time in intimacy with God; get to know Him.
Let Him change you; you can't change yourself.

(We reflect what we behold and what or who we spend time with.)

So, we can use our love barometer to let us know if we need more time alone with God; for GOD IS LOVE.

There is HOPE!

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name” -The Solid Rock” by Edward Mote and William Bradbury

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory… which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory:


Besides “The Solid Rock”, there is a song I love to sing, “My Greatest Love Is You”.
It took me a while to find the correct title, because I walk around singing, “My only Hope is You”. When the world, the devil and things around you, tell you that there is no hope, THERE IS HOPE! Christ in you is the HOPE of GLORY! Yes, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory, but as we let Christ in and yield totally to Him, there is Hope to wondrous Glory.

What is “glory”? Wordnet.princeton.edu states

• a state of high honor; "he valued glory above life itself"


• brilliant radiant beauty; "the glory of the sunrise"


• rejoice proudly (I say, having a rejoicing praising heart)


• aura: an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint


• and may I add, “Glory is living a life as God has it, being one with Him, and having His power, riches, wisdom… flow through you in your everyday life, and flowing out to others.”
  

Yes, there is HOPE. Jesus is our HOPE.
Jesus is our joyful, confident expectation of promise and fulfillment- fulfillment of GLORY!
Jesus is our Hope of honor, brilliant radiant beauty, a rejoicing praising heart, a shining light around us, and being able to walk as one with the creator of all, allowing Him to work through us!

When my Dad died while I was a child, I had HOPE.
When my mother suffered beatings from my step-dad, I had HOPE.
When I and my siblings endured abuse, I had HOPE.
When my closest Aunt and friend died, I had HOPE.
……. When my daughter died, I had HOPE.
When tragedies and depression struck my family, I had HOPE.
When life happens…….. I HAVE HOPE.
I have JESUS!

You can have HOPE, too.