Love = Life A Study of Love in I John 3

Love = Life   A Study of Love in I John 3                      Kelly Durant 

 

Money can buy a dog, but only love can make his tail wag! You can give a beggar bread, but if you put butter on in, then that is love!

 

When I was in college years ago and I was studying all the religions of the world, I was hoping to find one that could meet my spiritual needs and my desire to be loved. Even though my mother was nice, I actually was disappointed in the lack of love that existed in most everyone I knew. God made us to hunger for love! Only His love can satisfy us!

 

In the early 70’s Buda was popular, transcendental meditation was popular, and I tried these for a while but they did not fill the spiritual emptiness of love that I longed for. It was only when I was invited in the home of some non-judgmental (say this because my hair was long then), loving Christian missionaries that I experienced a hug and love as I had not known it before! It was their love and sincere interest in me that touched my heart my to want to hear what they had to say and make me want serve Jesus and be an on-fire Christian as they were. Love=time: we must show it in some way to prove it!

 

Today we are in the month of love and will do a study on love as the Bible describes it in I John. I want to tell you, when the news gets back to me that one of you did something loving for another my heart jumps for gladness and I praise God for you! 

 

In the same manner, when someone reports on someone doing something unloving mine and Regina’s heart gets very sad, angry, and disappointed. God has no other hands to serve others with but ours and they do nothing good if they are not motivated by love!

 

Remember John the disciple was called the beloved because he got that good name from understanding and practicing his master’s love. John is my favorite disciple!

 

1 John 3

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, children of God or of love! That is our main characteristic! 

 

No Christian should ever say that they are unloved or do not know or have love, because only the lovers and followers of Jesus get to be the sons of a God love! You are very special! If the entire world treats you like you are trash, if all your family rejects you, if your life gets complicated, you can still sleep in peace to know that you are special and that you could die happy because you are loved by God!... and that love is enough to make you cry and sing, and praise Him for the rest your life!

 

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.

The greatest love of all is that Jesus will not let us die just as He did not die! One day we will get to resurrect and have a supernatural body as He has. That is what the verse is stating; that we will be like Him one day! Love is sharing with another the same gifts you have, and Jesus’ love includes giving us in the future a supernatural body as His is!  

 

3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Here is an important detail, just as Jesus is pure, we must be pure in order to feel and experience being in His beautiful love! 

 

Pure people wake up in the morning and purify themselves, and they use God’s word and prayer like bleach and they clean their minds and hearts. Those who are not pure wake up and start throwing dirt on others and in the process get their selves dirty! How pure are you? Love means making your thoughts, your heart, and your spirit clean by prayers, obedience, and the Word.

 

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. 

I want you to see the shift in the context in which John explains it. It implies, you either have God’s love and live in it, or without it you will have sin and with sin you will be separated from God!

 

This is a good thesis statement for the day: You either have love, or you have sin!

 

When people do wrong things, they are breaking the law. Do not worry, all of us have broken the law in our days of ignorance and Jesus forgave us, but Jesus tells us to go and sin no more! In other words, you will not be able to feel nor enjoy God’s love in your life if you keep on sinning and doing wrong, unloving things. These words in this chapter are of love but they are strong; they say that you do not even know Jesus if you keep on sinning and hurting God and others which means you will not have eternal life and go to heaven if you do not stop doing your sins and start loving God, Jesus, and everyone!

 

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Isn’t that clear, it is as simple as this, if a person does good and loves and stops sinning, then they are in God’s righteousness. People can distinguish between a rose and a weed right away! Unjust people are unjust in everything! Good and righteous people are good and righteous in everything!

 

 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.

It does not matter what addiction, what sin, what problem you have, Jesus came to free everyone from it; and if we are letting His love work, all the chains of the flesh will be cut off and Jesus will be the victorious one governing in your life and mine!

 

Often, we forget to remind people that Satan is real. He comes into our minds and even in our lives in this world through evil people to temp us to be participating in a sin, to be cold hearted, selfish, and proud, and to destroy others that are of God that expose your unrighteousness preventing you from getting your wants. 

 

 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. 

 

In the end you will be judged to be a child of God or a child of the devil according your actions, whether you loved Jesus and your brother or not! And you are either of God or of the devil according to who you love! Did you choose to do what is right or did you not care and sin against God knowing it causes everyone to stumble by seeing your horrible example?

 

11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

My brothers and sisters, up until now we are getting this message over and over to 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. 

 

Now we are seeing a new element that destroys the love between us…jealousy! Cain killed his brother because Able was loved, or accepted by God more than Him over the sacrifice. Able was simple, he just loved and obeyed God; whereas Cain did not want to love and obey God as God wanted and his sin caused him to hate and attack his brother.

 

Everyone sees this sin of attacking and killing others verbally every day in the news media and in families. This hate and jealousy is even within the churches and everywhere, and this is a product of having no love, God, or forgiveness at all; It is sin as the jealousy leads to hate, and then it leads to murder!

 

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. 

 

Here we are getting a repeat of how not having love makes a person a murderer whether there is a dead body or not! He wants us to understand, if you hate your brother you will not have eternal life! In the world the non-Christians hate us because we proclaim Jesus, and anyone hating will have to pay with eternal death for their charge of being a murderer. And as stated here only being in God’s love brings us into life eternal!

 

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.

There is the ultimate test of love, have you laid down your life as Jesus for dis for us? Many people will not give up $10, or even one hour for someone in need! True Christians, however, do what ever they need to for Jesus and for their brothers! Ask your self, how much do I lay down my life for the brothers and sisters? What have I done lately that is proof of a real sacrifice for others? How much love do you have?

 

 17 If 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 actions and in truth. 

 

In other words, this love is not just talk, “I love you”? No, love makes sacrifices to help and shows pity. That is what the Salvation Army, and every Christian should be about, that we should be doing actions to prove we are loving and showing God’s love by doing actions from our hearts. Many times, I have given away my furniture, clothes, and things. 

 

19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 

 

Only you know how you are in your heart, if you feel condemned or not. When you go to bed at night, do you feel restless like there was something you needed to do that God brings into your mind? It says it here clearly that God knows everything! If something is not right, then fix it as soon as possible! If you were unloving, go back and do something loving!

 

21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God

 

So, when a person feels guilty for not being loving due to sinning and not helping someone as we are clearly taught to do; it is judgment and consequences that they will have. They will have a disturbed, sad, and restless heart, not just now on earth, but forever in hell as there is no rest for the wicked! 

 

22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 

The implication here is God will answer prayer if we are in Him, loving and obeying Him, but if not, God does not answer our prayers! That is only fair right? You do not reward a child with an ice cream who has been disobeying you all week! But those who love by doing deeds of love, these are the ones who have a good relationship with God, and a confidence that He is close and they get their prayers answered in the way God sees fit.

 

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. 

 

Does your spirit sense God near you? You know or not if you really believe in Jesus’ love: you measure your love by how much you believe, obey, and live in Him! Let’s love and obey all the way! Amen? Ask God for more love!

El Amor = Vida
Un Estudio del Amor en 1 Juan 3 Kelly Durant

El dinero puede comprar un perro, pero solo el amor puede hacer que mueva la cola! Puedes darle pan a un mendigo, pero si le pones mantequilla, ¡eso es amor!

 

Cuando estaba en la universidad, hace muchos años, y estudiaba todas las religiones del mundo, yo esperaba encontrar una que satisficiera mis necesidades espirituales y mi deseo de ser amado. Aunque mi madre era amable, en realidad me decepcionaba la falta de amor que existía en casi todas las personas que conocía. ¡Dios nos creó con hambre de amor! ¡Solo Su amor puede satisfacernos!

A principios de los años 70, Buda estaba de moda, la meditación trascendental era popular, y las probé por un tiempo, pero no llenaron el vacío espiritual de amor que yo anhelaba. ¡Solo cuando fui invitado a la casa de unos misioneros cristianos que no me juzgaron (digo así porque en ese entonces tenía el cabello largo) ellos fueron amorosos y experimenté un abrazo y un amor como nunca antes había conocido! 

 

Fue su amor y su sincero interés en mí lo que tocó mi corazón, me hizo querer escuchar lo que tenían que decir y me impulsó a querer servir a Jesús Cristo y ser un cristiano en fuego como ellos. ¡Amor = tiempo: debemos mostrarlo de alguna manera amor para para que sea tangible! 

 

Hoy estamos estudiando el amor y haremos un estudio sobre el amor tal como lo describe la Biblia en 1 Juan. Quiero decirles que, cuando me llega la noticia de que uno de ustedes hizo algo amoroso por otro, ¡mi corazón salta de alegría y alabo a Dios por ustedes! 

 

De la misma manera, cuando alguien reporta que alguien hizo algo sin amor, el corazón de Regina y el mío se entristece mucho, se enoja y se decepciona. ¡Dios no tiene otras manos para servir a los demás más que las nuestras, y estas no hacen nada bueno si no están motivadas por el amor!

Recuerden que al discípulo Juan lo llamaban “el amado” porque recibió ese buen nombre por entender y practicar el amor de su Maestro. 

¡Juan es mi discípulo favorito!         1 Juan 3

3 Mirad cuál amor nos ha dado el Padre, para que seamos llamados hijos de Dios; por esto el mundo no nos conoce, porque no le conoció a él.   Y eso es lo que somos: ¡hijos de Dios o de amor! ¡Esa es nuestra característica principal! 

 

Ningún cristiano debería decir jamás que no es amado o que no conoce el amor, porque solo los que aman y siguen a Jesús son hijos de un Dios de amor! ¡Ustedes son muy especiales! ¿Que esperamos del mundo? Si el mundo entero los trata como basura, si toda su familia los rechaza, si su vida se complica, aún así pueden dormir en paz sabiendo que son especiales para Dios y que podrían morir felices porque ¡Dios los ama!... y ese amor es suficiente para hacerlos llorar, cantar y alabarlo el resto de nuestras vidas!

 

2 Amados, ahora somos hijos de Dios, y aún no se ha manifestado lo que hemos de ser; pero sabemos que cuando él se manifieste, seremos semejantes a él, porque le veremos tal como él es.
Jesús nos dio un amor sobrenatural y no nos va dejar morir, Un día resucitaremos y tendremos un cuerpo sobrenatural como El suyo! Eso es lo que dice el versículo: ¡que un día seremos como Él!

El amor es compartir con otros los mismos poderes que uno tiene, y el amor de Jesús incluye darnos, en el futuro, ¡un cuerpo sobrenatural como el tiene! No habrá más dolores, abre, ¡ni ningún sufrimiento! 

 

3 Todo el que tiene esta esperanza en él se purifica a sí mismo, así como él es puro.
Aquí hay un detalle importante: así como Jesús es puro, ¡debemos ser puros para sentir y experimentar su hermoso amor! Las personas puras se despiertan por la mañana y se purifican; usan la Palabra de Dios y la oración como lejía y limpian su mente y su corazón. Los que no son puros se despiertan y empiezan a embarrar con suciedad los demás y, en el proceso, se quedan sucios ellos mismos.  ¡Amor implique la santidad!

¿Qué tan puro eres tú? El amor significa limpiar tus pensamientos, tu corazón y tu espíritu mediante la oración, la obediencia a la Palabra.

 

4 Todo aquel que comete pecado, infringe también la ley; pues el pecado es infracción de la ley. 5 Y sabéis que él apareció para quitar nuestros pecados, y no hay pecado en él. 6 Todo aquel que permanece en él, no peca; todo aquel que peca, no le ha visto, ni le ha conocido.

Quiero que vean el cambio de contexto en el que Juan lo explica. Implica que o tienes el amor de Dios y vives en él, o sin él tendrás pecado y con el pecado estarás separado de Dios. Esta es una buena tesis para el día: 

¡O tienes amor, o tienes pecado! ¡NO puedes tener los dos al mismo tiempo!

Cuando las personas hacen cosas malas, están violando la ley. Pero no se preocupen, todos hemos violado la ley en nuestros días de ignorancia y Jesús nos perdona (es nuestro abogado), y Jesús nos dice: “Ve y no peques más”. En otras palabras, no podrás sentir ni disfrutar el amor de Dios en tu vida si sigues pecando y haciendo cosas malas. 

 

Estas palabras en este capítulo son de amor, pero son fuertes: dicen que tu no conoces a Jesús si sigues pecando y lastimando a Dios y a los demás, y eso significa que no tendrás vida eterna ni irás al cielo si no dejas tus pecados atrás y empiezas a amar a Dios, a Jesús y a todos los demás.

 

7 Hijitos, que nadie los engañe. El que hace lo que es justo es justo, así como él es justo.
¿No esta claro? Es tan simple como esto: si una persona hace el bien, deja de pecar, y entonces está en la justicia de Dios. ¡La gente distingue entre una rosa y una mala hierba de inmediato! Con el tiempo se nota que es justo y quien no. ¡Las personas injustas son injustas en todo! Las personas buenas y justas son buenas y justas en todas sus acciones.

 

8 El que practica el pecado es del diablo; porque el diablo peca desde el principio. Para esto apareció el Hijo de Dios, para deshacer las obras del diablo.

No importa qué adicción, qué pecado o qué problema tengas, ¡Jesús vino a liberar a todos de ello! Y si dejamos que el amor de Dios obre, todas las cadenas de la carne serán cortadas y Jesús será el vencedor que gobierne sobre tu vida y en la mía. 

A menudo olvidamos de recordarles a las personas que Satanás es real. Él entra en nuestras mentes e incluso en nuestras vidas en este mundo a través de personas malvadas para tentarnos a participar en el pecado El vuelve el corazón frío, egoísta y orgulloso, ¡y a destruir a los que no se liberan! ¡Exponen su injusticia! ¡Podemos tener victoria en Jesús!

 

9 Todo aquel que es nacido de Dios, no practica el pecado, porque la simiente de Dios permanece en él; y no puede pecar, porque es nacido de Dios. 10 En esto se manifiestan los hijos de Dios, y los hijos del diablo: todo aquel que no hace justicia, y que no ama a su hermano, no es de Dios.

 

Al final serás juzgado como hijo de Dios o hijo del diablo según tus acciones, según hayas amado a Jesús y a tus hermanos o no. ¡Y eres de Dios o del diablo según a quién amas! ¡Si somos de Dios, perdemos el deseo de pecar! 

 

11 Porque este es el mensaje que habéis oído desde el principio: Que nos amemos unos a otros. 

 

12 No como Caín, que era del maligno y mató a su hermano. ¿Y por qué causa le mató? Porque sus obras eran malas, y las de su hermano justas.

 

Ahora vemos un nuevo elemento que destruye el amor entre nosotros… ¡los celos! ¡Y el odio! Caín mató a su hermano porque Abel era más amado o aceptado por Dios que él en el sacrificio. Abel era sencillo, solo amaba y obedecía a Dios; en cambio, Caín no quería amar ni obedecer a Dios como Dios quería. 

Su pecado lo llevó a odiar y atacar a su hermano. 

Todos vemos este pecado de atacar y matar verbalmente a otros todos los días en los medios de noticias lo hace Y vamos esto en las familias. ¡Este odio y celos están incluso dentro de algunas iglesias y en todas partes, y es producto de no tener amor! Los que no tienen a Dios no perdonan; y los  los celos llevan a uno al odio y luego al asesinato.

 

13 Hermanos míos, no os extrañéis si el mundo os aborrece. 14 Nosotros sabemos que hemos pasado de muerte a vida, en que amamos a los hermanos. El que no ama a su hermano, permanece en muerte. 15 Todo aquel que aborrece a su hermano es homicida; y sabéis que ningún homicida tiene vida eterna permanente en él.

Aquí repetimos cómo no tener amor convierte a una persona en homicida, haya o no un cadáver. ¡Quiere que entendamos que si odias a tu hermano no tendrás vida eterna! En el mundo, los no cristianos nos odian porque proclamamos a Jesús, y todo el que odie pagará con muerte eterna por su cargo de homicida. ¡Y como se dice aquí, solo estando en el amor de Dios entramos en la vida eterna!

 

16 En esto hemos conocido el amor, en que él puso su vida por nosotros; también nosotros debemos poner nuestras vidas por los hermanos

Ahí está la prueba definitiva de amor: ¿has dado tu vida como Jesús la dio por nosotros? ¡Muchas personas no dan ni 10 dólares ni una hora por alguien necesitado! Los verdaderos cristianos, sin embargo, hacen todo lo que sea necesario por Jesús y por sus hermanos. Pregúntate: ¿cuánto doy mi vida por los hermanos y hermanas? ¿Qué he hecho últimamente que sea prueba de un sacrificio real por los demás? ¿Cuánto amor tienes?

 

17 Si alguien tiene bienes materiales y ve a su hermano en necesidad, pero no tiene compasión de él, ¿cómo puede estar en él el amor de Dios? 18 Hijitos, no amemos de palabra ni de lengua, sino con hechos y en verdad. En otras palabras, este amor no es solo hablar: “Te amo”. No, el amor hace sacrificios para ayudar y muestra compasión. Eso es de lo que se trata el Ejército de Salvación y todo cristiano: hacer acciones que prueben que estamos amando y mostrando el amor de Dios desde el corazón. Muchas veces he regalado mis muebles, ropa y cosas.

 

19 Y en esto conocemos que somos de la verdad, y aseguraremos nuestros corazones delante de él; 20 pues si nuestro corazón nos reprende, mayor que nuestro corazón es Dios, y él sabe todas las cosas.

 

Solo tú sabes cómo estás en tu corazón, si te sientes condenado o no. Cuando te acuestas por la noche, ¿te sientes inquieto porque hay algo que Dios trae a tu mente que debías hacer? ¡Aquí se dice claramente que Dios lo sabe todo! Si algo no está bien, ¡arréglalo lo antes posible! Si fuiste sin amor, vuelve y haz algo amoroso. 

 

21 Queridos amigos, si nuestro corazón no nos condena, tenemos confianza delante de Dios. Así que, cuando una persona se siente culpable por no ser amorosa debido al pecado y por no ayudar a alguien como claramente se nos enseña; tendrá juicio y consecuencias. Tendrá un corazón perturbado, triste e inquieto, no solo ahora en la tierra, sino para siempre en el infierno, ¡porque no hay descanso para los impíos! 

 

22 y recibimos de él todo lo que le pedimos, porque guardamos sus mandamientos y hacemos lo que le agrada.
La implicación aquí es que Dios responderá la oración si estamos en Él, amándolo y obedeciéndolo; pero si no, ¡Dios no responde nuestras oraciones! Eso es justo, ¿verdad? No le das un helado a un niño que te ha estado desobedeciendo toda la semana. Pero los que aman haciendo obras de amor son los que tienen una buena relación con Dios, confianza de que Él está cerca y reciben sus oraciones contestadas según lo que Dios considere apropiado.

 

23 Y este es su mandamiento: Que creamos en el nombre de su Hijo Jesucristo, y nos amemos unos a otros como nos lo ha mandado. 24 Y el que guarda sus mandamientos, permanece en Dios, y Dios en él. Y en esto sabemos que él permanece en nosotros, por el Espíritu que nos ha dado.

 

¿Tu espíritu siente a Dios cerca de ti? Sabes o no si realmente crees en el amor de Jesús: ¡mides tu amor por cuánto crees, obedeces y vives en Él! ¡Amemos y obedezcamos hasta el final! ¿Amén? ¡Pídele a Dios más amor!

 

Comfort: Give it...& take it!

Comfort:  Give It & Take It!                                        By Kelly Durant 8-10-14 Re 5-24-26

Romans 1:11-12 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

2. How many of you have ever heard the story about the person in the mental hospital that bangs their head on the wall and they do it off and on all day? The professionals and doctors decided to go into the padded cell and interview the crazy man, “Why do you bang your head on the wall every day?” The man looks at them dumbfounded and answered, “Don’t you know? Because it feels so good when I stop!”

Believe it or not, this pattern of seeking pain, then relief, is a reality for many people in this life who live without a connection to the Lord! People live on a treadmill of up and down because they have never known real love, healing, and comfort from God! I have known people who seem to thrive in life, not on encouragement and comfort, but thrive on discouragement and preventable pain! They seem to be energized running from one crisis to the next just to get attention!

Real life examples: I have dealt with a dozen or more people in my past who from week to week always have a life and death emergency crisis and they say, “Oh, pastor you must help me right now! I don’t have my rent money this week!” Then next week they’ll tell me someone robbed them, then the next week a car hit them, then after that they have to move and no one is there to help them, so I am expected to answer the call! My stomach use to churn when I would hear these opening words on the phone, “Oh pastor, you don’t know what happened to me now!” That phrase meant I was going to be interrupted and busy doing something unplanned for. I am not complaining about serving others, this is what I am here for, but my concern is how do we fix this situation that certain people have so many problems non-stop and seem energized living in the crisis mode? They need an extra supernatural dosage of comfort!

3. All of us confront problems in life, but it is how one handles them that matters! Crisis situations are not the whole problem, how one reacts and handles them determines if matters will calm down or if they will get worse! The reaction of most Christians is to ask for prayer and help from a brother or sister, and this is the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to help one another. Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.  In other words, don’t abuse, but serve, or be served, and with love. Don’t be abusive in your flesh bringing on sin and pain.

The issue is many people without the Lord in their lives are weak and obsess over the things in this world. There are many TV shows on people’s addictions such as drugs or alcohol, or an addiction to hoarding things which is idolatry and materialism, or to eating, or politicians addicted to power and fraud of our tax money, or to Botox, or obsessed with music. Actually anything actually can become an obsession! People become extreme and crazy to lust and want and get, and to get attention, and why? It is because God’s love and Jesus does not fill their empty hearts so they get crazy trying to get satisfied with something, or just anything! They crave one more bite, one more drink, one more relationship, one more person helping them as a victim and yet nothing soothes the soul! They create wrecks and disasters over and over!

It is like that old song by the Rolling Stones (a song deemed #1 of the century?!) ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’. When I was about 10 years old, I played that miserable song over and over non-stop for hours on a 45 record (making my mother crazy!) and I thought to myself, you mean he is a rich and famous rock star and he is not happy? No satisfaction in life?! Well, it is true, people without God, whether rich or poor, are never content, they are always obsessing, stressing, and creating drama if no drama is coming to them! It is a lifestyle! And a stressful one at that! There is no rest for the wicked!

4. So, if we look at the scripture today, Paul in Romans 1 is expressing that no matter how dark this world is, no matter how many horrible sins are taking place around you (see the rest of the chapter!), our comfort is in the encouragement and comfort we can give each other and get from God through the Holy Spirit!  Paul mentions “impart a spiritual gift” and what does that mean? Paul wants to empower every believer against the evil ones, problems, and hardships that attack each one of us as a Christian.  

The gifts of the spirit we have learned are in I Corinthians 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:1 1 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

So basically, the Word of God encourages and comforts us, it tells us to seek the Spirit and no matter the problem we face, God will make a way for us to get by without us worrying, obsessing, or becoming crazy!  If we are ignorant on matters, God increases our knowledge, if we doubt the faith or need faith for our needs, God will supply it. When we are sick, God will often heal us and even do miracles! God’s Spirit can help us to discern between the true and false, and even help us to learn languages, or understand people speaking in the Spirit.  These are all Spirit gifts we share and they are all done within the context of us helping one another by praying and sharing them, practicing them within our community of brothers & sisters.

5. So why do we have such an abundance of craziness, obsessiveness, and drama in the world today? It is in great part because of the lack of (or rejection of) the knowledge of God (which Romans 1 makes clear), but also according to the verses today, we could conclude it is a lack of us comforting one another in hard times as we should be.  Paul says, “that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me”. Let’s look at comfort a bit deeper.

Paul is clearly saying here that it is our faith in Jesus that brings us comfort and we must comfort one another, he wants to give comfort and he wants us to receive it. How do you comfort another person? That depends, right? Comfort is a personal thing, you have to be with the person, you must communicate and share the faith together which implies praying, studying, and listening to what that person’s needs are. You may not have the answers to all their needs, but when you pray for them, God will answer somehow, right? The biggest problem is many people do not know how to express what their needs are because their life is comprised of carnal things, and not spiritual things. The people ask for the carnal things, rent or bill money, but the greater need they have is spiritual. People do not see that it is their way of life and habits that are impoverishing them. The wounded person must first be healed; soup, soap, and then salvation!

6. God comforts us to be encouraged and consoled but not for us to get comfortable! In carnal people’s ways (Romans 1 describes quite a few!) there is the selfishness factor of some people that they start wanting all your time and attention, or too much comfort. To the contrary, I think none of us get tired of serving a Christian brother or sister because if they are true, they will always appreciate it, and they serve you back when you need it! I personally have had to learn a balance to spend the more time with our leaders, planning and doing, instead of too much of my time with people who are always going to keep having one crisis after another!  If I help a person 5 times, then maybe it’s time that I choose a different person to help. But what can we do for the poor, old, single ones with no relatives in this country, and no welfare check?

The frustration is one is always trying to win someone to Christ and you serve them in their crisis, but then they may not even appreciate it! Often people want more and more and are abusive! I have had my kindness interpreted as stupidity a few times! Imagine a person almost homeless, you help them, and then they judge you as a dumb person to invest in them?! As I mentioned before, my commitment is to serve people with love and this implies doing things not very pleasant at times like going to represent them in the courts, helping pay late bills, visiting them in the hospitals, taking them to apply for jobs, and on and on. The factor is, neither you nor I can afford to get discouraged from dealing with the sufferings brought on by someone’s sin! Sin brings pain and when in pain, it’s an emergency! Life is like a battlefield and as Christians we are the only soldiers still well enough to go out and rescue the fallen ones!

Remember the 10 lepers that Jesus healed, and only 1 came back to thank Him! The general mission of all of us in life is to preach the gospel and do good matter what and that includes showing God’s love by comforting, healing and helping! We cannot focus on ourselves and any reward in this life, we just must simply comfort each other however needed whenever needed! 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 

7. All of this to get you to think about the following, do you know what the greatest human need is? It is to be loved! Everyone is hungry for love, each one of us wants comfort, we all want connectedness and a feeling of belonging! As Christians we have a lot of work to do to be able to have confidence amongst ourselves to build up trust and feel free to confess our weaknesses and needs to one another. Can we trust that the other person will listen, care, pray, and comfort us? We all need comfort in our pain and we should be able to get it!

The problem is the following, those immature in the faith are like little children, they are selfish, they have no consciousness of the needs of others, and they are not aware of their own carnality and abusiveness of what they expect from others. They want to get help and comfort, but they do not give any! They obsess only over their own self! With some you may help them 2 dozen times, but that one day you cannot help them then you suddenly become the bad guy! In the end, our help is for the needy, not the greedy! But we focus on the good ones, some people really do change, and this is our comfort to keep on ministering! The thankful make our day!

Love, which entails comfort should work like this: we as Christians are tapped into God’s system, like a water system that never runs dry and the Holy Spirit fills us and refills us again so we just keep pouring out on others. Those that are empty and receive God’s love get filled up, and if they allow God’s healing, then they become whole, and instead of remaining broken and leaking out the love given them, they retain it, appreciate it, and then after getting full, they too start overflowing on others as well. This is also a way of observing how holiness works, God’s Spirit of purity fills us up until there is no more emptiness and then we overflow on everyone!

8. Referring to whom to comfort, as a pastor I always try to focus in on the neediest persons in the group, the weakest and most vulnerable, the ones suffering the most.  A church should be a place where people arrive for love, comfort, and mercy! The mature are here to guide the immature; the strong are here to help the weak without a judgmental attitude. As believers we have all things common and we share with each other so that no one is suffering from a dire need. (Acts 2:44,45) It is the job of all Christians to know how everyone is doing spiritually and materially, and everyone should serve to show love and this brings comfort knowing that all areas are covered in our fellowship! 

Comfort is an expression of love and it is shown in many ways: it is a human need! Without natural affection babies have been known to die, so what about people?  Ask yourself right now, do I have the confidence to seek advice and comfort with a brother or sister near me? When is the last time you comforted another person who had a problem, something secret no one could know about?  Seriously, how do you serve others if you are not alleviating their distresses? It should be with acts of service and that is love in action! We need to establish closer relationships amongst ourselves so we have more love and confidence and God gives us our talents and the Holy Spirit to be used and shared.

All of us should do a better job of listening, understanding, and comforting others!  John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  This love implies that your whole life is wrapped around others!

9. Do you know of anyone suffering or of anyone who gets into crisis often? Do you know of anyone who obsesses over things because they don’t have the peace of God in their heart and they are trying to fill a void?  Someone with no satisfaction with anything?  There is a cure!

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” And this next verse is a promise I have claimed often…

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you”.  Also, with the Holy Spirit anyone can access the gift of having a comforter or obtain the power needed to get through a trial… John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;”

10. Despite God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit comforting us we still need each other for comfort! We love God but equally as important, we must love our neighbor as ourselves! Comfort may be expressed with encouragement from sharing God’s word, through prayer, through serving or giving or providing in the time of need, through hugging someone who needs it, through loving care and concern, and even just by your presence by being there for them when they need you most! Do you allow yourself to be available? Break down your defensive walls, and connect with people on a human level! 

Jesus warned us how it would be in the last days. Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Ask yourself, am I an indifferent, a self-protecting ‘stagnant water’ type of Christian? Or do I overflow the Spirit on to others? Do I obsess and worry too much and live in the crisis mode? Or am I one that pours out the love and comfort of the Holy Spirit freely onto others? The formula of God has always been that to receive you must give! People are dying for a lack of love and comfort, so do something! 

Do you know of anyone who really does have a need to be comforted? If you do, then just act! Call them, visit them, spend time with them! Don’t worry about how much Bible you know to share; people are comforted just by knowing you care! You are a living Bible representing the Holy Spirit and Jesus to them! Break your old habits, learn to comfort or you will suffer and many others will continue to suffer as well! 

How to Show Love!

How to Show Love!                           Kelly Durant   2-17-07 Re 2-8-26

 

 1 John 3:16

 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 

1. Today we will talk about love! I could talk about love all year! I was young when the Beatles sang “Love, Love, Love…All You Need Is Love!” At that time in a cold love starved, tough love parents, and cold war society, people wanted to hear that they needed love, “All you need is love”! We need God’s love, and the love of each other, or we will shrivel up and die! Harlow, a psychologist, did experiments on baby monkeys and proved that without love from a mother or father babies die right away! The baby monkeys would run from the rough wire monkey with milk and hug up to the other furry monkeys. We don’t need psychologists to prove the power of love to keep us alive, we know that instinctively!

 

In I John 3:16 in begins with; Hereby, perceive we the love of God. The first key word is perceive! Love is not love until you give it away! Love is perceived, a manifestation of an action which is from some feeling, or emotion, or passion. In the Greek perceive means to touch, to see or understand by experience: to know. Love is hard to describe but to give an illustration it is like the wind, that we can see by what it affects but we cannot see the wind itself.

 

2. The effects of love we can perceive and define in the manifestation of the 3 T’s; time, talent, and treasure. Love is the opposite of selfishness, instead of the person making him or herself as the owner of everything; it is a position that gives up all to another.

 

In the verse we perceive the implied by knowing all of what Jesus did for us, he died on the cross and gave us forgiveness of sins and healing. ‘Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’.

 

Jesus gave up all of his time, talent, and treasure. He gave up all, all the time while he was alive and then He gave up all in his death. Laying down his life was something that was a proof and manifestation of his love. He did it while living and then while He was dying, laying down his life for us means for all people of all nations and tribes, in the past, present, and future!

 

We know how Jesus gave up all to show us love, so now let’s carry out a study on how to get others and God to perceive our love. Before applying this to the work of God, let’s apply it to the normal universal human relationships which God created as an example for us to learn from.

 

3. I recall as early as age 14 when you had feelings of love for another girl the expected was that one should show off your talent, I have written several dozens of poems in my life and I imagine you have too. At this time of year of Valentine’s Day, cards with flowers and poems are mailed and delivered so much that it is multimillion dollar industry!   

 

Just to erase any doubts the most beautiful and intense songs I have written have been for my wife Regina!

One Chorus states this:

‘And everyday you choose to stay, 

Shows how love wins anyway!

Hey, I know, love is for eternity

Hey, You know, love’s what made us to be’.

 

Before poems were like this: Roses are red, violets are blue

Sugar is sweet my love, but not as sweet as you!

Poems are only one type of expression but talent applied is imperative.

 

To prove intensity, or passion in love, you must apply your personal unique talents!

 

4. Another proof of love is the treasure, or sacrificial part; how much are you willing to spend? If she perceives you have a lot of money and you buy one rose, instead of a dozen you may be in trouble! When there is love, the other person expects to be treated with a more class than the ordinary.

 

To prove seriousness, or dedication in love, you must apply your personal money, or treasure.

 

Another imperative factor for love is time. You cannot say to your boyfriend (or girlfriend) I love you but I don’t have time to talk to you because I am so busy. For important people, we all have a tendency to make time to communicate! If you are not taking time sharing all the details of your life, your dreams, your pains, your desires with the one you claim to love, then how does a person believe it is love?

 

To prove credibility, or confidence in love, you must take time to communicate, and share your innermost secrets.

 

5. Taking these 3 examples of the expressions and perceptions of love, we can apply them as a thermometer to your life to determine how hot or cold your temperature is for how much you have love for God.

 

Talent:

Do you share your talent with God and others? Some of you do it well, refereeing to you here, and recall God sees every little thing you do with your talents. You show your love by: cooking, painting, teaching, singing, cleaning, leading meetings, disciplining. God knows your names and everyone does. Applying talent shows love.

 

Treasure:

Any program, any building, any operation requires money and thank God we are able to keep going due to your tithe and offerings support, and the support of outside donations along with the major gifts donated by those who are generous. I know many of you give the maximum of what you can and God knows and he blesses the cheerful giver.

Material gifts from your income prove love and it has been that way ever since the Cain and Abel noting that God expects an offering of sacrifice for us to proof our love!

 

Time:

I have seen others give their time since they did not have any money and that is very valid as well! 

I pray you are spending more time with God. Are you reading your Bible and praying? We are doing more prayer lately too.  Everyone must spend quality time with God, we must study His word and consume it as our daily bread so we learn what it is He desires from us. 

 

6. Imagine having a friend but you never spend time with them and you never learn about their wishes!? Do you know what God wants you to do with your life? We pray and talk to Jesus as our best friend so He knows we are honoring and respecting Him and this is proof of our love through the connection of communication. Allow God to talk to you, He will reveal verses, or show you by a sign, or a peace what His will is.

 

And finally, finishing the verse it states: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. The point is, Jesus proved His love, He laid down His life: now all of us are forever challenged to prove our love by showing the same level of sacrifice! We may never die for Him, so we must serve Him daily!

 

Proof of love requires manifestations in time, talent, and treasure given to God’s work so that another brother or sister, or mate can perceive it!

 

How good a lover are you?. Do you spend quality talent, treasure, and time with the one you claim to love? Or with your Christian friends and family? 

 

7. And again, how do you love God? If God were to measure your love for Him, what you do to show your love for Him and for your neighbor as yourself? 

 

We have the standard of Jesus laying down His life and this was the maximum love ever expressed by God and by His Son on earth! This type of supernatural, unexplainable, amazing, intense, merciful love provokes a response! How much have you loved back or will love back?

 

With God you can never love enough, but with some people we must establish limits of our love. Matt 7:6  “Don’t give pearls to swine”. 

 

You and I both have had bad experiences with other human beings with whom we have given a lot of love to; we have given our passion, our dedication, and our confidence only to be let down because they were too selfish and arrogant to understand what love is and be thankful for it. Measure love, is the person you are loving thankful, or indifferent, giving or returning nothing, or are they reflecting back your passion?

 

8. At one time or another, we all have been unloving and unappreciative towards God or some Christian friend in the church who has loved and helped. But no one of us here is full of love to our potential yet! If you were you would be like the young ruler in reverse who was told to sell everything and give to the poor and follow Christ, and you would do it and be right now on fire preaching every day to every one about the love of Jesus for all! You would be giving your life for full time service for Jesus!

 

How sad it is that some people have been loved by God through you or I, yet they have still remained in a selfish pit of ingratitude! But we love out of obedience to God, not to get loved backed, amen? We simply must love and leave the rest to God!

 

Love someone today! Love gives a chance and God reveals His love to all in many ways over and over and we should too! He wants us to just love and to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters! Loving God and your neighbor, (and your soul mate) is in obedience to the scripture! Can others perceive that you are giving love? Love as Jesus did, love in Jesus’ name, and you will make a big difference in the lives of those closest to you, and to anyone in your path!

In The World of No Love: Love!!

In The World of No Love: Love!!                                                Kelly Durant

I Corinthians13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

2. How many of you recall in your growing years falling down playing basketball, soccer, or having some accident and you got really hurt but no one was compassionate enough to come to your rescue? The others yelled at you, “Hey, get up crybaby and keep going!”, but what do you do when the pain is so sever you actually are paralyzed? We are reminded in many ways we live in an unloving, uncaring world full of indifferent people every day! 

After you catch your breath you sit it out for a while and think about how you felt abandoned for a moment, how the game just kept on going without you, of how you really were of no concern to anyone as the game in the midst of the war battle was more important than you or your life and your pain. How do you respond to the “no one cares for me” reality as you experience pain in your life’s events? Humanity exalts ‘the systems’ of their inventions above life, while God loves His living creatures above all and not even a sparrow falls without him knowing! Matt10:29 He even knows how many hairs you have! 

The good news is Jesus cares and you can feel the Holy Spirit inside you when you ask for it! The good thing as well is, our bodies usually do heal and they hurt a week or a few months but then get mended. You put ice on the bruised leg, but what can you put on the heart when it gets hurt? Who around you will take time with you to listen to you to love you authentically giving you hope to heal? 

3. Many pains and cuts leave a scar and you and I are reminded of the pain until death what happened. But what about the scars on the mind and soul? What do minds and hearts look like with scar tissue? We know. We see the behavior of the wounded everywhere! Now focus on yourself, can you identify your past or present pains, disappointments, and moments of abandonment with no love? Many people are blind to them! When was your wake-up call that you live in a world with no love? The worst pain of all in life is the one of realizing that you are not really being loved by someone you counted on! There is the what was done to you factor, but what are you doing?  How much love do you give anyway? You know how reaping works, to get love, you must sew and give love. 

So when was the first time you felt unloved? I bet many of you who are Christian cannot even recall that well because God has healed you of that pain! But I can tell you this by experience, I am sure many of you felt deep hurt after you had loved, sacrificed, and given your max to someone close and then you woke up one day to see that this person(s) did not appreciate and love you back in return. Jesus said, Matthew 10:36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ That is the pain God feels: He gave His Son to die for us and a vast majority of his created humanity are prideful, unthankful, and unresponsive to His great love!

To appreciate love, God made it so that you and I have to experience this unloving world full of no love! God’s love is an oasis in this world’s horrid desert! It was not God’s original plan to have to allow people to learn this painful lesson of being rejected and unloved (as Jesus was), but this is the predicament our past forefathers put us in, and we cannot change the people of the world’s past sinful destructive practices. Only with the love of Jesus can we change our present! What we can change in the world is those around us and our own heart and mind with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus reshaping our thoughts, character, and actions as He heals our pains with love.

4. In the past after a week in Bolivia I was reminded by my sister-in-law something I said when I left back in 1981. I told her after 3 and a half years there I was done with the unreceptive people of Bolivia! But I actually went back to stay another 3 and half more but in La Paz! I was angry and disappointed then that few people would convert to become true Christians instead of being Christians in name only. The only real disciple converts I got from Bolivia was my wife (and kids!)  But there also was my sweet sister-in-law who still brings tears to my eyes when I remember how she tried her best to grow and read the Bible. She did grow spiritually and progressed materially as well but now she tells me she has a broken heart like mine, sad that very few convert to authentically love and serve God. There are a few others in my wife’s family on fire for God though, and I got filled with hope from them! God’s love is alive around the world despite the selfish survival mode people live contributing to this world with ‘no love’.

I identified then, and still do now, to Jesus words, Matthew 11:16 “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, 17 and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.” As a missionary I used to give out gospel tracks in the markets, I use to play guitar and sing songs to the market venders and to people in the jails, hospitals, and orphanages. I loved the smiles on the children’s faces and that was a special time in my life. But deep inside I was heart-broken and frustrated that little love for God was returned, few chose to serve Him, but only a little repentance took place. What stubbornness!  I have often felt like Jerimiah who preached for many years and no one repented!

Many people I met were content to excuse their sinful life of excessive partying, adulterous affairs, binge drinking, coca use, extreme greed and arrogance, and the continual excuse that they did not need to know God any deeper because they believed in their own way or went to church (which was usually only once a year!) So where was the all so powerful dominating church in correcting the unloving destructive ways of these resistant people? Imagine Bolivia: it is as most of the world. It has high poverty, crime, and families divided and destroyed, and no one seems to care?! Where is the love? Where is the disappearing love in this country too? No love means no respect or values, ‘no love’ means hell on earth! 

5. The message I had for Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and have for everywhere I go, is what works, 4: “Love suffers long and is kind,” I can tell you now I have meet too many people who are not kind to their neighbors and their own family members, and this lack of love has created deep scars and pain! It is a global epidemic!

But because I love God, I make myself be kind anyway! I have suffered greatly by the indifference and rudeness of others and only because I love God, pray and read every day, have I been able to remain kind through it all! For one, everyone has to at some point forgive offenses. Jesus taught us to pray that in the Lord’s prayer: to forgive offenses! I can’t say to anyone anymore as I did before serving God, “Hey, You go to hell!” With God’s love I humble myself and control my anger and say, “Hey, how would you like to go to heaven? Do you know Jesus?”

How tragic in life that many people usually do not see their own unkindness and sin: that they are not reaping love and kindness from others in this moment in time because they have not sewn love and kindness in the past. Basically the ignorance of not knowing and loving God and being kind is killing their ability to ever obtain love and have peace! 

6. Have you noticed that politicians gain power from the people claiming that the financial divide of rich and poor is over race and the privilege of some (which they will fix of course.. yeah right, they haven’t yet!) These deceptive words are nothing but propaganda to feed the monster of the inner demons of envy and hate. Carnality and anger are opposite the spectrum of love’s values. 

Vs.4:”Love envies not”, who is mature enough to not have envy? The anger between the haves and have nots is very real everywhere. Friends and families divide over who makes more money and who does not. Envy is manifested in political choices with the hope of gaining more from the haves. Some gain for a while, some lose due to poor choices, and this is just life. But to live with envy will kill you! Satan uses human weaknesses to achieve more control and destruction!   

Often when kindness, generosity, and love is shown to a person who is contaminated by this unloving world full of greed and envy one finds that they interpret the gift as indebtedness and dumbness on your part. The factor is, what have you done with your life in the way of being wise, prudent, and blessed by God? Some people refuse to accept that another has gained more than them by merit with God! Envious people are continuous complainers that have not learned the value of loving, of even loving your enemies. How sad and bitter are many. 

7. “Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;”. This part refers to remaining humble even though you may be a loving, blessed by God person. This unloving world is made up of pride and most of the time people parade their good deeds only for shallow praise from others. Self-praise is arrogance, that ‘I am’ so good. 

Love given to a person who does not have a heart like Christ’s can become an ego-centric thing.  Haven’t you always hated it when someone you know met a famous singer or actor and they were treated indifferently and rudely by them when they said, “Hi”? Be careful who you love! Even though many people may love a certain famous singer, politician, or person, this does not mean that they will get love back from them, or that this vain one will give love to anyone!

Also love, 5 “does not behave rudely,” The world is becoming more and more rude, have you noticed? Matt. 24:12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold”. It is up to us to keep on showing love despite the increasing lack of love and rudeness everywhere. Fight rudeness with kindness!

8. And finally we have 3 commands, 5,”does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;” Those who love with God’s love should never do anything with self-interest, that is to seek their own gain in something. Love just loves no matter what may come back or what may not come back.

Love ‘is not provoked’ implies that you do not make a big deal out of how offended you are over stupid words or unkind actions. If you have love, you will just let it go, but in some cases you may need to stand up to defend a Godly cause. It basically means you are not a sensitive crybaby making a mountain out a mole hill but have enough maturity to not let your angry emotions take over your actions. There are too many in this world who immediately allow their emotions to govern their actions!  Be controlled by God’s spirit of love instead!

‘Thinking no evil’ implies not seeking revenge on those who have wronged you or not loved you as you expected. We should never desire evil to happen to anyone! To the contrary, however, do not allow yourself to be abused over and over by someone! You must love yourself too, and if someone is harming you so much you are thinking evil like in dreaming of killing them, then you have to repent, give it all to God, and get as far away as possible from that person with ‘no love’!

9. Today I am challenging you to mature in love! When a person gets authentically full of God’s love they will become so loving, so dedicated to others, so kind and forgiving, and so selfless that the only thing they can see their self doing in this life is serving God! 

I feel so sorry for so many people I meet in life! I can tell by their words and by their faces that they have never felt the intense amazing love of God deep inside! The fact is few people repent and give up their sins! Each person decides to accept God’s transforming love or not. God’s love in one’s spirit is best described (my opinion) as a person crazy in love or high on drugs! Remember how the town’s people thought God’s people were a bit too happy and crazy as in Acts 2: 15 “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.” It was the Holy Spirit giving them the power of love to preach the Good News to all the different races and people.

The first disciples filled the ancient cities that had a ‘no love’ religion, with love. Millions of Salvationist Soldiers and Christians worldwide keep spreading this same overwhelming emotional amazing love throughout the world! You and I have the task of filling the world void of love with love! Love is supernatural and will cause you to live by the I Corinthians 13 values we covered today. Do you feel called to love God more, even to the point to serve Him full time? Love heals scars and pains! Come now and pray!