KEY SCRIPTURE: 1st Corinthians 13:5 ” (Love) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil”;

We continue with our study on the portrait of love while we consider the fact that love thinks no evil.

Every action of man results from the way we think. Titus 1:15 says,” Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled”. To be good or evil depends on whether a man is submitted to the Lordship of Jesus or not. The Bible says to the pure all things are pure, but to the man or woman with an evil mind, everything is evil. His or her conscience is defiled. Some men and women, as well, are so insecure about their spouses that they set up spies to monitor them. Such behaviours are normally reflections of past experiences. (Please get help from a qualified Counsellor).

Some would interpret any relation of their partners with the opposite sex as amorous. Love does not think evil. Love seeks the good of the second party and would not give in to impure or evil thoughts concerning the one loved.

There have been some friends who turned out to be extremely unfaithful. Such actions go to show that these people had no love all along. Most, acts of unfaithfulness in every relationship meant there was no love. Proverbs 27:6 says, “faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Some people do not want the truth spoken to them. Love always speaks the truth, although it may hurt at times. The Bible says the frank comments by a loving friend are faithful. It is the evil one who would call a knife a pen. Love thinks no evil and so be ready to accept the counsel proceeding from a loving heart, although it may not always be sweet.

Finally, love has no room for evil imaginations of any sort. Your thinking gives you a kind of spectacles and makes you see things from their colour. When a man wears blue spectacles, everything is blue. A red spectacle would also redden the whole world around you. Carry a loving spectacle, which is a colourless one. It has no prejudices. This would enable you to have a fair and secure relationship with your associates and make them relate with you fairly.

       CONFESSIONS

I always put up a sincere and loving view of all my associates. This prevents me from any painful mistakes. Therefore, our relationship keeps growing better and better!!!

THOUGHT: TRUE LOVE ALWAYS FILTERS THE THOUGHTS ABOUT HIS NEIGHBOUR, REJECTING THE EVIL, AND ACCEPTING THE GOOD.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Psalms 15:1-5 ” LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. “

KEY SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 13:5 “(Love) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil”

Today we will continue with the portrait of love with an emphasis on the fact that love is not easily provoked. It is rather amazing to find married couples burst out in anger screaming at each other over offenses that could be easily blinked at.

The underlining truth is that true love or agape (a Greek word used for the God kind of love) is absent. Pride which is an inner sense of seeking significance or protecting that air of importance is what dominates such a relationship. Pride is also a misplacement of one’s true identity (accepting yourself to be what you are not).  Such a home is a very miserable one. It is like putting two heavy-weight wrestlers in a closed cage.

Dear brother or sister, you don’t have to punish each other that way. Love does not consider himself or herself very important. Love is there, to be spent. Love is a sacrifice ready to be slain. This is why love does not get irritated over matters that excite the ego to come into action.

Consider King Saul and his son Jonathan. It was clear that David was the next successor to King Saul, yet Jonathan never felt the slightest dislike or irritation about David. He loved him and fully supported him to become the next king. Saul was extremely angry and mad with David so much so that he pursued him to slay him. (1st Samuel 20:1-45)

Jonathan whose “position”, David was annexing did not feel the slightest hurt but King Saul who was fading away could not stand it. Jonathan loved David with his soul (1st Samuel 18:1). King Saul was self-centered and could not come to terms with the fact that God had chosen David to reign after him.

Allow love to reign in your heart and you will be free from being petty over trivial matters. Why quarrel and strive with your spouse, your friend, your customer, etc? Let love reign in you. Remember you are a product of love and love is your nature, so you can love.

        CONFESSIONS

I am born of God. I do not live by my senses, so I’m not provoked or irritated over trivial matters. I live above all such things. My life expresses the love of God in its purest form.

THOUGHT:  PRIDE MAKES A FOOL OF A MAN, WHILE LOVE PRODUCES WISDOM

FURTHER STUDIES:

Colossians 3:12-13 ” Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye”.

1 Samuel 18:1 ” And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: 1st Corinthians 13:5(NLT) “It is not rude, it does not demand its own way, it is not irritable”

We continue with our exposition on the portrait of love as revealed in the Bible. Love does not demand its own way. A great sign of maturity is the ability to adapt easily. Through love you become all things for all men, so you would win many. Many marriages are suffering today because partners in marriage seek to have their own way.

There is an unnecessary competition and lack of support among Christian denominations and churches shown by the inability of even church leaders and various groups to throw away their personal ambitions to accept the broader course for the sake of the kingdom. Let’s consider what the Holy Spirit says in Philippians 2:2   ”   Philippians 2:2 ” Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

   Verse 4 says “Do not look on your own things, but look also on other’s things as well.

Jesus taught that we must love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the first stage of love. It is to treat people as you would want to be treated. The Lord Jesus thought about a greater kind of love.  He said, that greater love has no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends or neighbors (John 15:13). Losing your life for others involves not demanding your way.

 As Christians, there are so many instances when we have to lose our personal interest, comfort, and at times our lives to seek the well-being of others. Listen to what the Holy Spirit said about Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:30 “Because, for the work of Christ, he was nigh unto death, not regarding his own life to supply your lack of service towards me”. The Bible speaks of this man in Col. 4:12 that he labored fervently for the brethren in prayers that they may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. He did not love his life but sacrificed it in prayer for the brethren. * Show a greater love as Jesus did, and we would have a better world.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly father I thank you for allowing your only begotten son Jesus to sacrifice his life for me and the whole of humanity, this is an example of selflessness to a very high level. I receive grace to love as you did. Thank you, heavenly father, in Jesus’ name.

THOUGHT: LOVE IS SELFLESSNESS IN ACTION.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Philippians 2:1-2” If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind”?

John 15:13” Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends”

KEY SCRIPTURE: 1st Corinthians 13:13 “For there abides faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love”.

The book of 1st Corinthians 13 gives us a clear picture of how love functions and what it is. The New Living Translation 1st Corinth 13 verse 4b reads “Love is not envious or boastful or proud.”

Love is not envious: Envy is the child of selfishness. It does not rejoice about the success or privileges of others but rather anticipates that that good thing happening to brother A or sister B should have happened to him or her. Love has nothing to do with such things, love rather seeks the well-being of that second party.

Envy can kill you or make you kill. Envy would give a big doorway to a devil to invade your life.

Love is also not boastful. Boasting is not just expressing how well your efforts have achieved or rewarded you but also suggests that the second party does not have anything to show, has failed, and is incompetent.

Boasting casts, a bad picture on the second party before whom the boasting is expressed. This is intended to inflict some level of emotional pain. The one doing it may be aware of this or not, yet it has the ability to inflict such pain on the individual listening to this kind of boasting. Love does not do that. Love is very thoughtful about the feelings of the second party and would not act in any way to put that person down.

Verse 5a “Love is not rude”: To be rude is to ignore all courtesies. It also means to be impolite. This happens both in words and actions. Many good relations are destroyed by such rudeness or offensive behaviour. You can’t say you love your wife or husband and then be disrespectful to him. Rudeness is at the height of casting away love.

Love is not rude. Love has the good of the second party very high on his agenda. Be thoughtful about your manners. Ask yourself what is the effect of these words on the emotion or image of my brother or sister. If it doesn’t fit well don’t use it.

  CONFESSION

I am filled with love and would not destroy the emotion or image of my neighbour with the way I talk or act. My words are seasoned with salt and they would always bless, lift and encourage others.

THOUGHT: LOVE IS NÒT ABOÙT YOU, BUT SEEKING THE WELFARE AND SATISFACTION OF THE SECOND PARTY

FURTHER STUDIES

Colossians 4:6 “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man”.

James 1:19 “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”:

KEY SCRIPTURE: Matthew 19:19 “Honor thy father and thy mother: and thou shall love your neighbor as thyself”.

Our Lord Jesus told His disciples to love their neighbours as themselves. He taught that they must love without partiality, This is what makes a ma n perfect Mat 5:48. Matt 5 :45: Love is the proper language of creation. Creation freely gives to sustain itself. That is the language of love, for it   freely gives off its best. One may give without love, but you cannot love without giving.

The sun gives its best rays without expecting anything from the rest of creation. The plants receive the sunshine and reciprocally give off oxygen and water into the atmosphere. It gives and gives, and gives and gives out without expecting anything in return. We live by love, and death lays its cold hands-on men when our hearts grow cold with selfishness and hatred.

When love is taken out of creation, life will be extinct. Selfishness which is possessiveness, or an attitude to keep and never to share, or give out to support others, is poison to an individual’s heart, and an evil weapon of mass destruction. Hate selfishness, and kick it out of your life and you will stop its menace in your homes and surroundings.

Show me a man or woman of love, and I have found a mature person. Show me a wife or husband who is selfish, and I would reveal to you a home of great pain and sorrow. Love is beauty in the heart.

Now look at the portrait of love from the New Living Translation of 1st Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind. Longsuffering is a sense of accommodating certain adverse tendencies from others without retaliation. Kindness is a Liberal heart that seeks to bless, lift, or support others.

We see that in love, you take the mistakes of others, yet you are ready to share all good things with these same people without bearing any grudges or ill motives. Love indeed is medicine. A home of love raises, responsible God-fearing children, who also affect their communities with God’s power LET LOVE LEAD and love

 CONFESSION

I am a lover of all persons. I have been liberated by the love of Jesus so I likewise love all men. I am able to bear with all the mistakes of my neighbours and yet without the slightest sense of being taken advantage of.

THOUGHT: MAKE THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE BY SHINNING YOUR LOVE ROUND

FURTHER STUDIES:

1 Corinthians 13:4-5. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Romans 13:9 “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”

Loving your neighbours is the sunshine of life. It is the sustainer of good interpersonal relationships.

Love liberates the one loving, while hatred imprisons the hater.

Jesus said in 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”.

He added that in doing this would all men know that we are His disciples. The kind of love Jesus talked about is supernatural love. Jesus’ love for you and me drove him to sacrifice His life that we might live. He is God and never knew sin, yet because of the love He had for us, He became SIN. (2nd Corinth 5:21).

This led to the Father turning from Him to us.

How can we love as He loved? Since this is not a natural human act it must be done by faith.TO  love by faith is to love  in obedience to the word of God. It does not depend on whether you feel like loving or not.

You have got to believe that since you are born of God, you have the ability to love as He loved. (1st John 4:7).

Accept that this kind of love is your nature.

The Holy Spirit has also shed this God kind of love in our hearts (Rom 5:5).

Love is also the fruit of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (Gal 5:22). This has also become the fruit of our spirit.

Loving as Jesus loved is no more an impossibility to our present nature as born-again children of God. We do not live according to our senses or feelings. We live by the word. That is we live by faith. All things are ours. (1st Cor 3:22). We see all men from God’s point of view. Everybody is precious, wonderful, and magnificent. (Psalm 139:14) That is the individual God created. People have become what they are today because they rejected God’s idea about them. We do not treat people according to how they treat us ,but according to how God says we must  treat them.

Love all with God’s love

CONFESSION

I am born of God and have the ability of God to love like He did. Loving all in spite of colour race or CREED.I love as God loves them because they are in the image and likeness of God and love is the way  God expresses himself through me

THOUGHT: TRUE LOVE KEEPS SATAN FROM CONTROLLING YOU

FURTHER STUDIES

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,”

Galatians 5:14” For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor has thyself”

KEY SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 6:5 “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”.

In our previous study, we looked at loving God from a general viewpoint. We would consider loving God in the light of the born-again Christian.

Every Christian is born by the Spirit of God and God is His father. He must relate to God from his spirit. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”.

To relate well with God, you must understand who you are in reality. You are a spirit living in this body. Rom 8:10 teaches that if Christ be in you, the body is dead, but the spirit is life or alive. This simply means, your flesh no longer controls or leads you. It is your spirit that leads and controls you.

With this understanding, the things of the flesh and its appetites would not be your focus, but the things of the Spirit. (Col 3:1-3).

With such a renewed mind, you can focus on God. Take time to meditate on His goodness, His faithfulness, and His superabundant grace lavished on us. He left His throne to become a man, and suffered untold shame, pain, and divine rejection to make you and I, God’s blessed sons. This should drive you to worship God, for worship is love expressing itself. Take time to minister and magnify the Lord. Such love would cause you to live with the reality of God’s presence all the time. Please read Psalm 63:1-8.

The Psalmist says my soul, thirsts for thee and my flesh long after thee.

God lovers are men and women who are high flyers in life. God adorns them with honor and glory. Daniel was a great God lover and his achievement in life is yet to be beaten. David’s successes can’t be contested for generations to come. Men like Paul, Stephen, Peter, and many in our day have stood out because of their uncompromising love for God.

CONFESSION

God is my focus in life. My greatest delight is to honour him, pleasing Him in all I do. My life cannot be ordinary, I can only make exploits in this life.

THOUGHT: LOVING GOD MAKES YOU SHINE LIKE A STAR IN THIS LIFE

FURTHER STUDIES

1 Corinthians 2:9 ” But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”.

1 John 4:18 ” 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”.

KEY SCRIPTURE: “Deuteronomy 6:5” And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”.

Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord, thy God with all thy soul and with all thy might. Man’s heart must necessarily be filled with something. His heart may be occupied by the created things or by the creator. Men have woefully kicked against the instruction of God and have,” changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”(Rom 1:25).

To love is to worship, for love gives of itself to what it cherishes. This is exactly what happens in worship.

Failure to love God with all your heart, mind, and being is the misery and sorrow of mankind. The picture portrayed by the writer of Romans 1:18-30 is rather gloomy. Men become servants of ordinary creatures, misusing their bodies in very shameful ways and, in the end, receiving the reward for their folly.

To love God is to love peace, liberty, dignity, and true spirituality. Loving God would naturally lead you to love all humans in spite of their race, religion, status, or whatever condition that person finds himself.

The absence of peace in our societies is a direct manifestation that we have very little love for God.

Everyone who truly loves God is free, for it is only in God that there is true liberty. Let me make myself clear, God has revealed himself presently in His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 14:6 Heb 1:2) We relate to God by submitting to the Lordship of Jesus over our lives. Our Lord Jesus is the only one who sets men free,

Consider what He says about those who love Him.1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”. God has so much for all who sincerely love Him. Turn your heart totally to the Lord of your soul, our Lord Jesus Christ, so you can live out what God intended you to be.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, my life is a vessel unto you, and Jesus is my Lord. I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart and soul. My neigh6bor is also cherished and loved sincerely because that is your will for me.  Thank you, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THOUGHT: WE BECOME TRUE HUMANS WHEN WE LOVE GOD IN TRUTH.

FURTHER STUDIES

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”

Psalms 145:20 “The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroyed

KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 5:7 ” Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared;”

 Prayer is a virtue, which is as vital for our victory in life and effectiveness as Christians.

We take a study into the prayer example of our Lord Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus was a man of prayer. (Remember we learned that He was fully God and fully man). Our key scripture says IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH. He demonstrated His humanity in His prayer life. The Lord offered up prayers with great passion. It was heartfelt. James 5:16 AMP…..the heartfelt prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. It is dynamic and can have tremendous power…..”

It was this disposition to pray consistently that caused the disciples to ask Him. Luke 11:1 “…..as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, …”The Lord Jesus was an extremely busy man, with crowds always around Him, yet he never failed one day in not communicating with the Father.

1.            He prayed during His baptism (Lk 3:21)

2.            He prayed and fasted forty days and forty nights (Lk4:2)

3.            He frequently rose up a great while before the day to pray (Mk 1:35)

4.            He prayed through the night all alone (Lk 6:12)

5.            He prayed on the mountain apart deep into the night (Matt 14:23)

6.            He prayed in agony at Gethsemane (Lk 22:44).

7.            He prayed for all His disciples, past and even us in (John 17)

All these demonstrated His unflinching dependence on the Father during His earthly ministry. The results and impact of His ministry as a direct reflection of His prayer life are there for all to see.

Jesus has shown us the true life of prayer, and we must learn from him.

Do you want to make a real impact on your world? Are you having unnecessary barriers to your life and ministry, then do as He did. Pray as if all depends on prayer and work as if all depends on working. This was the Lord’s approach to life, and He was an immense success.

PRAYER

Thank you, heavenly Father, for the privilege of prayer. As I pray, I enter into a closer relationship with you, bringing transformation to me as well as affecting changes in the world around me.

THOUGHT: CONSISTENT FERVENT PRAYERS BRING GOD’S HAND TO ASSIST YOU

FURTHER STUDIES

Matthew 14:23 ” And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.”

Luke 3:21 “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened”,

KEY SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:15 “And saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel”.

Believing in God is the most positive virtue to exercise. The Bible says all things are possible to those who believe. (Mark 9:23). Believe in God awakens every dying energy in you and makes you keep winning all the way through. Unbelief in God is the worst of influences that can operate in men. Unbelief is what causes a man to marry a dog or a man to use his neighbor for a money ritual. Every ‘foolish’ thing or act can be committed by men in the face of unbelieve in God. Unbelief would awaken every negative power or force to cause you to fail. Believing in yourself is a great deception of the enemy.

True belief in God begins with repentance from all deceptions of the enemy. And accepting whatever God says in His word. The Bible calls it, renewing the mind in Rom 12:2. As we feed our lives with the word, believing whatever it says our lives are transformed into higher levels of being or experiences.

God’s word is a mystery. It has a supernatural potential to make us whatever it talks about. Believing whatever we have read brings about this experience. Many people have heard so much, yet they remain the same, why? They do not believe what they have been hearing or listening to. Through believing these exceeding great and pressures promises, we become partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world, through lust or unbelieve (2 Peter1:4). There is a force and power of decay that sin released into mankind and in creation as a whole. (Rom 8:2) Believing in the word sets up in us a higher law that totally renders this power of decay inoperative and makes us free (Mark 16:15-17).

The meaning of belief in the Ghanaian languages simply means to take and eat or swallow. It also means to place your survival on it. Dare to believe whatever the word of God tells you. Please spend some moments to meditate on what Psalm 119:89-90 says “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth”.

Lastly, the power in the word is set into operation by saying or speaking forth that which you have believed. (Rom 10:9&10,2nd Corinth 4:13).

CONFESSION

I believe in God my Father, I believe in His revealed word, and the word makes me what it talks about. I have been transformed from an ordinary human to a superhuman state through my birth into Christ. I reign in this life by grace.

THOUGHT: TO BELIEVE IS TO CAST YOUR LIFE ON GOD AND HIS WORD, WHICH PLACES A DEMAND ON THE INTEGRITY OF GOD TO RESPOND.

FURTHER STUDIES

Romans 12:2 ” And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.

2 Peter 1:4 ” Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust”.