Love is a verb

Let Us Love in Deed and in Truth

Since I've been studying on love, I decided to look up the meaning of love in the online dictionary. I was a little disturbed by what I found. Most of the results listed described love as a feeling or emotion. Does this mean that if I don't have warm feelings towards someone that I can choose not to love them? If I am basing my love on my feelings and emotions, then I would say yes to the aforementioned question.

The world's definition of love and God's definition of love are totally opposite to one another. God tells us that love is the manner in which we behave toward someone. It is not "tingles and goosebumps" but rather an action that flows from our heart. Love is a behavior. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us how love (God's love) behaves. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. Love is not conceited... It doesn't say anything about feelings or emotions. True love transcends our feelings and emotions.

It is no wonder that the divorce rate in America is over 50% if we are living by the world's standards of love. If love is a feeling and emotion, then eventually I am not going to be "in love" with someone because they will end up doing something that will cause my feelings toward them to sour at times. Too many times marriages are based on lust instead of love. They are based on how that person makes me "feel" when we are together.

When I examine love in the Bible, I see that it is always followed by an action. "by love serve one another." "Love your enemies, do good to them..." "If you love Me, then keep my commandments."This tells me that love is an action and not simply a feeling.

"...if anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him? Little children, let us not love (merely) in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:17 Amplified version)

When we see our brother or sister in need, it is not enough to say, "I'll pray for you," if we have the means to meet the need. To do so would negate the love of God in our lives. During this Christmas season especially, it is important that we not shut up our bowels of compassion. If we see someone in need, we need to share with them as the Lord leads. Isn't that what Christmas is about anyways? We need to keep Christmas in our hearts, not just in December, but all throughout the year.

"Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in Him." (1 John 2:15). When we begin loving the "things" of the world--the houses and cars and the "bling bling," then we have left the love for our Father. Why is this? Because when you begin to love the "things," they receive your worship and affection and God becomes second place in your life. This world is eventually going to be burned up and all the "things" in it. So isn't it vanity to strive for "things" that are only temporal and fleeting?

"But he/she who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever." (1 John 2:17b) What is God's purpose for our lives? It is two-fold. First, it is that we would love Him above all else; and secondly, that we would love others even as we love ourselves. Our purpose in life is to be conformed to the image of Christ--Who was the manifestation of God's love. He loved us in that He lay down His life for us. He loved us not only in word, but in deed and in truth. Let us begin to follow His example.

God's Faithful Love

Drawing Near With Thankful Heart


“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” (Psalm100:4)

This morning, when I woke up, I had a song in my spirit.  It’s an old hymn that I grew up singing.  “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”  I am so thankful for the faithfulness of God’s love—that it remains unchanging.  “Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”  Even when we are unfaithful, God remains faithful.  

   In the book of Hosea, God told the prophet (Hosea) to take Gomer for a wife even though He knew she was a harlot and would be unfaithful.  This was to be a symbol of God’s love for Israel.  “The book of Hosea is a love story—real, tragic and true…it tells of God’s love for His people and the response of His ‘bride.’  A covenant had been made and God had been faithful.  His love was steadfast and His commitment unbroken.  But Israel, like Gomer, was adulterous and unfaithful, spurning God’s love and turning instead to false gods.  Then after warning of judgment, God reaffirmed His love and offered reconciliation.” (The Life Application Bible commentary.)

True love is a commitment.  “For better or worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health.”  When we enter into the covenant of marriage, we are binding ourselves to that person “until death do us part.”  Even so, when we accepted Christ, we entered into a covenant relationship with God, sealed by the Holy Spirit.  We need to honor this relationship and not take God’s love and faithfulness for granted.

When Hosea married Gomer, she soon lost interest in Him and began to chase after other lovers.  Like Gomer, we too often chase after other lovers—love of money, power, recognition, etc…  We leave our first love, and begin to chase after the things of the world.

Thank God for His faithfulness, that He keeps His covenant of love with us! When we repent, He restores us and does not hold our sin against us.  

We need to call to remembrance our first love, and return to the passion we once had for God.  Just as a new bride loves her husband—leaving her family and forsaking all to follow him, God is calling us to leave our “lovers” and come away with Him.

On this day of thanks, let us think on the faithfulness of God’s love, and may it cause us to draw nearer to Him.  

A More Excellent Way

I feel that God wants me to do a study on love, so that is the direction I will be heading.  Not sure how long the course will be, but I want to follow His leading.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

If we are going to begin with love, we must begin here.  We love God because He first loved us.  God started the love process.  If we do not love God, it’s because we have not received and embraced His love for us.  You can’t give what you don’t have.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Before God began to work in my heart, I had trouble accepting love.  I felt unlovable and unworthy.  I felt like I had to earn God’s love through good works.  I had to get a revelation of God’s love—that it is not earned, but freely given—that even when I was at my worst, God loved me.  

“Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Luke 7:47

Jesus was referring to the woman who broke the alabaster box so that she might anoint Jesus.  She washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  A Pharisee muttered to himself about how if Jesus knew who she was, He wouldn’t be letting her touch Him, as she was a sinner. (Prior to her encounter with Christ, she had been a prostitute).  But Jesus received her in her brokenness and forgave her of all of her sins.

“Overflowing love is the natural response to forgiveness and the appropriate consequence of faith.  But only those who realize the depth of their sin can appreciate the complete forgiveness God offers them.” (Life Application Bible Commentary)

“Biblical love is built on grace; and only when a man realizes that he is a sinner, can he love God because of redemption.” (KJV Commentary)

When we get in the presence of a holy God, our sin becomes painfully apparent.  But when we get an understanding of His mercy and grace, then we are overwhelmed by His love for us and we can love Him out of the gratitude of our hearts.

A Call to Holiness

Leviticus 19:2b,30 "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy...You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord."

How do we reverence God's sanctuary and His presence? By consecrating ourselves and walking in holiness. When we walk in sin and rebellion to God's commands, we are showing a lack of reverence for God's presence in our lives. To reverence someone is to honor them and treat them with respect. How can we say we reverence God if we there are sins in our lives we are not willing to repent of? To repent is not just to say "I'm sorry." It means to have a change of heart and a change of direction.

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." (1 Corinthians 3:16,17) We are the temple and sanctuary of God. When we sin, we allow God's temple to be defiled and we open the door for the enemy to bring destruction in our lives.


"...Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” (Joshua 7:13b)
I believe that the church has become ineffective against the kingdom of darkness because we are not walking in holiness. We have not separated ourselves from the world and have compromised, lowering the standard of holiness that God has commanded us to walk in. If we want to see the power of God in our lives, then we must consecrate ourselves--laying aside the sin that entangles us.

God is calling us to holiness in every area of our life. He wants us to be holy in our thoughts, our conversation, our relationships, and our finances. We cannot compartmentalize God's holiness. God wants to sanctify every area of our lives.

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." (1 Thessalonians 5:23) God desires that we be holy in spirit, soul, and body. When we received Jesus as our Saviour, He purified our spirit and made it holy unto Him. Now He wants to do the same in our soul (mind, will, and emotions), and our body. I like the latter part of this scripture which says, "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." It is God who works in us--giving us the ability to walk into His holiness. As we abide in Christ and His words abide in us, we will be transformed into His image and likeness. We will become holy even as He is holy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8) Lord, purify our hearts so that we might see You. Put within us the heart of David--a heart after Yours, that we would desire Your presence in our lives above everything else. Let us be willing to pay the price for Your presence. Holy Spirit, speak to our hearts and help us to acknowledge the sin in our lives. Search us and know our hearts, try us and know our thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting.

Restoring a Reverence for God's Presence

"Do you quietly bow your head in reverence when you step in the average church? I would be surprised if your answer is yes." A.W. Tozer

God's glory brings a reverent fear with it. It causes men and women to run to the altar, fall upon their face and repent of the sin in their life. We, as the church have lost the reverence for God. We have allowed His temple to be defiled. Sin will cause the glory of God to depart. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) We need the fear of God restored in our lives--that we would have a hatred of sin. That we would see God as He is--in His holiness. "If we are to become God chasers then we will have to learn how to properly reverence, handle, and steward the holiness of God." (God Chasers by Tommy Tenney)

"A.W. Tozer was deeply concerned about our loss of holiness in the Church. He noticed that the average church was losing the sense of sacredness in their worship services, and it grieved him. To him, that lack of reverence meant that people didn't think God's presence was in the church. (And it probably wasn't)" (God Chasers by Tommy Tenney)

Uzzah found out first hand what happens when you do not reverence God's presence. When David went to restore the ark of the covenant, (it had been taken by the Philistines 20 years earlier because of the sins of Eli's sons), he put it on a new cart and had it carried by a selected group of men. "And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error..." (2 Samuel 6:6,7).

Too many times, we allow the sacred things to become common. "Before God brings His power into the earth, in His mercy He first restores our respect and awe for His glory and the things that are holy. We need to regain a deep and personal respect for the power of God's glory on unrepentant flesh." (Tommy Tenney)

In his second attempt to move the ark of God to it's proper place, David gave the priests a solemn warning that applies to the high priests in the Kingdom of God today: "And (he) said unto them, You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of God to Israel to the place I have prepared for it. For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order." (1 Chronicles 15:12,13)

The Hebrew word for sanctify is "qadash" which means to "separate" or "make holy." God is calling us to be holy even as He is holy. He wants to use us as vessels to transport His glory and power. His Word tells us that no flesh will glory in His presence. We need to crawl upon the altar and allow the fire of His Spirit to purify our hearts. We need to cleanse ourselves with the water of the Word. We need to pray that we would begin to walk in the fear of the Lord--that we would hate sin and abstain from the very appearance of it. Then and only then will the manifest presence of God be restored in our lives.