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(01/12/2002) what is love?


Hello prayer warriors, 1. Special announcement: JUST MARRIED Sorry prayer warriors, I should have told you this earlier. I just got married on January 5th. I have been so busy with the preparations that I've neglected mydevotion.com. Please forgive me and keep me in your prayers. God is good. He makes all things beautiful in His time and I am truly blessed. 2. Prayer note: what is love? [1 Corinthians 13:4-8] 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. Many people have tried to describe love and I suppose everyone has their own definition or version of love. Above is a biblical description of love. The highest act of love that I have known is the love of God towards me which can be described in the following verse: [John 3:16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What is love then? The best definition of love that I have heard came from Ed Cole. Love is "giving at the expense of self". This applies in the context of marriage as well. Many people get married because they are "in love". If being in love is an emotion that we depend on to sustain a marriage, then marriages are on very shaky ground. "Being in love" carries connotations of a "self-seeking" emotion. When you don't feel that emotion, then people feel it is time to give up their marriage. Many people get married because of what they can "receive" from the marriage but not what they can "give". Many marriages break down because we seek self. Love is not self-seeking and love is a commitment. If it is a commitment, then love never fails. It is the same with our relationship with God. We may not feel an emotional high all the time but we know that we have committed our lives to loving Him. What does loving Him mean? Giving our lives to Him at the expense of self. This is a commitment and not an emotion. So, let us renew our commitment to God to love Him, to spend time with Him and to follow Him. We give because we have made a commitment to follow Him. [Luke 14:26-27] 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Here God is not asking us to literally hate our family or ourselves. But He is teaching us how to love Him. By giving our lives in spite of self. By honouring our commitment to place Him first in our lives. What are the practical ways that we can love Him and give of ourselves? i. by spending devotional time with Him (waking up earlier), ii. by reading His Word (making a commitment to spend time with Him), iii. by living our lives as an act of worship to God (making the right choices in our lives as an act of worship to Him). 3. New prayer requests: i. Need your prayers for my family -- tigerpiano_bear http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2033 ii. Family -- gkelly http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2034 iii. comfort from God -- jules http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2035 iv. In desperate need of job! -- guest http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2037 vi. Job -- guest http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2038 vii. A friend in trouble -- ak http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2039 4. Number of prayer warriors: 1158 We welcome cherrypink, gkelly, jules, logos, bobby, jayburts, treebuilder, newtochrist, sandibrown, micah, ak, edwin soto, 42bob, taz, mythreesons, skj2570, lb7351, momrfg, nikeobrien, simplegrace1, smc, elm1958, heavenstar, vpiano, kecia, spark_plugg, petersmark, oasis, miracles, luvemlots, believeroc, kiletile, aj1senior, carjam, bljanse, bljansen, porkchop, lbarrentine, danilobr, sandywhinery, shequib, moansythomas, blondie, st4906, tileman, cdazo2002, corinth, tarejo, kyadto, lelia, patzky59, charlie, rly111, rly57, flyingcheshireca, katy oliver, christiancountry, countrygrrl, sugaroo, annette, powelly and nzcd1q into our prayer group. in Christ, Wai Hun
Saturday, January 12, 2002 4:31:35 AM waihun
changed on Saturday, January 12, 2002 4:32:07 AM

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