WHEN YOU ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY AUGUST 25, 2022.

SUBJECT : WHEN YOU ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

Memory verse: "For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13 vs 9.)

READ: Galatians 5 vs 14 - 15:

5:14: For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

5:15: But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

INTIMATION:

Our vertical relationship with God is established on the foundation of love. Our horizontal relationship with our fellow man is established on love. The principle of love permeates and identifies the very nature of Christianity. This is the principle by which one can determine both the true God and those who serve Him. 

God demands that our motivation in all we do should be by the geatest gift of love. That our driving force should be ‘love,’—love for Him and others.  When we believers lose the motivation of love, we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Soon we lose our unity. 

When you are not motivated by love, you form the habit of talking behind someone’s back. You will then be focusing on others’ shortcomings instead of their strengths. When this habit persists, remind yourself of Jesus’ command to love others as you love yourself. When you begin to feel critical of someone, make a list of that person’s positive qualities and harp on them. When problems need to be addressed, confront in love rather than gossip.

When we are not motivated by love in our doings, we are actually breaking God’s law. Examine your attitude and actions toward others. Do you build people up or tear them down? When you are ready to criticize someone, remember God’s law of love and say something good instead. Saying something beneficial to others will cure you of finding fault and increase your ability to obey God’s law of love. 

When you are motivated by love you see that others are fed, clothed, and housed as well as they can be. You will be concerned about issues of social justice. But when you are not motivated by love, the reverse is the case. Loving others as ourselves means actively working to see that their needs are met. Interestingly, people who focus on others rather than on themselves rarely suffer from low self-esteem. 

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul tells us to love others as much as we love ourselves. Somehow many of us have gotten the idea that self-love is wrong. But if this were the case, it would be pointless to love our neighbors as ourselves. But the apostle Paul explains what he means by self-love. Even if you have low self-esteem, you probably don’t willingly let yourself go hungry. You take care of your body and may even exercise. You clothe yourself reasonably well. You make sure there is a roof over your head. You try not to let yourself be cheated or injured. This is the kind of love we need to have for our neighbors. 

Christians must obey the law of love, which supersedes both spiritual and civil laws. How easy it is to excuse our indifference to others merely because we have no legal obligation to help them and even to justify harm on them if our actions are technically legal! But Jesus does not leave loopholes in the law of love. Whenever love demands it, we are to go beyond humans’ legal requirements and imitate the God of love. 

Law governs our interaction with one another. Love of our neighbor motivates us to act in a lawful manner on our relationships with one another as the organic body in society. When we are motivated by love, we go beyond the limitations of law or commandments. But when we are not motivated by love, we are strictly limited by law and commandments in our doings. 

Love will carry one beyond the limitations of law. We could keep all the commandments, but still be limited in our relational behavior with our neighbor. Love always goes beyond a list of commandments. Commandments limit, love expands, commandments restricts, but love frees. Commandments lead us to believe how little we can do; love opens the door to unlimited possibilities. 

When we are not motivated by love, we ignore the rich by believing they have they need. We should not ignore the rich, because then we would be withholding our love. But we must not favor them for what they can do for us, while ignoring the poor who can offer us seemingly so little in return. We must treat people as we would want to be treated. 

Prayer: Abba Father, Your love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. Endue me with the spirit of lovely motivations in all I do, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

When God’s Love Is Sweetest

 

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. (Ephesians 5:25–26)

If you only hope for unconditional love from God, your hope is great, but too small.

Unconditional love from God is not the sweetest experience of his love. The sweetest experience is when his love says, “I have made you so much like my Son that I delight to see you and be with you. You are a pleasure to me, because you are so radiant with my glory.”

This sweetest experience is conditional on our transformation into the kind of people whose emotions and choices and actions please God.

Unconditional love is the source and foundation of the human transformation that makes the sweetness of conditional love possible. If God did not love us unconditionally, he would not penetrate our unattractive lives, bring us to faith, unite us to Christ, give us his Spirit, and make us progressively like Jesus.

But when he unconditionally chooses us, and sends Christ to die for us, and regenerates us, he puts in motion an unstoppable process of transformation that makes us glorious. He gives us a splendor to match his favorite kind: his own.

We see this in Ephesians 5:25–27. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her [unconditional love], that he might sanctify her . . . and present the church to himself in splendor” — the condition in which he delights.

It is unspeakably wonderful that God would unconditionally set his favor on us while we are still unbelieving sinners. The ultimate reason this is wonderful is that this unconditional love brings us into the everlasting enjoyment of his glorious presence.

But the apex of that enjoyment is that we not only see his glory, but also reflect it. “The name of our Lord Jesus [will] be glorified in you, and you in him” (2 Thessalonians 1:12).

LET ALL YOU DO BE MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24, 2022.

SUBJECT : LET ALL YOU DO BE MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

Memory verse: "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." (First Corinthians 13 vs 3.)

READ: First Corinthians 13 vs 1 - 3:

13:1: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

13:2: And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

13:3: And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

INTIMATION:

Love is having great affection for, feeling a passionate attraction to, and being fond of something or someone. God demands that our motivation in all we do should be by the geatest gift of love. That our driving force should be ‘love,’—love for Him and others.  God considers love as the greatest gift anybody can give, and demonstrated it when He Himself gave to the world His only begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins out of His love for the world.

Jesus gave His life for us out of love of the Father, that we might have our own life and live through Him. He considered it the greatest gift anyone can give, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15 vs 13). No such gift has ever been given, and I doubt the possibility of ever having any gifts greater than this; exchanging something of inestimable value with something completely worthless. 

However, we may not have to die for someone, but there are other ways to practice sacrificial love: listening, helping, encouraging, giving, sharing in grief etc. Sacrificial love is demonstrated in stretching yourself more than normal in offering yourself in love for God and others.

In giving His Son, the driving force to God is love for the world; “For God so loved the world that He gave...” (John 3 vs 16.) The apostle John said that by such act of God, in given His Son who laid down His life for us, we know love. And that should be our motive in all we do; we should love one another and ready to ‘lay down our lives for others,’—that is, serving others with no thoughts of receiving anything in return. 

John further stated that “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (First John 4 vs 7 - 8.) The person who in not motivated by love does not know the first thing about God, because God is Love—so you can’t know Him if you don’t love. 

The Scripture makes it clear that no one has seen God, ever, or can see God. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and His perfect love becomes complete in us. And this is how we know we are living steadily and deeply in Him and He in us. When we take up permanent residence in a life out of love, we live in God and God lives in us.

Love is more important than all the spiritual gifts exercised in the church—the body of Christ. Great faith, acts of dedication and sacrifice, and miracle-working power, all have little effect without love. Love makes our actions and gifts useful. You aren't going to see a supernatural return on your giving when you do it with the wrong motive. It has to come from a humble and loving heart that desires to bless other people. The motive behind what you do is more important than the action itself, and giving with a wrong heart motive is of no benefit. Although people have different gifts, but love is available to everyone.

In the passage we read today, we can understand that you can go so far as to make the ultimate sacrifice of laying down your life, but it will be of no benefit to you if it isn't done out of a motivation of love. It will bless the person you sacrifice yourself for, but it isn't going to result in a supernatural return for you. 

Jesus gave us the ‘Greatest Commandment’ of love, saying, “And You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. ‘This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There are no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12 vs 30 - 31.)

In John 14 vs 23, Jesus said, “…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” And His word is the commandment He has given us as stated above. The life of “love” for God and others engenders companionship of God and His Son with you. What love can be more enduring than this?

God’s laws are not burdensome. They can be reduced to two simple principles: Love God and love others. These commands are from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6 vid 5; Leviticus 19 vs 18). When you love God completely and care for others as you care for yourself, then you have fulfilled the intent of the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament laws. 

According to Jesus, these two commandments summarize all God’s laws. Let them rule your thoughts, decisions, and actions. Let sincere love for God and others be your motivating factor in all you do. When you are uncertain about what to do, ask yourself which course of action best demonstrates love for God and love for others.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. Give me the grace to showcase my abiding in You, and You in me by my love for You and others, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Message of Creation

 

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:22–23)

It would be a great folly and a great tragedy if a man loved his wedding ring more than he loved his bride. But that is what this passage says has happened.

Human beings have fallen in love with the echo of God’s excellence in creation, and lost the ability to hear the incomparable, original shout of love and power and glory.

The message of creation is this:

There is a great God of glory and power and generosity behind all this awesome universe; you belong to him because he made you. He is patient with you in sustaining your rebellious life. Turn and bank your hope on him and delight yourself in him, not merely his handiwork.

According to Psalm 19:1–2, day pours forth the “speech” of that message to all who will listen in the day, speaking with blindingly bright sun and blue sky and clouds and untold shapes and colors and beautiful designs of all things visible. Night pours forth the “knowledge” of the same message to all who will listen at night, speaking with great dark voids and summer moons and countless stars and strange sounds and cool breezes and northern lights.

Day and night are saying one thing: God is glorious! God is glorious! God is glorious! Turn away from the creation as your supreme satisfaction, and delight yourself in the Lord of glory.

LOVE MATTERS MOST IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND MAN!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY AUGUST 23, 2022.

SUBJECT: LOVE MATTERS MOST IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND MAN!

Memory verse: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13 vs 35.)

READ: John 14 vs 15 - 18 & 21; First John 4 vs 7 - 8 & 12 - 13:

John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

14:16: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

14:17: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

14:18: I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

14:21: He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.

First John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

4:8: He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

4:12: No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 

4:13: By this we know we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit.

INTIMATION:

In leading a life of intimacy with God, love is what matters most. God is love, and to know God is to know how to love. God is invisible, and a Spirit. How then do you develop intimate relationship with Him when you can’t see Him? You only draw closer to Him if we love one another whom you see. 

God is the source of our love. He loved us enough to sacrifice His Son for us. Jesus is our example of what it means to love; everything He did in life and death was supremely loving. In death He gave us the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to love, He lives in our hearts and makes us more and more like Christ. Consequently, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5 vs 5).

Because God is love, the most important lesson He wants us to learn on earth is how to love. It is in loving that we are most like Him, so love is the foundation of every command He has given us. The Bible, in Galatians 5 vs 14, says, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The Ten Commandments of God center on relationships; the first four are on our relationship with God, and the other six is on our relationship with others.

It is in keeping His commandments that you show you love Him, and your love is returned even in greater magnitude. When we live by God’s standards, He will not leave us, He will be in us, and He will plainly show Himself to us. 

Love is more than lovely words; it is commitment and conduct. It’s much more than simply warm feelings. It is an attitude that reveals itself in action. If you love Him, then you prove it by your action of obeying what He says in His Word. How can we love others as Jesus loved us? By helping when it is not convenient, by giving when it hurts, by devoting energy to others' welfare rather than our own, by absorbing hurts from others without complaining or fighting back. This kind of loving is hard to do. That is why people notice when you do it and know you are empowered by a supernatural source.

Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task. It runs counter to our self-centered nature. That's why we are given a lifetime to learn it. Of course, God wants us to love everyone, but He is particularly concerned that we learn to love others in His family. 

One of the purposes, and God’s greatest commandment for your life is to love God, and one another. The apostle Peter, in First Peter 2 vs 17, tells us, "Love the brotherhood." He says we should show special love for God's people, that is 'other believers in Christ.' The apostle Paul echoes this sentiment in Galatians 6 vs 10 that says, "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."

Why does God insist that we give special love and attention to other believers? Why do they get priority in loving? Because God wants His family to be known for its love more than anything else. In our memory verse, Jesus said our love for each other is not our doctrinal beliefs, rather it is our greatest witness to the world that we are His people. 

In heaven we will enjoy God's family forever, but first we have some tough work to do here on earth to prepare ourselves for an eternity of loving. When we are not motivated by love we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Have you talked behind someone's back? Have you focused on others' shortcomings instead of their strengths? When you begin to feel critical of someone, make a list of that person's positive qualities. If there are problems that need to be addressed, it is better to confront in love than in hate or to gossip.

God trains us by giving us “family responsibilities," and the foremost of these is to practice loving each other. God wants you to be in regular, close, fellowship with other believers so you can develop the skill of loving. Love cannot be learned in isolation. You have to be around people—imperfect, frustrating, irritating, people of all manner—to learn how to love in action, and as Jesus loved.

Prayer: Abba Father, You loved me first, and it’s only in keeping Your commandments that will prove My love for You. My utmost heart desire is to lovingly obey You in all things. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience in love for You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God Is Not an Idolater

 

When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:10)

Paul says that Christ is coming precisely to be glorified and to be marveled at. That is why he is coming.

People stumble over the teaching that God exalts his own glory and seeks to be praised by his people because the Bible teaches us not to be like that. For example, the Bible says that love “does not seek its own” (1 Corinthians 13:5, NASB).

How can God be loving and yet be utterly devoted to “seeking his own” glory and praise and joy? How can God be for us if he is so utterly for himself?

The answer I propose is this: Because God is unique as an all-glorious, totally self-sufficient Being, he must be for himself if he is to be for us. The rules of humility that belong to a creature cannot apply in the same way to its Creator.

If God should turn away from himself as the Source of infinite joy, he would cease to be God. He would deny the infinite worth of his own glory. He would imply that there is something more valuable outside himself. He would commit idolatry.

This would be no gain for us. For where can we go when our God has become unrighteous? Where will we find a Rock of integrity in the universe when the heart of God has ceased to value supremely the supremely valuable? Where shall we turn with our adoration when God himself has forsaken the claims of infinite worth and beauty?

No, we do not turn God’s self-exaltation into love by demanding that God cease to be God.

Instead, we must come to see that God is love precisely because he relentlessly pursues the praises of his name in the hearts of his people. Our praise for his greatness is the capstone of our joy and his greatness.

GOD'S NAMES AND TITLES

 Take two minutes and Just call dis names,don't Stop

1. Wonderful

2. Counsellor

3. Prince of Peace

4. Eternal Rock of Ages

5. King of Glory 

6. Mighty God

7. King of kings

8. Lord of lords

9. Lord of hosts

10. Lilly of the valley

11. Healer

12. Deliverer

13. Provider

14. Creator

15. Potter

16. Day Star

17. Cornerstone 

18. Prophet of prophets

19. Saviour

20. I AM THAT I AM

21. Wisdom of God

22. Head of the church

23. Governor

24. Righteous Judge

25. Protector

26. Rock of salvation

27. Shield 

28. Merciful God

29. Gracious God

30.  Faithful God

31. Giver

32. Victorious in Holiness

33. Consuming Fire

34. El Elyon

35. Jehovah Raphael

36. Jehovah Rohi

37. Jehovah Jireh

38. Jehovah Elgibor

39. Jehovah Sham ah

40. Jehovah Shalom

41. El Olam

42. Defender

43. Redeemer 

44. Comforter 

45. Trinity in Council

46. Instructor

47. Teacher 

48. Inspirer

49. Reminder

50. Invinsible God

51. Hope of Glory

52. Lion of Judah

53. Root of Jesse

54. Man of war

55. Lamb of God

56. Sustainer

57. Convincer

58. Light of the world

59. Restorer

60. Silencer

61. Stiller of storms

62. Proclaimer 

63. Father of the fatherless

64. Husband of the widow

65. Smith of heaven

66. The Way

67. The Truth

68. The Life 

69. Bread of life

70. Bread Winner

71. Champion of champions

72. Winner of winners

73. Composer

74. Author 

75. Finisher 

76. Glorious in Holiness 

77. Fearful in praises

78. Sleepless God

79. Ancient of days

80. Ageless God

81. Eternal God

82. Excellent God

83. Powerful God

84. Leader of leaders

85. Chief Inventor

86. Convener 

87. Compassionate God

88. Commander-in-Chief of heavenly host 

89. Worthy King

90. Overseer

91. Moulder 

92. Shaper

93. Breaker

94. Praiseworthy God

95. Helper

96. Richer than the richest

97. Older than the oldest 

98. Trustworthy God

99. Arranger

100. Master Builder

101. Master Planner

102. Master Minder

103. Arrester 

104. Relentless God

105. Voice of hope

106. Beautiful God

107. Alpha and Omega

108.Game Changer

109. Our Refuge

110. Our fortress 

111. Our Buckler

112. Our Banner

113. Strong Tower

114. Unchanging changer

115. Rose of Sharon

116. All in All

117. Pillar of our lives 

118. The First Born

119. Lamb that was slain

120. The Glory & lifter of our heads

121. The word of God

122. Our Advocate

123. Our High Priest

124. Bishop of our souls

125. High and Lofty one

126. Almighty

127. Our Best Friend

128. On time God

129  Lion of Judah

130  Omnipotent

131. Omnipresent

132  Omniscient

133. Consumming fire Adonai

134. The beginning &         the end

135   Living water

136   Unquenchable  fire

137. Awesome God

138  Excellent Jehovah

139  Battle Winner

140  Unquestionable  God. 

141 Jehova Tchidkenu,

142 Mighty one in battle. 

143 Glorious in Holiness, 

144 Fearful in praises. 

145 Mighty man of valour. 

146 Miracle worker.

147 Rock of ages.

148 Merciful God.

149 Advocate.

150 Always  doing wonders.  

151 Amen and Hallelujah. 

152 Answer to prayers. 

153 Intercessor.

154 Interceptor. 

155 Balm of Gilead.

There is no one like Him. To Him be the Glory, forever, Amen

How do you feel, after calling these wonderful names? Your battles are settled!🙏🏻

May God bless all those who will read these wonderful names of God to the end and share the blessings to others by sending to atleast 6 people and groups you love and care about.