Let us take that powerful passage from the Apostle Paul about Love and spend the rest of this month considering it, praying about it and letting it work in us for the Glory of God.

Below is a simple interpretation of I Corinthians 13.
It is so profound even the angels of heaven stand in awe of it.

  If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self.  Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  Love doesn't strut,  Doesn't have a swelled head,  Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle,   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best,  Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

DAY 29—The Love that comes to us from God has a great power for endurance.

 

The time of the end is coming on. The spirits of anti-Christ are bringing attack after attack against those who hold in our hearts a connection with God’s Throne. Some of these attacks come upon us with deception. If we do not allow God’s Spirit to rule in our inner man, we will fall under these attacks. The dark spiritual forces coming from that man of sin reach for any ground in the spirits of believers that are attractive to them. The greatest repellant for these spirits is the Love that comes from God.

• I John 4:7—Beloved, let us love one another: •for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

The little phrase in the middle of this verse is loaded with spiritual truth and understanding. Seeing it in the Original gives insight that remains with us through our search.  It evolves from the little word of. This comes from the Greek word ek which means “out of.” God Himself is the source out from which the agápe kind of love comes to us. This Love gives us a vital connection with God. The next verse tells us that ...God is love—I John 4:8. When the spirits that come from anti-Christ make their assault upon us, they are met and driven off if the Love of God dwells in us.

Can we imagine this? Can it become reality in us? Yes. The greatest force in all the world has come to us from out of God’s Kingdom. There is no power from hell that can withstand it.

Not only does the Love that comes from God provide us the greatest protection to stand in the day of anti-Christ’s greatest attacks, it also gives us bold freedom to stand in the Day of God’s judgment. See what more John said regarding this:

• I John 4:17,18—•Herein is our love (love with us) made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. •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

DEAR FATHER, what mercy you have poured upon us! It surrounds us, it upholds us, it becomes our shield and provides assurance against all the attacks the anti-Christ has planned against us. For this we praise You. Oh, thank You for giving us Your love. It is the perfection of our faith.

 

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