Daily Devotional ~ Fruit of the Spirit ~ Love
🧡 Worship: If you'd like to play a song before you begin or while you read, may we recommend "Love God Love People" by Danny Gokey. Why not try asking alexa, siri, or google to play it for you?!
💛 Daily Verse: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
☆ Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
💙 Let's Talk About It: If you've been reading The Art of Prayer's devos for any amount of time, you know I've written about the love of God on more than a few occasions. It also happens to be the last fruit we are speaking about in the Fruit of the Sprit devotional series.
This fruit is one in which we are actively participating. It also happens to be the fruit that is produced best when all other fruit have yielded a harvest. See friend, you can't love without being joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. This is because, just like all the other fruit, love is more than just a feeling, it is an act of service.
Think about God's love for you. No matter what you have done, He's wiped the slate clean. He forgives you and forgets it ever happened. Do you love people like that? Do you look past the faults? Or do you hold conditions on love? If the individual looks a certain way, you could love them. If they are willing to meet your criteria, it's easy to love.
This is the problem with most marriages nowadays. It's about the individuals' levels of happiness instead of any of the fruit exemplified above. But who sets the terms on love again? Who is our example to follow to know whether we are loving people like we should or not?
That would be Jesus.
We can look upon His life of sacrifice and unconditional love to get a glimpse of what our lives should look like. No, there will not be crowds following us like they did Him. That's not the point of loving like Jesus. The point is loving those God has already placed for us to influence in our lives.
It sounds so simple, but love is deeper, stronger, more profound, and far more reaching than words can express because God is love. It's who He is...and I'm not sure if we will ever be capable of understanding the breadth of who He is here on earth. I do not doubt however that as I continue to seek God, I will be able to learn more about who He is and how to love like Jesus. And when we meet face to face...everything, especially the breadth of His love, will make perfect sense.
💜 Additional Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 (it's a short chapter 😊)
❤ Prayer: Dear God, thank you for today. Lord, you are so good and so awesome, I am in awe of you. Thank you for protecting me and my family and for showing us favor while you shower us with blessings. Lord Jesus, thank you for touching those who need healing and for your ending love and mercy. You are the good Shepherd and I am grateful to be one of your flock. Lord, help me to be your hands and feet today. I want to shine Your light, not mine. Help me to love others like you love, Lord Jesus. I thank you for wisdom and guidance in all areas of my life. I pray your will be done, Father, on earth as it in is heaven. I love you Jesus and in your name I pray, amen.
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