#RelationshipTools #relationship #relationshipbuilding #BuildingBridges #Harmony #vengeance #prodigal #prodigalchildren #woundedparents #observer #revenge #forgiveness #prodigalyoungadult #ConflictManagement #pain #StopPain #criticalfactors #episode24 #judgement #judge #stories #reconcilation #truestory #restoration #healing #anger #fruitofthespirit #emotion #condemnation #church #listening #friendship #control #parenthood #love
Wednesday 15th, March 2023
Otakada.org Content Count 2,220,924
Podcast link:
Blog link:
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/l4hCgUzpCA0
Partnership with God’s Eagle Ministries (GEM) via this link:
https://tithe.ly/give?c=308311
Series – Perfect Relationship: 24 Tools for Building BRIDGES to Harmony and Taking Down WALLS of Conflict in our Relationships.
Episode 24 : Relationship – the Love Factor – If anything will work, love will. If love will not work, nothing will in Episode 24
The Love Factor
If anything will work, love will. If love will not work,
Everything Jesus did and modeled in the Gospels demonstrated the love of God. The “love factor” was the missing link in all that the Jews believed about God. They never understood that love was the motivating factor behind all that He said and did. As a result, they arrived at some erroneous concepts of God. They took truth that was given for people’s
good and turned it into laws that destroyed people. They took the system that was designed to serve people, and they caused people to serve the system. In the end, their beliefs turned the world against God and caused His name to be blasphemed among all the nations.
Paul, on the other hand, said that all instruction is designed to bring people to the place of love- love for God and love for people. The purpose of my instruction is that all the Christians there would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart a clear conscience and sincere falth” (1 Timothy-15 NED). Love is the ultimate proof of really knowing Cod. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4:8
NIV) Love obeys God. It works no wrong toward its neighbor
It actually fulfills the entire law. “The commandments…are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:9-10 NIV).
Even with the mountains of overwhelming Scriptures that place love as the top priority, the church has slipped back into a Pharisaic legalism that views love as a moot point in the Gospel.
We are still attempting to do through works, judgment, and control what the law proved could not be done. The law was simply a taskmaster. People spent thousands of years under the law to
prove one point: It doesn’t work! (See Galatians 3:23-24) The law has two overwhelming abilities: it makes us feel guilty, and it empowers sin. Nevertheless, our lack of trust in God and His
divine principles drives us back to the “weak and beggarly elements” of the law. “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?”
(Galatians 4:9 NKJV).
The law imposed control over people; that’s all. It never changed a heart or made anyone whole. It never set anyone free from sin or empowered someone to live in righteousness. If it could have done those things, Jesus would not have come and died and given us His grace and righteousness.
The Character of Love
Love does not trust in the power of control. Rather, it trusts in God’s principles of acceptance and empowerment. Paul said, “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8 NKJV). The original language indicates that “love never fails to be effective.” Spiritual gifts are sometimes effective, but in other situations they can cease to be effective. Love, however, never fails. If anything will work, love will. If love will not work, nothing will. Therefore,
Paul advised, “Make love your aim” (1 Corinthians 14:1 RSV).
Paul also said that love “believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7 NKIV). Contrary to carnal thought, love is not naive, believing all things is not a life of denial. Love is not blind abandonment into-the cloudy realms of gullibility. Jesus walked in love yet He never allowed anyone to take advantage of Him. Love simply believes the best. In his interpretation of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians,
R. C. H. Lenski said, “Love refuses to yield to suspicious-doubt.
The flesh is ready to believe all things about a brother and a fellow man in an evil sense. Love does just the opposite.”
In other words, love believes all the best it can. Love sees past the obvious faults right to the most secluded good) People who walk in love are not anxious to judge others; they do not seek
validation through judgment l. Judgment declares one guilty until (innocence is proven. Love, on the other hand, has no need to declare innocence or guilt. Love operates from a personal character that is developed between the believer and God; it does not react to the environment. Love simply relates to people based on
the principles of 1 Corinthians 13.whether they deserve it or not.
Living in Love
People who do not have their self-worth established in a meaningful relationship with God need to justify all their actions. If they want to treat you badly, they judge you and find fault. If they want to be kind to you, they judge you good.
The person who lives in judgment does not know how to live free from it. Judgment is his road map for life. They do not know how to trust; therefore, they do not trust God’s divine navigation
system for life. They do not know how to walk in love To them, love is something that is given when it is earned or justified.
As a result, because they give only conditional love, they cannot receive love unconditionally.
Love introduces an unexplainable factor that is unrealized by the person of judgment. You see, love cannot be explained; it can only be experienced. That experience starts when we commit ourselves to a life of love. A process begins that opens our hearts
to receive love from both God and people. As we give love to others, we become able to receive love.
This life of love frees us from the need to judge Unconditional love washes away the pain of a mean world.
Love is not just an action; it is a dimension. When we enter this realm, we discover an entirely different world-one that is not subject to the laws of the natural world. It is a realm wherein one can continually experience God, who is love (1 John 4:16 NIV).
Faith becomes natural and understandable, for it works through love (Galatians 5:6). Fear has no power. All emotions are ruled by peace and confidence; there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18). It
is the realm of the kingdom of God.
This realm is accessible to all believers, yet it is a realm that few will ever enter. The fear of giving up control-keeps-most believers bound to this world’s system-a system that has never given what it promised; a realm where the promises of God fail,
faith is a law bound by works, and God appears to be a cruel taskmaster.
Love One Another
Paul said, “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14 RSV). Peter said, “Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8 RSV).
James said, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right” (James 2:8 NIV). John said, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14 NIV). Jesus said,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and Greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
(Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)
The apostle John wrote, “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (1 John 3:11 NIV).
There has never been another message from God. Yet corrupt, fearful, and judgmental minds have managed to skirt the issue for six thousand years. We have tried to make this walk be about
knowledge. But Paul said, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1 NIV).
Because we have made works and judgment the priority, our understanding of God has been inconsistent. Paul said, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14 RSV). When love becomes our goal, everything will come together in perfect harmony, and our lives will be filled with the fullness of God. In Ephesians, Paul prayed,
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s-marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
(Ephesians 3:17-19 NLT)
The only antidote for a life of judgment is a life of love. The only real cure for pain is to allow God to love it away. Know love and know God-there is no other way to experience the realities that Jesus taught and modeled. If we insist on a life of judgment, maybe we should answer the why question like this: “The fact that Jesus loves this brother and gave His life for him is reason enough for me to love him and lay down my life for him.”
You will not live a life of love accidentally. Let me say it again: We must make a daily choice to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and to walk in love. That is a choice I make every day. That is my antidote for fear and my propitiation for judgment. So pursue
the love-life with all your heart. Make a commitment. Renew yourself daily. You are committed to God only to the degree you are committed to love.
