I'm in love...are words said often in our culture...
Is the word, love, a feeling? As a grammarian, I know what part of speech it is in that statement. It is a noun and an object of the preposition in.
In this case, you would be able to fall in love or fall out of love. The world gives us people in the news and on all the social channels...sitcoms...movies, etc., all the time.
All of us know people who have left their mate because they are no longer in love.
As a young person, I mean elementary school through even high school I was in and out of love all the time.
You decided you were in love based on qualities that you liked about the person...or because others thought they were wonderful..or for whatever reason.
If they dissapointed you, or came to a time when they did not meet your standard...or they didn't call...or hang around as much as I wanted them to...or if another one that also met my standard came by and called more or gave me more attention...there I'd go...falling in love, again.
Most of us have stories kinda sorta like this one...don't we?
Before I go any further on this note...let's pick up where we left off yesterday.
1 Cor. 5c..(NKJV)
....(love) thinks no evil.
Let's look at it under the microsope of the Amplified Bible.
...(love) takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong).
So, if I'm disappointed with someone's attitude toward me, or angry with the words said to me or about me or the actions displayed against me...then, there I am...I'm not loving.
If my feelings are hurt, then I'm paying attention to a suffered wrong. I'm taking account of evil done to me. Now, notice, this does not say that I took it wrong and the person was innocent. It says that when someone misuses or persecutes or ignores me, lies about me, and I am suffering wrong...that I'm to let it go...like water off a duck's back.
Do I need to take it to a friend and discuss it? No, looks like, except where that friend is at a point in their walk with the LORD, and can help you forgive and drop the wrong, then, you do not need to discuss with that person. Gossip is on the list of things that we are to put off with all our other sinful behavior, as we put on the new man, in Christ.
Teeeeddddddddddddiiiiiiiiii.....Do you hear this? You haven't been discussing, but you sure were not dropping. Yes, LORD, I hear. Forgive me, when I pick back up any of the old man...when I veer off the path. I thank You, LORD, for the Word that is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
You may wonder why I stopped to repent. Well, as the teacher, here, I am required to live through what I teach...and I have so much of what I'm sharing...but I'm also supposed to let the WORD wash me. Create in me a clean heart goes with the washing of water by the WORD.
Take no account of evil done to me. You mean, LORD, we can't count the number of times...going back to our memory where we stored the last time this person did us wrong...we can't add them together...and keep a record. Why not?
Ephesians 4: 32 says,
Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
As a child, I grew up hearing what is called the LORD's prayer, every where. We prayed it aloud at our Baptist Church. We prayed it aloud at my grandmother's (Naunie's) Methodist Church. We prayed it every day at school. We also prayed it in public meetings. Amazing isn't it?
When did you last pray this prayer? When we began praying the prayer blanket, almost 9 years ago, every day, we ended with the LORD's prayer...and still do until this day.
In the Amplified, Matthew 6: 9-12 goes like this:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.
Whew!! I think that speaks for itself. We ask God to forgive us the way we forgive those who trespass against us.
I think I'm stopping right here for today..because I believe that there are those among us who need to stop here and get some things in order.
I have had the blessing of being with teachers like Sandra Jones, Gloria Copeland (Ken's wife), books on forgiveness, etc. I have had to practice forgiveness daily in my life, in order to pray every time I'm needed. We pray every day in the prayer blanket,
Whosoever's sins we remit (forgive) are remitted (forgiven), and whosoever's sins we retain are retained.
The Amplified Bible says in John 20:23:
(Now having received the Holy Spirit, and being led and directed by Him) if you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained.
Holy Moley! ...what my husband might say here.
You mean we are to not only forgive those who trespass against us in order to be forgiven, but we are to forgive the sins of others in order for them to be forgiven.
When I realized that this was a partnership...that my God...my Savior and LORD...my Redeemer...and my Friend...was asking for me to line myself up in order to agree with Him..to pray in accordance with His will...which is His Word...and then, He would answer my prayer. If I abide in Him, and His Word abides in me, then I ask and it shall be done for me. Where any 2 of us agree as touching anything on earth, we ask our Heavenly Father (according to His will...His Word) and He gives us our petitions.
This LOVE relationsip is something else...we are going to keep on letting ourselves be so LOVED by our Father that that LOVE spread abroad in our hearts will make us the disciples He has called us to be. How will the world recognize us? By our LOVE!!!!!
Teddi
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