February 05, 2023
Greetings and blessings to all of you. This month the focus will be on LOVE. God has commanded us in Matt. 22:37 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” That was not a suggestion. This is a tall order ..but we can do this in the Power of the Holy Spirit while we read THE LOVE STORY…. THAT IS THE BIBLE. Throughout the Bible (the Word of God) He shows us how He has authored the concept of Love. God is Love When we become believers, we are to continue to yield to the Spirit within us to “love one another”. The love in our relationships with others reveals God in us. The Word says in Eph. 5:25 “Husbands love your wives [even as Christ loved the church] and gave Himself up for her.” Christ is a church-loving Christ. His love for the church makes us willing to give our all for the building up the Body of Christ. We are not able to love without Faith. Faith and love are inseparable. Faith joins us to the Triune God…Love is an outpouring of our gratefulness. Faith without love to Christ is a dead faith. And a Christian without love in Christ is a dead Christian. We may have the name of “Christian” but we just have a form of godliness but without the power. We as born-again believers are Christ eyes, ears, tongues, hands and feet. How can we be this without this “power”. It’s that power that Christ speaks of in 2 Tim. 1:7 “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” With the Love of Christ our thoughts will be brought into captivity and obedience; our understanding will be activated in seeking and finding out His truths. No one has ever seen God, but God reveals Himself to the world through us [a frail and imperfect people] by perfecting His love in us. In 2 Cor. 10:3-5 “though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ.” What are some strongholds? A heart that is not Godly such as a critical spirit, a contentious spirit, a self-righteous spirit, a prideful spirit etc. What is exalting itself against the knowledge of God? Things like the Abortion issue, the Transgender policies in our schools, the open border for illegal entry, the Big Bang theory, etc. Let’s Love Like Christ…Amen.
With the Love of Christ
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC