Love NEVER fails!

When my wife and I were in the US recently we were amazed by how many people we met who were either divorced and single or remarried.  This was not a judgment of a person, rather an observation which alarmed us.

We were both brought up to believe that married was “until death doth part!”  We belonged in a church where people were excommunicated or at least punished if their marriage failed.  I don’t believe in either, nor do I believe that a person should live in condemnation or be judged if they choose to separate or divorce.

I do believe that many people, especially Christians, go into a relationship with a lack of knowledge about love.  In fact, I would go as far to say that most people don’t understand love!

The side effects of this lack of knowledge are devastating.  It does not just cause emotional trauma and lifelong issue associated with the loss of love, it causes:

• loss of business,
• loss of finances,
• loss of productivity,
• loss of creativity,
• low self-worth,
• sickness,
• eating disorders,
• even death to name a few!

The effect a divorce has on children is so massive we cannot comprehend it.

Here are some startling facts:

According to Nationmaster.com, the USA has the highest annual divorce rate in the world – 495 per 100,000 people, UK is #4, New Zealand is #6, Australia is #7 and Canada is #8!!  USA is twice as high as Australia.  Italy comes in at #32 with 27 people per 100,000 … that’s one twentieth of that of the USA!!  Want the harsh reality … that is 1,584,000 divorces per year in the USA alone! WOW!!

Here is another sad fact:

One in every two children now goes to bed in the USA without a father to tuck them in! The effects of a child not knowing a father’s presence and influence is horrific … maybe that’s an article for another time.

No wonder the bible says that “My people perish because of the lack of knowledge.”

We MUST start learning, living and teaching people about love.  I’m not speaking about the emotion of love but rather the God type of love or ‘Agape’ … unconditional love.

Love is the most powerful unseen force known to man.

You can have everything else in the world but if you don’t have love in your heart you are empty, lonely and will experience hell on earth!  If you have unconditional love, no matter what else you lack, you will feel on top of the world … heaven on earth.

The opposite of unconditional love is not hate but rather selfishness.  Love says “How can I bless you?” when selfishness says “How can I get for me?”

Love is a decision not an emotion.

To decide comes for the Latin root of ‘de’ and ‘cide’ which means to cut off – so a decision means to cut off all other possibilities.

Imagine the effect on a relationship if, when people went into it, they both cut off all other possibilities.  That means when the going got tough they knew that there was no other option other then make it work.

• What if you never quit on the other person?
• What if you put their needs before yours?
• What if you only saw the best in them at all times?
• What if you never kept score of the times they mess up?
• What if you never questioned their intent?
• What if you never got mad at them because you loved them unconditionally?
• What if you never looked back but only looked forward to the perfect outcome?
• What if you understood love and lived it each day?

The most potent characteristic of God is that He is love, love is God’s nature.

Do this … Just for today, regardless of what you are going through or how angry people make you feel, give everyone you meet a loving compliment (or smile or wave).  If you can’t think of what to say just say, “Did you know that God loves you?”  Let me know what happens!

Oh! … and by the way … Did you know that I love you?  And God loves you.

“Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love – make it your aim, your great quest …” (1 Corinthians 14:1)

“What is the greatest power known to man?”

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog on The Greatest Secret … in fact, those who have attended our “My Abundant Life” seminars or purchased the CD series will know the answer … Love!

Recently Rhonda Byrne (producer of The Secret) released a book called “The Power.” Guess what it is all about?!?

You might be saying, “How can love be the greatest power? Is it greater than faith?”  Absolutely … let me show you.  Read and meditate on the following passage:

“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.” (The Message Bible – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

I’m not speaking of the emotion of love, but rather the decision and lifestyle of love.  Yes, love is a decision. Often two people will ‘fall’ in love but never make the decision to love, they get married and wonder why they fight constantly, then divorce.  They never made the decision to love each other!  A decision means to cut off all other possibilities!

The Greek word ‘agape’ in the bible is translated as ‘love’; however the true meaning is ‘the God kind of love.’

We read on from the above scripture and we get a better understanding of agape 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. (The Message Bible – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

I don’t know about you, but as I read this I check myself off against the list and I find myself saying “God teach me how to love like you love!”  In fact, this is the only commandment that Jesus gave in the new testament:  “But I say to you, Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you;” Matthew 5:44

Put the same love passage in 1 Corinthians 13 from another rendition and in first person and it is even more impactful:

My love endures long and I am patient and kind;

I’m never envious nor boil over with jealousy; I’m not boastful or have a high opinion of myself.

I am not arrogant and inflated with pride;

I am not rude and I don’t act unfairly.

God’s love in me does not insist on my own rights or my own way;

I am not self-seeking;

I am not touchy or fretful or resentful;

I take no account of the evil done to me, I pay no attention to a suffered wrong.

I do not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoice when right and truth prevail.

I bear up under anything and everything that comes, I’m ever ready to believe the best of every person, my hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and I endure everything without weakening.

My love never fails, never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.

Did you know that there is no fear in love … the bible says that “Perfect love (agape) casts out ALL fear.” (1 John 4:18)

If you have fear in your life you have to ask the question, “What or who do I not love?” A fear can be in the form of jealousy, hatred, revenge, anger, disease, poverty, lack, guilt, depression, competition for what someone else has, afraid of the future etc.

Love activates faith! (Galatians 5:6)  Faith without love is nothing more than the sound of a creaking gate, a noise that fades away to nothing.  “Now faith, hope and love abide in us; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

We cannot know agape love with knowing God, because God is love (1 John 4:8).  Maybe one day we should look at the character of God as most people have a warped and incorrect understanding.

Please feel free to comment below and share your insights.

The Secret DVD and book revealed to many people the Law Of Attraction (LOA).

Rhonda Byrne, nor any of the other 25 Teachers (including Esther Hicks), discovered the Law of Attraction. It has been available to man since his creation. In fact, it is a law of creation which God put into place long before the earth existed.

Many people, of all religious beliefs and walks of life still don’t believe in LOA.

Like all other laws of the universe which God put in place, just because a person is ignorant of the law doesn’t stop the law from working to its fullest capacity at all times. You may not believe or know about the law of lift, yet it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You may not believe in God, that doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist.

Simply put, the LOA is “What I believe and speak I create.”

So is The Secret (which was never really a secret) the greatest power on earth?  Absolutely not!

I heard Bob Proctor say in his “Born Rich” seminar once that faith was the greatest power known to man. I have to disagree with him. Yes, faith is a mighty power. If fact the bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). Actually without faith it is impossible to believe God exists.

Abraham (in the bible … not Esther Hick’s group of spirits) is called the father of Faith. Abraham believed whatever the God said; he acted on God’s word and Abraham was made very rich, and he was made the father of many nations, later know as race of people called the Jews.

• Jesus said to a sick woman who believed in Him and touched his clothes, “Your faith has made you whole (totally healed and complete).”
• He also said to his disciples, “All things are possible to those who believe.”
• Paul the apostle said, “We walk by faith, not by sight or appearances.”
• He also said, “For it is by free grace you are saved through your faith.”
• Jesus also said, “When you pray, pray believing that you already have it and it will be yours.”

It would seem than that faith can do just about anything!

Many people think “all I have to do is believe and I can have it.” Hang on a minute … that’s not true. Faith without action is dead, nothing, zip, zilch!

I get emails which read something like this: “I’ve watched The Secret 53 times and keep believing in the law of attraction yet nothing has changed. I’m still sick, broke and unhappy.” That is like sitting on the floor cross legged with your fingers shaped in a circle and humming, expecting the money to drop out of the ceiling!!! Now that is just plain dumb!

So faith without action will not help you get what you want let alone your dreams and goals. Faith with action is a mighty power, it will feed the hungry, heal the sick and mend the broken hearted … but it is not the most powerful force know to man!

So what is?

Read my next blog to find out the most powerful force on earth. With it you can have whatever you desire, without it you are but an empty noise!