Love: July 26, 2010

Today's Word for Monday July 26, 2010

LOVE

DEFINITION

Profoundly tender; affection for another person; a love affair; the benevolent affection of God.

SCRIPTURE

"Love God, your God, with your whole heart; love Him with all that is in you, love Him with all you've got" Deuteronomy 6:5 [Message translation]

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Today we want to put all of our thoughts toward the importance of loving God. We are living in an evil world and the pressures of evil are on our children and our families as never before. There is only one answer for us to consider if we really want to live a happy life and that is to set our priorities straight with God. God created us because He wanted to be able to show His great love for us and emphasize His priority for us to love Him. We are to love God with all we have.

There is no greater love than God's love for us. The love that we give to God will be given back in abundance from God and He will direct us and be with us every moment of every day. Loving God must be a priority for each of us every day.

From the moment each of our six children was born, we were committed to teach them to first LOVE GOD and then their family and neighbors. LOVE is a basic need in our lives and LOVE is what God wants from us. We endeavored each and every day to be consistent with them showing our love through our words and actions. God honored this commitment by blessing us with children that responded favorably and have chosen to live a life driven by their love for their Lord and Savior.

God has given us a choice. We love God because we have chosen to love Him.

When the disciples asked Jesus what was the most important commandment, He responded that it was to LOVE GOD! [Mark 12: 29-31]. The second greatest commandment given by Jesus is to LOVE our neighbor. We are compelled as Christian parents and grandparents to set standards for our children and grandchildren that always begin with LOVING GOD. Love is what keeps a family together.

Paul prayed this prayer for the Ephesians and it is our prayer for you: I pray that you and all God's holy people will have power to understand the greatness of Christ's love, how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Ephesians 4: 18-19 (NEV VERSION).

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 3:3.

Jesus answered and said unto him, "Most assuredly I say unto you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

PRAYER

Give each one of us in our family a heart that loves You, a spirit that serves You and standards that honor You. We thank You for Your eternal love and Your promise that if we love You that You will never leave us nor forsake us.