LET'S GET TO LOVING

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I have heard that one before…”

“How does it go again? Oh yes, ‘Love the Lord your GOD…yadda yadda and love your neighbor, etc. etc. etc.’”

I got it.

Do you REALLY?

Last night at FREEDOM I put a little bow on February’s “Living Beyond Luck – Relationships” series by sharing and expanding a little on this familiar verse that was shared by Pastor Mark at AHOP on Sunday.

Matthew 22:37-39

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

The title of the talk was LOVE GOD REALly and REALly LOVE OTHERS.

And yes while Matthew 22:37-39 one of those tried and true passages that like John 3:16 gets passed over a little due to its familiarity, I want you to dig a little deeper this morning and grab hold of what GOD is asking of us for THIS DAY; forget the familiarity.

HE is asking, albeit commanding us to LOVE HIM FIRST.

So stop.

Pause!

Bow your head, close your eyes and let GOD know how much you love Him this morning. Don’t be shy. I know you are in your cubicle or just sat down to coffee. Take the verse at face value. Love HIM. Reach out and hug and kiss his neck.

He wants that first.

……..

Welcome back!

Now you are ready to do the rest and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. How do I know?

Because this love that you have just shown to GOD has opened the conduit for GOD to pour HIS supernatural love into you so that you CAN love your neighbor; even when he or she isn’t so lovable or when we don’t feel much like loving them.

So if you think the loving GOD part of this equation isn’t important? THINK AGAIN!

1 John 4:7

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God…

You see that?

GOD asked us to LOVE HIM FIRST because then we can love others with HIS LOVE.

You catch that?

GOD knows it is tough for us to love those unlovable neighbors on our own steam. So GOD solves the problem by allowing HIS SUPERNATURAL love to flow THROUGH us toward them when we love HIM first.

Therefore if you paused and let GOD know how much you love Him, He has now poured HIS love into you to get you ready for a day filled with loving others!

So what are we waiting for?

Let’s get to loving!

Have a blessed day!

I love you all!

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney