Living in Love by Gloria Copeland
Love…takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. – 1 Corinthians 13:5, The Amplified Bible
Did you know that walking in love is good for your health? That’s right! I saw a documentary that focused on stress. It explained that researchers had discovered there are two kinds of stress.
The first is the kind you experience when you’re working hard to achieve something, pressing yourself to reach a goal. That kind of stress, they said, is natural and good. It doesn’t hurt you. The second kind of stress, however, has such a negative effect that it’s physically dangerous.
Do you know what they said causes that kind of stress? Hostility. Or, we could say, failing to walk in love.
Now when you think of hostility, you may think of the type of anger you feel when something serious happens, but according to this program, that kind of thing isn’t what really causes the problem with most people. It’s the little things. When the dry cleaners ruins your favorite outfit, for example. Or when the cafeteria lady puts gravy on your mashed potatoes, especially after you’ve asked her not to.
In short, what researchers have discovered is what God has been telling us all along. We need to live in love.
Isn’t that something? God is so smart. And the longer I walk with Him, the more He proves that everything He instructs us to do is for our good.
Just think of all the stress we could avoid if we were quick to forgive. If we truly took no account of a suffered wrong, we’d be so healthy—both physically and spiritually! You see, our bodies weren’t made to live with hostility flowing through them. They were designed to live according to love.
So why don’t we all constantly walk in love? Very often, it’s because we’re still wrapped up in old, worldly habits of thinking and reacting. We continue to live from the outside instead of from the inside where God (who is love) dwells.
So shake off that stress. Learn to walk in love. Renew your mind according to the Word and what it says about love. Choose to walk in forgiveness. Pretty soon you’ll be feeling like the new person you really are…a new person living in love!
Scripture Reading: Luke 17:1-4
Written by Sis. Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Inc.
Live the Love Life by Kenneth Copeland
There is nothing–absolutely nothing–that is more important than learning to love. In fact, how accurately you perfect the love walk will determine how much of the perfect will of God you accomplish. That’s because every other spiritual force derives its action from love. For example, the Bible teaches us that faith works by love. And answered prayer is almost an impossibility when a believer steps outside of love and refuses to forgive or is in strife with his brother.
Without love, your giving will not work. Tongues and prophecy will not work. Faith fails and knowledge is unfruitful. All the truths that you have learned from God’s Word work by love. They will profit you nothing unless you live the love of God.
First Corinthians 13:4-8 paints a perfect picture of how love behaves. It’s patient and kind. It’s not jealous or proud. It doesn’t behave rudely or selfishly and it isn’t touchy. Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? But don’t despair. You are a love creature. God has recreated your spirit in the image of love. And He has sent His love Spirit to live in you and teach you how to love as He loves. You can live the love life. Why not begin today?
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Written by Bro. Kenneth Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Inc.
Love’s Standard
God’s been dealing with me about “tightening up” my love walk. I do endeavor to treat others the way I want to be treated. However, there’s still plenty of room for improvement! So, I’m going to be studying this subject and implementing what I learn and of course, teaching what I learn to others. Today, I just want to share the Bible chapter on love…from the Amplified Bible. Have you ever read this chapter, I Corinthians 13, from the Amplified Bible? Well, it truly sets the standard, Love’s Standard. The Amplified Bible incorporates the original Greek and Hebrew translations of words we find in the King James Bible. It places these original meanings in brackets and parentheses in line with the text. Take a look at the Amplified version of this text. Don’t get nervous if it seems too hard to achieve. God will never ask us to do something unless he is planning to do it through us! Be encouraged and be blessed as we measure ourselves against Love’s Standard and ACHIEVE this goal through the power of Almighty God!
1 Corinthians 13 (Amplified Bible)
1 IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
3 Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.
4 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
9 For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).
10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.
12 For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Want to use this article in your ezine, blog, or website? You have my permission as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Min. Patricia D. Samuels, MA is the founder of Patricia Samuels Ministries, Inc. and the International Association of Proverbs 31 Women. Visit her websites today and be blessed by something you view, read, or hear: http://www.patriciasamuels.org and http://www.iap31w.com.
When Somebody Does You Wrong! by Kenneth Copeland
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
– Luke 10:19
Somebody’s done you wrong! Sooner or later it happens to all of us. Somewhere along the way, we all get hurt or cheated or lied to or abused.
It’s as predictable as it is painful. Yet when it happens most of us find ourselves strangely unprepared. In our outrage, we often cry out to God against the one who wronged us. We ask for justice, or even vengeance, and end up making things tougher on everyone involved–including ourselves.
If that’s been true of you, it’s time you found out how you can put the power of God to work for you the next time somebody does you wrong.
Step one: Identify the enemy! Right here’s where the majority of us make our biggest blunder. We mistakenly identify our enemy as the person who hurts us. Don’t waste your energy ranting and raving or plotting and scheming against people who cause you pain. They’re simply under the devil’s influence. Aim your spiritual ammunition at the right target. It’s the devil who’s behind it all. Go after him!
Step two: Fire! Once you’ve pointed your spiritual guns in the right direction, fire! Hit the devil fast and furiously with the Word of God. Use the Name of Jesus and the power that’s been given you as a believer and bind the devil from doing you any further harm in that area. Then move on to the next and most important part of this spiritual battle.
Step three: Pray the prayer of intercession. In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus gives us these instructions: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.”
Crying out for the vengeance of God to strike like a lightning bolt when somebody does us wrong isn’t acting like our Father. Remember God has great, great mercy. Not just for me and you, but for everyone!
The devil will probably think twice before he bothers you again. Next time someone causes you pain, put the power of God to work for you. Identify the real enemy. Hit him hard with the authority you’ve been given as a believer. Then pray the prayer of intercession.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:6-15
Written by Bro. Kenneth Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Inc.
Hit Him With the Rock by Kenneth Copeland
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. – Psalm 23:1-2
Have you ever thought about David and wondered how a shepherd boy could become a man after God’s own heart? A man so strong in spirit that God chose him to be king of Israel? I have.
In fact, I asked God about it, and He showed me that revelation was what turned David into such a spiritual powerhouse–revelation that came to him through hours of thinking about the things of God. I imagine the day he wrote Psalm 23 he was just sitting and singing praises to God and meditating on His goodness. Just fellowshipping with Him when suddenly the anointing of the Lord came upon him and he said, “The Lord is my Shepherd!”
Suddenly he thought about the sheep he watched over as a boy, I faced death for those sheep. I led them where pastures were green and waters were cool, clean, deep, and peaceful. He kept on meditating on that until it started to thrill him. When the lion and the bear came, didn’t He prepare a table before me in the presence of those enemies? He gave me victory. “My God! My God will fight for me. The Lord is my Shepherd! I shall not want!”
That revelation welled up in David so strong that the devil couldn’t beat it out of him. So when Goliath tried to make a fool out of Israel, David went after him. Goliath was able to scare off everyone else, but he couldn’t shake David because he had a revelation inside him that said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for my God is with me.” That revelation enabled David to say, “I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts” and to send a rock sailing into that giant’s brain.
Is the devil out to destroy you? Do what David did. Meditate on God and His Word. Sing praises to your King. Fellowship with Him until the revelation of who He is in you starts to thrill your soul. Then tell the devil, “You’re not going to kill me. The Lord is my Shepherd!” Hit him with the rock of revelation knowledge, and you’ll knock him flat every time.
Written by Bro. Kenneth Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Inc.
September Expert Teleseminar: Jennifer M. Hamadachi
“Breaking the Yoke of Unwanted Celibacy”
Jennifer M. Hamadachi
IAP31W Expert: Jennifer M. Hamadachi
Date and time: September 27th at 8pm CST
(that’s 6pm Pacific, 7pm Mountain, 9pm Eastern)
Jennifer deals with the real issues of the modern single adult who struggles with finding a life partner. She addresses the problem of prolonged celibacy among older men and women. She also gives advice for the struggling married couple. Come and learn how to break free from bondage! You will hear things that are not typically preached from the pulpit, but are godly counsel for the teachable.
Reserve your spot now!
On this call, you will learn:
- ways to deal with peer pressure & loneliness
- evidences of a spiritual problem
- weapons of warfare to use
- non-spiritual things to do
- laying a good foundation & fighting for your marriage
…and much more!
Jennifer M. Hamadachi is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She gave her life to the Lord in 1989 at a Reinhardt Bonnke crusade and was instantly filled with the Holy Spirit. She was then trained as an Evangelist with regular hospital visitations, street and prison outreaches.
She holds a BBA equivalent from the University of South Africa, a 2-year Bible school diploma from RBCS in Tulsa, OK and several other professional diplomas.
Her Bible mentor of all times and favorite is the late Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin. She is a partner with Kenneth Copeland Ministries and a few other ministries worldwide. Her ministry is geared towards providing financial support to widows, violated women, abandoned children, and missionaries and churches, especially in Africa.
Besides being a great wife and mother of 4, she is an author, a performance artist in the making, and a fiery preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has her first music album coming up soon entitled Oil of Deliverance, a blend of Euro-Afrocentric sounds that will draw its listeners into the presence of God.
Want to join us for this teleseminar? Become a member today!
