What is LOVE?

[Loveroftruth]

I'll ask you this question: How many people in the world are truly, genuinely loving their neighbors?

So could we say "loving" is our works? That we will only arrive or please God when we can love? Is this love from our Flesh or do we become a vessle that Gods love pours through? Have I arrived if I can pat everyone on the back and tell them I love them? Or does God expect it to be true and not an act of faith? Can I muster up in me that type of love? Or must God do His complete work in me to become one big ball of love :dontknow:

[captamajora]

I'll ask you this question: How many people in the world are truly, genuinely loving their neighbors?

So could we say "loving" is our works? That we will only arrive or please God when we can love? Is this love from our Flesh or do we become a vessle that Gods love pours through? Have I arrived if I can pat everyone on the back and tell them I love them? Or does God expect it to be true and not an act of faith? Can I muster up in me that type of love? Or must God do His complete work in me to become one big ball of love :dontknow:

Those who posses the love that Christ spoke of possess The Spirit and it is gift from God. There are those from all over the world that possess it (from every religion and no religion at all). You will know them by their fruits...

Thank God!

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: God's love is a SPIRIT. It is not a feel good emotion, like we think it is, until we have experienced it firsthand. If you have ever had an experience with Him completely filling you with it for even a few minutes, you realize real fast, it is NOT you giving a mental assent that because God is love I must love, nor is it an emotion, because if for no other reason, it's appearance and manifestation is not based on your own personal choice of timing, likes and dislikes, or even "propriety." In other words, it is not subject to man's control one iota. We cannot make Him over into our image.

Eventually, when the work is completed in the firstfruits vessels, I believe it will be manifested all the time and readily observable to those outside the vessel that it is manifesting in. That's when it becomes the overflowing scourge that heals, or makes whole, everything it touches. The natural representation of it is as lava, molten rock. For when He comes, the elements (elemental things, tutors and govenors/letter Word) we were under will melt with a fervent heat. The FERVENT prayer of a righteous man availeth much. NO MAN is righteous unless they be IN CHRIST, and for this reason, who can abide the day of His coming? Lava also destroys everything that is not like it, from the top to the bottom. The veil was rent from the top (carnal mind) to the bottom (fleshly walk). The sons of Aaron were destroyed for bringing strange fire (that did not come from within the tabernacle fire from the Lord) into His presence. The profane thing, no matter what it is, is destroyed from the presence of the Lord.

Hosea 6 tells us whether or not we have gone on to follow the Lord. Unless you have been smitten and bound up, as in make of yourselves a living sacrifice, at the order of the LORD, you truly cannot know if you have gone on to follow the Lord. This is why He said where I go you cannot follow me. It COSTS something, and He was the only one who could pay it, and then take us with Him. He will walk you thru it, Peter, for when you are mature, one will come and take you where you would not go. Blessings to all.........

[Redlettervoice]

My experience of Divine Love if I can explain it, it sure teaches me that it is HIM and NOT
ME!! I think that LOVE will kill you. ha  It did Jesus.  I think He must have died from a
broken heart.  I "hope" it speaks of "us" when He made the remark, "If it's ME you are
looking for, let these GO."  I don't think we could carry the LOAD of the whole world, just
as I don't think we could feel the Divine LOVE that He has for the whole world......neither
does He expect us too.  I have had HIS Love to overshadow me for people that I most
certainly do or do not agree with, therefore LOVE is God and not me.  It comes "on" me
at times, but if I am truthful, I must tell you, the "manifestation" of that LOVE does not
stay on me constantly, but the knowledge of it "does!" Paul said, "the love of God
constrains us to judge thusly, that if one man were dead, then all were dead."  That is
wonderful news........because if dead, then also raised.........in HIM.  Unspeakeable and
full of glory, I say.which must be what it means when it is written, "that the love of God
passeth understanding." 

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: Amen RLV.......

[Kratos]

The short answer is that love is a fruit of the Spirit. It is similar to goodness. We know that we have all done "good" things in life of our own power. We know that people who have never met the Lord still do good things. But, Jesus said that there is none good, but God. So, it must be clear that what God calls "good" is a fruit of the Spirit and not a product of human effort or humans at all without Him.

It has been quoted (and I am not picking on anyone) that all people must know God to some extent because all people have had times when they loved their children or spouse etc. and the scriptures say that those who love know God. And yet, it also says that no one knows the Father but the Son and those who He reveals Him to. So logically we only have two choices, it would seem:

(1) We can agree that everyone has love to some extent whether born again or not and since the Bible says that everyone who loves knows God. Thus, we could exalt the "love test" over the born again in Jesus test as to when someone knows God or not.

(2) We can agree that both verses are true. This means that anyone who loves knows God and only those who know Jesus know God so we conclude that only those who are saved through Jesus love in the way that God is talking about.

I choose (2) because I must stay in the Bible until all verses are reconciled. This is just the way I am made as much as it offends some. Thus, love as God uses the term is a fruit of the Spirit like goodness and as no one is good,but God, no one loves, but God. We love to the extent that Jesus lives His life in us, but we do not have the ability to love of ourselves.

I was raised in the RCC and thought that I loved and knew God. However, when Jesus revealed the Father to me totally separate from religion, I found out that I never really knew God before this moment and I never loved as God loves until this moment.

Yes, people in religion whether Christian or otherwise have a form of human love and demonstrate it at times toward their children and others. But, this is not the kind of love that reveals that a person knows God. This kind of love is not of ourselves and only originates and flows from Him.

John

[firstborn888]

Can I muster up in me that type of love? Or must God do His complete work in me to become one big ball of love :dontknow:

Awwwww Christine...... you're just a big bundle of love and you (should) know it  :happy3:

Definitely there is a difference between common 'affection' and agape love.

I guess it's the season for our core beliefs to spill into every thread.  :sigh: so.... I'll have to say that it only occurs in God and humans. Those are the guidelines.

Agape is really not complicated though. It does kill part of you, but it also gives life to another part. It doesn't come after you're reborn - it causes rebirth. It is not a feeling, although it creates feelings, it exists before emotions start and after they end.

It is not an action, but it causes though who are possessed by it to act in a bizarre fashion.

blessings,

- Byron

[Loveroftruth]

Card Wrote

cloud9 God's love is a SPIRIT. It is not a feel good emotion, like we think it is, until we have experienced it firsthand. If you have ever had an experience with Him completely filling you with it for even a few minutes, you realize real fast, it is NOT you giving a mental assent that because God is love I must love, nor is it an emotion, because if for no other reason, it's appearance and manifestation is not based on your own personal choice of timing, likes and dislikes, or even "propriety." In other words, it is not subject to man's control one iota. We cannot make Him over into our image.

Yup, why did I know you have experienced it too  :laughing7:
I have had so many times a supernatural compassion when I counseled another and I suddenly felt GODS HEART supernaturally for them, its NOT a love I could stir up or desire to Have but SEEING through HIS HEART  :HeartThrob:
That was TRUE LOVE and that was me being a vessle and allowing it to flow through me, not me deciding I better love  :thumbsup:

[Loveroftruth]

My experience of Divine Love if I can explain it, it sure teaches me that it is HIM and NOT
ME!! I think that LOVE will kill you. ha  It did Jesus.  I think He must have died from a
broken heart.  I "hope" it speaks of "us" when He made the remark, "If it's ME you are
looking for, let these GO."  I don't think we could carry the LOAD of the whole world, just
as I don't think we could feel the Divine LOVE that He has for the whole world......neither
does He expect us too.  I have had HIS Love to overshadow me for people that I most
certainly do or do not agree with, therefore LOVE is God and not me.  It comes "on" me
at times, but if I am truthful, I must tell you, the "manifestation" of that LOVE does not
stay on me constantly, but the knowledge of it "does!" Paul said, "the love of God
constrains us to judge thusly, that if one man were dead, then all were dead."  That is
wonderful news........because if dead, then also raised.........in HIM.  Unspeakeable and
full of glory, I say.which must be what it means when it is written, "that the love of God
passeth understanding." 

AMEN Red! The same as I just wrote, I posted mine before I read yours :thumbsup:
When you experience the real, you wonder how in the heck can my false benefit anyone  :mshock: But isnt it also like the prophetic word? One must be an empty vessel to hear that still small voice and then allow that to flow through :HeartThrob:

Good stuff all!

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: Yep LT........probably in the first of my walk some of us received a word thru tongues and interpretation. He just brought it back to me as I read your reply and I know it's been every bit of 15 years plus, but the word was that He would cause us to love the unlovable. We really had no idea at the time, what that was going to entail, but it sounded nice. MANY years later, the Spirit came to perform the Word that was spoken. What an awesome God we serve. Blessings to you........

[Dreamer]

Are nice people necessarily loving people?

[Loveroftruth]

Are nice people necessarily loving people?

Some peoples tempermant is kind and soft and appears as love, but its just their temperment IMO  :HeartThrob:

[Redlettervoice]

Yes, doesn't it give three defininations to LOVE somehwhere. I know AGAPE is God's
LOVE.  Unconditional.  Looks beyond the faults and sees the NEEDS.  Is given when
we "don't" deserve it.  And we need it most when we "don't" deserve it.

[laren]

Yes, doesn't it give three defininations to LOVE somehwhere. I know AGAPE is God's
LOVE.  Unconditional.  Looks beyond the faults and sees the NEEDS.  Is given when
we "don't" deserve it.  And we need it most when we "don't" deserve it.

maybe Agape love doens't even see "faults" so doesn't look beyond them, and mabye love doesn't see "needs"??  Maybe it just "IS".  Are needs and faults judgments/measurements based on comparisons of good/evil?   


in other words, does Love say, "I love you anyways, despite all your faults"

or does it say

You are beautiful, and that's all it sees. 


just thinking. 

or maybe i'm saying the same thing as you red??

[Dreamer]

Are nice people necessarily loving people?

Some peoples tempermant is kind and soft and appears as love, but its just their temperment IMO  :HeartThrob:

[thinking out loud]

I extend courtesies such as letting someone get in front of me in traffic and I'll say that was a loving thing to do.  I'm trying to figure out if that's merely a nice act or a loving act.

That's the extent of my "love" toward strangers that I have no indirect contact or conversation with.

Does love naturally flow?  IOW is it organic and just happens or are we conscious of it 'cause to tell the truth I KNOW when I'm letting someone get in front of me in traffic and I mentally count it. 

I don't think we should be mentally counting loving acts.  If we are, is it genuine?

Just thinking.....

[/thinking out loud]

[sparrow]

Folks need to get out of the religious mindset,
Basically... if you have to ASK yourself if your love is geniune...
you probably need to stop thinking so much and reflecting so much on "self"
and just...
LOVE. (verb)

All LOVE comes from the Father.
There is NO debating this fact.

We have far too much time on our hands when we sweat over the minutia of every act.

Humans LOVE.
Love comes directly from the Father.

We don't LOVE to gain favor, we don't LOVE to try to "Get to God", When you see love in that way, you are being dragged down by a religious mindset... Forcing yourself to EXAMINE and put the magnifying glass on every little thing you do. "IS this LOVE?" "are my works, wretched?" "am I trying to gain favor?"  :dontknow: AM I? AM I? AM I? AM I? THAT is insanity. THAT is religion.
I say this as a reminder to myself as well. I'm not yelling at anyone here... :icon_flower:

A tribesmen in a far corner of a jungle who looks down at his young son and feels a rush of love for him is experiencing LOVE. He is experiencing a little molecule of God. A person seeing a serial killer on the news and looking into his eyes and instead of seeing a monster, instead of letting hatred fill your heart like most other people, if you instead look past and see the soul, see the profound sense of being LOST behind that killer's eyes and your heart aches because of it, you feel compassion for him, THAT is love. And that LOVE is FROM the Father. Love is a multifaceted thing (of course, GOD is bigger than anything we could ever imagine) and the ways in which He expresses Himself, the ways in which He shows the world what HE is....His ways are endless. Let GOD express Himself, Let GOD express His love in any way He wants to, because He's going to do it whether you like it or not. He is going to express Himself in all peoples of the world.... every second of the day.

GOD
IS
LOVE.

God manifests Himself in His creation everyday in all parts of the world, in ways you or I cannot even BEGIN to imagine, much less try to dissect. Is that NOT profound?!! Think about that for a minute. That is INCREDIBLE!!

All the talk of "is my love good enough? Is this human love? Is this godly love? Well what kinda love is it?" MY GOD!  GOD IS LOVE.

If there is any selfishness attached to your "love"... then it isn't love and this is why you become confused.

LOVE IS.
It isn't "sorta like this..." or "kinda like this..." or "has a little bit of this in it..."
LOVE is LOVE. period.
Just like HATE is HATE.
It either IS or it ISN'T.
There are no grey areas in LOVE.
People think there ARE... and that is where CONFUSION sets in.
Remember God is not the author of confusion...

LOVE is...

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love,
I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.

And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.

And if I dole out all my goods, and
if I deliver my body that I may boast
but have not love, nothing I am profited.

Love is long suffering,
love is kind,
it is not jealous,
love does not boast,
it is not inflated.

It is not discourteous,
it is not selfish,
it is not irritable,
it does not enumerate the evil.
It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth


It covers all things,
it has faith for all things,
it hopes in all things,
it endures in all things.[/b]

Love never falls in ruins;
but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or
tongues, they will cease; or
knowledge, it will be superseded.

For we know in part and we prophecy in part.

But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded. 

When I was an infant,
I spoke as an infant,
I reckoned as an infant;

when I became [an adult],
I abolished the things of the infant.

For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known.

But now remains
faith, hope, love,

these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

Meditate on the above verses.
I am a child of God. and the LOVE in my heart and the LOVE in my life is FROM God, for God *IS* Love.  It all revolves around love, nothing else matters. The love you feel is REAL. Love is NEVER in vain. N-E-V-E-R.

well, these are the thoughts and ideas that are in my heart. :HeartThrob:


Peace,
sparrow

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: That's true, but what LT and are discussing is a manifestation of the SPIRIT of God that manifests as His pure love. It is not the same as what you are talking about. It's not an action you can choose to initiate, it's His SPIRIT literally in a tangible way, raising up and "taking over" His temple. I don't know how else to explain it. Blessings to all.......

[sparrow]

:cloud9: That's true, but what LT and are discussing is a manifestation of the SPIRIT of God that manifests as His pure love. It is not the same as what you are talking about. It's not an action you can choose to initiate, it's His SPIRIT literally in a tangible way, raising up and "taking over" His temple. I don't know how else to explain it. Blessings to all.......

Cardinal...

The thread title is "What is Love?".
I'm expressing my views on the topic and I don't think that what I've said conflicts with your idea of a "manifestation of the Spirit..".

peace.

P.S. I do hope that when you say this "If you have ever had an experience with Him completely filling you with it for even a few minutes..." you are not thinking that this has only happened to a chosen few? From what you've said, it seems to hint at it, so I'm not sure. Could you clarify?

[Loveroftruth]

Yes, doesn't it give three defininations to LOVE somehwhere. I know AGAPE is God's
LOVE.  Unconditional.  Looks beyond the faults and sees the NEEDS.  Is given when
we "don't" deserve it.  And we need it most when we "don't" deserve it.

maybe Agape love doens't even see "faults" so doesn't look beyond them, and mabye love doesn't see "needs"??  Maybe it just "IS".  Are needs and faults judgments/measurements based on comparisons of good/evil?   


in other words, does Love say, "I love you anyways, despite all your faults"

or does it say

You are beautiful, and that's all it sees. 


just thinking. 

or maybe i'm saying the same thing as you red??

What would a LOVE thread be without my friend Laren  :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

[Loveroftruth]

:cloud9: That's true, but what LT and are discussing is a manifestation of the SPIRIT of God that manifests as His pure love. It is not the same as what you are talking about. It's not an action you can choose to initiate, it's His SPIRIT literally in a tangible way, raising up and "taking over" His temple. I don't know how else to explain it. Blessings to all.......

Cardinal...

The thread title is "What is Love?".
I'm expressing my views on the topic and I don't think that what I've said conflicts with your idea of a "manifestation of the Spirit..".

peace.

P.S. I do hope that when you say this "If you have ever had an experience with Him completely filling you with it for even a few minutes..." you are not thinking that this has only happened to a chosen few? From what you've said, it seems to hint at it, so I'm not sure. Could you clarify?

I think what Card and I have been speaking about is different then the "act of love".
If I choose right now to love on you, its a choice and then an act. If I choose right now to rebuke you it would be a choice and then an act - would they both be from God?

I dont think Card was saying it is exclusive, yet if you haven't experienced it, it may be hard to relate to, and not its not like some are extra special because they have experienced it, it may just be because one is used by God in a way that requires that or some other reason.

Peace AND LOVE  :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

[laren]

 :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: back at ya  Christine.     :grin: :grin:

[sparrow]

I think what Card and I have been speaking about is different then the "act of love".
If I choose right now to love on you, its a choice and then an act. If I choose right now to rebuke you it would be a choice and then an act - would they both be from God?

I dont think Card was saying it is exclusive, yet if you haven't experienced it, it may be hard to relate to, and not its not like some are extra special because they have experienced it, it may just be because one is used by God in a way that requires that or some other reason.

Peace AND LOVE  :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

I think that we are just seeing things from totally different perspectives.

[eirinikos]

I think real love does good for people even if you yourself feel like you'd rather hate them.

[Loveroftruth]

I think what Card and I have been speaking about is different then the "act of love".
If I choose right now to love on you, its a choice and then an act. If I choose right now to rebuke you it would be a choice and then an act - would they both be from God?

I dont think Card was saying it is exclusive, yet if you haven't experienced it, it may be hard to relate to, and not its not like some are extra special because they have experienced it, it may just be because one is used by God in a way that requires that or some other reason.

Peace AND LOVE  :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

I think that we are just seeing things from totally different perspectives.

And I think that is ok :LoveH1: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

[sparrow]

I think what Card and I have been speaking about is different then the "act of love".
If I choose right now to love on you, its a choice and then an act. If I choose right now to rebuke you it would be a choice and then an act - would they both be from God?

I dont think Card was saying it is exclusive, yet if you haven't experienced it, it may be hard to relate to, and not its not like some are extra special because they have experienced it, it may just be because one is used by God in a way that requires that or some other reason.

Peace AND LOVE  :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

I think that we are just seeing things from totally different perspectives.

And I think that is ok :LoveH1: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:

I think so, too.  :HeartThrob: