1. Knowing the Origin Of Love

God is love!

Love originated from God, not from humans. The Lord demonstrated to us the definition of love and how to express it to each other.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8NKJV)

In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4: 9-11NKJV)

2. Receiving love

Since God is love, then the only way that you can experience through love is by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart.

 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (1 John 4: 14-15NKJV)

3. Expressing love to your brethren.

With this pure love in your heart you will be able to show sincere love to everyone because loving God means loving your brethren.

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (1 John 4: 20-21NKJV)

4. Expressing your love to God

Your devotion to God should be done spiritually and truthfully because God is a spiritual being (John 4:24).

Therefore, to show your love to God, you must obey His Words, keep His commandments, commit fully to the Lord, help the defenseless, trust the Lord and serve Him with your entire life.

But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Joshua 22:5NKJV)

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. (1 John 5:1-2NKJV)

5. Loving your enemies

Is it possible to love your enemies? Sometimes it is difficult to love your friends and relatives much more those who fight against you.

But the Lord Jesus Christ said that we must love our enemies and bless those who curse us. We must at all times do good to the haters, and pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us (Matthew 5:44-45).

The originator of love within our hearts will manifest that special kind of love through us.

God Himself showed us this example by not singling out the righteous to bless, but He sends the rain on the just and the unjust and He allows the sun to shine upon the good and bad.

Above all, God sent His only begotten Son to die for all of humanity (John 3:16).

Jesus made it clear that He will have mercy and not sacrifice because He did not come to earth to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Matthew 19:13)

What a mighty God we serve!

6. Loving strangers?

It is easy not to love strangers because we do not know them. So we sometimes just pass people on the wayside without caring for their needs.

However, God wants us to be like the Good Samaritan and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit to strangers (Luke 10:25-37).

As a result of the love of God in our hearts we can express affection to anyone regardless of who they are.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.By this, we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (1 John 4: 12-13)

I pray that the Lord will help us to receive His love and demonstrate it to everyone who crosses our paths.

Thank you for reading!