February 12

Love Is Not an Option

Gloria Copeland
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus commanded us to live by love? It’s because He desires for us to succeed and be blessed-spirit, soul and body. And He knows love is the primary key to that success.

If we actually understood the blessing that walking in love brings, we wouldn’t be so willing to abandon it when we encounter pressure or aggravation. If we knew, for example, that becoming fretful or resentful was going to cost us a great, supernatural revelation, we might be more apt to set those unloving attitudes aside.

“What does love have to do with spiritual revelation?” you ask.

Plenty! Read Colossians 2:2 and you can see for yourself how closely they are tied together. But the benefits of love don’t stop with wisdom and revelation. They also include divine power. Jesus said in John 14:21 that He will manifest Himself to the person who walks in love.

I think this verse in John is very interesting, especially in light of how eager we are to have Jesus manifest Himself among us in power. We long for Him to reveal Himself by signs and wonders and miracles. And, surely, as the time of His Second Coming draws closer, those signs and wonders must come in greater manifestation.

But do you know where they will manifest in greatest power? Among the people who are living and walking in love. That’s what happened in the book of Acts. God poured out His Spirit in mighty power at Pentecost with tongues of fire and the sound of a mighty, rushing wind, not upon people who were squabbling and arguing with one another, but among people who “continued with one accord” (Acts 1:14).

He shook the building and filled every believer with the Holy Ghost and boldness-not when the Church was fussing and working up denominational splits, but when they were “of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32).

Need power in your life today? Need harmony in your family, in your marriage and among your children? Then walk in love. Walk in love at all costs…walk in love and decide that for your life, love is a command, not an option.

Leviticus 1-3; Luke 5-6 I am obedient to the commandment of Jesus. I love others as He has loved me.

John 13:34

Scripture Study: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

© 1991 Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc. aka: Kenneth Copeland Publications All rights reserved.
© 1997 Shalom-Verlag. Autorisierte Übersetzung der englischen Ausgabe. Diese Übersetzung wird veröffentlicht und verkauft mit Erlaubnis von Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc./Kenneth Copeland Ministries, dem Inhaber aller Rechte zur Veröffentlichung und zum Verkauf dieses Werkes.

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