SCRIPTURE PRINCIPLE:
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 1 John 16b
KEY NUMBER FIVE: The Force That Makes Change Permanent - LOVE
Love is the most powerful thing in heaven or on earth. We need faith, hope, and love while we live here on earth, but only love will endure for eternity. When death comes we won't need faith or hope anymore because we will have what we believed in and hoped for: eternal life. We will need love throughout eternity. Love will go on because God goes on and He is LOVE.
It was God's love that caused Him to send Jesus to earth to suffer and die for us. It was love that made Jesus willing to come. It is love that keeps God from destroying this world in anger; and causes Him to put up with us in spite of all our sins. The fact that you are still "hanging in there" is a proof of His love. He has not let you slip from His grasp completely because His love is so great for you in spite of the fact that He hates your sins. But God has the capacity to love the sinner while all the while He hates the sin. He loves you enough to give you Victory over homosexuality.
How can you not help but love such a God? Our love is a direct result of His love for us. John says, 'WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.'
We need love. We need to be loved. We need to love others. We can only do it; however, if we first love the Lord. And the world needs this kind of love. There is a song that says, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love. But love isn't sex. Love can be displayed in sexual actions at times between a husband and wife, but it goes beyond sex and can exist without sex.
So, if a homosexual is trying to find the love he has not been shown in his youth through sex with another male; he will never find what he is looking for, no more than any two people can find love through sex. Love comes before sex.
Do you know what love really is? A willingness to put another first in our lives. So if we love God we put Him first. And in Loving Him, we can put another person first. God doesn't mind, because our love for another flows from our love for Him; and no human being will ever rank higher in our love than He, but we will manage to put another person before ourselves.
Love doesn't allow cruising to find someone it can use for awhile. Love is more than physical attraction. Love wants to give to one another and not merely take. Love doesn't let us disobey God.
If we say we love God, than we desire to do His will. God's will is that a man marry a woman. He created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Evan. He expects a man to love and not make her merely a sex object. God isn't down on homosexuals or sex, but He is down on the wrong use of sex by them or anyone else. He is down on the wrong use of sex because He knows it will hurt us.
The love of Jesus won't let us abuse sex. The Love of the Lord will help us struggle to be free from any sin that we commit. God, in His love, has already set us free by his complete forgiveness. He will fill us with love so that we can obey.
Love won't let us hurt ourselves or others or God. Sinful lusts only want to be fulfilled. Sex without love or God's blessing only helps us feel guilty, unfulfilled, and down on ourselves. Our partners will feel the same way. That's hurting people. Love won't allow us to hurt anyone.
God is love and deals with us in love. Isn't God great! We get down on ourselves because our sins annoy people or hurt them, but our Heavenly Father doesn't. He sees our misery and in love forgives us. He gives us the chance to pick ourselves up, turn around, and go in the right direction. Praise His holy name!
LOVE OF GOD is produced by FAITH which is given to us by the Holy Spirit as we hear and study the WORD. LOVE gives us the need to FORGIVE. All this can happen when we have the DESIRE to overcome and get out of homosexuality in particular. God can give us this desire.
Do you see how the KEYS program is set up and the logic behind it? Do you see how each KEY will unlock the chains that bind us?
LOVE is the FIFTH KEY. Without it, none of the other KEYS will really work. If the other KEYS have been used effectively, this is the KEY that will not only loose us but also promote such a change in our lives that people will notice that we really are walking with the Lord. It will enable us to relate to both sexes with the attitude of God and not merely the lust of the eyes.
The love of God can help us to truly love another human being and can lead to a God-pleasing relationship with a member of the opposite sex. Love makes it possible to have a God-pleasing relationship with those of either sex.
<--Sword of the Spirit-->
1 John 4:19
1 John 1:21
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
It is a truth that the only force which can resist the power of fear, is the power of love.
WORDS OF HOPE AND HELP
1 John 4
1 John 5
