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Love is something that we do. There is a positive country song that has that title. The message is, let’s not just say we love, let’s be loving, let’s do loving actions, and let’s love the way God does. As we continue this week focusing on how to live a satisfying life through living a life that is characterized by love, I want to encourage you to be excited about the journey ahead of us. Often when faced with the opportunity to grow or change, we get discouraged even before we start, because it seems so daunting. Being a loving person, and having the characteristics of a loving person in our life does take work. And being humans, we like to take the path of least resistance. If you ever start to feel overwhelmed, or that this is just too hard, think of it this way. You were made for love. You were made in God’s image, and He is the definition of love, He is love personified, He is the fullness of love! If we are to be like Him, that capacity is within us! The transformation that we need to walk in love’s fullness has already begun in you if you are a born again Christian. Your spirit has been made alive to God. God has already shed His love abroad in your heart. The seed of love is already within you….all you need now is to put some things in place to help it grow. That seed needs the water of the Word, and the soil to be tilled so that great growth can happen. Plug yourself into places and align yourself with people who are helping you grow. Get involved in a small group with some accountability. Hang around with people who exemplify the kind of person you desire to be. If you keep on looking for opportunities to grow, and you will find them. Then love by doing…because love is something that you do.

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This is a great quote from Gary Chapman’s book Love as a Way of Life. “Every trait of love begins with small things.” I love two quotes from Mother Theresa….the gist of each is this….if you want to change the world, go home and love your family. The second is this, do all things, even small things with great love. When we start loving where we are, in the little things, we are in for big changes! We all would love to do something grand, but the grandest place to start is by operating in love where you are. Love your family, tenderly, gently, and with a heart of service. Be courteous and humble, helpful and grateful for the ones God has put in your closest circle, and then demonstrate daily, hourly, or even minute by minute that love is in the small things. Never walk past an opportunity to show the love of God to those you say you love the most. Give compliments, give encouragement, listen when they speak, give eye contact, put down your technology and play with them, enjoy being together, without criticism, without demands, or expectations. Doing just those simple things could change homes across the world. We were made for love. We were made to be loved. Let’s get this things started. One of my favorite preachers, who used to be our youth pastor for almost 12 years at our church, Mark Boer has said this before, if it is to be, it’s up to me. Another way of saying that is, if I really want to see change, I’ve got to do something about it. Let’s go for it. Love really is what the world needs now. All we really need is love, sweet love!!!! I know that sounds trite and you for sure will recognize those songs, but there is a truth there, when we say it this way….all we need is love, God’s amazing love in action.

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What is authentic love? In Love as a Way of Life, Gary Chapman defines authentic love “as something within our capabilities, originating in our attitudes and culminating in our actions.” Love is more than a feeling, love is an action. It has to do with what we do! How good are we doing loving others? Thankfully we can’t give you a pass or fail grade, but if you are like me, I’m hoping to ramp my love life up. I want to be much better at showing and expressing love by the time we are finished with this month focus on love. One thing to think about is that once we’ve begun, there really is no end until we pass from this life to the next. Once we know what we can do and what is available when we do make love a way of life, there will be no turning back. We’ll want to live this way for all the days of our life. Authentic love is not based on how circumstances are going, or even the response of those you show love toward. Authentic love is love without conditions. We rejoice in loving others, whether they reciprocate or not. This sounds pretty radical. Our flesh says, I’ll love you if you love me back. I’ll rub your back if you rub mine. I’ll answer sweetly if you speak sweetly to me. This is just opposite of the love that Jesus demonstrated while He was on the earth. His kind of love is, turn the other cheek love. You tell lies about me, I’ll still bless you. You kill me (Jesus talking!) I’ll ask my Father to forgive you, because you don’t know what you are doing. That is radical love! Do we have the capacity for that? We really do! God has shed His love abroad in our hearts so that we can love with genuine, authentic, unconditional love. Let’s let that same love from God begin to change us from the inside out. He loves us, so we can love others.

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Being a person who loves lavishly has the power to change you from the inside out. We don’t want to be like an outhouse that can be painted beautifully outwardly, but still stink inside. We are studying you can find a way to live a satisfied life, by learning how to love others well. In This week encouraging words featu:
The meaning of Authentic love and the the power of Authentic love
And an overview of the seven attributes of a loving person.
Kindness
Patience
Forgiveness
Courtesy
Humility
Generosity
And Honesty
All this month we are looking at each of these loving characteristics, and discovering ways to incorporate these loving habits into our relationships. This is an an exciting journey, because when we obey the teachings of Jesus, we are bound to have success in our life. The promises are written over and over throughout the Bible. When we listen and obey, when we are doers of the Word, when we meditate day and night, and choose to obey and do what Christ commands, we will have good success. Let’s find out what it means to love authentically. Let’s find out what power is available when we do. You will be surprised and excited! Together let’s discover how satisfying life can be when we walk in love. This month can be the start of something great. We can make a turn in a positive direction. We can discover together that the key to success in life, and living your very best life on planet earth is tied to discovering the power of loving others. Let’s leave our world better than we found it!

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We are studying how we can show our love more effectively to our world. Our world revolves around the people in our life. God wants us to thrive in our relationships and we shouldn’t be surprised that his pattern for our relationships is based upon authentic love being transferred from person to person. Over the course of this month, our desire is that our love walk would increase to the point where every interaction we have with the people in our life would be fueled by the loving characteristics we are developing and our responses would be positive in every situation. That may sound unrealistic, but Jesus did tell us to love Him with all of our heart, soul and our mind. That is total, complete love. I guess my position on any of God’s commands are if He tells us to do it, we are able with His strength and power to live it out in our lives.
In This week’s dailyeword, you’ll learn about:
The meaning of Authentic love
That love is:
An action
And a choice
The power of Authentic love
And an overview of the seven attributes of a loving person.
Kindness
Patience
Forgiveness
Courtesy
Humility
Generosity
And Honesty
Let’s love lavishly, and make love a way of life

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Here are some witty ways the people of our church cultivate compassion:
We have a team of 8 returning from Bulgaria right now, who served, loved and blessed many people at our ministry center in central Bulgaria, and at a gypsy village in southern Bulgaria. Every week people at Amazing Grace Fellowship give toward our Bulgaria work.
Our church youth and Interns adopt a section of Twin Falls, and go door to door, helping rake leaves, move furniture, etc. to be a hand extended to our own community on a regular basis.
Each year our ladies ministry and hospitality ministry team up to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas meal boxes to the needy families.
As a church we bless local foster kids with Christmas presents.
Overseas we participate with Operation Christmas Child sending boxes of gifts to needy children overseas.
Just last weekend, we had our annual clothing sale to bless families preparing for school and for clothing their families. (Just to name a few.)
How can you cultivate a compassionate heart that loves giving to others? It takes opening your eyes, and then deciding to extend your hand. There is great joy in giving from your finances and giving of your self. Even if you are frugal to the core, or have to keep watch very closely on your budget, you can have a giving heart. A generous spirit isn’t developed when you have an overflowing abundance, it can start by giving from your own need. God honors the seeds you sow, and he loves it when we bless others. God even said that He would give more seed to those who would be sowers! The Bible says that the needy would always be with us- that’s because there is a real devil loose on the earth, who is only motivated to kill, steal and destroy. (John 10:10)
When we give from our heart, we demonstrate the heart of God, and He is the biggest giver of all! Let’s be a believing community that cultivates compassion and spreads the love of God everywhere we go!! Open your heart, and open your hands

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The book of Proverbs is full of wonderful admonitions about giving to the less fortunate. Proverbs 22:9 says that a generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. Blessed is he who is kind to the needy. (Prov 14:21) God is so concerned for the needs of the poor, that he will bless those who bless them. That’s amazing! If we want good gifts from God, we should bless the needy. It isn’t a little formula that opens the windows of heaven, it is a principle that says if we really want to be true disciples, we need to care for what God cares about, and become advocates to what He advocates.

One of the greatest ways to have your eyes opened to the needs of others, is to visit a third world country. For many people, a overseas trip is the first place where they really “see” the needs of others. As Americans, not often do we see extended bellies, and fly covered, open sores on little children roaming our streets, but it is a common sight in many underdeveloped countries. Once eyes are opened, it changes everything. If you are like me, you can hardly watch an infomercial about starving, diseased children without being overwhelmed with grief. Those images pull on your heart.

Once our eyes are opened, we then need to make the choice. A person of compassion is someone who opens his/her heart to the poor and extends his/her hands to the needy. A compassionate person has new priorities. God gives creative ideas (Proverbs calls them witty inventions) to people so they will have resources to prosper and be able to bless the less fortunate.

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Did you do something sweet for your sweetheart this weekend? Being the month that we celebrate romantic love, there is great pressure to get the right card, the right gift, plan the right date, order the right flowers and to “do” the right thing. Well, according to Dr. Warren Clark, (MR. Eharmony.com) romantic love isn’t so much about doing as it is about being. Most mates really aren’t all that concerned about the big prizes on a special day as much as they enjoy spending time in the company of the one they love. They like how good being around the one they love makes them feel. It is really true if both mates feel listened to and respected for their opinions and ideas. So, take some pressure off of yourselves guys. The big romantic holiday shouldn’t be so pressure filled. How about loving lavishly always! Now we can all just demonstrate love everyday! It’s not so much about doing as being. Doesn’t that sound a lot like God’s love? So ask yourself this question. Am I making choices to act in a loving way every day? Am I choosing to walk in the spirit instead of in the flesh? Do I demonstrate the attributes of love that God has placed inside of me? How wonderful it is that we don’t have to do anything to gain God’s love, it is just His nature to love us. Since His love is in us, it’s your nature too! So just “be” your best you and love lavishly!

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This is the week when we celebrate love. It’s it amazing that we use the same word in so many different ways. You can love chocolate ice cream, love your bike, love your MP3 player, love pizza and you love your parents. We also use that same word when we talk about God. We love God. God loves us. God is Love (I John 4:16). You can see that not only is love a noun, it is also a verb. (I bet you noticed that!) Because love can be a noun, it is something that we want to attain. But because love is a verb, it is an action word. That means that if you really love someone, you get to prove it by your actions. (That can definitely be taken the wrong way, because a carnal person can say if you love me, you will do this or that for me, and it may be something that you know is wrong, or don’t want to do. But in the right context, it is totally godly.) If you love your mom, you will tell her, but you’ll also show her by how you act. That means doing what she asks you to do with a willing and obedient heart. (With a smile too – that will make her happy – and she might faint in disbelief!) If you want to show love to your friends (phileo love is friendship love), you can be kind, and not talk behind their back, and make a choice to help them and encourage them . If you love God, you will obey His commandments (I John 5:3). If you need a reminder of what God’s Commandment’s are, they are really simply summed up in two things and encompass all of life. Love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and love your neighbor (everybody else) as yourself. So this week love God with all you are, and love someone around you through your actions!

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Here is a hard question. Is there enough evidence to convict you? Most of the time, those wouldn’t be very good words to hear. In this instance, I’m wondering if there is enough proof in your life to prove you are a true disciple of Jesus Christ? Can the world see the love of God in you? I hope you haven’t ever been in a real trial where you had to find evidence to prove your innocence. It sounds like God is looking for the opposite kind of evidence in John 13:35. He wants to see something in you, worthy of “convicting” you of being a Christian. The evidence He is looking for is His very own love demonstrated through you. All this week we are talking about love, and it is a huge issue to God. Not only is He the essence of Love, He asks us to walk in love, abound in love, be fervent in love, manifest self-sacrificing love, and love Him and our neighbor like we love ourselves. It sounds like a big task, but it doesn’t have to be hard. Just let the love that He’s shed abroad in your heart, shine through you, and love one another. Love is more than the ooey, gooey, warm and cozy, syrupy sweet , whipped cream topped concoction that we read about in some magazine. God’s love is sincere and deep, and it comes from the heart as it says in I John 4:7. One of the most wonderful things about love is that it gives us the power to say we’re sorry when we are wrong, and gives us the ability to forgive those who have wronged us. Walking in forgiveness and saying we’re sorry isn’t easy when we are operating in the flesh. (Just look at how often “Committed relationships” dissolve after a short matter of time.) But if we follow the way of love, and walk in the Spirit, we won’t fulfill our fleshly desires, and we will do what is right. We can make lasting, sincere, deep commitments that will stand the test of time. We can say we are sorry, and we can learn to forgive. And we can do that, because we have known the love and forgiveness of Christ.

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