21 Day Fast Day 11
Today is Week 2 day 4 of our 21 Day Fast, January 18, 2024.
Yesterday we dug into HOPE, one of the big three: faith, hope & love. Let’s consider the greatest one today. It’s all about LOVE. Love is one of those words that is so easily used as the highest praise we can give, and rightly so. But it's also used in ways that just don’t seem to fit. I love ice cream, I love steak, I love… I’d better stop here, I am fasting! But you get the point. Love is probably the greatest of all words. It represents the highest level of relationship. I say that because it is the very nature of God. The Bible tells us that God is love. It doesn’t say that he has love. It says that he is love. There is a difference. We use it as a superlative for what we enjoy. But that diminishes the real essence of the word. Love is a relational word. God is love because he is the triune God. He is three persons in one God. He is a relationship within himself. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One God. They are individuals but inseparable. God existed before time and before anything ever did. God is a spirit and that spirit is one. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the third person of the Trinity and is in relationship with the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son and yet a person himself. Check out these verses: Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 15:26; John 1:1-14; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Ephesians 4:4-6
God is beyond comprehension. Theologians call him the Wholly Other. He has no equal. Back to my point about LOVE. God created everything out of who he is. Everything was good until sin entered the picture and defiled creation. But thankfully God had in mind a way to restore everything. John 3:16 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
1 John 4:7-12 (ESV)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV) 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (Love is the greatest because God is Love. When we love God, we will love one another because love is the Spirit of God.)
Continue to bathe in these verses!
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Yesterday we dug into HOPE, one of the big three: faith, hope & love. Let’s consider the greatest one today. It’s all about LOVE. Love is one of those words that is so easily used as the highest praise we can give, and rightly so. But it's also used in ways that just don’t seem to fit. I love ice cream, I love steak, I love… I’d better stop here, I am fasting! But you get the point. Love is probably the greatest of all words. It represents the highest level of relationship. I say that because it is the very nature of God. The Bible tells us that God is love. It doesn’t say that he has love. It says that he is love. There is a difference. We use it as a superlative for what we enjoy. But that diminishes the real essence of the word. Love is a relational word. God is love because he is the triune God. He is three persons in one God. He is a relationship within himself. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One God. They are individuals but inseparable. God existed before time and before anything ever did. God is a spirit and that spirit is one. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the third person of the Trinity and is in relationship with the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son and yet a person himself. Check out these verses: Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 15:26; John 1:1-14; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Ephesians 4:4-6
God is beyond comprehension. Theologians call him the Wholly Other. He has no equal. Back to my point about LOVE. God created everything out of who he is. Everything was good until sin entered the picture and defiled creation. But thankfully God had in mind a way to restore everything. John 3:16 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
1 John 4:7-12 (ESV)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV) 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (Love is the greatest because God is Love. When we love God, we will love one another because love is the Spirit of God.)
Continue to bathe in these verses!
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
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