Posted: 11/08/2012 at 9:51am | IP Logged

Ordered Love

My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, and Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

To Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and your entire mind, and all your strength; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

And the man who loves God is known by God, 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.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.

For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.