Arms to Love
John 15:12-13
(12)”This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
1 Cor 13:1-8
(1) If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (3) And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (4) Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
1Co 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, (6) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (8) Love never fails;
To make this Habit a part of your life, you must care nothing for the notoriety of man. You must know how to love Christ and Him alone so that you do not soon grow weary and quit. You must know how to place boundaries on your life and develop a brisk and abundant prayer life as well as a life overflowing with the joy of Jesus. Results cannot matter; at least the results that we can see with physical eyes. You must grow a faith that knows God uses the simple and secret things in a more mighty way and the hidden work of God is the greatest. Humility must become your chief character trait and you must
Love in secret. Secret service is vital to cultivating this Habit. Pray in secret. Give in secret. Do in secret. Go out early in the morning and late in the evening and find those who need the love of Jesus. Love the poor and the down and out. Care for those who can never pay you back and in doing so you will not receive the applause of men, but something much better, the applause of heaven.
Learn to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. There can be no envy or desire for others to suffer as you. You cannot feel better when others struggle or suffer as you have. Misery loves company is only true in the flesh. The miserable love to be loved.
Live a life of sacrificial service. Live frugally so you will have more to give. Do not become entangled with the things of this world and fight addictions to TV, money and pleasure. Live simply so that you will not have to spend large amounts of time merely sustaining your life.
This Habit will require copious amounts of time and you will need not only accountability partners but those who are gifted to strengthen and refresh you. Make sure you have a community who can do that.
You will need to learn to process and accept disappointment and aloneness. You cannot demand reciprocal relationships. It must always be ok that you sacrifice and they don’t. You will be wounded, perhaps severely. If we love like Jesus why should we expect less than Jesus?
People will come to Christ and saints will be revived because of you.