Are You Walking In Love?

[Forum Administrator]

Are You Walking In Love?

...For God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5 AMPLIFIED)

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.] (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 AMPLIFIED)

Put It To Work
As you read through this passage in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, use this as a checklist and a barometer of whether or not you are walking in love. There will be areas in which you feel you are doing okay, and there will be areas with which you know you have a problem. Focus especially (but not exclusively) on those problem areas particularly. Print this out, and when you find yourself slipping or struggling in a particular area, find the corresponding verse and repeat it to yourself. For example, someone says something to you that you don't like and you are preparing to lash back. Go back to the Walking In Love checklist and read (quietly to yourself) "God's love in us... is not touchy, or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]."

It's a good idea to read through this entire checklist first thing in the morning and again before you go to bed at night. As you apply this Word to your life, you will change, and the change in you will be noticeable to others.

Remember, this exercise is not referring to your natural love, but to the love of God that the Holy Spirit has poured into your heart. We must train our spirits so that what God has placed inside of us (i.e. in our spirit) dominates our soul and flesh. This is what walking in the Spirit and in this case, walking in love is all about.