Gloria Copeland — Living the Love Life

Posted by admin | Filed under Gloria Copeland

Gloria Copeland

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, more important
than learning to love. In fact, how accurately you
perfect the love walk will determine how much of the
perfect will of God you accomplish. That’s because
every other spiritual force derives its action from
love. For example, the Bible teaches that faith works
by love. (See Galatians 5:6.) And answered prayer
is almost an impossibility when a believer steps
outside of love and refuses to forgive, or is in strife
with his brother.

First Corinthians 13, the love chapter, says tongues
are just noise if there is no love. If a person has the
gift of prophecy, understands all knowledge, has
enough faith to move mountains but is without love,
he is nothing. If he gives all that he has to the poor
and even sacrifices his life, without the love of God
he gains nothing.

Without love, your giving will not work, tongues and
prophecy will not work, faith fails and knowledge is
unfruitful. All the truths you’ve learned from God’s
Word work by love. They will profit you little unless
you live the love of God.

First Corinthians 13:4-8 paints a perfect picture of
how love behaves. 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]. Loves never
fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes
to an end] (The Amplified Bible).

That may sound like a tough set of requirements, but
you can meet them. You are a love creature. God
has re-created your spirit in the image of love. And
He has sent His love Spirit to live in you to teach you
how to love as He loves. You can live the love life!
Become love-conscious by confessing and acting on
God’s Word concerning this love. As you meditate
these scriptures, see yourself living the love life.

You are the one who has to make the decision to
perfect the love of God in your life. No one else can
do it for you. So, make the decision in faith and
commit yourself to obey God’s Word about love.

Let me warn you: There will be times when you
would rather do anything than allow love to rule.
(It will seem as though it is taking off a pound of
flesh!) There will be times when it would be much
easier to get angry, seek your own and retaliate.

Love is directly opposed to the senses. The senses
have been trained to put themselves and their
desires above anything else, selfishly seeking their
own way. But love, the Word says, does not seek
its own rights or its own way. And to walk in love,
you must demand that your senses (flesh) be subject
to the Word.

Without a definite decision, you will not continue in
the love of God. So, commit yourself to agape
—God’s love—now. And when temptation comes,
you’ll remember your decision and obey love.

Once you’ve made the decision, the most powerful
thing you can do in perfecting the love walk is to
continually confess you are the love of God. Base
your confession on l Corinthians 13:4-8. This God
kind of love will begin to influence all you say and do.

If someone says something unkind to you, love will
say, “That’s OK. I am not touchy, fretful or resentful.
I take no account of that.” And you go free! Learn
to believe in love. It’s the most powerful force in the
universe. Walk in love by faith in the Word. Walking
in love is walking in the spirit. It is walking as Jesus
walked. Love never fails. Nothing works without it,
and there can be no failure with it. When you live by
love, you cannot fail.

It takes faith to believe that love’s way will not fail.
The natural mind cannot understand that because
the natural man and his world are ruled by selfishness.
He believes if you don’t look out for No. 1 (himself),
no one else will. And, in a sense, he’s right.

No one else can look out for him. His selfishness
shuts the door to the love of God, and he winds up
on his own. But when you practice love by faith and
refuse to seek your own, you put the Father into
action on your behalf.

He will allow no man to do you wrong (l Chronicles
16:22). As long as you stay in love, God the Father
seeks your own. He sees to it that love never fails.
Walking in love is to your great advantage!

Agape love is a new kind of power. It makes you the
master of every situation. As long as you walk in love,
you cannot be hurt and you cannot fail. No weapon
formed against you will prosper. No one even has the
power to hurt your feelings, because you are not
ruled by feelings but by God’s love. You are loving as
He loves.

E.W. Kenyon accurately tagged this agape love “a
new kind of selfishness.” You no longer seek your
own success, yet your success is guaranteed! This
love is revolutionary. If we fully understood the great
return from living God’s love, we’d probably be
competing with each other, each trying to love the
other more. And without a doubt, everyone would
emerge from that competition a winner! For love is
truly the only sure secret to our success.