“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart…” (I Peter 1:22) In our third week of love we look at Philia (Pronounced: FILL-ee-uh)) – Friendship love. Philia is defined as “affectionate regard, friendship”, usually “between equals.” Strong’s Greek Dictionary defines it as, “to have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling).” Looking at our verse today about friendship, I notice two things right away. The use of the word fervently, which means enthusiastic and the word pure. In our four examples of friendship found in the Bible, we will…

She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. Proverbs 31:15-17 Week Two of the month of LOVE. Today we are going to talk about Storge (Pronounced: STOR-jay) – Family Love The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon defines storge as “cherishing one’s kindred, especially parents or children; the mutual love of parents and children and wives and husbands; loving affection; prone to love; loving tenderly; chiefly of the reciprocal tenderness of parents and children.” When we become followers of Jesus Christ,…

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5In your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:3-8 Welcome February, the month of LOVE! We will…

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT) As we wrap up the month of January, we have welcomed in a New Year and have embarked upon new goals. I thought this would be a good time to see what the Word has to say about staying motivated. In Lamentation, we see that God’s compassions are new every morning. Now, this is the kind of encouragement I need. I love starting new things. I enjoy the energy that comes with a new project or endeavor. When we start out on our new thing,…

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? Proverbs 6:9 Meet Mr. Sluggard. He is the subject of conversation often in the book of Proverbs. The bible warns of the consequences of being a sluggard, one who is habitually lazy. I wish I could tell you I don’t have a problem with laziness, but I do, whether I call it procrastination, lack of focus or being unmotivated. Until recently I wouldn’t have considered this a spiritual problem, just a minor defect in my personality. It was when I looked at this situation in light of my God-given gifts and talents, that I…

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21 As we start out a new year and are making goals and resolutions, I tend to bulk at the overwhelming pressure to try to fix what has been broken. You see, resolutions are usually based upon things we don’t like about ourselves, those parts of us that feel broken. Another resolution will not fix what has been lacking for so long. What we need is a solution that makes room for growth and sets us up for success versus rules that demand perfectionism. We have the choice to speak life…