Romans 15:13 God of Hope

My hope is in the Lord.  Romans 15:13 says “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Hope is a confident desire.  I have been reading, studying, and writing about the internal joy which the Holy Spirit gives to the believer.  As I trust in God I experience the joy and peace promised in God’s Word.  I do not put my hope and trust in things of the world.  They will pass away.  “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17).  In this promise lies my hope.  My hope is in God and His promises.  The Holy Spirit gives me the power to be bold in my faith and constant in my hope.   I pray that the light of my hope will overflow and touch the lives of others.   

Isaiah 55:11 God's Word Will not Return Void

As I read and study the Bible I grow in my faith.  The Word becomes alive and God speaks to my heart.  He opens my spiritual eyes and ears.  I gain new insight even when reading the same scriptures over again.  I am no longer a baby Christian.  I can now read the scriptures with increased understanding and spiritual maturity.  I have found that the Holy Spirit will lead me to hear or read scriptures which I need at any given time or in any given situation in my life.  As I read and feed on God’s Word it accomplishes what God wants it to do for me or for others when His word is able to flow through me. 

Isaiah 55:11 says, “It is the same with my Word.  I send it out, and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it”. 

Prior to this, verses 9 and 10 put into context what He is referring to.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my Word that goes out from My mouth”.

God tells us that His Word does not return to Him void or empty.  It accomplishes in the readers’ life what He desires it to do.  It will achieve God’s purpose.  This can only happen when we do our part.  We must open His Word so He can speak to us through it.

God’s Word will speak for itself.  As I write about one Bible verse in each blog post, I am studying and feeding on God’s Word.  I want to learn, remember, and keep the promises of His Word deep in my spirit.  I am able to memorize some verses and paraphrase others.  I do not have to remember the exact chapter and verse where it is found because in knowing it, I will be able to locate it when I need to.  My minimal knowledge just scratches the surface of all that God has given to us in His Word.  I know what I believe and I want to keep growing in faith and sharing His Word and my faith with you!  What you read will not return void!  His Word ignites a spark in our lives and the Holy Spirit gives us understanding and direction.  A taste of God’s Word gives us an appetite and increases our hunger for more truth, greater understanding, and deeper revelation.  Psalm 119:103 says, “How sweet are your promises (your Words) to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts”.     

Jeremiah 15:16 Feed on God's Word

In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said that “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the word of God”.  In the Lord’s Prayer when we pray “give us this day our daily bread” we are asking for spiritual food as well as for the provision of our physical nourishment.  God wants us to feed on His word.  His word is life to our mind, body, and soul.  It is called the Living Word. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart”.

Jeremiah writes in chapter 15, verse 16, “when your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my hearts delight”.   I want to feed on God’s word.  I want to learn His words so they will come to my memory when I need Him to speak to me.  God wants us to hide His words in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).  Romans 10:17 says that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  My faith grows as I feed on the Word of God. 

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord Always

I am rejoicing in the Lord today.  Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again, I say rejoice”.  It is not humanly possible to always be joyful but “in Christ” we are given an internal joy.  This joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  The source of this internal, permanent joy is love.  God is love.  It would be impossible to “always” walk in love and joy if God was not walking with me. 

Living in a joyful spirit with a positive attitude affects all aspects of ones life.  God wants us to have the peace and strength of His joy.  Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that “the joy of the Lord is our strength”.  I want to be strong in the Lord so that His strength and His joy are always present in my life.  I want others to see Christ’s joy in me even when I go through trials.  No one escapes trials.  Many times it is in our trials that we come into a deeper relationship with our Savior.  We experience His presence and His power as we pray for answers and understanding.  His Holy Spirit comes into our life giving us His Gifts of the Spirit.

Today is my daughter Erica’s birthday.  She and her family give me so much joy.  I rejoice in the Lord today.  I thank God for my family; my children and my grandchildren.  I have experienced God’s love and internal joy.  I will rejoice in the Lord always! 

1 Corinthians 1 and 2 The Realm of God's Mysterious Wisdom

The deep things of God are a mystery to the human mind.  The Holy Spirit reveals God’s wisdom to those who have sought and received Him in their hearts and spirits.  My spiritual understanding and God’s wisdom within me grow as my faith matures.

I read in 1 Corinthians 2: 9 and 10, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, (until) God has revealed it to us by His Spirit”.   Verse 14 says, “The man without The Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned”.  The gift of discernment comes with the gifts of the Spirit when our spirit meets God’s Spirit.   This occurs when we decide to believe and receive God through Christ into our lives.  This re-birth is spiritual, not physical.  It can only happen when we choose to seek God so that He might open our spiritual ears, eyes, and heart.

Paul, who penned 1 Corinthians, says in chapter 1:18, “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction.  But we who are being saved recognize the message as the very power of God”.  In chapter 2:12 I read, “And God has actually given us His Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given to us”.

God operates in the realm of mysterious and all knowing wisdom.  His wisdom does not come in the human understanding of logic.  Man can get a PHD in knowledge but not in wisdom.  No one knows the thoughts of God.  The Holy Spirit connects the believer’s mind to God’s mind.  He gives us wisdom and understanding.  In The Holy Spirit “we can understand these things, for now we have the mind of Christ”      (1 Corinthians 2:15). 

I believe God’s teachings and I ask the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom, increased understanding, discernment, and direction in my life.  His ways are not my ways (Isaiah 55: 8 and 9).  I pray for His guidance in all I do and in what I say and write even when His ways seem hidden and mysterious.     

John 14: 15-20 The Promise of The Holy Spirit

I believe in and serve the One True God; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  He is three in one as I am mind, body, and spirit.  God is spoken of in the plural, as we and us, in the record of the creation in Geneses.  Jesus said in John 14 that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him.  When we know Jesus we know the Father.  In the same chapter of John, Jesus tells His disciples that His body would be leaving them but He would not leave them alone in the world.  In verse 15 He says to his disciples, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth.  The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.  But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you……Because I live, you also will live…….I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you”.  In chapter 16 Jesus says, “Now I am going to Him who sent me………But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you;  But if I go, I will send Him to you.     I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.  But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.  He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.  All that belongs to the Father is Mine.  That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you”. 

The Holy Spirit was given to the disciples after Jesus went back to the Father.  In that same way; when we come to the Father by believing in His Son, He gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us.  The Holy Spirit teaches us what the Father and Son want us to know.  I have come to Faith in God through His Son, Jesus, and they have given me their Holy Spirit.  He is my teacher, comforter, and guide.  He abides in me and I abide in Him.  John 15:4-5 says, “Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing”.

As a believer, I know that the Holy Spirit lives within me.  He entered into my spirit the moment I believed and received Christ as my Savior. The filling of His Spirit within me is a continuous process.  The amount of His infilling increases as my faith grows and matures.  He abides in me and I abide in Him.  He fills me with Himself and the Gifts of the Spirit as I study the Word and practice His presence.  Thank you Lord, for the promise of your Holy Spirit in my life.     

John 14:27 My Peace I Give To You

The world today is anything but peaceful but God promises His children peace.  It is not a peace which is understood by the world.  This peace is a promise which is found in John 14:27.  Jesus tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.  In the first verse of John 14 Jesus tells us to trust in God and also trust in Him.  In verse 9 Jesus tells His disciples, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father……I am in the Father and the Father is in me……It is the Father who is living in Me who is doing the work.”  God became flesh so that man would learn of His character, His love, and of how He would want us to live.  The world in Jesus’ time was no more peaceful than our days now.  It is only in believing in, and trusting God that we find the peace which Jesus describes in John 14.  In Him we are not to be afraid.  He replaces our fears with His gift of faith.  As a believer I have the promise of God’s protection in my daily walk and the hope of eternity at the end of my physical life.  It is in these promises that I have internal peace and joy.  This promised peace and joy in the Lord is available to all.  He has promised that if we seek we will find.  He so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son to the world.  This peace is given to whosoever believes.  

2 Peter 1: 3,4 Precious Promises

I think about the words of a song which I learned in Sunday School about God’s promises.  The words I remember are; “Every promise in the Book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line”.  Here is the song:

Every Promise In The Book Is Mine
Every promise in the Book is mine
Every chapter, every verse, every line
I'm trusting in His love divine
Every promise in the Book is mine

2 Peter 1: 3,4 says, “His divine powers have given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.  Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises”.  Read this in its context by reading all of chapter 1. 

As I read this, another song which was tucked in my mind and spirit comes to me,

Standing on His Promises   

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

When I gave my heart to God, I became a child of The King.  As a child of The King, I inherited great wealth.  God gives His children hundreds of promises in His Word. I cannot know of these promises unless I open up the Book to see and read them for myself.  I hide them in my heart, spirit, and memory in the same way I did with the above childhood songs.  God brings them to my recall when I need them.  I claim the promises, I believe the promises, and I act upon the promises in faith knowing and believing what God says is true.  I believe that His precious promises are for me.   

Hebrews 11:1 Being Sure of the Hope I Do Not See

My faith is a gift from God.  I cannot physically see what I believe.  Hebrews 11:1 tells me that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  I live by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  My “faith and knowledge rest on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time”.  This was written by Paul in Titus 1:2.

My entire being cannot be separated from the faith within me.  I want to demonstrate my faith by living it in a determined and deliberate manner.  I will not waiver nor be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  My faith defines me and is within me.  Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being”.  Early one morning, a few months ago, I woke up with these words in my spirit and on my lips.  I knew God’s Spirit was speaking to my spirit.  The words comforted and encouraged me and were with me all that day long. 

The more I read and learn God’s word, the greater my faith grows.  I hide His word in my heart and He brings the words which I need to my mind when I must hear from Him in any given situation.  He is always with me and so are the words needed to comfort and direct me.  I am sure of the hope which is within me and I know that nothing is going to happen to me that He and I together cannot handle.    

1 Peter 2 Jesus is The Cornerstone

In 1 Peter 2 Christ is called The Cornerstone.  Referenced in this chapter are the Old Testament verses of Isaiah 28:16 and Psalm 118:22 which speak about a time coming when God was going to place a foundation stone in Jerusalem.  It would be a “firm, tested, precious cornerstone.  It will be safe to build on.  Whoever believes need never run away again”.  Psalm 118:22 says, “The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone”.

Peter, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, penned the books of first and second Peter. He was writing to believing Christians.  Read First Peter chapter two!  In verses 4 and 5 He says, “Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple.  He was rejected by the people, but He is precious to God who chose Him.  And now God is building you, as living stones, into His spiritual temple.  What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please Him because of Jesus Christ”.

God tells me that because I believe, I am a living stone in His spiritual temple.  All of us, in the family of God, are a kingdom of priests.  I am part of God’s Holy Nation, God’s Kingdom.  These are not my words; this is God’s description of who I am in Him.  He goes on to say in verse 9 that He wants me, and all in His Kingdom family, to reflect Him by showing others His goodness through our lives.  He has brought us out of unbelief, out of darkness, into His wonderful light.  He is Holy and He calls us to be Holy, a royal priesthood.  Christ is the Cornerstone of this spiritual realm which we have been received into.  The Holy Spirit gives believers the gifts of the Spirit.  These gifts manifest themselves in our lives as we grow in our spiritual walks.  As written in Galatians 5:22, the gifts of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  God’s character grows in us and shines through us to be a living testimony of Him.  Christ is the cornerstone of my spiritual temple.  By God’s Grace alone will I grow in my faith and be able to be a reflection of Him.         

Psalm 127 and 128 Children, Foundations, and Blessings

I read these various verses in Psalm 127:

“Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless”

“It is useless for you to work so hard…….anxiously working for food to eat;

 for God gives rest to His loved ones”

“Children are a gift from the Lord…….Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands.  How happy is a man whose quiver is full of them!”

I see the following verses in Psalm128:

“How happy are those who fear the Lord - all who follow His ways.”

“You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.  How happy will you be!  How rich your life!”

“May you live to enjoy your grandchildren.”

I thank the Lord for the gift of faith.  I have built the groundwork of my family’s house on a strong spiritual foundation.  It will not fail and its legacy will be passed down from generation to generation.  Richie and I have been given the ability to enjoy our grandchildren at this stage in our lives.  I seek the Kingdom of God first and He supplies my needs and the desires of my heart.  This promise was given to me in Matthew 6:33.    Matthew 7:24 tells a parable about a wise man who builds his house upon a rock.  I have built my house upon Christ, my rock and my foundation. I sing a children’s song about the wise man who built his house on a rock and the foolish man who built his house on sand.   I sang it to my children and am now singing it to my grandchildren.  I sang it again today, motions and all, to little Harrison at nap time.

I am blessed.  I pray for God’s blessings on my life and in the lives of everyone in my family.  I pray without ceasing.  In Psalm 134 I am instructed to also Bless the Lord.  Verse 2 says, “Lift your hands in Holiness and Bless the Lord”.   As I honor and Bless Him I experience all of the ways He honors my faithfulness and blesses my life.

Proverbs 9:10 Seek Wisdom

In Psalm 8:17 God tells us, “I love all who love me. Those who search for me will surely find me”.  A wise person will search for truth.  King Solomon chose wisdom before any other gift which was offered to him.  He was smart enough to know that wisdom would help him in all areas of his life.  Proverbs 9 and 10 say, “Teach the wise and they will be wiser.  Teach the righteous, and they will learn more.  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding”.

The word fear instructs us to reverence, respect, and trust God and His wisdom.  Being educated and having knowledge does not make a person wise.  I have known smart people who do not have wisdom and common sense.  They just don’t “get it”.  I know many people who are less educated but are some of the wisest in their thoughts, actions, emotions, and consideration of others.  

I will continue to seek a closer walk with God.  I will search His word for truth.  The book of Proverbs gives us lessons about living our lives wisely.  Lord, help me to be wise enough to heed your instructions.  I pray for increased understanding and wisdom.  Thank you Lord, for teaching me how to pray!  Thank you Lord, for hearing my prayers!  Matthew 6:33 promises me that He will take care of my needs as I seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first.  Proverbs 9:10 tells me that knowing Him will bring increased wisdom and understanding to my life.

Luke 11:1 - 4 The Lord's Prayer

In Luke 11, the disciples asked Jesus to show them how to pray.  Jesus gave to them and to us the words which we identify as “The Lord’s Prayer”.  It is used in Church and in personal worship.  As we look at the words we find an outline of the way we should pray.

When we speak to God in prayer, Jesus teaches us to include expressions of our Adoration, Confessions, Thanksgiving, and Supplications. 

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name”.                                                                           

Our God is holy.  We adore Him.  We praise Him.  We glorify Him.

 “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

We want God to show us His will for our lives.  We believe in Him and in His Kingdom. We want to experience God’s blessings in this present life.

For the believer, God’s Kingdom begins now.

“Give us this day our daily bread”. 

We come to Him in prayer with our needs and requests.  The word bread represents our spiritual needs as well as our physical needs.  He will supply our needs daily according to His riches in glory just as is told to us in Philippians 4:19.

“Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”.

We come to God confessing our sins, asking for His forgiveness, and in turn promising Him that we will forgive anyone who has hurt us and sinned against us.

“Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil”.

We ask for God’s protection in our life. 

We come to Him believing in His promise of protection.

We thank Him for taking care of us and being concerned about every area of our life.

The Lord’s Prayer is familiar and recited often in church services.  We must consciously be aware of not just repeating words.  I want to be attentive to the meaning of every word and sentence.  I pray it in Jesus' precious name.  As I speak the words I think about their meaning.  Prayer releases the power of God’s kingdom in my life.  

Psalm 139 I Needed a Word from the Lord

Today is possibly going to be the Birthday of my fourth grandson.  I opened my Bible because I needed a Word from the Lord.  I read Psalm 139.  I know that God is with me, with Christa, and with Baby K.  His word assured me that He is in control.  His timing is not always our timing but His timing will be perfect. 

I am going to quote the words which I read in verses 1-7 and 13-18:  “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.  You know when I sit down or when I stand up.  You know my every thought when far away.  You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.  Every moment you know where I am.  You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.  You both precede and follow me.  You place your hand of blessing on my head.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, to great for me to know.  I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence! ……………You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  How precious are your thoughts about me O God!  They are innumerable!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake in the morning you are still with me”.   

Our children are on loan to us from God.  I am so grateful to Him for the gifts of our precious grandsons.  As He loved us first; He also knew them first.  I ask the Lord to bless Baby K in the same way his mother, Christa, was prayed for and blessed while yet in my womb.  I daily ask for His blessings to be upon each of my grandsons, my daughters, and my son-in-laws.  I want to pass on the spiritual legacy which was passed down to me.

Praise the Lord!  God wants our Praise.  God is praised throughout the Psalms.  The final five Psalms begin with the words, “Praise the Lord”.  Psalm 147: 13 tells me that the Lord has “fortified the bars of your gates and blessed your children within you”.  I claim this promise for Christa as we anxiously await the arrival of Baby K.  Praise the Lord! 

Matthew 6:33 Seek God First

I talk to God.  I am constantly aware of His presence, believing that He never leaves me.  He is directly connected, like a main frame computer is to each of its terminals, to me and each of His children on earth.  I come to Him in prayer and communication about everything.  Some think that He is too busy and that He cannot be bothered with the little problems and joys in our lives.  His Word and His personal relationship with me tell me differently.  I know that He cares about the little things and the big things in my life. 

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that we should seek Him first.  Matthew 6:33 says, “Your Heavenly Father already knows all of your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern”.

I experience God’s wisdom, guidance, blessings, and God’s favor in my life.  I have made Him the Lord of every area of my life.  I seek Him and His will first.  In 1 Samuel 2:30 God says that He will honor all who honor Him.  I will continue to honor, praise, and glorify His Holy name.  I lift up my needs and desires, and those of my family, friends, and loved ones, to Him in prayer.  He hears me and I trust Him.  Thank you Lord for knowing what is on my heart and answering my prayers.            

1 John 4:19 Love Casts Out Fear

God tells me that He is continually showing me how to love more perfectly.  I John 4:19 says that perfect love casts out fear.  It expels fears.  My faith increases as my knowledge of God and His Word grow and my relationship with Him strengthens.  As my faith grows my ability to love becomes more perfect and is a measurement of who I am and how I treat others.  Others can see God’s love in me.  The closer I am to God and the more I love, the less I fear.  I see that faith and fear are opposites and proportionate to each other.  As faith increases, fear decreases.  Without faith, hope, and purpose one tends to live in fear.

John was Jesus’ most beloved disciple.  He knew and lived in Christ’s love.  He tells us about his experience and Christ’s teaching in the book of 1 John.  It is a book of 5 short chapters filled with teachings on the love of God in his life and in our lives.  Read it, God will speak to your heart.  Chapter 5 concludes in verse 13, “I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you MAY KNOW you have eternal life”.  I have always loved the assurance of this verse.  I do not have to say, “I think I am going to heaven when I leave my earthly existence; when my body dies”.  I believe what the Word tells me.  I KNOW that I will be with my Savior and those I love when I enter eternity.  It is God’s promise to all who believe.  Choose to believe, take God’s promise for yourself, and be certain of the assurance of your eternal life in Christ.  I do not fear death because God’s perfect love casts out my fears.                 

Mark 12: 29, 30, and 31 The Most Important Commandment

After Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the leading Jewish Priests and other leaders questioned Him and His authority.  He answered their questions well.  He could not be trapped.  In Mark 12:29 one of the leaders of Religious Law asked Jesus, “Of all of the Commandments, which is the most important?”  Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength’.  The second is equally important:  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.  No other commandment is greater than these.

I have been thinking, reading, and writing about God’s love in my life.  He tells me how much He loves me.  In Mark 12:29, 30, and 31, He tells me how I am to respond to His love.  As a believer, I am to love Him with my whole heart.   Experiencing His love and loving Him back is only part what He tells us to do.  We must love others.  Love is a gift of the Spirit.  The love spoken about is a supernatural love.  God’s love in us makes it possible to love the unlovely and the unlovable.  He fills us with his Spirit and His love.  We are able to love in a deeper dimension.  Only with God’s love within us can we love our enemies and forgive those who have hurt us.  In 1 John 20 He says that if we say we love God but hate people in our lives we are lying because if we don’t love others who we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen. 

God does know my heart.  The greatest of God’s gifts is love and He has said that the most important commandment is that we should love God completely and love our neighbor as ourselves.  1 John 4:17 tells me that as I live in God and grow in my faith, I will be able to love more perfectly.