JULY DEVOTIONAL
"Many Aspects of the Love of God"
Pastor Bernie Samples
July 1st Galatians 5:6 Amplified Bible “For if we are in Christ Jesus; neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.” Under the Old Covenant the Jewish men pleased God by getting circumcised. This was an act of obedience in the flesh. Under the New Covenant, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or uncircumcised. The number one thing is to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior by faith. But according to this verse we are to live by faith in God every day. A major key for our faith to produce like God wants it to: we must love Him by loving people. Think about The Golden Rule, “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”
Faith Confession: As a Born Again Christian, I have faith in God. I know that my faith comes from Him through His Word. I purpose to put love for God and for people above all else. This will cause my faith to get results.
July 2nd Romans 5:5 Amplified Bible “… for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” As Born Again Christians we have the love nature of God, our spiritual Father, in our recreated spirits. God’s love is not in our head, it’s in our heart. We must train ourselves every day to love people from our hearts by faith, not from our heads or emotions. Faith works by love, but also love works by faith.
Faith Confession: I have the supernatural love of God in my Born Again human spirit. I can love like Jesus loves because I choose to listen to my heart and not my head.
July 3rd Matthew 22:36-40 A lawyer asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment. Jesus told him to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Then He said the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus said that all of the other commandments revolve around these two. Simply speaking, Jesus said, number one, to love God with all of your heart, words, and actions. Number two, love people the same way and everything else will fall into place.
Faith Confession: I will train myself to get up every day with a song in my heart and thanksgiving to Jesus and my Father. Also, I will look at people through the eyes of Jesus and I will be patient and kind speaking words of encouragement to others.
July 4th Happy 4th of July to you and your loved ones! As Americans we enjoy freedoms that most of the world doesn’t even know exist. We must read our history to understand that many brave men and women fought and lost their lives over 250 years ago to birth this nation. But the most important freedom that the human race can have and enjoy is Eternal life and freedom from satan and sin because one man, Jesus Christ who lived a sinless perfect life as a human being on earth for 33 years. He took the punishment for all the sins of the human race. We must read the Christian history book, the Bible to know what He did for us and the life that we can enjoy because of Jesus. John 14:21-24 God judges our level of love for Him, by the value we place on putting into practice what we learn from His Word. Make the quality decision that if you see it in the Bible and it speaks to your heart, from that moment on, you will do it. How well are you going to show Jesus your love for Him today? When you have a choice today to go with the Word or take the easy way out, WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?
Faith Confession: Thank You Jesus for giving me freedom from satan and sin and the curse that is on the world today. You said I prove my love to You by obeying Your Word. I make the choice today that if I read it in the Bible, I will do it because I love You!
July 5th 1 John 5:1-5 This is how we overcome everything that life or the devil throws at us. A lifestyle of making choices in line with the Word is how we activate our faith. Verse 3 We show our love for God by being doers of His Word. We have world over- coming faith by simply obeying the Word of God that we know.
Faith Confession: Through Jesus Christ and loving and obeying His Word, I am a world overcomer of anything and everything that satan throws at me. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even my faith.
July 6th Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believes UNTO righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made UNTO salvation.” Notice two times the word “unto” is used. There is confession “unto” of what you believe in your heart, and then that confession “unto” salvation brings it to pass in your life. The next few days I want to slowly go through 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a Amplified Bible. Remember Romans 5:5. We have God’s love in our Born Again spirit, not in our heads. Make each verse your personal confession that this is how you live. Verses 4-8a describe the characteristics of God’s love that is in your heart. As you confess these verses in first person, you will begin to see them manifest in your life.
Faith Confession: 1 Corinthians 13:4 Amplified “I endure long and I am patient and kind. I never am envious, nor boil over with jealousy, I am not boastful or vain glorious, I do not display myself haughtily.”
July 7th Hebrews 3:1 “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus …” The word “profession” comes from the Greek word “homologia” and in English it means “to say the same as”. In other places in the New Testament it is translated “confession”. Jesus is the High Priest of our confession of faith. Because He is listening so He can bring it to pass in our lives. Faith Confession: 1 Corinthians 13:5 Amplified Bible “I am not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); I am not rude (unmannerly) and I do not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in me) does not insist on its own rights, for it is not self-seeking …”
July 8th Romans 5:5 Always remember you have God’s nature of love in your heart, not in your head. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes the characteristics of God’s love. You need to confess what God says you have.
Faith Confession: 1 Corinthians 13:5 Amplified Bible we will pick up where we left off yesterday. “I am not touchy or fretful or resentful; I take no account of the evil done to me (I pay no attention to a suffered wrong)”.
July 9th 1 Corinthians 13:6 Amplified Bible This verse tells us God’s attitude as He watches us in our daily lives and the things we go through. God doesn’t look for what is wrong, but for what is right. He doesn’t nitpick nor find fault, nor judge us prematurely. Because of His love He wants us to win and make right choices. How is your attitude towards those who may have wronged you?
Faith Confession: 1 Corinthians 13:6 Amplified Bible Because I have the love of God in my heart, “I do not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but I rejoice when right and truth prevail.”
July 10th Read 1 Corinthians 13:7 Amplified Bible. This is a good monitor of your love walk with difficult people. Are you believing and talking about their faults and failures? Or are you praying and talking about how they are going to make it and how they are going to win? If you do what these verses say to do, love will prevail, you will stay strong and not give up on them! You will be able to rejoice with them when they win! You might as well praise the Lord today for the victory that is yours and theirs because God’s love working in you and through you NEVER FAILS.
Faith Confession: 1 Corinthians 13:7-8a Amplified Bible “God’s love in me bears up under anything and everything that comes. I am ever ready to believe the best of every person. My hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and I endure everything without weakening.” Because God’s love in me never fails I will always yield to the love of God and I will never fail!
July 11th John 16:27 “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.” This is one of my favorite verses when “the blues” try to attack me. Several years ago Jesus spoke some words to my heart that were a revelation that shook me. He said this, “I not only love the people that you are ministering to you but, I LOVE YOU TOO, I REALLY DO!!!” I then realized that I had obeyed His call and had done my best to help people, but it had become a duty, an act of obedience. Since then I look at this verse to remind me, “Jesus loves me, He really does!” Meditate on these words every day until they get down strong in your heart and thought process.
Faith Confession: Because I love Jesus and believe that He came from God, the Father Himself loves me - He really does!
July 12th 1 John 4:18 “There is NO FEAR in love; but perfect (mature) love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect (has not matured) in love. “What does the Bible say is “mature love”? Go to 1 John 2:5 “But whoever keeps his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected (complete and matured): hereby we know that we are in Him.” So the more we live in line with His Word, we will be what He calls mature in the love of God! One of the benefits will be, “mature love casts out fear because fear has torment.”
Faith Confession: Because I love God and love His Word I will never be tormented by fear. His love in me will always cast out fear.
July 13th Ephesians 3:14-21 is a great prayer to pray for your- self and fellow believers. But today I want to focus on how to pray for God’s help in maturing in His love. Verse 17 “… that you (make this first person) being rooted and grounded in love, verse 18 may be able to understand with all believers how wide, how long, and how deep, and high God’s love is; verse 19 AND TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST, that passes sense knowledge, THAT YOU MIGHT BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD.” Notice what follows when you begin to understand how great God’s love is for mankind. Verse 20 “Now (because you understand and are rooted and grounded in His love) now unto Him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think, (this next part is our part) ACCORDING TO THE POWER (the power is His love) THAT IS WORKING IN AND THROUGH US.”
Faith Confession: God is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that I ask or think because I am gaining more understanding of His great love and becoming rooted and grounded in it.
July 14th Today we are going to look at the Old Covenant Ten Commandments of Love compared to New Testament born again Christian love. Leviticus 19:18 “… thou shalt love thy neighbor AS THYSELF …” John 14:34 “A NEW COMMAND- MENT I give unto you. That you LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS I HAVE LOVED YOU …” Do you see the difference? Under the Old before people had the love of God in their heart, they could only love with natural human love. If a person doesn’t love them- selves very much, then to love their neighbor as they love them- selves probably wouldn’t be very nice. The new commandment for new creations in Christ believers with the love of God in their hearts is to love people like Jesus does. This means we go the extra mile in forgiveness, in doing nice things, etc. Test yourself today. Are you practicing the old fleshly love or the Born Again believer in Christ love?
Faith Confession: I don’t only love my neighbor as I love my- self, because that is only natural human love but as a Born Again believer I love others as Jesus loves me because I have His love working in me and through me.
July 15th 2 Corinthians 5:14 “FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST CON- STRAINS US; because we thus judge; that if one died for all, then were all dead: verse 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” The word “constrains” comes from two Greek words that means, “urges us on” and “holds us back”. When dealing with difficult people, if we act and react in the natural realm only, we will get mad and give up on them. But if we yield to the love of God, it will “urge” us to not give up, to believe for the best not the worst. At the same time, “hold us back” from getting mean and saying harsh things that stops everything that Jesus wants to do to help them. How’s your love walk?
Faith Confession: Anything that God says I can do, I can do. Because the love of God constrains me, I will not give up on troubled people. I will control my temper and love them like Jesus loves them.
July 16th James 3:16 “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 1 John 2:8-11 “Again, a NEW COMMANDMENT I WRITE UNTO YOU …” Verse 10 He that loves his brother lives in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him. Verse 11 But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and lives in darkness and knows not where he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.” It’s impossible to think straight, to make good decisions or bear Christian fruit if you hold unforgiveness, ill will or bitterness against others. Make the decision to love and forgive like Jesus does and walk in His light every minute of every day!
Faith Confession: Because I have the love of God in my heart, I refuse to get into strife or hold unforgiveness or hatred in my heart. I make the decision to love and forgive others just as Jesus loved and forgave me.
July 17th 1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God …” John13:35 “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you HAVE LOVE ONE TO ANOTHER. Ephesians 5:1 “Be you therefore imitators of God, as dear children; verse 2 and WALK IN LOVE, as Christ also has loved us …” The greatest witness we have to our family, our friends, and to the unsaved people in our daily life is to live out of our spirit and not our heads. LET JESUS TAKE OVER AND DEMONSTRATE HIS LOVE THROUGH US!
Faith Confession: The greatest compliment a godly father can have is for others to say, “Your child acts just like you.” I will do my best every day to act like Jesus did while on the earth. People will know that I am a Christian, not only by what I say, but much more by how I love.
July 18th Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; verse 26 That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by THE WORD. Colossians 3:19 Husbands love your wives, and be not bitter against them.” Men, if you want God’s best in your home, then love your wife like Jesus loves us. Instead of yielding to your carnal emotions and saying mean things, “wash her with the water by the Word”! Speak the blessings of what God’s Word says about her as a virtuous woman of God. Proverbs 31:10-31 is a great start!
Faith Confession: I am grateful to be married to a Proverbs 31 woman of God. I trust her in everything. She does me only good and not evil. She walks in the wisdom of God and the love of God all the days of her life. I and our children rise up and call her blessed.
July 19th 1 Peter 3:1 “Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the Word, they also may without the Word be won by the conduct of the wives … verse 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart (your Born Again spirit full of God’s love), in that which is not corruptible, a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (precious).” Ladies, Jesus has made you to be sweet, loving and gentle. The greatest thing you can do for your family is to live out of your spirit and release the love of God into the spiritual atmosphere of your home every day.
Faith Confession: I am a Proverbs 31 holy woman of God. I choose to create an atmosphere of heaven on earth in my home. I will have my daily time with Jesus and His Word and take authority over anything He shows me. I will be loving, sweet and gentle with my husband and children.
July 20th Psalm 91 should be a part of every believer’s spiritual knowledge of the love, safety and protection of God. Read it with this understanding: Verses 1-13 is you the believer making your personal confession of faith about what you believe Jesus is doing in your life. Verses 14-16 are God talking about you because of what you’ve said about Him in verses 1- 13. I like to read this out loud in first person over my life. I say this: Verse 14 “Because Bernie has set his love upon Me, therefore I …” then God goes on to tell me great things because I choose to speak what His Word says about me! Make this choice, speak the blessings of God over yourself and loved ones every day!
Faith Confession: Based upon Psalm 91:14-16 because I have set my love upon Jesus, He always delivers me, honors me, is with me in trouble, answers my prayers and will satisfy me with a long happy life.
July 21st Jude 17-19 These verses warn of double agent, counterfeit Christians in the Last Days. Then verses 20-21 tell us how to stay strong. Verse 20 “But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST (this means praying in your prayer language of other tongues), (and praying in tongues frequently will help). Verse 21 “Keep you (under the protection) of THE LOVE OF GOD …” Pray in tongues at least 15 minutes every day.
Faith Confession: I take seriously the warnings of the Bible concerning counterfeit Christians in the Last Days. I will build myself up spiritually and guard my faith by praying in the Holy Ghost frequently. This will help keep me under the protection of the love of God.
July 22nd 1 John 4:8 “GOD IS LOVE.” Verse 16 “… GOD IS LOVE …” God doesn’t just love, His very nature, His character, every- thing He says or does resonates from love because that’s who He is, not just something He does! Develop the habit of inter- changing the word, “love” with “God” when you read passages like 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Amplified Bible. Example: verse 4 “Love (God) endures long and is patient and kind…” Verse 5 “…love (God) is not rude, unmannerly and does not act un- becomingly …”.Go through verses 4-8 like this and it will in- crease your faith and understanding of your Heavenly Father!
Faith Confession: My confidence in God is strong because I know, according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a that He endures long and is patient and kind with me. He does not rejoice when I suffer the consequences of my wrong doing, but He rejoices when I do right. He is ever ready to believe the best of me. Because love never fails, God will never fail me because He is love.
July 23rd 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATION: old things (your unsaved human spiritual nature) are passed away; behold all things are become new (You now have been Born Again). Verse 18 “And all things are of God …” Your inner man, the real you that lives in your physical body now has God’s DNA: D–ivine N–ature and A–bility. Tomorrow we will see what this means!
Faith Confession: I am going to share with you my personal faith confession and then you can make your own using mine as a pattern. I was born physically into this world on July 17th, 1951. On January 29th, 1980 the man who lives in this physical body died and I was Born Again. From that moment on my true life began. I now have God’s DNA and I am a supernatural spiritual being.
July 24th Galatians 5:22 “Now the fruit of the spirit is …” (the Fruit of the Spirit is talking about the nature and character of God). The fruit of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit in you and working with your new Born Again spirit to cause you to grow, develop, and mature to where the characteristics of God show up in your lifestyle on a consistent basis). Notice the first fruit or characteristic of God in you is ‘LOVE”, then “JOY”, then “PEACE” etc. Start speaking verses 22-23 over your life and actions every day and you will see a major difference in your life!
Faith Confession: I am not who I used to be. I am Born Again to win. I have God’s divine nature and ability in me. I choose to let love, joy, peace and all of the other attributes of His character function in my life every day.
July 25th John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have LOVE (The first fruit of the Spirit) one to another.” 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He who doesn’t love his brother abides in death.” This is what Jesus was talking in John 3:8 about the New Birth. Paraphrased: “You can’t see the wind, but you can see what it does (tree branches and flags moving because the wind is blowing).” When a person is Born Again nobody can see the change inside them. But everyone (saved and unsaved alike) will see the LOVE OF GOD they have for everyone. The first fruit (characteristic) of a Christian is “LOVE” because GOD INSIDE YOU IS LOVE!
Faith Confession: In John 14:9 Jesus said, “… he that has seen Me has seen the Father …” The first fruit that people see in my life as a Born Again creature is love. People that know me should be saying, “He acts like Jesus!”
July 26th Romans 13:8“… he that loves another has fulfilled the Law. Verse 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not commit murder. Thou shalt not steal … and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly summed up in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Verse 10 LOVE WORKS NO ILL TO HIS NEIGHBOR: THEREFORE LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW.” Wow! How powerful! What a New Testament revelation! When a believer truly walks in the Love of God (God is Love) he as a believer will have fulfilled all Ten Commandments! Because if you love your neighbor, you will never harm them by committing adultery with their mate or murdering them or stealing from them or coveting their possessions! The New Testament Law of Love”: Love works no ILL to its neighbor.
Faith Confession: As a Born Again Christian I walk in the New Testament Law of Love. The Law of Love never considers me, it always considers the other person.
July 27th Read the story about The Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 29-37. Jesus gave this real life example and the Holy Spirit through John in 1 John 3 beginning at verse 16 expounds for Born Again believers that have the love of God in their hearts. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Verse 17 “But whoso has this world’s goods, and sees his brother has need, and shuts up his heart of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him? Verse 18 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. Don’t let yourself get so busy or hardened in heart because of all the cons in the times in which we live that you become blind to the genuine.
Faith Confession: I am wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. I am sensitive to the Holy Spirit in my heart to show me the difference between a con and people who have genuine need so that I can bless them with what I have been blessed with.
July 28th Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus teaches us the will of God for how to love people that aren’t necessarily friendly towards us. Notice verse 47 “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the sinners so?” Jesus says we are to greet and be nice to everyone not just those we like. Question: How are you going to influence the lost if you never smile or show them the love of Jesus that is in your heart?
Faith Confession: I know that according to Galatians 5:6 that my faith works by love, but I also know that my love works by faith. I will do what Jesus said to do; by faith I will smile, be polite, and be nice to people who aren’t nice to me.
July 29th 1 John 2:6 “He that says he abides in Him ought him- self also to walk, even as he walked.” How did Jesus walk means how did He live in everyday life with people? John 3:16 “For God so LOVED THE WORLD (the lost unsaved people like you and I were), that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Verse 17 “FOR GOD SENT NOT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD (Remember we are to walk and conduct ourselves like Jesus did. So this means our job is not to sinners and point out all their faults): but that the world through Jesus might be saved.” We can only have a convicting influence on those around us by showing them the love of Christ not ugly mean words of condemnation.
Faith Confession: Because Jesus is my role model with how a Christian should live in this ungodly world, I will follow His example with how He acted with the woman caught in adultery. All of the religious people were ready to kill her. Jesus never condoned her sin, but He didn’t put condemnation on her either. He simply said, “Go and sin no more.”
July 30th Psalm 133:1-3 “Behold, how great and how pleasant it is for brethren to live together in unity! Verse 2 It is like the precious anointing upon the head … Verse 3 for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” When you and I as representatives of Jesus get along and quit having strife and discord about stupid things that have nothing of eternal significance, then we will have more anointing and blessing much greater influence with the people we’re called to win.
Faith Confession: I recognize there are two spiritual laws that are exact opposites. Satan’s law is to divide and conquer. God’s law is the law of unity. In the Book of Acts as long as believers stayed in unity, nothing was impossible to them. I choose to be a uniter, not a divider.
July 31st John 17 is the great prayer that Jesus prayed for all of us right before he was betrayed by Judas and arrested by the Sanhedrin. I want to close out this month’s devotional of “The Many Aspects of God’s Love” by studying some of the most powerful words that Jesus ever prayed for His body (you and me, the Body of Christ today)! John 17:20 “Neither pray I for these alone (the disciples that were with Him), but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word (all future Christians): Verse 21 THAT THEY MAY BE ONE (unity); as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one even as WE are one; Verse 23 I in them and You in me; that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME.” This is the love of God! Let’s remember this every day of our lives! How we behave among ourselves will be proof to the world that Jesus is alive and wants to receive Him as their Lord and Savior.
Faith Confession: Jesus prayed for a miraculous thing to take place in these Last Days. He prayed that Christians would quit fighting among themselves and get in unity with Himself and the Father; to love one another as Jesus loves them. He said that this will be the greatest testimony and witness to the world, that Jesus is the Savior of the world. I will do my part to promote the unity of the faith.
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