“Pursue [this] love [with eagerness, make it your goal], yet earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual gifts [to be used by believers for the benefit of the church], but especially that you may prophesy [to foretell the future, to speak a new message from God to the people]”
1 Corinthians 14:1 (AMP).
To follow after love is to follow after God, because God is Love. Discover your love nature through the Word of God, and walk in the consciousness of it. God is Love and we are born of God, which makes us love beings. We are to pursue love and desire the spiritual gifts. One way we pursue love is through serving one another with the gifts God gives us for the greater glory of Christ. Without love as a foundation, everything you do is nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1). So pursue love with eagerness and make it your top priority to love the brethren just as Christ has loved us and gave Himself for us. Love is a continuous debt that we owe one another.
Understanding and practicing the love of Christ enables you to function in the gifts of the spirit in a more effective way. The devil brings division and social distancing, but love binds, heals and builds. Look closely at your love nature according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-6: “Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail].” (AMP). Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things, and love never fails; this is the God-kind of Love. Pursue this life of love as if your life depends on it, because it does.
PRAYER / CONFESSION
Dear Father, I thank you for your love nature expressed through me by your spirit. Your love through me endures with patience and serenity. I am kind and thoughtful, and I rejoice when right and truth prevails in the name of the Lord Jesus.
WISDOM NUGGET
“Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening], Love never fails [it never fades nor ends].” 1 Corinthians 13:7 (AMP)