#69 - Love Is Not a Feeling

Good Afternoon! :) Today, per direction of the Holy Spirit... we are going to have a GUEST POST!!! :) 


Whoop whoop! :) I really like this one and the author is most definitely one of my very favorite people IN THE WORLD.... actually... next to Jesus, he is my favorite.... can you guess?? Drum roll please...... 
and the Guest post is from my HUSBAND! Enjoy.... 

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I remember exactly where I was when I learned this powerful truth.

I was 18 years old and i had just finished track practice. Coach Mulkey always worked me hard. I would travel to Marrietta, GA to train. This was about an hour away from Snellville. There was a church that i grew up listening to the Pastor on the radio. His name was Dr. Paul C. Walker. WOW! Riding back from football practice at 8:30 at night, Dr. Walker would come on and Dad & I would turn up the radio and just listen. He was powerful man of God and an inspiring speaker.

Well, after track practice, i was leaving and i had this thought about looking for Mt. Paren Church of God, where Dr. Walker ministered. The funny thing is that Marrietta is HUGE and i had only traveled directly to track practice and did not know my way around. God is good and He knew what He was doing. I drove right to it!! It was an enormous church.

Remember, this was a Saturday and it was around 4:00 pm, so not much is usually going on at a church on a Saturday afternoon. I decided to get out. There were some cars in the parking lot. I went to a side door and found it opened. I walked inside and there was wedding that was taking place. Surprise.

I really cannot explain why i did what i did. I walked up to the balcony. (Remember, I am 18 and sweaty from track practice.) I took a seat off to the side of the balcony to avoid anyone seeing me. Well, the pastor began the ceremony. It was not Dr. Walker, yet, God had a message for me that day thru this man of God. As i sat there, the bride and groom were in front of the pastor, he began his welcome and short message. I do not remember anything but this...

He opened his Bible to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and began reading. I had heard these verses so many times. So i thought that is was appropriate for the occasion.

"4 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. 5 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]. 6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. 7Love 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]. 8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]." (amplified version)

After he read the verses, the man of God made this statement: "Most people know these verses, yet few truly understand its true meaning in our society today. Our world has misunderstood "Love" and use so loosely. I want to give you a new definition of love. I will say this and then I will read the verse again. LOVE IS NOT A FEELING. You can not feel love." Then he read the verses again.

WHOAAA!!! Ok that was one of those AH-HA moments in my life. I could not understand this until he read the verse again. And asked these questions:

• Can you feel patience?
• Can you feel kindness?
• Can you feel not being envious?
• Can you feel not being proud?
• Can you feel not not keeping any record of wrongs?
• Can you feel not being rude?

As he asked these questions, my world was rocked. I walked in one way and came out a totally different young man. I decided that moment that i would not treat love as a feeling. Oh, yes, the "benefits" of love are feelings we experience, yet the source is not a feeling. It is only action. Love is a verb and not a noun.

Feelings come and go as the weather. Feelings are ever changing and will never remain constant. YET, true Love never changes and it never fails. Now, I am NOT saying feelings are evil, they are an awesome thing and God gave us feelings. God has feelings. Though, we must not be deceived by what we feel. Love must be the guiding factor.

I see friends that are married and they have been fooled by the worlds definition of love, which is based in feelings. Some examples of this that I have seen are....

• The husband makes his wife mad or committs a wrong against her, then she will hold this over his head and proceed not to let him forget his mistakes.

• The husband's wife has put on some weight after carrying his baby and he thinks that she is unattractive and says, "Well, she does not love me anymore because she has let her body go and she does not look attractive anymore."

These thoughts and statements are real. Yet they are not based in true love.

These thoughts are, in essence, based in fear. "Fear" is concerned about "me" and what is/will happen to "me". Fear is self-centered and always wants it "my way". It states in 1 John 4:18 "...love cast out all fear..." Fear can be involved by you trying to control your spouse or by you being selfish. Not having the faith to give your spouse the time he/she needs to grow into what God has created them to be is rooted in fear. Fear rushes. Fear pressures. Fear tries to control. Love triumphs over all these thoughts and feelings. Love Says:

"I am willing to be patient with you. I understand that you are trying to overcome during this time in your life. I see you through the eyes of love, those eyes see you as perfect. I see you how you can be. I view you as God viewed you, through pure, holy love as He gave up His only Son, sending Him to the cross for your sins. I hold no record of your wrong-doing that you have done to me. Those wrongs have been forgiven and forgotten. I love you so much that if you need time apart from me. I am willing to give you this. I am not seeking my own satisfaction. I have faith that my love for you is true and it will reign supreme."

Love never fails.

Now, did I say this would be easy. Absolutely not!! This will take time. You cannot learn this from your head either. It must come from deep within you, your Spirit and the Holy Spirit working in you and working this out of you. It is comforting that this is true. In Phil. 2:13 in the amplified Bible it says that: God is all the while effectually at work in you. PTL!!! And if you apply 1 Peter 5:6-7,"Humbling yourself...casting all your cares upon Him..." then you can rest in faith that God will fix this issue or challenge you may have with love.

I challenge you today to act in love. Meditate upon these verses and let them seep down inside your spirit. Substitute "Your Name" in the place of the word "love" in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Love is not a feeling, though when you operate in true love, the feelings of happiness will follow. People will be attracted to you because the Love of God is flowing out of you.

Love brings victory and love never fails.