Text: Ephesians 5:25-33
Memory text:
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
‭‭II Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The believer is empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to live the supernatural life. Nothing of which God requires of us can be accomplished in our natural ability.
Just as it is natural to breathe, likewise, it is natural to express divine love when Christ richly dwells in us. In this state, just as no one tells or begs us to breathe, we will not need anyone to tell or appeal to us to love. You don’t employ any technique to make an orange tree to produce an orange fruit. If the God of love dwells in us with His Spirit, it will be natural to manifest the attitude of love. So, when a believer does not love, he has to do it with effort, like one who makes effort to hold his breath. “Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7NLT). In other words, to be habitually unloving is to consistently resist Christ or the Holy Spirit who lives in you.
The God kind of love is a willful choice and not a response to something, as in Phileo. It is not dependent on the circumstances, merit, attractiveness, response or the will of the one who receives love but totally on the one who loves. It is unconditional.
Agape or divine love is the love that God commands between Christian husband and wife. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,” ‭‭(Eph‬ ‭5‬:‭25‬). The demand to love is also placed on the wife (Titus‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬).
Since ‭‭agape love is not dependent on the person being loved, the believer husband or wife should not fail to love because of his or her spouse’s failures or behaviours. Unlike romantic love, you do not fall either into or out of agape love, because it is controlled by one’s own will. However, romantic love fluctuates because it is dependent on the other person whereas agape loves irrespective of the worthiness of the receiver. Although, romantic love is still necessary in marriage and it beautifies it but it is not its binding force.
Friends, strained relationships among brethren, spouses and family members are not usually caused by incompatibility or personality issues but when we resist the inward working of the Spirit and willfully disobey God’s command to unconditionally love. Thus, it is odd for a believer to seek for divorce on the basis of a spouse’s unworthiness, disability or loss of romance.

Prayer points
1. Father, let our love overflow more and more, and that we will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding, in Jesus’ name.
2. I refuse to resist the working of the Spirit in me and to live in disobedience to God’s command to love, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. I make a willful choice to love others irrespective of their response to me.
2. I will build my relationships on divine love which does not fluctuate.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng