Some Bible verses on the Word of God

Praise be to our God. 
I collected some verses about the Word of God. From my learning and experience, we can broadly categorize the Word of God into two: the written Word of God (can be called as the Scripture), and the spoken Word of God.

John 1:1, 4, 14
In the beginning* was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
… through Him was life,
And the Word became flesh* and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

Since Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh, following are the I AM words of Jesus Christ.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
John 8:12 Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 10:9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture
John 10:11, 14, 15 I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
John 11:25, 26 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth* and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me
John 15:1-6  “I am the true vine,* and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes* so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.
John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
Mark 6:49, 50 But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out. They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”
John 4:25, 26 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he,* the one who is speaking with you.”
John 4:14 But whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Hebrews 4:12
Indeed, the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart

Psalms 107:19,20
In their distress they cried to the LORD, who saved them in their peril,
Sent forth His Word to heal them, and snatched them from the grave.

Ephesians 6:13, 17
Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground … And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Psalms 33:9
For He spoke, and it came to be, commanded, and it stood in place. 

Isaiah 55:10,11
Yet just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats,  So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.

Mathew 4:4
Jesus said in reply, “It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God'"

Psalm 119:105
Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path

John 17:16
They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your Word is truth.

2 Peter 1:20,21
Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.

2 Timothy 3:16, 17
All Scripture (written Word of God) is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Proverbs 3:1,9
My son, do not forget* my teaching, take to heart my commands;
This will mean health for your flesh and vigor for your bones …

Proverbs 2:6
For the LORD gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding
Jeremiah 8:9 Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what sort of wisdom do they have?

John 14:23,24
Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

The relationship between the Love of God and God's Law

Dear God, graciously assist me in putting the thoughts into writing. By Thy graces, I do not desire to mislead anyone or cause anyone to displease Thine in any manner. I beseech Thine help on this. With Thy Love... Amen.

Dear reader, as always, if you read, please submit everything to our Lord, so that He enlightens everything that is necessary and removes everything that is not necessary for you.

Love and God's Law

In the letter to Romans, St. Paul mentions the following -  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. For he that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law. ... The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law... [Romans: Chapter 13, 8-10]

For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Galatians 5:14]

The fruit of the Spirit is Love, etc. [Galatians 5:22];
But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law [Galatians 5:18].

Don't the above verses imply the following?
The degree of the Love of God in a person determines the degree of the fulfillment of God's law in that person.
Similarly, the degree of being led by the Holy Spirit determines the degree of being not falling under God's law.

The story of Pharisee and the Tax collector [Refer Luke 18] depicts a related picture. The pharisee's mind, although proud and all, is on just following the law as a mere duty. However, the tax collector is repenting? Who, other than the one who has the love of God, would repent for what they have done? If you do not love someone, would you then truthfully repent for what you have done to hurt the beloved?
We all see who is more justified in the end [Refer Luke 18:14].
Doesn't what our Lord Jesus said imply "Love is the fulfilling of the law?"

If one hurts his or her lover or the beloved, wouldn't he or she be quick and feel pressing to feel sorry for what he or she has done? See how the woman, who lived a sinful life, act with Jesus [Luke 7:37-38]?
At the same time, if the one who is in love and got hurt by his or her beloved, wouldn't he or she be quick to overlook or forgive the repenting lover or the beloved? Once forgiven, will the deed that is forgiven be kept in the accounts?

Similarly in the parable of the prodigal son, we see the same thing [Refer Luke 15]. In Luke 15:20, we see the behavior of the father who loves his son. He does not wait until his son comes and asks sorry. If you were the father, could you and would you wait for his words of repentance?

Look and meditate on what has been said in the bible: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.". So the love of the father outruns the action of the love that is in his son. In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Doesn't St. Paul say the following: Love does not dishonor others, Love is not self-seeking... Love keeps no record of wrongs. Does the father talk any rules or is his heart thinking about punishing?

How can one, being a lover, judge his or her own beloved? That is why, even the worldly judicial system does not favor or even not allow a judge to proceed if the concerned party is a relative in any manner to the defendant.

God does not desire to punish us, does not desire our oppression or affliction

From Bible, we can also see that the objective of God is not to punish or torture us. This is because He is love, He loves us beyond our imagination.
From Isiah chapter 58, we see that God is primarily not desiring or preferring people to fast and "humble", especially in order to fulfilling their own will and or their own selfish reasons. It also appears to me that God would not desire His own creations, that He love, to go through such difficult things especially when they are not for the sake of love. His Love in us seems to be the key. So, instead of fasting like such, God would rather want them to do charity. Please read the words below for our meditation:
Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.

Isn't fasting practiced mostly to sacrifice food and pleasure, in order to do penance or to favor rigorous spiritual praying?
Isn't Charity then a true sacrifice, of anything, that solely results out of and for the love of God?

From the above words, so many things are clear.

• God does not like to see anyone oppressed, or hunger, or burdened, or homeless, etc. God loves everyone. So in His Love, He does not like to see His beloved suffer. 
• On the other hand, we see that, only out of true love, a human can help others in this manner.
• Wouldn't the beloved, who is loved by God, desire and do what is the will of his or her lover? So God wants us to do what He pleases

Other related thoughts

Moreover, we are all potentially wrongdoing people. By Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice of the God in Love, those who are or would be saved are saved. So what chance we have without through this Sacrificial Spotless Love?

Shall we rather think of standing in front of God and justify ourselves by the law? For those who deny (or fail to gracefully accept) the spirituality of a human being, they might get closer to think this way, by claiming they have not done anything wrong to anyone.

God sees the heart (, which is invisible to the material world) and its thoughts naked. We can hide our thoughts from the outside world and feel safe, comfortable, good and honored, but certainly not with God. [Refer 1 Samuel 16:7, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Jeremiah 23:24, Hebrews 4:13].

If you have doubts on the nature of your mind and/or heart, choose any day and please note down your thoughts, the locations and objects where your eyes look, talks that your ears like to hear, etc.

Being who we are, even with what we know of ourselves, it is well fitting to say that it is impossible to go to our God by law. [Refer the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18]. So let us (hide our humanity and) fill and clothe ourselves in Love, all the moments of our life as much as possible, as God commands it [Refer Deuteronomy 6 & Mathew 22:37]. Therefore, our only chance is to yield to, and submit our actions and everything in, His merciful Love.

Let us not just live here on this earth just because we are born Christians or just because we enjoy reading and learning Bible or just because we can do miracles in our Lord Jesus's name, etc. Then we would be speechless in finding out what our Lord has to say in the end [Refer Mathew 7:23]. 

Aren't we the brides engaged to our Lord Jesus the bridegroom and eagerly waiting for His arrival? What good or value is there in the waiting of the bride for the bridegroom if there is no love that is continuously burning? [Refer Mathew 22:12]. In Mathew chapter 7, our Lord was referring to a narrow gate. Thus our Lord says, if we want to know who is who, it is by the fruits or the deeds. True Love would not block any sacrifice that is (becomes) necessary, whereas self love cannot and prefer not to sacrifice any. 

As the (ungodly) world is ruled by the evil spirits (John 12:31, John 14:30, Ephesians 2:2,  2 Cor. 4:4, 1 John 5:19, Ephesians 6:12), one who loves God or loves the neighbor for the sake of His Love, naturally will not have easy wide path life. Because the ruler of this ungodly world will see to it that the God's beloved would not get by with their love easily.

More the intimacy of one's "spiritual" relationship with God, easier and simpler it gets for one to joyfully be in His Love. In other words, more the intimacy of one's relationship with the "material" world, tougher and more complicated it gets for one to walk in the Love of God. 

Best wishes to you

Alleluia

Benefits of Love (The Love of God) - More on Love

Dear God, graciously help me to put down my thoughts. By this, I do not like to hurt anyone, nor do I want to disturb anyone who is in Love with You. Dear God, thank you for helping us. With Your love, Amen.


There could be many effects (benefits) of Love. However, here are the things I would like to discuss about in this article.

1. True repentance and so the forgiveness for the sins
2. It fulfills God's law automatically or it will take one outside the context of law
3. Binds everything (that we do) to perfection (in the standards of God)
4. Out of all, it makes one the temple or the abode or the living place of God
5. It gives the surety that whatever happens to us is towards the good of us [Romans 8:28]
6. We will possibly know God better (as spouses know each other in intimacy) [1 John 4:8]

Let us see one by one. I plead you not to just read my thoughts. Please put it in your thoughts and keep your mind and heart open to the Holy Spirit to guide you on these effects.

True Repentance and Forgiveness

Our Lord Jesus says that the degree of love reflects the degree of being forgiven:
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little. [Luke 7: Verses 36-48] 

Once we have hurt someone, especially when we are in love with them, it is impossible not to be sad. This happens more when we have not asked sorry with true repentance and gotten forgiveness from them. It also works the other way, if I love someone, I would not "not want to" ask repentant sorry. In other words, if I love someone and hurt them, then I would not want to delay the reconciliation. The love in me would not let me drag. More one drags, more could be the pain and negative emotions.

So remember, it has to be impossible for us to not realize and not repent for our sins [Acts 3:19], mostly because it hurts the love of God. St. Augustine says, repentance is a grace given by God. The degree of the truth in one's repentance is proportional to the degree of the Love of God in that person. In the confession prayer (act of contrition), we find the words that makes us to sadly express that we repent, for our personal sins, mostly because it is against the love of God, and not so because of any other reason.

Effects of the medium of the love of God

Between any two persons who love each other - between the lover and the beloved:

- Lover would help, or work together, or be with the beloved, or do their best, so that the beloved would not fall into such occasions [refer 1 Cor. 13:4]
- Out of love, the lover would overlook (or have no difficulty in overlooking) the wrongdoings of the beloved if any; Lover would easily and truly forgive the beloved for such [refer 1 Cor. 13:5]
- Beloved will have lesser chances of doing sin; In other words, the beloved will not have the urge or the ability to start or think about such an act; or in other words, the beloved would already possess or feel the strength to suppress or avoid the occasion of sin. [refer Proverbs 10:12]
- Whether the beloved or the lover, being in such a love, can we think that one would want to hurt the other? Even if one did so, either by accident or by mistake or without the intent of doing so or without knowing the consequences or whatever, wouldn't the love of God effect them to regret and repent right away?

Between any two persons in general:

- If a person has the love of God, then effectually, the person has to love another as oneself. Then he or she would not expose the sins of others, especially for gossip or to degrade them [refer 1 Cor. 13:6, Proverbs 17:9]. Because if such things are exposed, especially not for the sake of Love, then can it not be anything but a shame to both the ends of the love?

More on the effects of the Love of God with respect to sin

St. James mentions the following:Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins [5:20].
In 1 Peter 4:8, St. Peter says the following: Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

Even if one is a terrible sinner, a true and fervent love would cover or bury the sins from coming out. I remember an incident about myself once. When I was in my teen age, I had lots of friends. I had a habit of visiting my friends at their homes very often. Likewise, I had a beautiful girl as a friend. I do not know if she is so innocent or what, the way normally she dressed is like, sometimes it is hard for me, being a teenager, not to notice the visible parts of her body. However, she would show so much innocent care and good love for me. This goodness of hers would keep me sane all the time from getting tempted. Had she be unloving and uncaring, there is a great chance that I would not have behaved good. In her fervent friendly love, she stopped my sins or covered the possibilities of my sins. Similarly, I have read few times in news papers, that a thief entering the house to steal and/or hurt, ends up not doing that after witnessing the love and/or care among the people in the house.

Love and God's Law

Similarly, in the letter to Romans, St. Paul mentions the following -
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. For he that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law. For Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness: Thou shalt not covet: and if there be any other commandment, it is comprised in this word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law... [Romans: Chapter 13, 8-10]

For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Galatians 5:14]

The fruit of the Spirit is Love, etc. [Galatians 5:22]; But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law [Galatians 5:18].

Please read here for further insight.

Love binds everything (that we do) to perfection:

In Colossians chapter 3, St. Paul exhorts them to put off the old man, and to put on the new. Thereby, St. Paul says these words - Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also.  But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection... [Colossians: Chapter 3, 12-14]

The meaning for the word perfect are so many. Being perfect is to conform absolutely to the description or the definition of an ideal type. It is to be excellent or complete beyond theoretical or practical improvement. It is exactly fitting the situation (neither more, nor less). It means entirely without any flaws, shortcomings, or defects. It is to be complete, pure and unmixed.

Love never falleth away [1 Corinthians 13:8]. I believe, in other ways, it says: Love cannot fall away. This is also true because, our God, who is perfect, comes and resides in those who humbly yield to His Love and so lead a loving life in everything [Refer John 14:23].

Love makes a human being the temple or the abode or the living place of God:

Our Lord Jesus says:
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith to him, not the Iscariot: Lord, how is it, that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father' s who sent me. These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you.  - John 14

In 1 John 4:16, this is mentioned: God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. (We know the word abide means - to have one's abode; dwell; reside).

What more one could desire in this world than having God reside in oneself?

Conclusion:

I would like to say some examples.
I was blessed to hear this in one of the sermons by a priest. Love with respect to our deeds and actions, is analogous to the racing track with respect to a racer. Racer can do all great sprint, tricks and may look awesome when running. He or she might have even finished first in the race. However, in the end, if the runner had not kept his running on the track, then he or she would be disqualified. All his or her work would then mean nothing. The track binds all his or her running work to perfection.

Yes, our Lord Jesus Christ is the track, way, path to God. Human mind could go so complicated and perplexed that, in its daily affairs, it would be attracted by so many surrounding things, in the name of Jesus, except the redeeming Love. If the desire and Love is not in the heart, or in other words if the heart is not full of desire and the Love of God, then would you tell me if all the material actions, benefits and gifts offered value anything?. One cannot find love from outside or anywhere else if it is not in the heart. Married spouses know this very clearly.

Our Lord exclaimed that the Kingdom of Heaven, if there be anywhere, it has to be in one's heart [Refer Luke 17:21]. There are Sundays, I had gone to Church desiring that my friend would be there. See, the friend being there is a material reason that was developed afterwards because I forgot the real reason!  If the heart is so much of earthly interests and the body is in the Church habitually or our lips just say prayers everyday, how would these then matter? In this world it is very well possible to have one's heart in one place and one's affairs in another place. However, we have to remember this. God is Love and God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son to redeem the world [Refer John 4:8, John 3:16]. So let us not see or pay attention to everything else but the Love of God. Love gets fulfilled with Love. With God and His Love being the sole path of redemption, let us remind us this always and pray to God to help us fill our every moment of our life with this Love [Refer Deuteronomy 6:5-10].
 

So in our daily prayers, we shall seek God to assist us in loving Him earnestly and intimately.

Best Wishes to you, Alleluia.

Love never fails or Love never falleth away

Dear Lord, please help me to feel truly sorry for my sins and other things that displeased You. I have this inspiration to say something about the verse "Love never fails". In your Mercy, I believe it would not displease You. Dear Lord, please stop my mind from saying anything that would contradict Your words. Amen.

Love never fails

Basic facts

In the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we read "Love never fails".
Again, what is the Love that we are talking about?
Although today's world may tell us many things about it, Love simply means the Love of God. It is the Love that God has. God is Love. It is God's Love and not any other love. For us, Love is equal to God's Love.

First of all, I believe that we cannot comprehend God's Love in its true sense. However, as humans who are loved by such incomprehensible love, we may, at times, need to feel the love or be blessed to feel the love or be able to comprehend in reference to our human terms. If we end up doing one or more of these things, I believe, we have to be sure that it is only because of  God's graces we are able to do so.

It is important to remind ourselves that, it is because of God's Love we exist first of all. This is true irrespective of whether we feel it or not, and whether we accept it or not. God's Love therefore is present in us (all the times) in this way.
However, in our free will, which is again gifted to us by God, we may choose not to believe this fact, or we may believe but choose not to accept it fully, or we may accept it but choose not to freely let it inside (receive),  or we may receive it but choose not to let it flow outside of us.

If I say, God's love was there in me at a certain point of time, then the real fact is that I could feel His love, to whatever human level possible, only at that moment of time as opposed to the other times.

Details

Let us see what the dictionary says about some words.

Failure:
an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success; nonperformance of something due, required, or expected; a subnormal quantity or quality; an insufficiency 
Success:

the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals. 
a person or thing that has had success, as measured by attainment of goals, wealth, etc.:   

Goal:
the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end; the terminal point in a race

From these dictionary details, we know that the word failure is associated to goals, or measurable achievements, or definable expectations, etc.
One thing is, if you do not have a predefined goal or expectation or condition to be met, with or without time bound, no one can determine that you failed or succeeded.


However, we read in the Bible that "Love never fails". It can also be written as "Love cannot fail", without changing its meaning.


One simple reasoning for why it cannot fail is because God is Love, and since it is God's Love, and God is perfect, it cannot fail. We cannot say that God's Love does not have a purpose. Love's purpose is Love itself. It has an immeasurable purpose. Failure is also based on measuring the result against some (quantitative) definitions or expectations. Love cannot be measured. However Love can be felt and tasted with our inner being. One simple reason, why we cannot measure is that it is not quantifiable. The concept of measurement, that we have in our science, comes and takes meaning and shape only in our knowledge and understanding of this world.

God's love is not measurable in human terms. So love shall not be valued or shall not be evaluated in that way. Most importantly, love shall not be used as a tool to value or evaluate anything. 

Things that are measured also might have associated limits or conditions. God's Love has no limits by itself, since it is connected to the eternity and is everlasting.  For those who desires Bible words, in Jeremiah 31:3, God says: I have loved you with an everlasting love. I do not know if our loving God said this to any particular person or group only and not to everyone in this world. Since we know not the mystery, and since being His creation and there can be no limit to the degree of our trust(faith) in Him, we can faithfully and undoubtedly say God loved me with an everlasting love.

Well, at any point of time, if I try to measure or set goals to an act of the Love of God that comes out of me, I would eventually then see the negative effects. Due to giving heed to the teachings of this wonderful world, time and again, we always resort back to measuring the Love of God that is in us, in someway or other, as if it were originated from us in the first place.

As such, there could be several ways one would try to measure or set goals to the Love of God. I will try to think about something here. You can do too.
Let us say I just acted to do some help to my spouse. This is no doubt that I acted in the Love of God with my spouse.
One way I would end up measuring this is, like I would feel or think that I did spend an hour with my spouse. Here I added a measurement to the act of love.
Another way I would possibly set a measurement to this is, in expecting something from the beloved, so thinking that my spouse did not do me a "worthy" favor in return for my act of love. 

Similarly, a feeling of achievement or completion mostly implies that our heart is on a goal mode, quantifiable in some material manner, as opposed to simply feeling pleased making our beloved or our lover happy. 

In all these thoughts mentioned above, we see that there is a call for deep meditation or close observation on these things in order to get some understanding. We are talking about things with respect to our deep feelings and thoughts.

Conclusive thoughts

Receive and live in the Love of God

First we have to believe, accept, receive, and realize the Love of God. It is better if every moment of life is filled with this Love of God. First of all every moment of our life is actually the result of His love. So, it is unnatural to not to have that in our conscience. 
However, in this world, where we believe by faith and the Word, the evil spirit is constantly working against the goodness, it is not a surprise to learn that we are in need to do something to feel natural.
That is why, I personally believe, we are called to pray always. Praying always ensures that we are in the love of God always. 
Some of us, I believe tend to call this Love as Grace, which is fine. However, there is a huge difference you need to clarify it too, so that you do not end up setting traps for the evil spirit. Please ask the Lord for the difference.

It is better not to (try to) measure the love directly or indirectly

Similarly it is better not to work goal based when we are in love

Let me share with you a nice example. Have you seen a mother? A good mother would never measure her work or feel achievement in taking care of her child. May be she is pleased in feeding her child. That is different from the feeling of achievement. Achievement demands appreciation, etc. Whereas being pleased is not.

When you ever ask her, why she is doing it? She would simply say either that she does not know or she would say that she does it because it is just the way it is. What she really saying is: She is just acting in the love of God. However, in a mother, it is so pure and cannot be spoiled, that a mother known not to measure or to have the feeling of achievement. 

God's love is eternal and has an eternal chain. In a way, we could say this. God's love always achieves and meets its needs, even excessively if we have to truly say it. Since it is God's love, we cannot comprehend or understand it complete enough to know or define its goals.

Remember the following: the measurements, goals and achievements are worldly material things. They are limited and so are temporary.

First when I do or realize some thing in love, I should make sure to realize that it is the love of God that is acting in me, and better I do not measure or try to set a goal about it. Also, as I believe in our Lord that, many of the problems, that we have in our relationships, are due to the fact that we are trying, one way or other, either through our expectations or through the feeling of achievement and appreciation, to quantify this existence of the Love of God in human terms.

Let us offer ourselves to receive the Love of God. Let us yield to it without any measure, like a good mother would do. Isn't this what was done by our Lord until His death on the Cross? Let us pray to our Lord to help us.

Good wishes

Alleluia

 

More on Love - Love is the life of whatever is eternal and of the spirit

Dear God, help me share the thoughts in me in a way that pleases You. Kindly bless me and the reader to get what is necessary for us to be in Your will and wish. Amen.

In this article, the word "love" means "the love of God", unless otherwise specifically indicated.

Love of God shall be the life of everything we do

Love of God means the presence and effect of God's love for us and in us. What it does not mean is the "human" view of our Love towards God. This is because God is Love (1 John 4:8). This means we cannot generally and mostly say that we are Love. In other words, we will mostly end up being liars if we say that we are love. We could only be Love as much as God is in us. We cannot also forget the fact that He loved us first (1 John 4:19). Our love is the reflection or the effect or the consequence of the Love that is loving us.

With these basic facts set, let us go to the interested objective. The main point to meditate here is this: "because one loves, one does", not the other way around.

It is not very appropriate to say (or then to claim): "because one does/did certain things, one loves/loved". In other words, it is not very appropriate to say: "you know, because I did this and that, so I loved". It is not that it cannot be true. However, it would be better for one not to say or observe love in this manner. Let us then ask this question: why wouldn't or shouldn't I say so or think in this manner? The answer lies in answering or meditating on the following question: Why would I want to say in this manner in the first place (like - since I did this and that, and so I loved)?

Taking our love for our family as an example, if we have to say something, which we can avoid saying most of the times, it is more appropriate to say or think: it is because I love my family, I (am happy to) do the things that I do. However, doesn't it sound inappropriate to you, if I rather say: it is because I go to work, earn and support, I love my family?.

If we had noticed, in the former way of expressing, love comes first, the action just follows. In a sense, the action is just a passive one. In the latter, the importance is given to the justification or proving of the actions.  It is like saying, because I came out of the back door, I came in through the front door. Well, who knows?

So, in the right attitude of saying or holding on to these aspects of life, besides the fact that the life and vigor of any good action shall be and is love, such action is also just a manifestation or side effect or consequence or the aftermath of the love (love of God). Outside the context of love, the material perception of the associated things - like what, where, when and how - of the actions themselves do not primarily and independently matter at all. It is the love, which triggered and sustained the action, that matters all along. Also such an action, irrespective of what it is, has love as its source, life, vigor and purpose. So without this love, any action is of no worth or meaning. [Refer 1 Cor. 13] So, any loveless action can actually be said to be a dead or an untrue one.

If a lover brings a gift to his or her beloved, the gift gets it worth or value only because of the lover, or precisely because of the love that the lover has. If the gift itself was sitting on the roadside for anyone to freely claim somewhere else, would it matter anything to the beloved at all, as opposed to the case of lover him or herself offering it to the beloved?

The degree of love in any action determines the degree of truth and eternal value to it. And the love we are talking about is the love of God.

Can we classify love and say one is pure or impure, good or bad, or even true or fake, etc? Love is love. By Love, we are simply referring to the love which is eternal in its source and life. It is to be reminded that God is the source of all that is good, and so is the only source of love.

Which love do you think will have truth or eternal value in it? Is it the kind where people say I love this candy, that movie, etc? Or is it the Love of God, which offered up His only begotten Son as a sacrifice to save His beloved people?

In this world, every individual has their own understanding and notion of love. Also, all the words in this world evolves in some sense.
If one does not try to get the true meaning of love, with respect to its origin, then that person simply does not get the meaning of love. However, does it matter at all? If it matters, to whom does it matter? If one really cares, he or she will be blessed to strive to get his or her love straightened by asking the true source. In another perspective, to put it in plain words, there is nothing to be straightened in our understanding, it is the Love of God which is the (true) Love. Every other love, even if one claims to be love, are not love at all. They are false or shadow loves. The love we are talking about is - the love of God. Again, we are not (the source, life and sustenance of) love. God is love.

In other words, the closest realization of true love is in the degree of our realization of the love of God.

Suppose, as an extreme example, if one loves to simply hate or hurt others, and if they claim that as love, then this is not the love that we are talking about.

However, whatever the love is with any one, it is hard to make a stand or judge it at any point of time. It has to be personally meditated by every individual soul. Our individual soul better ask its Creator, the God Almighty, for what Love truly is. There is no doubt its creator will answer in a special manner to make the soul understand correctly. You see, the answer would be best customized to fulfill our doubts. If we talk to God, it is like we have a personal and best teacher. This teacher, and no one else, knows exactly what we need.

For meditation purpose, we can refer to the Bible verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 4 through 8. There are many complete separate books written just discoursing these few verses of this chapter.

God is love. Can we give a finite definition for God, like we were able to do for a grain or a paper or any other object? See, these grain or paper came into existence in the realm of our known physical existence and limited nature. So the definitions, to the most extent, obey our domain that we have been blessed to define. Since God is Love, love too cannot be defined in a general sense, in a manner to be literally applied to all practical situations. The love that we (can) hold can be true as much as we are blessed to be the temple of God or as much as we are blessed to be the fruitful branches of the vine of Christ. [Refer: John 14:23, 1 Cor. 6:19, John 15:5]

Wouldn't one be fooled if one is to expect (our understanding and knowledge of) God, and who He is, to obey generally this physical domain and law, which we ourselves created, despite being allowed thus by God?

So, again, can we define love with finite terms?

Our actions cannot be truly used by us to justify our love. If at all we have to talk about justification, then it can be said the other way around, that too with some reservations: our love may justify our actions. God is the only true judge. Because God is the only one who knows the truths of our hearts and their intentions. God is love, and no where it says I am love or you are love or humans are love. We could be love as much as we are of God. God only can judge our actions. God only knows the "love" worth of our actions. In a way, our love, that is the soul of our actions, justifies our actions. Also all good things come from God and not from us. God, being the only and original source of Love, can only be the true and correct judge.

Such Love cannot be aware of the rewards if any. Even if it knows, it would not care much to claim its reward, unless claiming itself pleases the beloved. Because, in truth, it does not know anything about the rewards and all. All Love cares is to please its Beloved. For this aspect, think of a mother's love, especially mothers of previous generations. Mother is the only person our God takes on to illustrate to us about His - everlasting and never forgetting - love [Isiah 49:15].

I would like to bring the following Bible verses from Chapter 25, Mathew:

[31] And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. [32] And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: [33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. [34] Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: [36] Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. [37] Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? [38] And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? [39] Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee?

Here, we can clearly see that the people of goodness were not even aware of what and when they were doing things to God. Won't people, who do for rewards and for appreciation, certainly have some account on how much they have done, to whom they have done, under what circumstances they have done, when they have done, etc? But these people rather are in a surprise for what they did. However, do not forget to note that the other kind of people are in a surprise (or shock) for what they did not do.

Can't we then say that the people of goodness were so much immersed (intoxicated) in and acted in love that they know not anything else but love? Their hearts are filled with nothing but the love of God. They had no, or to be precise they could not have any, knowledge of anything else. The material attributes of what, when, to whom (that is by race, sex or status) in any situation might not have had any focus or impact in their love life. They simply were filled with and acted in love. Their knowledge is just love.

If the knowledge of our charity or love, gives us pride or status or hunger for reward or justification, then can we not say that we preferred these things to love? If we think we loved for reward, then it is not the love that we are talking about.

May be rewards are one of the means to feel the love. However, if a man gives a rose to a woman in his love, then the woman, despite feeling his love through the rose, would not care much about the rose, rather she would just cherish his love and be immersed in his love. Rewards may be are reminders that one could feel, or may be to fill our physical limitation of sight, or may be to lift us up occasionally. Rewards in this world are special. As we have never heard of a husband who gets a rose or a golden ring for his wife every day.

So, let us not look for or set our eyes on the reward, because no true beloved does it. Let us just see how much loving the lover is. If we have trouble doing this, let us then beseech our Lord to help us.

In Mathew 6:3, our Lord asks us the following: But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth.

The easiest and the best known way, to conform to this alms giving nature or behavior, is simply  through love. When one loves, they do not put their mind into the reward or any material aspects of the act, they simply do in order to please the beloved. Is not all they care about pleasing the beloved?

 Also in Luke 21:1-3, we see our Lord speaking this:
[1] And looking on, he saw the rich men cast their gifts into the treasury. [2] And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in two brass mites. [3] And he said: Verily I say to you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: [4] For all these have of their abundance cast into the offerings of God: but she of her want, hath cast in all the living that she had.

What else, other than the Love of God, or in other words one could say the trusting relationship, can be attributed as the more appropriate cause in this situation that made her to act thus in sacrifice? Love of God makes us blind to this material world and only see about loving a so good and sweet God. Love of God voids (or completely masks) the material value of anything of this world in its sight. So it lets us sacrifice.

Isn't this the reason why our Lord always start - His such sentences - with the words: "if you love", instead of starting with the words: "if you do these things"? Taking this verse for example: If you love me, keep my commandments - John 14:15. So, isn't love that comes or starts out first?

I would like to share the words of some saints here.
Now a man cannot love his neighbor in God, except (i.e. without) he love God Himself; for that reason we must love God first, in order to love our neighbors in Him – St Bernard of Claivaux

It is because we love God, we end up loving our neighbors without being aware of it.

Little things done out of love are those that charm the Heart of Christ… On the contrary, the most brilliant deeds, when done without love, are but nothingness - St. Therese of Lisieux

Does not this convey that - it is not the size or smartness or even the knowledge of the deed that matters, rather it is love.

So if we wish to care or be concerned on anything about in this world, let us get concerned about Loving our God.

Conclusive thoughts

As far as I am blessed to understand and love to communicate to you, God would like to be personal to you. Already God is in us. God is near (in our hearts) to be found. God's presence is everywhere. Because life, its existence and sustenance are possible and comes from Him.

The degree of our desire on Him, the degree of our love on Him and the degree of our yielding to Him determines the degree of our relationship with and realization of Him. This is the reason some say that: God could be or could live in us. In this statement, it is our own blindness that enables us to use the word "could be" on (the omnipotent & omnipresence) God. The blame for the "could be" has to be on ourselves and not on God. So, the same statement can be worded like the following: We could see the God who is already in us. Without realizing His presence and His love, it will be very difficult to happily yield to His will.

As far as (you and me being) an individual, I believe, God does not want to be a force or a karma or an independent supernatural being or some independent superman or something like that. By giving His (only) son as a sacrifice for our sins, it cannot be any more clear that He is in a loving relationship with us.

God is Love. Whoever loves God will yield his or her body and soul to be His living temple or abode.

Why don't you try? In the past, haven't you tried so many things that are of no or little value?

For one moment, let us just believe. Let us forget who we are. Let us at least pretend to believe, what my heart is blessed to recommend now to us. My recommendation for you and me is to talk to and ask God about what is love and about how to love.

I am blessed to guarantee to my death that we would not be fooled. My surety does not come from (just) me as I am in person. I am blessed to strongly believe, to my ability, that the life of my surety comes from God.

You might even be thinking or asking this question: how one can ask and talk to God, whom one do not see or whom one do not believe in or any other doubt raising questions?

Again, dear brother, you have tried so many things from what has been recommended or mentioned to you through so many people. Why don't you try this recommendation? 


How shall I ask or converse with God?

The answer is just very very simple. The answer may sound ironical but very true, unless you doubt the meaning of the word "true". That is, we can ask God Himself to learn how to ask or how to start to converse with Him.
If you do not like the above fruitful answer, you can read the following: Since we do not know who God is, and since God, being the Almighty, ought to know our status better than any being on this existence, you just ask in the manner in which you know to ask.  One thing my poor heart is blessed to be sure of, than being sure of anything else in this world that I know of, is that if one "sincerely" asks God of something, it does not matter which thing, they get the answer and feel the connection with the eternal God without fail, if the word "fail" has a meaning to it. Anything can be asked, like "Who I am?", or "What is Love?", "Can You help me understand You?" or "Can You have a relationship with me and teach me how?", etc?

Can you (dare to) talk to and have relationship with God?

Do you have courage to offer your freewill towards having a loving relationship with God?

Good wishes to you.

I kindly request you to offer a short prayer for me. 
Praise be to God

Means of advancing in Gods Love - Saintly recommendations

Means of Advancing in Gods Love

Dear Loving God, help us to love you more. Help us to be simple like a child in doing what pleases You in every moment of our life. Alleluia.


In the book "The 12 steps to holiness and salvation" written by St. Alphonsus Ligouri, following guidelines are given as the five means of advancing in God's Love. Everything given below in this extract is directly copied from the same book except the italicized words.

1. Ardent desire for this perfect Love  

Because I would take little or no pains in striving to obtain that for which I have little or no desire. If I cannot have or develop the desire to Love God, I shall at least take efforts to ask the God to help me.

2. Renouncing all love that does not refer to God
The pure Love of God consumes in heart all that is not God, to turn everything into love, for all that man does for God is love. St. Paul in Phil 3:8 says: "I count all things but as dung that I may gain Christ". St. Francis de Sales says: If a house is on fire, they throw everything out the window. As soon as a heart is inflamed with the love of God it seeks to divest itself of everything earthly so as to love nothing but God.

3. No self-love
To deny oneself by gladly embracing what is opposed to self-love, and refusing oneself what self-love demands. St. Francis de Sales says that our self-love wants to have a share in everything even in things the most holy. For this reason, we must love even virtue without attachment. For example, it is necessary to love prayer and solitude. But when obedience and charity prevent us from devoting ourselves to prayer and solitude we should not be disquieted, but accept resignedly everything that happens by the will of God to thwart our inclinations.

Self-love does its own will (even in spiritual activities). St. Alphonsus Ligouri says: Mortification, meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all certainly pleasing to God-but only when they are in accordance with His will. When they do not accord with God's will, He not only finds no pleasure in them, but He even rejects then utterly and punishes them

4. Frequent meditation of the sufferings of our Savior Jesus Christ
This has always been a favorite devotion with the saints. We must not reflect on the sufferings of Jesus Christ (just) for the sake of the consolation and sweetness it affords, but only to inflame our hearts with love for our suffering Savior and to learn from Him what He desires us to do.

5. (Consistent, sincere and daily) prayer

1 Thess. 5:17 Pray without ceasing. I believe Worship and Praising prayer is more involving than just the asking prayer. Prayer to God is not necessary to be formal all the times. I felt no compelling reason to pray regularly. I also had no interest in doing so. Until I was guided to read this book by our St. Alphonsus Ligouri - A Short Treatise on Prayer. Here are some excerpts from this book.

We are weak, but God is strong; by seeking His aid we obtain a participation of His power, and with His strength, according to the apostle, we can do all things: ‘I can do all things in Him who strengthened me.’--Phil 4:13. 

Hence, says St Chrysostom, he that falls is without excuse; had he continued to pray, he would not have yielded to the enemy.--St Chrysostom, Serm. De Moysi.
 

If we do not pray, we shall certainly be without excuse; for the grace of prayer is given to all; it is in our power to pray whenever we wish. ‘With me,’ says David, ‘is prayer to the God of my life; I will say to God, thou art my support.’--Ps. 41:9-10.
 

‘A person may say, I am unable to fast or to give alms; but if he be told to pray, he cannot say I am unable to pray;’ because there is nothing more easy than to pray. But to procure the divine aid, we must never cease to pray, we must continually do violence to heaven, that violence which is dear and agreeable to God.

To relate the prayer to the situation of love between a husband and a wife, my wife oftentimes, at least once every day, just wants me to sit with her and talk something. It does not matter what I speak. She just wants my presence with her. As a token of my love to her, she just wants me to do some amount of talking every day. Otherwise, she says that she feels distant from me.

Alleluia

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On the Love of God - Taken from the Sermons of St. Alphonsus Ligouri

Dear Loving God, help us to understand your Love and to Love you back to please You. Alleluia.

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