2 WEEK LOVE CHALLENGE: HOW TO WALK IN GOD’S LOVE IN YOUR THOUGHTS, WORDS, AND ACTIONS
Have you ever heard people say walk in Love? Do we really know what that means and how to do it from God’s perspective? Walking In God’s Love in THOUGHT, WORD, and DEED for yourself and others is a daily challenge, but it is part of Walking WITH God and is the very thing that makes your faith work. Galatians 5:6 says, “Faith Works by Love.” God’s WORD is our Guide to Walking in God’s Love.
The Challenge is: to Read and Meditate on 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13:4-13 and Chapter 14:1 at least Twice a day, Every day, for 2 Weeks as you practice living the scriptures out in your thoughts, words, and deeds. When you do find yourself not Walking in Love in THOUGHT, WORD, and DEED; which, we all will for the most part every day, multiple times a day: Pray to God (talk with HIM about it), Repent (1 John 1:9) and Accept His Loving Forgiveness and Peace! Below, we go through this in detail using our 3 step process of how to take thoughts captive and bless your life and the lives of others. Give yourself some Grace and Challenge Yourself to Walk this LOVE out in Your LIFE in THOUGHT, WORD, and DEED.
2 Corinthians 10:1-7 speaks of taking EVERY thought captive and making it obedient to God by His WORD; this is how you keep your heart clean.
Step 1: The Rebuke, The Correction, Giving the enemy the Hand, The Slap Down, and the Spiritual Stiff Arm:
When a negative thought that is unloving based on Corinthians 13:4-12 comes into your mind you say, “I rebuke that thought in the name of Jesus.” To rebuke means to correct something that is wrong. You can also use the words refuse, reject, or the phrase “I cast that thought down in The Name of Jesus.” This Step stops the temptation from gaining momentum and turning into irritation, resentment, and other unloving emotions and feelings. This keeps the negative seeds and fiery darts from landing in your heart and mind, and it prevents their ability to take root.
You cannot stop the thoughts of temptation from coming into your mind, but once they are present, then you have full authority and power on how you respond to those temptations. The enemy will often use these thoughts in an attempt to frustrate you by trying to make you feel guilty. However, that is when you rebuke even those thoughts, and you give yourself some grace. Remind yourself that it is not the actual temptations that will arise that you can control, but how you respond to those temptations because that is within your full power, authority, and control.
Step 2: The Release and The Removal of the Negative Seeds from your heart, The Forgiveness Exchange where you Give Forgiveness and Receive Forgiveness:
After Step 1, you want to confess to God the negative thought of anything that is unloving, repent of it saying, “Lord, I confess my thoughts of _____________ about____________ to You, and I thank You that I am forgiven in Jesus’ Name.” Then you give Forgiveness: “Lord, I forgive by faith and by the act of my will and choose to release _______________ (any negative thoughts, feelings, or person(s) that may have wronged you including yourself because practicing self- forgiveness is key), and I choose to instead love and forgive.” The first Step stops the temptation from taking root in your heart and mind. Step 2 releases and removes the negative thoughts that did come into your heart and mind. This release and removal is likened to tending a garden and pulling the weeds out of the garden of your heart. This is the way in which you are able to keep any negative, unloving seeds from taking root in your heart, no matter how small the seed.
Any seed that does land in your heart or mind, produces after its kind. So if it is a seed of frustration, irritation, resentment, or anger, it will produce those same things in your heart and mind. It is kind of like playing a game of basketball or football, nothing happens in the game until the ball is released. Likewise, this release of negative, unloving thoughts; the receiving and giving of forgiveness, is how the plan is put into action. This is a vital step to winning the battlefield of your mind and thus, the game of life. This is exactly why you want to immediately release and remove anything that the enemy is trying to sow into your heart and mind.
Step 3: The Declaring, The Claiming, The Receiving and The Planting of the Good things of God into Your Life and the Lives of Others:
In Step 3, you want to pray the opposite of the negative thought that you are being tempted. For instance, if the negative thought is some irritation about your spouse because of something they may have said that irritates you, you would instead pray for them the opposite way of the temptation. Say, “Lord, Jesus, I thank You that my spouse is loving and kind and that our relationship is full of love and blessings.” Begin to bless your marriage, and call by faith what you positively see and want in your spouse by declaring blessings over them. Then pray for yourself to be loving, caring, and kind as this will begin to bless your life as well. Choosing the practice of taking thoughts captive, repenting, forgiving, and releasing your faith in prayer is how you will help keep your heart clean and your life blessed and prosperous!
The first two steps were defensive in nature, but you cannot win a sports game by only playing defense. In order to win, you have to play a game with some offense as well. The first two steps you were responding to the temptation and keeping your heart clean by resisting the enemy’s temptations and removing whatever might have landed on your heart and getting it out! This third step is where you become offensive, and you bless your life and the lives of others. When you pray and speak THE WORD of God over your life and others, there are things that begin moving in the spiritual realm on our behalf. God’s WORD says that Ministering Spirits and Angels work on our behalf as we pray and release our faith. In praying and declaring blessings over ourselves and others, God honors our faith, love, and hope.
The enemy recognizes this Truth so when you begin to put these three steps into play, you render the enemy’s attack ineffective in a lot of ways. You are in essence becoming much harder for the enemy to tempt. You will find that the longer you have been putting this into practice in your life, the easier it will be for you to defeat the enemy’s temptations. You will begin to learn how to dominate the enemy and control your thought life, thus controlling your mind, will, and emotions instead of allowing them to control you. Living like this will cause you to walk in the power and authority that Jesus gave us in His finished work on the cross. As you live this out as a daily practice and lifestyle, you will see the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Meekness, Gentleness, Kindness, Faithfulness, and Self-control overflow in your life in all areas. This type of lifestyle is one of freedom and victory we have in Christ Jesus!
I want to give you a couple of tips about living the steps out in your life. First of all, give yourself some Grace when you first begin to do this because you are probably going to find that you have a lot more negative thoughts than you assumed you had. Secondly, do not let this frustrate you or get you off track. Instead, go against the habits you have formed in your life by letting yourself off the hook, forgiving yourself, giving yourself some Grace, and realizing that you, as well as all of us, are works in progress!
Lastly, remember that you cannot stop the thoughts of temptation, or in this case, unloving thoughts from coming into your mind because that is what the enemy does. What you do have in your control, accountability of, and full authority over is how you respond to these thoughts. It’s time to start winning the battlefields of your mind! It’s time for you to start living the victorious life that Jesus Christ already bought and paid in full for you to possess! The Choice is YOURS!
This daily practice of walking in God’s Love will help you to Follow Jesus Christ, The Inward Witness of The Holy Spirit, and it will make Your Spirit Sensitive to God’s Communication with You. These practices are all part of Developing our daily, moment-by-moment Love Relationship with God. THIS IS WHERE YOUR TRUE POWER IS! Read, Meditate, and Walk it OUT! LIVE THIS SCRIPTURE OUT LOUD IN YOUR LIFE, AND IT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR LOVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND ALL THOSE AROUND YOU!
1 Corinthians Chapter 13:4-13 Amplified Version:
4: Love Endures Long and is Patient and Kind; Love never is Envious nor boils over with Jealousy, it is not Boastful or Vainglorious, it does not display itself Haughtily.
5: Love 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: Love does not rejoice at Injustice and Unrighteousness, but rejoices when Right and Truth prevail.
7: Love 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]. As for Prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for Tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for Knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
9: For our Knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our Prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).
10: BUT when the Complete and Perfect (Total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
11: When I was a child, I Talked like a child, I Thought like a child, I Reasoned like a child; NOW that I have become a man, I am Done with Childish Ways and have Put Them Aside.
12: For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I Have Been Fully and Clearly Known and Understood [by God].
13: And so Faith, Hope, Love Abide [Faith- conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; Hope–Joyful and Confident Expectation of Eternal Salvation; Love– True Affection for God and Man, Growing out of God’s Love FOR and IN US], these three; but the Greatest of these IS LOVE.
Ch 14:1 EAGERLY PURSUE and SEEK to Acquire [this] LOVE [make it Your AIM, Your GREAT QUEST]; and Earnestly Desire and Cultivate the Spiritual Endowments (Gifts), especially that You may Prophesy (Interpret the Divine Will and Purpose in Inspired Preaching and Teaching).
Make This Love Walk Your Great Quest and Aim for The Rest of Your Life in THOUGHT, WORD, and DEED. It CAN Start Right NOW Today! THE CHOICE IS YOURS! May God Bless You and Keep You Walking IN Love, Peace, and Joy!
Love, Hugs and Blessings in Abundance!
God Bless YOU! Always Remember, Jesus Loves YOU! #SpreadGodsLove
