Loving The Unlovable -

Warmer Through Fellowship, 9/18/2016 12:00:00 AM

LOVING THE UNLOVABLE

Scripture: John 15:12 12This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

5 Steps to love the unlovable:

1. Experience God’s Love

Ephesians 3:17 -19 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; 18-19 and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself.

  1. Fill your heart with love of God to bless others.
  2. Beggars of love cannot bless other beggars.
  3. Pope John Paul II lost everybody in his life but still went on to be called as Father of the Earth.
  4. 1 John 4:19 says 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
  5. Unless you experience God’s Love you cannot love others.
  6. Make your heart empty and experience God’s Love.

 

2. Forgive your enemies

Colossians 3:13 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

  1. When heart is bitter one cannot truly express pure love towards anybody.
  2. To truly love somebody, let go of the past and get on with the present.
  3. People from the past keep on hurting us in our thoughts until we forgive them.
  4. We keep hearing the bad experiences we had again and again.
  5. Any time we resent someone we give them a piece of our heart, attention and mind.
  6. Stop re-hearing the conversations and release it by the name of Jesus by forgiving them.
  7. Steps to forgive someone 1. Fill your heart with God’s Love. 2. Clear your mind of all the past experiences.

 

3. Think loving thoughts about the people who have hurt you.

Phil2:4,5 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

  1. Put yourself in other’s shoes to understand them better.
  2. People who are hurt, hurt others.
  3. Frustrated people are those who have lost their position in life. Look into their background to understand them better.
  4. Most obnoxious people in life are the most unloved people.
  5. If a person cannot get love he will strive for positive or negative attention.
  6. To think loving thoughts about others enter their lives and you will understand their nature.

 

4. Act in loving ways.

Luke 6:27, 28 27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

  1. It is easy to love people who love you, but it is very difficult to love your enemies.
  2. Love by faith. Begin to act lovingly you will soon feel loved.
  3. Do not work with your feelings, but work with your thoughts.
  4. When you change your thinking pattern for others your feeling pattern will change.
  5.  How to act in loving ways?
  • Love your enemies: How to love your enemies? [Ephesians 4:2(Living Bible) 2 Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.] Bible says to love u should overlook other people’s faults. Do not keep record of the faults they have done.
  •  Do Good: How to do good? By giving and serving in practical ways.
  • Bless those who curse you: Jesus is referring to the way we talk about the people who treat you badly. Blessing is a positive word spoken about others. A blessing is a good word that lifts others up not putting them down.

Proverbs 12:18 18 The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

  • Pray for those who mistreat you:  When you start praying for others supernatural miracles will happen in your life. More than God changing them God will change you. God will help you to change your attitude towards others.

 

 

5. Expect the best.

1Corinthians 13:7 7 If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him. (Living Bible)

  1. Love expects the best of, even the people whom you don’t like.
  2. When we expect the best we bring out the best
  3. Peter was a fisherman. He was like a fish before thinking he would talk. But Jesus called him Peter meaning solid, stable and matured person and he became a matured person.
  4. Matthew used to take more from others than he received. But Jesus saw the diamonds in the rock and selected him as one of his disciples and transformed him.
  5. Treat people not how you see them, but in the way you want them to be in future.

Many relationships are failing because love between them has become cold. Jesus gives 3 solutions for this in Revelations 2:5 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Remember, Repent and Restore – Remember the good times and restore your relationship by repenting. Start doing the things you did the first time and then you will enjoy living fellowship. Then you will grow warmer through fellowship.