{"id":15841,"date":"2013-11-21T00:01:54","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T06:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=15841"},"modified":"2013-11-21T09:14:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T15:14:58","slug":"chapter-1415-love-always-hopes-love-always-perseveres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/11\/21\/chapter-1415-love-always-hopes-love-always-perseveres\/","title":{"rendered":"16 Day Love Challenge: Chapters 14 and 15 – Love Always Hopes, Love Always Perseveres"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"16daylovechallengehopesperseveres\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Love always hopes<\/span><\/h3>\n

What does it mean that love always hopes<\/em>? \u00a0In 1 Corinthians 13:7, we find four things that love \u201calways\u201d does. Love is not just an idea…it is an action. \u00a0The third action in this verse is that love always hopes<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0Love is always hopeful. \u00a0In the Greek language, \u201chope<\/em>\u201d is from elpidzo<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u2018to hope or wait for salvation with joy and full confidence.\u201d \u00a0This word, hope<\/em>, is used 32 times in the New Testament alone. \u00a0Hope<\/em> expresses more than a wish or a desire, but a confident belief in the unseen<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0Hebrews 11:1 says,”Faith is being sure of the things we hope<\/em> for and being certain of what we cannot see.” \u00a0Faith, hope and love are often connected in the Bible. \u00a0In Colosians 1:4-5, they are combined again: \u201cWe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as God is called \u201cLove,\u201d Jesus is called our \u201cHope.\u201d \u00a0He is the Hope within us. And the hope that will be seen by others around us. \u00a0If we are living in such a way—with such a hopeful attitude—then we will reflect the way of Jesus and bring glory to His Father.<\/p>\n

Part of showing love is hoping<\/em>, and part of hoping<\/em> is seeing the good in others. If we treat others as they should be treated, then we have a part in helping them become who they should be. \u00a0As moms, we are always encouraging our children and showing them that there is hope<\/em> in such a hard world. \u00a0If you have ever been in a job loss situation, what got you through? \u00a0 Was it hope<\/em> in Jesus, believing that at some point He would rain blessings down on you if you could just hold on long enough. \u00a0Hope<\/em> holds on long enough. \u00a0Have you ever had a horrible medical diagnosis, maybe one that was a sure death sentence? What if you went ahead, planned your funeral, told your kids goodbye and moved away? That, to me, is life without<\/strong> hope<\/em>. \u00a0Hope believes<\/strong> that Jesus has a miracle that is waiting just for them.<\/em><\/p>\n

What about when you accepted Jesus as your Savior? \u00a0You had hope<\/em> that His death would save you from all your sins and that you would live eternally with Him in Heaven. Without hope<\/em>, where would we be? I\u2019ve known many alcoholics and addicts. \u00a0They cling to the hope<\/em> that one day they will be clean and stay sober. \u00a0Hope<\/em> helps us bear the unbearable, my friends. \u00a0To a Christian, hope<\/em> is the knowledge that we are being changed for the better as we trust in God\u2019s promises.<\/p>\n

The Bible is full of examples of men and women who hoped<\/em> in God\u2019s promises. \u00a0The patriarch Abraham is a model of hope<\/em> for believers. \u00a0When he was 75 years old, God promised to bless him with many descendants, as many as there were stars. Abraham believed what he heard. Yet he had to wait another 25 years to see his hope<\/em> fulfilled. Never once did he doubt God Almighty. \u00a0His hope<\/em> wasn\u2019t in his own ability to have a child at this old age, but he trusted an unchangeable God—the same God we worship today. Hebrews 6:19 describes this hope<\/em> as \u201c…an anchor for the soul, a hope<\/em> both sure and steadfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may be thinking to yourself, “How did Abraham stay hopeful<\/em> for that long?” And perhaps, “How can you stay hopeful<\/em> for what you need?” \u00a0The Bible says that Abraham was a friend of God. \u00a0He was also His servant. He stayed obedient and God gave him what he needed. You can do it too<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0How you ask?<\/p>\n

1. Submit yourself to God. \u00a0He is the source of your hope<\/em>. \u00a0He alone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2. Strengthen your faith. Let the previous blessings that He has given you remind you of the Blesser.<\/p>\n

3. Trust His timing. Sometimes He answers our prayers and gives us what we hope for quickly and other times He allows us to wait. Through faith and patience, Abraham\u2019s hope was fulfilled.<\/p>\n

4. Thank God today. \u00a0Though it is hard to rejoice as we wait for hopes<\/em> to be fulfilled, rejoicing opens the heavens for blessings to rain down. (Romans 5:1-5)<\/p>\n

Have you lost hope? You can have it again, you know. Right now, turn to Him Who is able to do so much more than we could or would ever ask and ever hope for, and rest in Him. He knows and He never goes back on His word.<\/p>\n

Love always perseveres<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Persevere<\/em> defined, means to bear up under pressure. \u00a0It\u2019s a military term meaning that an army must hold a vital position at ALL costs. In fact, love must mean perseverance or you shouldn\u2019t say it unless you are willing to give all, to develop, to protect and keep that love.<\/p>\n

When we say \u201cI love you,\u201d it not only means forever but it means also that we will fight anything that would get in the way of that love lasting! \u00a0Anything else is not love. \u00a0At the end of the passage above, we see love stand against overwhelming opposition as it bears all things, believes all things and hopes all things. Perseverance is the unending climax of love. \u00a0It is always on high alert and never stops fighting for the relationship.<\/p>\n

Oh yes, the father of lies has his say and we may have some obstacles thrown at us; well… let\u2019s say we will<\/span> have some lies thrown at us. \u00a0And lies will be whispered to us like, \u201cLove shouldn\u2019t be this hard!\u201d or \u201cLove should be effortless!\u201d or \u201cLove is tolerance.\u201d \u00a0Friends, this is a recipe for disaster and very un-loving relationships. \u00a0Love doesn\u2019t just let people do what they want to do, and love doesn\u2019t just care about happiness of the other person. Love has to make some hard choices sometimes and has to say hard things. \u00a0Our society leans more towards \u201cGod just wants me to be happy.\u201d and gives up at the first sign of trouble. I want to give you some examples from Scripture of real, persevering love. We will start with Hosea.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • The book of Hosea<\/em><\/strong> was written by the prophet and it tells a larger story of the Israelites unfaithfulness to God. It begins with Hosea marrying a prostitute and she becomes unfaithful to him, of course, and leaves him. He goes from house to house to find her and buys her back for 15 shekels of silver and some barley, a large amount. His love for his wife was a persevering love, never giving up.<\/li>\n
  • Next is Stephen<\/strong><\/em>. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen is attempting to reason with the Jews and persuading them to trust in Jesus as their Savior. We all know how this ends— with them dragging him out of the city and stoning him to death. \u00a0As he is breathing his last breath, he cries out to the Lord, saying,\u201dLord, do not hold their sins against them.\u201d \u00a0Even in dying, Stephen showed persevering love by reaching out to those who were killing him. He was more concerned with their salvation and knowing Jesus as their Savior than he was for his own life.<\/li>\n
  • Then there is Jesus<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0Jesus went to the Cross because He loves you with a persevering love like no other. \u00a0He took the sins of all mankind on Himself, so that we would be forgiven through our faith in Him. \u00a0And God your Father loves you with an everlasting love. Nothing you can do or say will ever separate you from Him. \u00a0There is no sin so great that can\u2019t be forgiven. \u00a0If you are here today and you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, I encourage you to ask Him in your heart today. Tell Him you know you\u2019re a sinner. Confess it to Him and ask for His forgiveness. It is free. You will forever be changed and will live eternally with Him. Oh, yes—there will still be some trials and things you won\u2019t like, but He overcame this world. Romans 8:35 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” The love of Jesus perseveres through any hardship that may come your way! \u00a0No matter the circumstance you find yourself in, there is nothing that can separate us from Jesus. \u00a0His love perseveres through it all. \u00a0And this should be our example to follow…to love others in the same way. \u00a0So now when you say love<\/em>, you mean that you will fight to the end for them! \u00a0As Jesus did for us\u2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Let us pray<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    Lord, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your Son to die in our place, so that we may live with You forever. \u00a0Oh Lord, we, on our own, cannot love as You have commanded, and without first loving You, we cannot love like You ask us to love each other. \u00a0Please give us the desire and fill us with the kind of love that only You can give, that it will be overflowing from us to all who know us and may we never grow tired of spreading the good news of You. \u00a0If we love each other, then we want the world to have what we have, and that is You. And for those who have accepted You today for the first time, may we keep discipling them and may they truly begin to walk closely with You. \u00a0How exciting to finally be alive! Be with us as we carry the message to this dying world. \u00a0In Jesus’ name we pray.<\/p>\n

    Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Love always hopes What does it mean that love always hopes? \u00a0In 1 Corinthians 13:7, we find four things that love \u201calways\u201d does. Love is not just an idea…it is an action. \u00a0The third action in this verse is that love always hopes. \u00a0Love is always hopeful. \u00a0In the Greek language, \u201chope\u201d is from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":15851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[4567,4562,4563,10,518,2961,554,4564,4565,744,4348,4568,938,4566],"class_list":["post-15841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-acts-7","tag-chapter-14-and-15-of-16-day-love-challenge","tag-cherie","tag-forgiveness","tag-hope","tag-hosea","tag-jesus","tag-love-always-hopes","tag-love-always-perseveres","tag-patience","tag-rebecca-le-compte","tag-romans-5","tag-scripture","tag-stephen","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/16daylovechallengehopesperseveres.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-47v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15841"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15865,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions\/15865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}