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Understanding How to Love
(Philippians 1:9)
And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight [that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment (Amplified Bible).
I. There are two basic elements of love which emanate from the nature of God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16).
A. The essence of love is giving (John 3:16).
B. Love is an intelligent assessment of needs and the willingness to meet them.
II. There are five ways of showing love, that is five love languages.
A. Words of love. The voice of my beloved (Song of Solomon 2:8)!
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man (Colossians 4:6).
1. Words of approval: You look nice. You look great! Wow! You look amazing!
2. Words of appreciation: Thanks a lot. I absolutely could not live without you.
3. Words of admiration. You are the most beautiful girl in the world to me.
4. Words of adoration. I bless the day I found you. You are everything to me.
5. Words of Amazement. Astonishment.
B. Acts of service. (Genesis 29:20).
And Jacob served 7 years for Rachel; & they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
C. Quality time.
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD (Jeremiah 8:7).
D. Gifts.
And it came to pass as the camels had done drinking that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold (Genesis 24:22).
E. Physical touch.
And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him (Mark 1:41).
III. If you know God you will start using these ways to express your love to others.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love ( 1 John 4:8).