Devotional

A Tidal Wave of Love

1 Thessalonians 3:12 (AMP)
3:12 And may the Lord make you to increase and excel and overflow in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you,

OVERFLOW MEANS...
To increase; to overflow; to multiply; to abound; to be rampant. 

The word "overflow" (perisseusai) means to excel and overflow (Amplified New Testament).

According to Practical Word Study, the Application is this...
The great need is to grow in love—to overflow and multiply—to excel and overflow in love. But note the crucial point: the love being spoken about is not what the world means by love. This is seen in two significant points.

1. The love that we must grow in is the love that makes us love all men, not just one another.

2. The source of love is the Lord. There is no other source, not for the kind of love that can love all men.

This is the reason Paul went before the Lord and requested such a love. Paul knew that it was impossible for him or the Thessalonians to work up the kind of love that could reach out and overflow toward all men. - Practical Word Studies in The New Testament.

As I studied this the phrase "Tidal Wave" came up in my Spirit. 

I remember watching a documentary on the tsunami that enveloped Indonesia in December 2004. A tsunami is a powerful tidal wave caused by earth quakes in the ocean. The devastation was horrific. People, homes, animals, cars, trucks, buses, and buildings were all swept away in this powerful force. It devoured everything in it's path. 

The same holds true for The Love of God. God's desire is that we increase (to grow without limitations), excel (without hesitation), and to overflow (with no signs of stopping) in the refinement of our love for one another and the love of those whom we don't know.

Love is greatest commandment that will change things in our lives. Just the way a tsunami consumes things in the natural, a tsunami of God's love will consume and quench anger, insecurities, fear, regret, religion, did I say anger? My how we need God's tidal wave of love in our lives and in our churches today. Now more than ever.

It's easy to access, yet elusive.
We want to walk in it, yet we lose our way.

We know it's the right thing to do, yet we struggle in it's application.

It's time for the church (That's all of us, including me) to increase, excel, and overflow in Love, for love covers a multitude of sin. God's intent is NOT to expose our sins, but to wash them away with what Love did on the cross...Jesus is Love!

God Bless your day.
LIFE IS GOOD IN CHRIST
Rev. Steven