Joyce Meyer - Reduce Me to Love: Unlocking the Secret to Lasting Joy

Study Guide available for this title.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Amplified Bible (AMP). The Amplified Bible, Old Testament. Copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament, copyright 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2000 by Joyce Meyer

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Faith Words

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First eBook Edition: May 2007

ISBN: 978-0-446-19547-8

L oving and being loved is what makes life worth living. Many people have had times in their lives when they felt they were unloved or that they had no one to love. If they dwell constantly on those kinds of thoughts, it can cause them to be extremely unhappy and depressed. Some have even committed suicide as a result of these negative emotions.

Love is the energy of life. It is what motivates people to get up each day and keep going.

Love gives life purpose and meaning. The world is looking for love, but they are really looking for God, because God is love.

People look for fulfillment in life in different ways that may seem good at first, but often leave them feeling frustrated, disappointed and empty. Only by walking in love (putting love into action by continually reaching out to others and making an effort to show them love through various acts of kindness) can they find the true fulfillment they are so desperately seeking.

If you are sincere about wanting to walk in love, I would like to share with you what I have learned about love over the past twelve years.

I am still learning, and know I always will be. But I am grateful to God for the revelation He has given me about love. It has truly changed my life, and I am convinced it will change your life too if you are willing to say, Lord, eliminate everything in my life that is holding me back, anything that is keeping me from walking in love and finding true fulfillment in my life. In other words, Lord, reduce me to love (bring me to a state or condition of completely walking in love)!

I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].

JOHN 13:3435(AMP)

The Greatest of
These Is Love

But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them alllove].

(1 CORINTHIANS 12:31)

W here does love fit into your list of priorities? Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you (John 13:34 NKJV). It seems to me that Jesus was saying love is the main thing on which we should concentrate.

The apostle Paul stated that faith, hope, love abide... but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Love should be number one on our spiritual priority list. We should study love, pray about love, and develop the fruit of love (according to Galatians 5:22-23, one of the nine fruits of the Spirit available to those in whom Gods Holy Spirit lives) by practicing loving others.

God is love, so when we walk in His love we abide in Him. Because we walk in Gods love by receiving and expressing it, we should not deceive ourselves into thinking we can love God while we hate other people (1 John 4:20).

Love is the greatest thing in the world. It is the best thing to commit our life to, to seek to excel in.

We seek many things in the course of our lifetime. We hope to find fulfillment in each one, but most of them fall short of the desired goal. When we put our time and energy into things that do not fulfill us, we feel frustrated.

It took me about forty-five years to realize that my priorities were mixed up and that I was not making love the main thing in my life. It was not my first priority. The commitment to learn how to walk in love has been the single best decision I have ever made as a Christian.

Love not only blesses others; it also blesses the one doing the loving. Concentrating on being a blessing to others has brought me joy. I find it exciting. It challenges me.

All of us must become students of love; we must pray that God will reduce us to love.

FAITH WORKS BY LOVE

For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

(GALATIANS 5:6)

We are normally taught that faith is the pinnacle of Christian virtues. We study it, try to exercise it, preach sermons on it, write books about it and encourage one another in it all the time.

Faith is vital; without it we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is not the price that buys the blessings of God, but it is the hand that receives them. By grace, through faith is how the blessings of our Lord and Savior come to His children (Ephesians 2:8 KJV).

Faith is very important, and yet according to 1 Corinthians 13:2 if we have enough faith to move mountains and have not love, we are nothing.

Galatians 5:6 says faith works (is energized) by love. Knowing the love of God for us as individuals, and learning to allow His love to flow through us to others, is the power behind faith. How can we place faith in God unless we are assured He loves us? How can we ask God to help us, and have confidence He will do so, if we are mistreating others? Our personal love walk gives us confidence before God and enables us to receive from Him what we ask for in prayer (1 John 3:1823).

Love is also a distinguishing characteristic of the disciples of Christ (John 13:35).

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].

(JOHN 13:35)

We need to show the world Jesus. We do that by walking in His love the love of the Father that was first revealed and expressed in His Son Jesus and is now manifested in us:

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.

(MATTHEW 5:16)

Jesus Himself taught on love and walked in love. He said, If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father (John 14:9). The world is looking for something real, something tangible. They are looking for love, and God is love (1 John 4:8).

Many people have gone to church looking for God and have been met with the rules and regulations of religion. After encountering some of the Christians who talk the talk but who did not walk the walk, they left without encountering God. Instead of drawing in, many peoples experience with churches and being Christians has driven them away.

The fields are white already to harvest, (John 4:35 KJV), but the Lord needs laborers (Luke 10:2 KJV). He needs Christians who are committed to developing the character of Jesus Christ in their own lives. According to 2 Corinthians 5:20, you and I are Christs ambassadors His personal representatives. The Lord is making His appeal to the world through us.