1Corinthians 13:4-7(NLT)
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It
does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of
being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the
truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and
endures through every circumstance.”
Abuse hurts – love
doesn’t!
You are not the victim; you are victorious, says the Lord!
1John 4:8
tells us that God is love. Therefore, we have no other choice but to conclude
that He most definitely is the preeminent authority on the subject. Our Heavenly
Father is fully transparent, and He doesn’t leave us guessing when it comes to
how love behaves. In 1Corinthians 13:4, He tells us that love is kind, tender
and forgiving. Are you in a relationship that reflects what love is? If so,
wonderful but if not, it’s important to be honest about this. One of the
reasons that our Heavenly Father informs us about His love is because He expects
us to learn to love like Him. When we do, His quality love will boomerang back
to us. It’s our responsibility to set this in motion, and the first step is to
examine the kind of love we have for ourselves.
We are
living in a time where domestic violence is on the rise, and its no secret that
most victims are women. Women tend to stay in unhealthy relationships longer
and do so for a variety of reasons. Most feel a deep sense of loyalty to their
abuser. Where kids are involved, some women are motivated to remain in abusive
relationships because of financial support and the welfare of their children.
They need the financial help and want the children to have their dads in their
lives. There are also other emotional, physical, and psychological issues that may
come into play. We must recognize that whatever the issues may be, all of them boil
down to the level of faith that we have in God’s love for us.
John 3:16(NKJV)
says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God
loves everyone, including people that do not love Him. He gave His Son to die
on the cross as a sacrificial offering for our sins. Because of God’s great
love, He did this when we were all at our worst. He offered the life of His
only begotten Son for every person that has ever lived or is living today. He
doesn’t want anyone to perish in hell but wants everyone to receive the gift of
salvation and have eternal life. This gift is given to us through His infinite
grace, and this means that you and I can’t do anything to earn the gift of salvation.
God freely gives it to all who believe that Christ died on the cross and that
God resurrected him from the dead.
God
rescued us from darkness through Jesus Christ. This demonstrates His overwhelming
love for us all. He wants us to come out of darkness into the glorious light of
His love, where we receive power and authority to live abundantly. There’s an
extreme benefit to trusting in the Father’s love, and it is the victory in
Christ that we enjoy in daily living. This is evidenced as we release our fears,
sadness, and doubts over to the Lord Jesus Christ, and have faith that he can
handle them.
Fear is bondage, and bondage is being
enslaved. This enslavement happens first in our minds and hearts, and then our
outward reality begins to match our internal reality. God doesn’t want this for
anyone. His Word
teaches us in 1John 4:18 that His perfect love will cast out fear. It will
totally dismantle fear and get rid of it, but it must be our choice to allow
God’s love to work in us this way.
Real love
does not hurt or harm us. This is the truth that God has taught us in His Word.
Recognize that abuse uses fear as its tactic to enslave us. We’re afraid we’ll
be lonely, that we won’t get our needs met, that we will be harmed, and that we
can’t make it without the abuser in our lives. These are false beliefs, and we
must put God’s Word into our minds and hearts by reading and studying it often.
Then we will grow in faith and become spiritually strong.
Adam and
Eve forfeited the power and authority that God had given them over to the devil,
and the devil has been trying to pull this trick on us ever since. Abuse is
always about a person giving away the power of choice that God has given them to
someone else. This is a victim mentality, and we can and should pray
continually to Heavenly Father to help us get rid of this mindset. We were not
created to be victims. Love yourself enough to no longer live beneath your privilege.
We were created by God to be victorious through His beloved Son. Heavenly Father
has given us this victory, and we must have the faith to claim it for
ourselves. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT)
are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All
rights reserved.
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