[x_custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″]It seems like a fair question. People seem more open than ever to discuss their love life and relationships for the whole world to see on social media. So because of this, I thought I would just jump on out there and ask you straight up, how is your love life? However, I must warn you that before you answer my question, you should take a few moments to seriously consider what it is I am really asking you.[/x_custom_headline]

You see, as a Christian, we are commanded to live a life of love. And actually, we are to live a life of love and forgiveness. We are not like the world, who loves with an often very shallow, selfish, self-centered love. On the contrary, we are filled with the life and love of Almighty God, and have been given His capacity to love others.

In fact, here is what the Bible says about this.

[x_blockquote cite=”Romans 5:5 KJV” type=”left”]“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”[/x_blockquote]

It would be unfair of the Lord to tell us to live of life of love and forgiveness without first equipping us with the love to love with. But He didn’t fill us with a natural human love, with all of its limitations and pre-conditions. Instead, the Lord placed within us His very own love to love with when we were born again.

And what is so awesome about the love of God is that it works in every type of relationship that we have with others. For example, in the book of Ephesians there is a list of relationships where our love life is discussed, and these Bible passages explain to us both the responsibility we have to walk in love, as well as the blessings that come as a result of our doing so in each of these relationships.

An excellent place to begin would be in what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, which describes the husband’s responsibility to love their wife in four precise ways.

  1. With a self-sacrificing love (Eph. 5:25).
  2. With a sanctifying love (Eph. 5:26-27).
  3. With a providing love (Eph. 5:28-30).
  4. With a secure love (Eph. 5:31-32).

According to this passage in the fifth chapter of Ephesians, a husband is responsible to love his wife to the same degree the Jesus loves the Church and gave Himself for it. [highlight]Because when you truly give yourself, you are giving everything that belongs to you, in the same way that Jesus gave everything for us.[/highlight] Furthermore, and what many people often fail to realize, is that a husband’s self-sacrificing love for his wife determines the degree of authority he has in his home.

As a demonstration of his love for his wife, a husband is responsible to speak the Word of God over his marriage and over his wife. To do this, husbands should spend time hunting through their Bible looking for scriptures that they can confess over their wife and marriage. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt if wives were to do the same thing over their husbands, for that matter.

The husband should be speaking words over his wife that edify and encourage her, words that build her up and provide her inner strength. Jesus speaks the Word over the Church to keep it clean and holy. Yet too many men speak negatively over their wives or their marriages, giving the devil an open door to cause damage. A husband is responsible to be continually making confessions of faith over his wife, his marriage, and his family.

Also in this passage we learn that a wife demonstrates her love for her husband by giving him respect, which is one of the greatest needs a man has in marriage. But I have noticed that there can be a negative, and often destructive cycle in a marriage, which begins if a man refuses to show his wife the love she craves, because she doesn’t show him the respect he needs. Or the wife refuses to show respect to her husband, because he has not been showing her any love. This should not be the case in a Spirit-filled marriage, ever.

To fix this cycle a husband must demonstrate love to his wife whether or not she shows any respect towards him at all. And the wife must show respect towards her husband, even if he has been showing no love towards her. This is the Bible way. This is Jesus’ way. And the truth is, when one party or the other begins to give their spouse what it is their spouse really has need of (love or respect), it won’t be long until their partner begins to give to them what it is that they need most in the marriage in return (love or respect).

And just as the love walk makes such a tremendous impact on having a Spirit-filled marriage, it will also cause you to have a Spirit-filled family as well. Look at this passage from Ephesians chapter six to see what I mean.

[x_blockquote cite=”Ephesians 6:1-4 KJV” type=”left”]“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. 4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”[/x_blockquote]

[highlight]Kids don’t just turn out okay because they have had eighteen birthdays.[/highlight] They grow up to be responsible adults who are on fire for God, because their mom and dad taught and trained them to be that way. And the kids followed the example and teaching of their parents, because the love of God was predominant in their home life. So then, if you want your children to live all of the days of their lives for Jesus, you should ask yourself, how is my love life?

If we were to continue reading in Ephesians chapter six, we would discover that our love life also impacts us where employer/employee relationships are concerned, as well as with our coworkers. There is absolutely no relationship in our lives left out where our love life, our love walk, doesn’t matter and make a huge and significant difference.

[highlight]So then, let the love of God dominate you. Because love never fails![/highlight]