God Is Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." ... 1 John 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

What is the love of God?

Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, Love by God for human beings (philanthropia) is lauded in Lamentations 3:22: "The steadfast love of God endures all the day"; Psalm 52:8: "I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever"; Romans 8:39: "Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to

How important is love?

Situational variables can exert powerful influences over human behavior, more than what we recognize or acknowledge. Without love, money loses value. ... Having the love of someone is very important, because humans are very sociable, and it is very important to have close relationships with people you can always turn to.

Ways to Be More Like Christ

As Christians, we all want to be more like Jesus. We all know that this life is really about seeking after that one goal, every day, so that others might see Jesus in us and want to come to Him. Here are some practical ways to achieve the goal in your daily life, of making Christ greater and greater, and yourself, less and less. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

Read the Bible

To be like Him, you have to know Him. How do you know Him? Study Him, and that means studying His teachings and His Word. It means knowing how He treated people, and how He handled life. The only way to do that is to get out that Bible, and read it, every day!

Action

Now that you have the knowledge, it’s time to obey the convictions that the Holy Spirit puts on your heart, through that knowledge and understanding. No more putting it off or pretending not to have felt the conviction. Just go where He is leading you to go and trust that He will show you what to do, when you get there. No more excuses. Just go.

Humility

Humble yourself. Put away selfish ambition and focus on the needs around you. Put other people at higher priority than your own desires. As the Bible says in Philippians, we must count others as higher than ourselves.

Do Right

Don’t go along with what the world tells you is right. Do what you know God has said in His Word is right. This one is hard, but it sets you apart from the World. We have to live in it, but we don’t have to participate in the things of this world that are harmful to our faith.

Be Kind

Walk in love. Show kindness to the people around you, even if they aren’t showing it to you.

Stop and learn to recognize people’s pain, and be the one that offers help to those who need it.

Giving Thanks During Trials

Praise God in every circumstance and give Him control of the trials that you are going through. Jesus did this, when He asked God to take His cup from Him, but at the same time, telling His Father that He would do what God asked of Him, regardless of what that was. He trusted the will of His Father and recognized the greater good that would come from His own suffering. As a result, He glorified God and saved every one of us, with His sacrifice.

Unwavering

Be firm and strong in your resolve to follow Christ fully. Don’t waver or get distracted, but keep your focus on God at all times. This takes courage, discipline and sacrifice but is an important step in being more like Christ.

Wisdom

Chose wisely who you go to for advice. Make sure they are grounded in the Word of God, and test everything they give you, against God’s Word. Even the most devout Christian will get it wrong sometimes. It is up to you, to know the Word of the Lord, so that when you hear something contrary to it, you can make wise decisions, instead of following a false path.

Repent

Repent of your sins, once you are made aware of them. Repent means not only to be sorry, but also to turn your back to that sin and no longer follow in that direction. To completely change course, back on the path your Father in Heaven has set out for you. We should all be doing this daily.

Prayer

Pray. Converse with God often through the day. He is your strength and your guide through life. You need to talk to Him.

Note!!! God has established prayer as the means by which we receive his supernatural help.

How To Live In Peace

Living in peace is about living harmoniously with yourself, others, and all sentient beings around you. Living in peace is both an outward and an inward process. Outwardly, living in peace is a way of life in which we respect and love each otherin spite of our cultural, religious, and political differences.

How To Live In Peace!!

Peace is not just for hippies! Living in peace is about living harmoniously with yourself, others, and all sentient beings around you. Living in peace is both an outward and an inward process. Outwardly, living in peace is a way of life in which we respect and love each other in spite of our cultural, religious, and political differences. Inwardly, we all need to search our hearts and minds and understand the fear that causes the impulse to violence, for in continuing to ignore the rage within, the storm outside will never subside.

While you will find your own meanings of peaceful existence and outward manifestations of a peaceful life according to your beliefs and lifestyle, there are some basics underpinning living in peace that cannot be overlooked, such as being non-violent, being tolerant, holding moderate views, and celebrating wondrous-life.Below are the steps which can help you to discover your journey to living in peace;

•   Find Your Inner Peace.Without inner peace, you'll feel in a constant state of conflict. Trying to fill your life with possessions or improving yourself by social climbing without ever stopping to value your inner worth will leave you perpetually unhappy. When you're angry, find a nice quiet place to stop, take a deep breath, and relax. Turn off the TV,  or computer. Get out into nature if possible, or go for a good, long walk. Put on some soft music or turn down the lights. When you feel calm again, get up and get on with your life.At least once a day spend ten minutes in a peaceful place, such as under a shady tree or in the park, anywhere where you can just sit quietly without distractions.
• Seek to love, not control others. Ceasing to seek power over people and outcomes in your life is the first major step to living peacefully. Trying to control people is about seeking to impose your will and reality on others without ever trying to see their side of things. A controlling approach to relationships will keep you in conflicts with others. Replacing a will to control with a broad approach of loving others instead, including their faults and differences, is the way to a peaceful life.
• Moderate your convictions. Thinking in absolutes and holding to convictions without ever considering the viewpoints and perspectives of others is a sure way to live a life without peace. This type of extremist thinking usually leads to reactive, hasty, and driven behavior that lacks the benefit of reflection and deliberative thinking. While this may be convenient because it allows you to act with the confidence of absolute conviction, it blocks out other realities in the world and can easily lead you into conflict when other people fail to agree with your convictions. It's harder work to remain open-minded and ready to review your understandings, yet it's more rewarding because you'll grow as a person and live in greater harmony with those around you.
• Be tolerant. Tolerance in all that you think and do will make a difference in your life and in the lives of others around you. Tolerance for others is about appreciating diversity, the plurality of modern society, and being willing to live and let others live too. When we fail to tolerate others' beliefs, ways of being, and opinions, the end result can be discrimination, repression, dehumanization, and ultimately violence. Practicing tolerance is at the heart of living peacefully.
• Be Peace. A peaceful person does not use violence against another person or animal. While there is much violence in this world, make a choice to not let death and killing be a part of your philosophy of living.
• Reflection of thought .If someone hurts you physically or mentally, do not react with anger or violence. Stop and think. Choose instead to respond peacefully.
• Seek forgiveness, not revenge.Live in the present, not the past. Dwelling on that which should have been and reliving past hurts will keep the negatives of the past alive and bring constant internal conflict. Forgiveness allows you to live in the present, to look forward to the future, and to let the past settle gently. Forgiveness is the ultimate victory because it lets you enjoy life again by making peace with the past.
• Live in joy. Choosing to see the wonders of the world is an antidote to violence. It's hard to be motivated to violence against that which you see as beautiful, wondrous, amazing, and joyful; indeed, the greatest despair arising from wars comes from the destruction of innocence, beauty, and joy. Joy brings peace to your life because you're always prepared to see what is good in others and the world, and to be grateful for the wondrous aspects of life.
• Be the change you wish to see in the World.Change yourself. Violence starts with your acceptance of its possibility as a solution and often its inevitability. So it’s inside you that you need to go to stop violence and become peaceful. In seeking not to harm living beings, to live peacefully, first change yourself, and then change the world.
• Broaden your understanding of peace. You're free to choose your own path. At the end of the day, living in peace will be your own conscious..