5Day Reading Plan
Creflo Dollar
Believers live in a backward world. Our external environment operates completely opposite from God, especially when it comes to the primary system of exchange. In the world, they use money and work, but God uses love as His currency. When Jesus came, He replaced the Law of Moses with God’s law of love; as Christians, this is the law we must live by.
Aside from giving everyone what they’re due and paying our taxes, we’re to owe nothing to anyone, except for our obligation to love them. Loving our neighbor fulfills the law’s requirements. This goes as far as loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, doing good to those who hate us, and praying for those who persecute us. God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son; if He so loved us, then we as His children ought to love others.
We can love this way only because God loved us first; if we’re running low on this currency of love, we need a refill. Going to Him allows Him to pour into us what He has an endless supply of. Love is all-important to God; any prophecies He has given us and any unknown languages He has enabled us to speak will become useless eventually, but love lasts forever.
We’re asked to far exceed the world’s minimum standard. Jesus asked the Pharisees why they should get the credit for doing good only to those who did good to them, adding that even sinners do that. As the holy people God loves, we’re to make allowances for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends us.
We’ve received a new commandment from Jesus, that we love one another as He loved us. This tells the world that we’re His disciples. Following this commandment gives us an unlimited amount of love.
Scriptures:
Romans 13:7, 8, NLT
Matthew 5:44
John 3:16
1 John 4:11, 19
1 Corinthians 13:8, NLT
Luke 6:33, NLT
Colossians 3:12, 13, NLT
John 13:34, 35
To understand the power of love as demonstrate by Jesus Christ, check out the three-part series, The Infinite Debt of Love or How to Experience the Love of God.
Love is something we can never get enough of. The kind of love we need to help us through life doesn’t originate from the world, but only from God. Our external environment tries to operate without it, but sputters along unsuccessfully because it doesn’t know Jesus. When we’re running on empty, we need Him to fill us back up with heaven’s currency of love.
Getting Christ’s law of love in place and operational in our lives makes things we previously struggled with fall in line. After the disciples fished all night but caught nothing, Jesus got involved and told them where to cast their net. They caught so many fish that their nets began to tear, and the boats began to sink. His love takes us from lack and insufficiency to more than enough, so that we can share the blessings with others.
We owe a debt of love to everyone; operating in love shows the world what Jesus is like. His death and resurrection allowed Him to send us the Holy Spirit, who emboldens and empowers us. When the Holy Ghost came upon the believers, they were able to be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We have the same ability.
Love carries great power. Jesus gives to those who receive Him and believe on His name the power to become sons of God. It also gives hope to a hopeless, shamed world. Hope doesn’t put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Without love, none of the spiritual gifts we’ve received matter. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. Keeping our priorities in order therefore carries eternal impact.
Scriptures:
Luke 5:1-7
Acts 1:8
John 1:12
Romans 5:5, NIV
1 Corinthians 13:13, NLT
To understand the power of love as demonstrate by Jesus Christ, check out the three-part series, The Infinite Debt of Love or How to Experience the Love of God.
Christians must understand the power of love as demonstrated by Jesus Christ. The debt of love that we owe to others is one we can never completely repay, but it’s the only way we can show the world God’s nature. On our own, we’re ill-equipped to pay this debt; we can only do so with His help. Loving our neighbors is a commandment that we fulfill when we believe God’s love for us.
The world’s monetary systems run on expendable paper and coins; by comparison, heaven operates by God’s currency of love, which is far superior. Paul advised the Romans about earthly as well as heavenly debt. He told them that it was their duty to pay their taxes to the governmental authorities, and that they shouldn’t owe anything to anyone except for their outstanding debt to continually love one another. He added that the one who learns to love has fulfilled every requirement of the law.
Jesus came to end the harsh Law of Moses, but said something that surprised His disciples. He gave them a new commandment: to love each other just as He had loved them. Concerning how we should treat one another, He raised the bar for everyone when He told them to love their enemies.
Jesus had compassion for people because He, too, was paying a debt of love. Compassion is love in action, which He repeatedly demonstrated. Powerful examples of this were when Jesus healed two blind men sitting by the road and a leper who beseeched Him for healing. Many times He was moved to teach, preach, and heal because of His compassion for the multitudes.
We love God only because He first loved us. This translates into our ability to love others. Love is where His power is found.
Scriptures:
Romans 13:7, 8, TPT
John 13:34
John 15:12, 17
Luke 6:35
Matthew 20:30, 32-34
Mark 1:40-42
Mark 6:34
Mark 8:2
Matthew 14:14
Matthew 9:35-38
1 John 4:19
To understand the power of love as demonstrate by Jesus Christ, check out the three-part series, The Infinite Debt of Love or How to Experience the Love of God.
Believers live in an external environment that constantly speaks of love yet has no understanding of it. Without the knowledge of the kind of love God offers us, it’s impossible to navigate life successfully. As Christians, we’ve been given the mission of demonstrating it to humanity. We’re called to stand out as different from the world; relying on Jesus equips us to show God’s nature to others.
Letting God express Himself through us enables us to be vessels for supernatural manifestations. Our love for one another lets people know that we’re Christ’s disciples. We’ve been accepted into God’s beloved. He so loved the world that He gave us His only Son; therefore if God loves us this much, we should also love one another.
This debt of love is something we can never repay, but is the only way we can show others what God is like. He is love; we run into problems if we don’t believe He loves us. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they refused to receive what God had promised to give them, and they murmured and complained because they thought God hated them. This kind of thinking gets us into trouble.
What God asks of us is only possible with help from the Holy Spirit, who pours God’s love into our hearts. Our faith in this process plays a huge part, because faith in His love is critical in carrying out our assignment. Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith roots and grounds us in love, and tells us exactly how to proceed.
We operate out of the overflow of what we’ve received. Like full pitchers, we pour what we have into others’ lives to fill them up. This is the debt we owe to an empty world.
Scriptures:
John 13:35
Ephesians 1:6
John 3:16
1 John 4:11
Deuteronomy 1:26, 27
Romans 5:5, NKJV
Ephesians 3:17
To understand the power of love as demonstrate by Jesus Christ, check out the three-part series, The Infinite Debt of Love or How to Experience the Love of God.
When we think of the word “debt,” it’s usually in the context of money or financial obligations. This is the world’s definition, which focuses on borrowing and lending. By contrast, love is the currency of heaven, and it’s all we owe to others. Earthly money is only temporary, but what God considers currency is eternal.
The motives behind what we do matter greatly, and they’re something God is always looking at. Love should be our motivation; this spurs us to acts of compassion. The Scriptures say that if we want to enjoy life and see many happy days, we should keep our tongues from speaking evil and our lips from telling lies. David knew this; he asked God to set a watch before his mouth, and to keep the door of his lips.
We shouldn’t ignore the link between our speech and our actions. Involving Jesus, who is love and truth, in everything we say allows Him to equip us to pay our debt of love. Speaking the truth in love is one way we fulfill the law of love that Jesus gave us. The only way we can love others as much as we love ourselves is with God’s help.
Unlike recording financial payments in a ledger until the debt is paid, our debt of love will never be completely paid off. Nor should it be—our entire life should be built on the foundation of love the way Paul wrote to the Corinthians. This is only possible through faith in God’s perfect love; as Christians, we’ve known and believed the love He has for us.
Love is the most powerful thing in the universe. Tapping into it makes us spiritually rich. Making Jesus the source of our currency ensures that we’ll never run out.
Scriptures:
1 Peter 3:10, NLT
Psalm 141:3
Ephesians 4:15
Matthew 22:37-39
Galatians 5:14
James 2:8
1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13, NKJV
1 John 4:16
To understand the power of love as demonstrate by Jesus Christ, check out the three-part series, The Infinite Debt of Love or How to Experience the Love of God.
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