IS YOUR LOVE VERTICAL AS WELL AS HORIZONTAL?

SCRIPTURE:
“Because he loves Me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; 
I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.”  
(Psalm 91:14)

MEDITATION:
Would you agree that one of the basic needs of mankind is affection?
We desire love from others, and from God.
We know that we have God’s love because Jesus went to the cross for us.
But we can’t always be sure that we have the love of others.

Hopefully their love is genuine, 
but there are countless times when a person thought they were loved 
by someone and found out later that it was a pretended love.
Of course God’s love for us remains constant in spite of our actions.
God loves us because He IS love.

Some say, “To get love, you have to give love”.
Whether that is true or not, as believers we should express love to others.
But our love is a special type of love.
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. (James 2:8)

Think about the many ways you love yourself.
That is how we are supposed to love others.
Jesus tells us that this kind of love 
will make it easy for others to know that we belong to Him.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, 
if you love one another. (John 13:35)

We should follow His command to love others, 
but we should not forget to love the Lord as well.
How do we know if we effectively love Him?
We obey Him.
If you love me, keep my commands. (John 14:15)
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have 
kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. (John 15:10)

In Psalms, we see that when we love the Lord 
we are given some promises that bless us. 
When we know who the Lord is, are not afraid 
to acknowledge Him before others, and love Him, we gain security in Him.
He will rescue us from problems and protect us from the evil one.
We can become recipients of the love and grace of God.

ACTION:
Do you love others as Jesus commanded?
Do you love them with the same type of love you have for yourself?
More importantly, do you love the Lord and if so, do you tell Him you do?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your love. No matter where I am 
or what situation I am in, You are there loving me, protecting me, 
and rescuing me.  Forgive me for being negligent and failing to tell 
You that I love You. You are the essence of love and You have given 
me the capacity to love. Help me to allow Your love to flow through 
me. I thank You Jesus for going to the cross to express Your love for 
me. I love You, am grateful that You love me, and am thankful for 
Your promises to those who love You.”