FOUNDATION STATEMENT: As believers when we are under pressure, the response of love must always be our first response. Responding with the commandment of love will lay the foundation upon which we can build a life of prosperity and success. – Ephesians 6:10
I. If you want to apply the principles of God’s Word and see those principles work in your life then you must submit to divine order. (James 4:7)
A. Divine order is simply the order set by God that must be followed to get results
1. You can’t do things out of order & expect to get the results that God is desiring for you to get
B. In God’s system there is order, and if you work God’s system and get results then you have to submit to the order that God put in place
1. In the Kingdom of God or in God’s system you can’t just do things any old way you want to do them
2. It’s God’s way and results or your own way and no results
C. Examples of Divine order (Genesis 8:22)
1. Following divine order says that you have to believe and then speak and then physical things will change, so believing is first (Mark 11:23)
2. Following divine order says I have to draw nigh to God and then he’ll draw night to me (James 4:8)
3. Following divine order would be to submit first, then resist and now you’re in a position to see the devil flee (James 4:7)
D. I want to submit to you that divine order says our first response in any situation should be this commandment of love in our heart and coming out of our mouth
II. As a believer your first response in any situation where the enemy is applying pressure on you or attacking you is the commandment of love
A. The commandment of love is first (Matthew 22:37)
1. W/O the foundation of love in place nothing else works the way its supposed to work
a. Before we launch a counterattack on the enemy, we need to be sure that we have the proper platform in is place from which we can launch that attack and the platform is love
2. The first step in the armor of God was to be strong in love (Ephesians 6:10, 1 John 4:16 – God is love)
a. Each and every piece of that armor works by love, so my first response to any attack is be strong in love
1) My first response is not to grab my sword and my shield, but by first response is be strong in love
b. Colossians 3:14 – Bond of perfectness – Love is the binding factor which will hold this armor together and make it usable
c. Ephesians 3:17 – Rooted and grounded in it
B. James 4:7-8 – Don’t violate divine order. By responding in love first it will make everything that I do after that work.
1. Submit – to be made subject to, to be obedient, to put under
a. You can’t submit to God without submitting to the commandment that he gave which is love
b. God is love – Submit to love
2. Resist – 1 Peter 5:9 – You resist steadfast in faith
a. Faith is an uncompromising stand in the love of God on the Word of God
3. When love is in place and faith is released then he’ll flee
C. 1 Peter 5:6-9
1. Humble – Put yourself under, lower yourself under the authority of God, put yourself under the authority of love
a. You do that by keeping the commandment of love
2. There’s divine order in casting care
a. In keeping the commandment of love all the fear is flushed out and all the cares are cast upon God (1 John 4:18)
b. Cares, worries, and anxieties are manifestations of fear
1) Go to the root, remove it, and the fruit will be removed
2) You can’t take the care and be in love
3) Without the fear, you can’t take the care
c. The only thing that gets rid of fear is growing, developing, maturing love-1 Jn 4:18
1) Some believers have tried to get rid of the care, without going to the root and getting rid of the fear by submitting to the command of love
3. Sober – self-controlled, clear-minded
a. Have some discipline to stay in the love of God & don’t take the care
b. Keep your mind clear by keeping it on that commandment instead of on the problem
4. Be Vigilant – Be on guard and keep watch
a. Be on guard and keep watch to not take the care
5. Satan is roaming around looking for somebody who will allow him to devour them
a. Whom may Satan devour?
1) He is allowed to devour any person who is outside of love with fear operating in their life
b. He’s seeking someone who has held onto the care
1) Don’t take the care the moment you do Satan sees access granted
c. Fear is the access card that grants Satan access into your life (Isaiah 54:14, Job 3:25, Matthew 14:24)
1) God always began with fear not
2) Perfected love throws fear out of the doors (1 John 4:18)
3) If you throw fear out the door you throw Satan out the door
4) When your response is love he sees access denied
d. Every time I take my stance in love and respond in love this is what hells sees
1) In nothing be terrified – In everything keep the commandment of love
2) Your commitment to the command of love is your sure token of victory (Philippians 1:28)
3) My response is always love – When the enemy looks at me he’ll always see me in love
4) The foundation to his attack must start with getting you to violate that commandment
6. Then when you’ve submitted and you’re in the love of God you can resist steadfast in faith
a. In the love of God holding onto the promise of God stand against him in an immovable manner
b. The stance of love is the strongest form of resistance that there is because when you’re in agreement with love you are vehemently opposed to Satan and every part of the curse
c. Real faith begins where there is no care, no worry, and no fear
D. Philippians 4:6-7
1. Careful – worry, have anxiety, to take thought, to be concerned
a. All of that is rooted in fear and the only way to get rid of fear is to grow in the commandment of love
2. By prayer – You believe you receive when you pray (Mark 11:24)
a. Then you thank him that it’s done – that’s faith
E. 1 John 3:22-23
1. They keep his commandments – Matthew 22:37-40
2. Then they did what was pleasing in his sight – Hebrews 11:6
3. They received whatsoever they asked of him
F. Luke 8:50
1. Fear not – Keep the commandment of love
2. Believe only – Stand in faith
3. She shall be made whole – You’ll get the result
III. Love’s function is to empower faith so that faith can then function to connect to the anointing, and the anointing will remove the burden, destroy the yoke, and produce victory in your life
A. The anointing
1. The anointing of God is the power of God that will remove the burdens and destroy the yokes (Isaiah 10:27)
2. The anointing of God is God rubbing His “super” on your “natural” making you supernatural
3. The anointing is what’s necessary for you to live in victory on this Earth; natural ability is not enough to live the kind of life that God wants you to live
B. Faith is the anointing connector (Romans 1:16, Ephesians 1:19)
1. Faith will connect you to the power of god
2. Matt 14-Faith connected Peter to the power of God that enabled him to do this
C. Love empowers faith and causes it to work
1. Love purifies your faith and gets rid of all the things that try to contaminate it
a. Fear tolerated or violation of this commandment tolerated is faith contaminated
b. When your faith is contaminated it becomes diluted and loses it’s strength
2. Genuine faith is faith that is fully persuaded, with no care, no worry, no anxiety, no doubt, and no fear
a. The only way to get that kind of faith is through a commitment to the COL
D. When Peter violated the commandment of love and got over into fear, is faith stopped working, he was no longer connected to the anointing and he failed (Matthew 14:24)
1. Peter has got the Word, but he is setting out to accomplish a task that is going to require the anointing to be accomplished because naturally this is impossible
a. He has the Word on it, but to natural man this is impossible
b. To connect to the anointing he is going to need faith in the Word that God spoke
c. His faith that is going to connect him to the anointing absolutely must be empowered by love to do so
2. When fear is present we know that Peter was no longer in the love of God
a. 1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love; if he’s in fear and he is, he’s not in love
b. He violated the commandment of love by:
1) Not loving God with all of his heart – he didn’t guard his heart
2) Not loving God with all of his mind – he was attending to the problem
3) Not loving God with all of his will – he chose to look at the wrong thing
3. He was out of love over into fear, faith couldn’t work to keep him connected to the anointing and when the anointing wasn’t present there was no way he could succeed in the task that he desired to accomplish
E. Jairus was in the same predicament (Luke 8:50)
1. This is an impossible situation in the natural that is going to require the anointing to be accomplished
a. Natural ability cannot bring a person back to life, so then the anointing is a must
2. Jesus is the anointed one who is carrying the anointing
a. He reveals to Jairus the protocol necessary for the anointing to function to accomplish the task at hand
b. The anointing can only operate on the platform called faith working by love
IV. The Commandment of love is the foundation to all success
A. Love never fails, consequently every failure in life has it’s roots in the violation of the commandment of love (1 Corinthians 13:8)
1. The key to success in any endeavor in life is to stay in the love of God
a. Failure only takes place outside of love
B. Failure begins because you violate the commandment of love, faith can’t work, you can’t connect to the anointing and without the anointing you can’t win