How do we learn to love? 
 
I.	Learning to love is a life process. 
 
A.	Jesus went into the dessert for 40 days and came out in the power of the 
spirit. 
 
B.	There of course is a big different between walking in the Spirit and being in 
the power of the spirit. 
 
C.	It took Jesus 40 days.. It takes us many times 40 years. 
 
II.	There is I believe a direct relation between being able to love and walking in 
the power of the Holy Spirit. 
 
A.	Mainly because I believe that love is the power of God and the power of the 
holy Spirit. 
 
B.	There is a process of learning to love that a least for me has and is taking 
what I think is a long time. 
 
C.	This morning I want to share a little of what I have found. 
 
III.	Last week as I hope you recall I shared about the answers to our prayers 
replacing our dependence on the Lord. 
 
A.	When God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit provides for our needs, we tend 
to become vain and think it was our own strength & wisdom that 
accomplished it. 
 
B.	We slowly over time become ungrateful and fail to maintain our dependence 
on God. Our wisdom, Strength & resources become our God. 
 
IV.	It is easy to tell what has become your God. When problems come that 
threaten our resources and security and we fear their loss. Then that is a 
signal that it has become a God and may be a signal that God is about to 
remove it. 
 
A.	The key to life is to become like Jesus. With His responses. We change our 
attitudes the same way the Lord do.  
 
B.	Heb 5:7  During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and 
petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, 
and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, 
he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he 
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. 
 
C.	The end goal is for us to have Jesus character. A character described as love. 
 
D.	Look with me at 1 Cor 13     If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but 
have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the 
gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have 
a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I 
possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I 
gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, 
it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it 
keeps no record of wrongs  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the 
truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there 
are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 
 
V.	Of course this is a description of Jesus but it is also a description of what 
God intends for us to become. Given time and perseverance. 
 
A.	The process is worked a little at a time and here are some of the things the 
Lord does to keep us in touch with Him and on a changing lifestyle. 
 
B.	We have the birth of a vision and then it dies and we learn to persevere, 
forgive, deal with resentment, angry toward the Lord and others. We learn 
patience, hope, faith, trust. 
 
C.	It teaches us humility and that we are not the Capt. of our own fate contrary to 
popular belief. When and if the Lord lets us realize accomplishment. we also 
realize the power of the Lord. It keeps our relationship alive with Him. 
 
VI.	The disciplines of prayer, fasting, giving, bible study, and Christian service 
can bring pride or discouragement.  
 
A.	Pride if we do them, discouragement if we don't... Yet they are each designed 
to bring us to a new level of love for the Lord and his faithfulness as we have 
to face and change both of these pretenders. Our goal is to understand more 
deeply our total dependence on the Lord. Then we will change and take on the 
poverty of spirit we find in Matt 5:3 
 
VII.	We tend to think the more faithful we are toward God the more spiritual we will 
feel toward God, but then we learn the reverse takes place. Like Paul went 
from seeing himself as "The last of the Apostles" to  "The least of the 
Apostles" to "Not worthy to be called an Apostle"   
 
A.	This is the spiritual process that teaches us love of others and how God loves 
us and it keeps our first love alive. 
 
 
VIII.	The measure of process with the Lord can be best measured I believe by 
how much we have let life change our character to the character of Jesus 
Christ. 
 
A.	Can we honestly take the test: I have wondered if I really love anyone when I 
go by what I feel. But I have found I love a little when I compare my inner life 
with Cor 13. 
 
B.	Lets ask the questions: 
 
C.	Are you patient with people. Your spouse, kids, brothers. calm, composed, 
quiet, unruffled.  
 
1.	Sometimes I am other times I am not. 
 
D.	Are you kind to people. gentle, good-hearted. 
 
 
E.	do most of them in Cor 13. 
 
 
IX.	When I go over these I realize God has used life to change me as I look back 
and understand what I was like. I also look at reality and know He has a lot to 
do yet. 
 
A.	But that does not bother me. He knows what He is doing and I know that he is 
dealing with me out of the very character that he is working into me. As any 
good father, He wants me to be like Him. 
 
X.	Will the world understand this.. No  Will they think we are nuts for thinking this 
way.. Yes. But they did the same thing with Jesus, why should we be any 
different. 
 
A.	Why does it takes 40 years for us to walk in the power of the Spirit? Because it 
takes most of us 40 years to begin to love like the Lord loves and it is in that 
love that His power resides. 
 

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