Day 17: The True Meaning of Love
Intention
To come into and express God’s divine love.
Scripture
“Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:13
Reflection
Recently, I went to the funeral of a close friend with whom I had gone to school many years ago. I had the privilege of bringing a reading.
I knew immediately what to read – the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 which we had to learn by heart at the Anglican girl’s school we both attended. We would recite 1 Corinthians 13 at school assemblies or special events each week. But due to our young age, we struggled to comprehend its meaning.
In writing to the Corinthians, Paul listed 14 characteristics of love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, he writes, “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.”
“Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
The word for love in this passage is the Greek word ‘agape’. Agape describes the divine love of God.
God invites us into His agape love. As we abide in that love, we can love others as Paul depicts in this chapter.
But God also created sexual love (‘eros’) as part of His divine order, to be expressed in marriage between a husband and wife.
Yet around the globe, millions of women and children are victims in the evil world of sex trafficking. It is said by some to be more lucrative than the global illicit drug trade.
The sexualisation of society, void of true love, has opened the door to sexual immorality, abuse, violence, pornography and gender confusion.
This lack of sexual integrity has brought much suffering and confusion in our society. The emotional pain runs deep.
As we pray for revival and restoration of sexual integrity in our nation, may we see the release of love – as described in 1 Corinthians 13. This expression of God’s love will mean marriages are revitalised, families are restored, and children are protected.
May His light and love penetrate the dark world of organised crime built upon the sexualisation of society in our nation and around the globe.
Video
Prayer
Father, we cry out to You to forgive all who have fallen into sexual sin.
May they know the power of Your forgiveness and the wonder and beauty of Your love in bringing cleansing and redemption to their lives through the blood of Jesus Christ.
We declare the joy of Your word, “‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate” (Mark 10:7–9).
Amen.
Author Bio
Jenny Hagger AM is the Founder of the Australian House of Prayer for All Nations, Mission World Aid and Co-Founder of Watchmen for Oceania. She is on the leadership team of The Global Watch, teaching and mentoring watchmen from around the globe.
Prayer Points and Purpose for October 2024
- Revival and restoration of sexual integrity to renew the individual, revitalise marriages, restore families and protect children. Hebrews 13:4
- Revival, repentance and reformation of Australia. 2 Chronicles 7:14
- Revival, repentance and reformation of America. 2 Chronicles 7:14
- The Lamb that was slain may receive a reward for His suffering. Revelation 5:12
We invite you to support this prayer campaign by ordering your FREE copy of Break Through: 15 Keys to Supernatural Breakthrough, a book on prayer written by Warwick Marsh. Reading this book will multiply the effectiveness of your prayers. You can make a donation to the Canberra Declaration to help pay it forward and bless someone else to receive a free copy of Break Through.
Join us for our nightly Zoom prayer call:
DATES: Every night in October
TIME: 8 PM (AEDT); 7 PM (QLD); 7:30 PM (SA); 6:30 PM (NT); 5 PM (WA)
ZOOM LINK: zoom.us/j/776881184
Daily devotions are brought to you by the Canberra Declaration.
View October 2024 Daily Devotionals: dailydeclaration.org.au/tag/sexual-integrity-2024
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