Daily Devotionals

February 15

Make the Switch

Gloria Copeland
God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him. In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us...because as He is, so are we in this world.

If you’ve been born again, you can walk in love and be so loving to people all the time! Even those people who really get to you. You have the power to do that! Did you know that?

“Oh, no, Gloria. Not me. I could never switch from being selfish to walking in the love of God. I’ve tried it…I just don’t know how to break this habit!”

I’m happy to tell you, the key to developing your love life is wonderfully simple. You do it by maintaining contact with God. You do it by fellowshiping with Him in the Word and in prayer—by staying in union and communion with Him and letting His life flow through you.

As Christian writer Donald Gee says, “Fruit is the result of life. Loss of communion is the explanation of most of our failure in spiritual fruit-bearing, and no amount of Christian work, or even exercise of spiritual gifts, can ever be a substitute for walking with God. It is encouraging to remember that sustained [continual] communion with Christ in our daily walk produces the fruit of the spirit unconsciously” (Donald Gee, The Fruit of the Spirit [Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 1928], p. 60, used by permission of the publisher).

Jesus Himself taught us that principle of communion. He said, “Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me—cut off from vital union with Me—you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5, amp).

Actually, when we maintain living contact with God, we enter a glorious cycle that continually lifts us higher. The more we fellowship with God, the more we are changed by His presence and empowered to walk in love. And the more we walk in love, the more intimate our fellowship with Him becomes.

Are you longing for greater measures of God’s power in your life? Are you yearning for greater manifestations of His victorious presence? Then eagerly pursue and seek to walk in love. Determine above all else to live in union with Jesus and be ruled by His love. Then, you can make the switch!

Speak the Word

God is love. As I dwell and continue in God, He dwells and continues in me; and love is brought to completion and attains perfection in me. (1 John 4:16-17, amp)

Scripture Study: John 15:9-11


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