Marbaniang, Domenic

Everything in the world, including feelings and thoughts, are caused, except divine love. Love is uncaused and causeless, so it is not possible to causally or pragmatically explain the love of God. It is wrong to ask why God loves us. Therefore, when we speak of divine love, we also know that God is Love. And, this love among us is a sign that we are His disciples. A man can be slave to his passions, but is liberated by love (is not slave nor causally determined in his acts anymore). Therefore, there is a difference between those who seek to fulfill the law and those who are led by the Spirit of God. The latter are sons of God, free from the corruption that is in the world, and will be manifest at His Coming. All godly decisions and actions in the world are the acts of love.

Pride is the opposite of Love for Pride is esteeming self above others, while Divine Love calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It should be interesting to see how a reversal of Love's qualities as enumerated in 1 Corinthians 13 would look like on Pride. Pride does not suffer long and is not kind; Pride envies; Pride parades itself, Is puffed up; Behaves rudely, Seeks its own, Is provoked (touchy and fretful), Thinks evil (keeping record of wrong done to it); Rejoices in iniquity, but does not rejoice in the truth; Never bears anything, Never believes anything, Never hopes anything, Never endures anything. Pride always fails.

Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." (Jn.21:15) Even Jesus asked Peter to verbalize his love for Him. Certainly, if Peter had at sometime denied Jesus saying "I do not know Him", it was more important to confess now his deep love for the Master. Does God need to hear an "I love you" from us? I strongly believe, yes. Not because He is in need of love as such, but because at the essence of relationship lies communication, and communication involves confession and verbalization of thoughts and feelings. Isn't that the reason why worship is not a rite but an act of truth and spirit? If it is important for God to hear us express how much we love Him and adore Him, it is also important for us as humans to verbalize love and esteem for each other. The other must hear our deepest appreciation. Of course, we ex...

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26) ~The chasm between what is of Adam and what is of Christ is abysmal. It is only through hating them apart from Christ that we can truly love them through Christ. Isn't it obvious that no matter how much we love our own present Adamic life, we can't protect it from death when it comes? The same extends to all human relationships. The grave shuts the door on all. There is no hope apart from the Resurrected Christ. He who seeks to save this life will lose it, but he who loses it for Christ's sake will gain it. Thus, anyone who loves anything above Christ is going to lose both self and all, and so is unfit for discipleship, is unfit for the new life. Anyone who prefers to keep the Adamic against the riches of Christ has no part with Christ. He is like the rich young man who became sad because his h...

"Your fear rules over my thoughts night and day, And my love is incomplete till fear leads the way..." Love involves the element of fear. But, it is not the fear of being hurt; it is the fear of offending the one we love. When the Bible commands us to fear God, it does have the two aspects of fear in mind: 1. Fear that is attached to the love of God (Deut.10:12; cf. 2Cor.7:11,15). This is what is usually referred to as filial fear . It is also reverential. 2. Fear that is attached to the justice of God, especially with regard to punishment (Deut 4:23,24; Heb.12:28,29). This may be referred to as servile fear The Bible never encourages servile fear , which involves servitude in order to avoid displeasure of God. (Rom.8:15; 2Tim.1:7; 1Jn.4:18). A man who loves God has filial and reverential fear for God and keeps away from evil because evil offends God (Prov.8:13). A man who only keeps away from evil to avoid punishment will resort to evil when he begins to believe that the dan...

The Bible doesn't say that love is blind. In fact, the Bible says that God is Love (1Jn.4:16) and there is no darkness in Him. However, the Bible does say that he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1Jn.2:11). In other words, it is not love that is blind; it is hatred that is blind. There is a difference between true love (that really loves the other) and fake love (that pretends to love the other but actually is in love with self). For instance, a young man feels that he loves a woman; but, he finds out that she doesn't reciprocate his feelings; so, his feelings turn to hatred towards her. This is not true love. This is selfishness. If he had truly loved her, then he would be happy with what she is happy with; he would seek her happiness, not his. But, the fact that his feelings have revealed hatred prove that what he had in the first place was not love but hatred. Does a spri...

But what was it that delighted me save to love and to be loved? Confessions, Book II. Ch.1:3 Trs. Albert C. Outler The works of the flesh are... adultery... The fruit of the Spirit is love.. (Gal. 5:19,22) Love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom 13:10) [If I] have not love, I am nothing. (1Co 13:2) We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles.... Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: “If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us.” That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at...

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1Cor.13:13) All that one needs in the world is faith, hope, and love. All that God has given to us in this world is faith, hope, and love. No matter what, hold on to faith in God and in His Word. His promises will never fail. Believe what God's Word says and do it. Study it. Share it. Live by faith. Also, never give up hope. Hope relates to a positive expectation about the future. Expect good things to happen, good things to come because of who God is and what He has promised. Expect good results of what we do by faith in God. The promise is that God will work out everything for good to those who love Him. Never allow confusion or fear or anxiety to take the place of hope at any cost. Keep hope on the highest watchtower and hope will protect your heart. Then, continue to love all. Love God with all your being. Love other people as yourself. Let the love of God spill out in the way you ...

You are responsible for your affections (2Cor.6:12) 7 Incredible Facts Revealed by Jesus (Rev.2:2,3) 1. You can be an  active  Christian and yet be a failure. (works) 2. You can be a laborious Christian and yet be a failure. (labor) 3. You can be a patient  Christian and yet be a failure. (patience) 4. You can be a righteous  Christian and yet be a failure. (cannot bear those who are evil) 5. You can be a wise and discerning  Christian and yet be a failure. (tested those who say they are apostles...) 6. You can be a perseverant  Christian and yet be a failure. (have persevered) 7. You can be a tireless  Christian and yet be a failure. (have not become weary) 3 Facts About Love 1. Love is the key that opens the heart of God (Jn.14:23; 2Cor.6:12) When God measures a man, He puts the tape around his heart - not around his head. - Guideposts 2. Love is the wall that keeps the enemy out (Song 4:12) 3. Love is the stronghold of victory already got. Love God...

The Hindi language is rich in words. Its words are usually object-specific, and one can easily identify the nature of an object within a single word used. For instance, it has several different words for love, differing according to the object in mind. FRIENDLY LOVE Prem:  It is the general word for "love"; but is usually used for friendly love. Preeti: It usually carries the meaning of "love that contains delight". This is the word used in the Hindi Bible in Peter's answer to Jesus when He asked "Do you love Me more than these?" Pyaar: It is a common word for love; but, nowadays is commonly used for romantic love. Chaah: It usually means "like" or "desire". Anurag: Friendly love that is far deeper and means selfless love or affection. Mitrabhav: Friendly affection PARENTAL LOVE Sneha: It is the love that an elder has for the younger. Vatsalya: It is a parent's love for the child. Mamata: It is the mother's love towa...

THERE is an ancient proverb in Hindi which says Rahiman dhaga prem ka mat todevu chatkai, Tootei to phir na miley, miley ganth parijai. [Do not snap the thread of love o Rahim; For, if it breaks it can't be be joined; and if joined, it leaves a knot.] It is not easy to forget the wrongs that someone has done against us. And, even when we get reconciled sometimes, there is some knot, some painful reminder, some grudge that is left behind. But, the Bible teaches us that we need to learn not only to forgive, but also to forget the hurt, or else the reconciliation is not perfect. Divine love, the fruit of the Holy Spirit (not of our own self), makes that possible. When Jesus forgave us, He kept no record of our wrongs. The Psalmist says "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psa 103:12). The prophet Micah could say "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Mic.7:19). Isaiah could say "You have cast all...

THE BOOK The book often goes under the title “The Song of Solomon”, but is also called “The Song of Songs” or “Canticles”. It is the first of the five Megilloth, the fivescrolls read by the Jews at various feasts: Canticles (Passover), Ruth (Pentecost), Ecclesiastes (Tabernacles), Esther (Purim), and Lamentations (anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem). The title in Hebrew as well as in the LXX is “The Song of Songs”. The Vulgate entitled it Canticum Canticorum, hence the alternative English title Canticles. [1] THE DATE The greatest objections to the dating of the book to the Solomonic era are concerned first with the use of Greek, Persian, and even Sanskrit loan words; and then with the reference to Tirzah (6:4) which indicates that the book was completed in the Persian Period or at a period prior to the time of Omri (885/84-874/73 BC) who built Samaria as his capital city to replace Tirzah, which was the chief city of the northern kingdom in the early night century BC. [2] AU...