Wonder why your prayers are not answered or why there is a delay with the answer. You might have done all you know to do but have not gotten any results. You may have given your tithes, spoke His word, decreed a thing, help the poor, prayed for Israel and Jerusalem even rebuked the devil in the name of Jesus but you are still lacking in getting your answer.

When you have done and are continuing to do all these things and nothing seems to happen it can get discouraging but there is still something else that should be considered.

The word said that God is love so the first thing that we need to know is what God is, He is love. If we would put the word love where we see the word God in His word, we can get a deeper insight of Him. For example, John 3:16 says for God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son. We can say it like this, love so loved the world that love gave His only begotten Son. Seeing God as love, which He is, brings a deeper insight of Him to us.

It would make sense that all things come to us through love and we should minister in love just like Him. Deuteronomy 8:18 says and you shall remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you power to get wealth. We can put it this way; love causes us to get wealth. If we would love, we would prosper.

I heard an interesting message about John; he is considered the prophet of love. He spoke of love a lot and when they tried to kill him, they could not. He was boiled in oil but that did not kill him because he was full of love. They put him on the Isle of Patmos to get rid of him but while there, he was given the book of Revelation. Afterward he lived to be well in age, love cannot be destroyed and John was embedded in love so he could not be destroyed.

Loves causes us to prosper. If we would love one another things will change. What if we have done all those other things but does not love, then our work is in vain. God is love and He requires that we love one another and this is the way to get our prayers answered.

What is love? Well, it is not fussy feeling we get or the panting of the heart, those things are emotions and has nothing to do with love. Love is action. God acted when He sent Jesus into the world. Jesus acted when He died on the cross to save us from our sins, so love is action. Love is doing when you really do not want to do. Jesus gave a parable about a man who had two sons. He asked one to do something, that son said that he would but did not, he asked his other son to do it and he said he would not but did it. Jesus asked which of the two did the will of the father, the people said, the one who said he would not but did, and Jesus said, you have spoken correctly. The son that was said he would not do what the father asked was driven by love to do it. Love is a force that propels us and it is that driving force that will enable us to get our prayers answered.

Love gives us power to get wealth. When we operate in love, the anointing is available to us to get wealth. No, we are not to omit tithing, praying of Israel and Jerusalem, giving to the poor, speaking God's word, and rebuking the devil all these things are a good thing but it is not enough, we must walk in love.

Abraham operated in love when a fight broke out between his herdsmen and Lot's. He said to Lot, we are brethren and there should not be strife between us. He allowed Lot to choose first the direction that he wanted to go in and he would go in the opposite direction. That was love in action; he did not consider himself first.

Love is not puffed up, it does not consider itself first but the good and well-being of others first, it does not stir up strife. It encourages and exalts. It does not see others fault.

God looked beyond our faults and saw our need, we needed Christ, though we were dead in sin yet He looked beyond that and sent Jesus to save us because He loves us.

Love drove God to send Jesus to us to receive more sons and daughters so his love produced. It would make sense that if we love, it will also produce blessings for us.

Too long

over long

Very inspiring read! Has double 'very' in excellence. This is the topic that is of the greatest interest to me next to the Bible.

I never knew there's a believer in nairaland who thinks the same way I do, who practices love daily like I do, who sees the tremendous benefits in putting the needs of others first before self.

Please permit me to add my experience of learning to love and what I've learnt to this top class article.

A long time ago, through a book, God planted in me the seed of love. I learnt the meaning of the God-kind of love. I learned that love is rooted in our action, not feelings. Feelings or emotions are not necessarily involved in exercising this kind of love. It begins with a decision and is expressed through actions. The absence of feelings or emotions doesn't mean one should be a robot or zombie mindlessly practicing love. It only means you do not need to have any special kind of feeling of love for the object of love like the romantic love; all that's required is your action demonstrating love for others.

Though it looked noble in writing, however, it was very difficult to put into practice, understandably. My flesh always wanted to have its way. I tried and tried to practice love, to be selfless, to make the wants, desires, happiness and satisfaction of others take first place before mine but kept failing, I kept going in the opposite direction of that which I intended to do.

Still practicing love as my flesh permitted, I cried to God to give me love, to give me love to love others selflessly, that I cannot of myself love as I wanted.

That was the beginning of my journey of love. I cannot say the result was instantaneous, but I grew in love.

Though I grew in the grace and ability to love, I still had problem choosing to act in love in certain situations. This kept me looking for a condensed or simplified explanation of love to encompass every situation, or simply put, that can be easily applied in every situation without appearing ambiguous or unsuitable in application.

Then, one day, a thought hit me that changed my life forever. The thought that I should do everything because of love suddenly struck me. I was amazed. I had never thought about loving others this way. While I pondered this, I understood that all God has always done for us is because of love, Jesus chose to die for our sins because of love, one can choose not to be angry because of love, we overlook a multitude of wrongs because of love, we obey the commandments of God because of love. In fact doing anything or everything because of love is the very core of walking in love, doing everything because of love is love itself.

Thus, I learned two important principles of love through this experience:

1. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability to love. We can never fully love unconditionally as we ought without God's help.

2. To walk in love, do everything because of love. That way, your actions will be an expression of love as well as having the pure motive of love behind them.

Now, though I love others better than when I began (not bragging or anything), I'm still very much imperfect. I still fall sometimes, but walking in this knowledge of love has made my Christian walk progressed in leaps and bounds. And I'm still learning, and will continue learning to love till I leave this earthly tent. Love is an endless journey.

Long post. I know. However, I wrote this to help others who God may lead to this thread, those who God may have planted the seed of love in them but who may face similar difficulties I faced when I first set out to practice love. In all, glory be to God. He is the author of my walk in love. All the credits for where I am today belongs to him and not a penny of the credits belongs to me.

the guy after me, i recommand da write up. Love is everything in these world. When their is no love, their no understanding and their war and no peace. I love love