DIVINE PURPOSE / Love Attributes Value

This is the 4^th of 6 devotions with the theme from 1 Corinthians 13:7

“Love Is Ever Ready To Believe The Best Of Everyone”

DIVINE PURPOSE
by
Rebecca Cooley

(Adapted from John 1:40-47)

Let’s go again to the place near the Jordan River where John the Baptist had been baptizing:

Andrew had just spent the day and probably spent the night with Jesus. He runs home to find his brother, Simon. He finds Simon and tells him, “We have found the Messiah!” They hurry to Jesus. Upon meeting Simon, Jesus looked intently into his eyes and said,

“You are Simon, the son of John

but you will be called Peter!

You are a stone!”

Jesus affirmed Andrew’s brother, “You are a rock. You are solid. You will not be moved. People will stand on you. You are strong! You are part of God’s purpose!” Jesus told Peter what was inside of him. He pulled out something of value that was inside of Peter. He spoke life over Peter. He affirmed him.

The next day they all went to Galilee. Jesus found Philip and affirmed him. And Philip took off to find his friend Nathanael. Nathanael’s reaction was a bit different. When Philip told Nathanael that they had discovered the Messiah and he was Joseph’s son from Nazareth, Nathanael’s reply was, “Nazareth! Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” As Philip and Nathanael approached Jesus, Jesus said,

“Now here is a genuine son of Israel, a man of complete integrity!”

Nathanael had deemed little value on Jesus when he heard that Jesus was from Nazareth. Jesus probably sensed that attitude when he met Nathanael and purposefully spoke value over Nathanael.

Love attributes value to everyone that love meets. Love builds up. Love makes eye contact. Love listens. Love believes the best in everyone. Love affirms. Love looks for divine purpose in everyone. Love prophesies.

Lord, I repent for feeling superior to others. I repent for thinking myself as better than someone else. Forgive me for not placing value on everyone I meet or see or read about. YOU pull something good out of every single person! I take on that attitude today! I walk in love and I attribute value to every person I meet and every person I think about today! The love inside of me builds up people. The love inside of me believes the best in people. My love affirms people and looks deep inside to see divine purpose. I can even prophesize your Word over people today! Thank you that my life is valuable to you Lord.

Thank you for teaching me to attribute value to every person

and believe that you can work in their lives.

© LoveWalkPublishing RebeccaAnnCooley

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LOVE ATTRIBUTES VALUE

(Adapted from John 1:40-47)

Chorus:

Love attributed value to everyone that

Love came in contact with

Love attributed value to everyone that

Love came in contact with

Verse 1:

Simon, son of John

You shall be called

Peter a Stone

Nathaniel, an Israelite indeed

A man of integrity

Repeat Chorus

Verse 2:

Love built them up

Affirmed them

Saw God’s divine purpose in them

Love built them up

Affirmed them

Saw God’s divine purpose in them

2^nd Chorus:

I’ll attribute value to

Everyone that I come in contact with

I’ll attribute value to

Everyone that I come in contact with

Verse 3:

I’ll build them up

Affirm them

See God’s divine purpose in them

I’ll build them up

Affirm them

See God’s divine purpose in them

© LoveWalkMusic

WordsAndMusic by KentCliffordCooley

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND / Think On These Things

This is the 3^rd of 6 devotions with the theme from 1 Corinthians 13:7

“Love Is Ever Ready To Believe The Best Of Everyone”

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND
by
Rebecca Cooley

(Adapted from Philippians 4:6-8; 1 Corinthians 13:7)

There is a place that we can go with God where we experience His peace and walk daily in the wisdom of His guidance. This secret place in God exceeds anything that we can understand with our own thoughts and reasonings. This place in God will guard our hearts and minds and it will guide us into all truth. That means that when we are in trouble or need help, God is there to meet our need. It means that we have a friend, a parent, a companion, a lover to express our thoughts to and receive from every minute of the day.

The enemy of our soul endeavors to achieve the opposite. In fact, he strives and manipulates and sets us up daily to get our minds off of the Word and into the negative realm. One of his most effective tactics is to place dishonorable thoughts in our minds about other people. One negative thought processed will grow and accomplish much for the kingdom of darkness.

No wonder Paul taught us to be ready to believe the best of every person. And no wonder he instructed us on what to feed to our minds.

Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence 
and is honorable and seemly,

whatever is just, whatever is pure, 
whatever is lovely and lovable,

whatever is kind and winsome and gracious,

if there is any virtue and excellence, 
if there is anything worthy of praise,

think on and weigh and take account of these things - 
fix your minds on them.

Father, I invite the Holy Spirit into every room of my heart to shine the light of your love into every nook and cranny. I invite you to examine every one of my thoughts today. I give you permission to root out all darkness in whatever form it is hiding. Today, I fix my minds on things that are valuable. I praise you today for the virtues of excellence that are developing in my mind and my heart and I reject the negative schemes of the enemy that are set up to destroy.

“Clothe yourself in love every morning. My love will cover you like a warm blanket when you are chilled. My love covering your mind will cause you to always be hopeful and never give up. It will cause you to believe the best in others and endure through every circumstance and situation that comes your way. My love in your heart not only changes the thoughts in your mind but has a tremendous effort on others and the world. Think on these things.”

© LoveWalkPublishing RebeccaAnnCooley

AllRightsReserved

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THINK ON THESE THINGS

Devotion: What’s on Your Mind?

(Adapted from Philippians 4:8; 1 Corinthians 13:7)

Verse:

Whatever is true,

Whatever is worthy of reverence,

Whatever is honorable and seemly,

Whatever is just,

Whatever is pure,

Whatever is lovely and lovable

Chorus:

Think on these things

Weigh and take account of these things

Think on these things

Fix your mind and thoughts on these things

Bridge:

Whatever is kind,

Whatever is winsome and gracious

And if there is any virtue

And if there is any excellence

And if there is anything worthy of praise

© LoveWalkMusic WordsAndMusic by KentCliffordCooley

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LOVE IS THOUGHTFUL / Your Thoughts

This is the 2^nd of 6 devotions with the theme from 
1 Corinthians 13:7

“Love Is Ever Ready To Believe The Best Of Everyone”

LOVE IS THOUGHTFUL

by

Rebecca Cooley

(Adapted from Psalm 139:17-18; 1 Corinthians 13:7)

“How precious are your thoughts to me! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.”

Love is not an idol giddy mindless emotion.

Love thinks. Loving thoughts precede loving actions. When we keep our thoughts inside of love our actions follow suit. God thinks good thoughts about us. We should think good thoughts about people. If someone jumps in the parking space just before you turn in, think good thoughts about them by preferring that they have it. If someone speaks rudely to you, don’t allow their pride to appeal to your pride. Stay inside of humility. Make your thoughts search deeper than their words and love them. Intercede concerning their needs. Shift your thoughts from the words they are saying to the needs of their heart. Then reply to their rudeness with kindness.

On the other hand, when we think the worse of someone and when we allow negative thoughts to occupy our minds, we open the door for the enemy. The enemy thrives on negative and harmful thoughts and plants untruths and wrong thinking in our minds. This quickly takes root in a heart and eventually it comes out in actions toward that person.

Love builds bridges through the constructive combination of patience, kindness and selflessness. Love is thoughtful. Love gives careful, reasoned thinking with heedful anticipation of the needs and wants of others. Love thinks things through even on the spur of the moment.

Father, I am becoming a thoughtful person because love is making me think. I am becoming careful to be considerate of the needs and wants of others. Thank you for working and moving in my life. Thank you for demonstrating love to me and rooting me in love so that I can pass it on to others. I refuse to open doors for the enemy to occupy my thoughts and use me to hurt others. I resist the enemy's thoughts and I embrace your thoughts toward me, Lord. Your thoughts are love and my thoughts are love too.

© LoveWalkPublishing RebeccaAnnCooley

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YOUR THOUGHTS 

(Adapted from Psalm 139:17-18; 1 Corinthians 13:7)

How precious are Your thoughts to me,

How vast are the sum of them

If I should count them they would out number the sand

How precious are your thoughts to me

© LoveWalkPublishing WordsAndMusicbyKentCliffordCooley

I CAN HEAR YOUR HEART / Love Is Ever Ready

This is the 1^st of 6 devotions with the theme from 1 Corinthians 13:7

“Love Believes All Things”

“Love Is Ever Ready To Believe The Best Of Everyone”

I CAN HEAR YOUR HEART
by 
Rebecca Cooley

(Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:7)

“Love is ever ready to believe the best of every person.”

Challenges and disappointments arise every single day concerning people we love. Even those we are closest to can offend and upset us. Every day a circumstance can arise to give us reason to doubt God, to doubt each other and to distrust the value of our closest relationships. If we look at these storms in the natural, we will be as unstable as a ship caught in a hurricane at sea. Just as it would be hopeless for the ship, our lives would feel hopeless if we responded only by what we see or feel.

We tend to judge people by what we see and what we hear them say and draw conclusions based on the natural eye. God looks at the heart. God listens to what the heart is saying and works in a person’s life to draw out what is not seen with the natural eye. As Christians we learn to do the same. When we view others with the eyes of faith, we can hear their heart. When we hear a cry from the heart, it is easy to respond in love. God is listening for heart cries and he wants to use us to hear and respond for him. Whatever a person is saying, whether it be disagreeable or offensive, listen for the cry of their heart. You will respond in love every time.

Father, the next time I face a challenge with a loved one, before I respond, help me to look inside my own heart and look again with the eyes of faith. Help me not to draw conclusions on what I see but listen to what their heart is saying.

“My child, my heart’s cry is that you would learn to believe the best of every person. If you will look past what you see and listen to my heart, you can endure everything without weakening.”

© LoveWalkPublishing RebeccaAnnCooley

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LOVE IS EVER READY

Devotion: I Can Hear Your Heart

(Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:7)

Verse

Somebody said you can’t trust anybody,

They’ll always do you wrong

Somebody said I’ve been hurt

And they’ll go on and on

Chorus

But love believes all things;

Love is ever ready,

Love is ever ready to believe the best of everyone

Bridge

Mentalities of unbelief they have to go in Jesus name

Mentalities of doubt and fear

I have to say to them I’m unafraid, I’m not afraid

© LoveWalkPublishing

WordsAndMusic by KentCliffordCooley

THE SECURITY OF LOVE / Stepping In The Steps

This is the 6^th of 6 devotions with the theme from 1 Corinthians 13:7

"Love Bears Up Under Everything And Anything That Comes”

THE SECURITY OF LOVE
by
Kent And Rebecca Cooley

(Adapted from John 10:28; Malachi 4:2)

We had just moved to a new location to work closely with a ministry. We had been studying Scriptures on the love walk for several months. Then something happened to test our love walk. We have come to realize that when life happens, it presents us with an opportunity to walk it out in love.

We found a house for rent. It needed extensive cleaning and repairs but it was a good house in a very nice neighborhood. We made a verbal agreement with the landlord that we would clean and work on the house and turn in the receipts to subtract from the rent and charge no labor. After two months of intensive cleaning and maintenance we turned in the receipts.

I called the landlord about the verbal agreement and she decided that she was not willing to deduct the amount of the receipts from the rent and demanded full payment. My first instinct was to argue with her and stand up for my rights. I hesitated to gather my thoughts and instruct my mind to put love in practice. I was not only careful with my words but I was very careful with the tone of my voice.

Complaining and arguing come across in words but murmuring is represented by a sound. My flesh wanted to be offended and demand my rights. But love instructs me to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, speak with kindness and gentleness and be peaceful. These things ran through my mind in the seconds before I spoke.

My response to my landlord was, “When we came here we said we wanted to be a blessing to you and this looks like our opportunity. We will gladly pay the full rent and I will continue to work on your house until we leave.”

Sometime later, we moved out on the tenth of the month. We decided to give her a full month’s rent for 10 days. We did not get a thank you from her but we did receive a thank you from God. In less than one month at a new location and church, a man invited us to live in his home rent free. He offered us his nice brick home with a two car garage in a nice neighborhood at the end of a cul de sac. He said, “The Lord spoke to me early this morning and said to offer the house to the Cooley’s rent free.” He also provided paint and two painters to repaint the whole inside. He informed us that he was not our landlord and to enjoy living there as long as we needed it.

I have often wondered if this would have happened if I had handled myself differently with the landlord. We sowed good seed and we reaped by God causing men to pour into our account.

Part of the revelation I received from this experience is this. No one can take my blessing from me except myself. When I maintain the right words in my mouth and the right tone in my voice, I walk it out in love. As I dwell and continue in love, I dwell and continue in God and God dwells and continues in me. When I stay connected to love, no one can snatch me out of His hands.

Lord, thank you for insight, by experience, as I walk it out in love. I need to be tested to bring out the reverence and respect that I have for You. I do revere and respect You and believe my response to others proves this. I desire that feeling of joy from responding to opposition in the right way just like a calf released from his stall and leaping for joy at freedom. Love sets me free from self.

© LoveWalkConnectionPublishing Kent And RebeccaCooley

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STEPPING IN THE STEPS

(Adapted from John 10:28; Malachi 4:2)

Verse:

Like a little child stepping in the steps,

I’m stepping in the steps of the Messiah.

Like a little child stepping in the steps,

I’m stepping in the steps of the Messiah.

Chorus:

I’m walking it out like You did.

I’m walking it out like You did.

I’m walking it out like You did.

Stepping in the steps of the Messiah

© LoveWalkConnectionPublishing Words And Music by KentCliffordCooley

LOVE'S AUTHORITY / Love's Authority

This is the 5^th of 6 devotions from

1 Corinthians 13:7

“Love Bears Up Under Everything And Anything That Comes”

LOVE'S AUTHORITY
by
Rebecca Cooley

(Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:7; John 5:43)

Is it possible that we have religious leaders today just like the leaders that opposed Jesus when He walked on the earth? There were men who came to the temple in the name of the law and in their own power and authority and people esteemed them highly and listened and followed them. They thought they were right in the eyes of God. Jesus came in the Father’s name and with His power and their hearts were not open to Him. They did not approve because they refused Love’s authority.

What happens today when a religious leader retires? What happens when people no longer follow their authority because he or she is growing weaker with age? What happens when their own power runs out and no one is listening anymore? A person can go in his own power and authority for just so long. What is in that person’s heart will expose itself. I am aware of one man who ranked high in the religious aura of his day. People listened to him and followed him until he retired. Now the man has little authority. He substituted the wrong authority for many years. He thought he was right in the eyes of God but he refused Love’s authority. When you follow this man’s life, very little of the fruit of love is manifesting in his personal life as age takes its toll. He used God’s name in vain at the height of his own glory and now there is no power in that name for him. Although his years of influence are past he can humble himself even now and receive Love’s authority.

My grandmother was not a religious leader but she loved the Lord and followed Love’s authority. When she grew old and was going through the last stages of Alzheimer’s, she did not even know her children but she knew Jesus. She would look into my face and not recognize me. But when we would sing the hymns, she would sing just like she always did. She talked to Jesus like He was right beside her. It was obvious that Jesus was in her heart and spirit and at times. She had the authority of Love in her heart and it brought Jesus to the forefront of her mind residually and at all times. When she grew old and her mind was failing her, Love’s authority stayed strong inside of her heart.

Lord, I want Love to reign supreme in my life. I yield to Love’s authority now. And when I am old, I want someone to come and sit down beside me and still feel Love’s authority. My heart is open to Your power in my life. I give you permission to align my thoughts and attitudes with Love’s authority by the power of Your Spirit.

© LoveWalkPublishing RebeccaAnnCooley

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LOVE’S AUTHORITY

(Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; John 5:43)

Verse:

When the pressures of life bear down on me

I pray that you’ll still be able to see

The fruit of love, patience and kindness, gentleness and humility

Chorus:

Love reigns supreme in my life

I yield to Love’s authority

Love’s authority (repeat)

Bridge:

When I am older and growing weaker

May Your love grow stronger,

Your love reigns, Your love reigns,

Your love reigns supreme

© LoveWalkMusic WordsMusic by KentCliffordCooley

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