Ephesians 5:1–2 — "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."
John 13:34–35 — "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
1 John 4:7–8 — "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
If God is telling me to walk in love, I have the ability to do it. Too many scriptures to ignore how I need to behave. It's not a feeling — it's a choice. 🙏
✦ The Ability Is in the Command
If God is telling me to walk in love, I have the ability to do it. Le names the logic of grace: God does not command what He does not enable. The command is the proof of the ability. If He says walk in love, then the walking is possible — not by human willpower but by the Spirit who empowers every step.
Philippians 4:13 — I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Spurgeon's day eleven: the lean, not the boast. The ability is not Le's. The ability is Christ's, working through Le. The command and the enabling come from the same Source. 🙏
✦ A Walk — Not a Feeling
It's not a feeling — it's a choice. Ephesians 5:2 says walk in love. A walk is daily. Directional. Deliberate. You choose to put one foot in front of the other. The walk does not wait for the feeling. The feeling follows the walk.
Jowett's flower of love from July 20: we cannot command it — we can grow it. And Le today: it's a choice. The growing is the choosing. Day after day. Step after step. The flower of love is not commanded into existence by emotion. It is grown by daily choices of obedience. 🙏
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
✦ Love Never Fails
Paul's description is entirely composed of choices: suffers long — a choice. Is kind — a choice. Does not envy — a choice. Does not seek its own — a choice. Not one item on the list is a feeling. Every item is an action, a decision, a daily putting on.
Le's Ephesians 4:24 from July 23: daily ask the Holy Spirit to help put on the new human being. Love is part of the clothing. It is put on each morning — like the new human being — by choice, with the Spirit's help. 🙏
1 John 4:18 — "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love."
Colossians 3:14 — "But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection."
Perfect love casts out fear. Guyon's day thirty-four — Perfect Love — the destination of the interior way. And John says: where perfect love arrives, fear departs. The two cannot coexist. Fear involves torment. Love involves freedom. The choice to walk in love is the choice to walk out of fear. 🙏
1 John 3:18 — "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
Romans 13:8–10 — "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
Galatians 5:13–14 — "Through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'"
✦ In Deed and in Truth
Not in word or in tongue — in deed and in truth. John echoes James 2: faith without works is dead. And love without deeds is words. The walk is the deed. The choice is the truth.
Love is the fulfillment of the law. Paul says it in Romans. Paul says it in Galatians. The entire law — every commandment, every statute — is fulfilled by one walk: love. Not the feeling of love. The walk of love. The daily, deliberate, Spirit-empowered choice to love the neighbour as the self. 🙏
1 John 4:19 — "We love Him because He first loved us."
Romans 5:5 — "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Romans 5:8 — "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jeremiah 31:3 — "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."
✦ We Love Because He First Loved Us
The ability to choose love does not originate in the one who chooses. It originates in the One who loved first. We love because He first loved us. The love of God is poured out — not earned, not generated — poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The 500 denari soul knows this sequence: God loved first. The sinner was loved before the sinner chose to love back. The choice to walk in love is the response to a love that was already walking toward us — long before we turned around. 🙏
Matthew 22:37–40 — "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
Galatians 5:22–23 — "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
✦ The Fruit of the Spirit Is Love
Love is first on the list. Not by accident. Every other fruit grows from it. Joy without love is hollow. Peace without love is isolation. Kindness without love is performance. Love is the root from which all the fruit grows — and the Spirit is the gardener.
Le's Shema from July 18: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. And Matthew 22: on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Everything — every commandment, every prophet, every entry in this journal — hangs on love. 🙏
"If God is telling me to walk in love, I have the ability to do it. It's not a feeling — it's a choice."
Le · The command is the proof of the ability · The walk, not the feelingWalk in Love
Daily. Directional. Deliberate. The walk does not wait for the feeling. The feeling follows the walk. Ephesians 5:2. A choice, not an emotion.
God Loved First
We love because He first loved us. The love is poured out by the Holy Spirit. While we were sinners. The choice to love is the response to a love that was already walking toward us.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Love is first on the list. Every other fruit grows from it. The Spirit is the gardener. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
A Spirit-prompted study. Le asked for scriptures on walking in love. The scriptures answered — abundantly. And Le's response was the clearest summary of them all.
Le's insight — the ability is in the command: If God is telling me to walk in love, I have the ability to do it. God does not command the impossible without enabling it. The command is the proof of the ability. The same God who says "walk" provides the legs. The same God who says "love" pours out the love by His Spirit.
Le's insight — a choice, not a feeling: It's not a feeling — it's a choice. Every item in 1 Corinthians 13 is a choice. Every step in Ephesians 5:2 is deliberate. Jowett's flower of love is not commanded into existence by emotion — it is grown by daily choices of obedience. The feeling follows the walk. Not the other way around.
Guyon's Perfect Love — day thirty-four: The destination of the interior way. And 1 John 4:18: perfect love casts out fear. The choice to walk in love is the choice to walk out of fear. Both cannot occupy the same step.
The 500 denari soul — loved first: We love because He first loved us. The soul that was loved at midnight in Lubbock — before it chose, before it understood, before it turned around — that soul can walk in love because it was walked toward first. The choice to love is the echo of a love that arrived before the choice was made.
Consuelo's letter: A recompensa de Deus é o próprio Deus, e somente Ele. The walk of love leads to the same destination as every other walk in this journal: God Himself. The walk is love. The reward is the One who is love. And the choice — daily, deliberate, Spirit-enabled — is the pilgrim's one step at a time toward the One who loved first. 🙏