Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt.

Author: Jentezen Franklin

It’s no secret that those who are closest to us can wound us the most profoundly.

Reeling from betrayal, we build walls around our hearts to protect us from the heartache,

yet these are the very walls that block us from seeing hope, receiving healing, and feeling love.

It’s time to tear down your walls, work through your wounds, repair damaged relationships and discover the power of an open heart.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt.

You Will Never Get Ahead Trying to Get Even

When you have been wronged, a poor memory is your best response.

A good forgettery is what all of us need.

Have you ever noticed how a jeweler shows his best diamonds?

He sets them against a black velvet backdrop. The contrast of the jewels against the dark background accentuates their luster.

In the same way, God does His most stunning work where things seem hopeless.

Wherever there is pain, suffering and desperation, Jesus is there.

There is no better place for the brilliance of Christ to shine.

I do not know what is going on in your life as you read this,

but I do know this: The pain you feel today is the pain you can heal.

Yes, I have never felt the pain of addiction. And I have never felt the pain of losing a child.

Also, I have never felt the pain of divorce.

However, I can only offer people the advice of God’s Word and prayer.

But people who have been through those valleys and felt that pain are more qualified to help heal someone going through the same crisis.

What is important to remember; however, is that regardless of the source of your pain, God can heal you.

It has been said that family provides us with life’s greatest joys and at times life’s deepest sorrows.

The people we Love the most are the ones who potentially, through offenses, can infect us if we do not react right. – While getting hurt is reality, getting and staying bitter is a reaction: The Pain you feel today is the Pain you can Heal.

When I think about how hard it is to make the family work, the challenges that come and the complications involved, it is really something else.

Family members know how to tick us off. They can get on our nerves.

The people we love the most are the ones who potentially, through offenses, can infect us if we do not react right.

But I have learned that with challenges come opportunity.

And family also provides the greatest opportunity for us to learn how to love like we’ve never been hurt.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: The pain you feel today is the pain you can heal.

Philippians 3:13-14 KJV

[13] Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,

forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

[14] I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

https://bible.com/bible/1/php.3.13.KJV

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt.

Love Wins—All the Time

Indeed, Love is the answer to the broken home. And Love is the answer to the addict.

Also, Love is the answer to fractured relationships. And Love is the answer to being offended.

True Love is the answer to heartbreak.

Love is a weapon that can shatter division and rebuild what has been broken.

What is happening in your life right now that tests you in the way you love?

Did you just discover that your spouse has been cheating on you?

Do you want to reconnect with the daughter you haven’t spoken to in months?

Did your son just tell you his girlfriend is pregnant?

Is your teenager suffering from an addiction that is overwhelming not just his life but every single person in your family?

Has your adult daughter declared she’s a lesbian and she’s done with the whole God business?

Different dynamics and complexities characterize each of these situations.

But they’re real. They’re hard. And they hurt.

I wonder what would happen if we decided that, with God’s help and in His strength, we are going to love like we’ve never been hurt.

Instead of withholding affection, staying bitter or seeking revenge, we love.

God will begin, little by little, to release you from the past if you will reach for a new day.

It takes a lot of love and forgiveness to hold a family together.

Love never fails. Keep on forgiving. And Keep on loving. Also Keep on reaching. And Keep on talking.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: The ones whom you love the most can hurt you the most. Love them anyway.

Keeping Score Versus Losing Count

One of the most powerful lessons Jesus ever taught was on forgiveness.

He gave it because Peter approached Jesus and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

I have a sneaky suspicion Peter had someone in mind that he had already forgiven six times.

He just might have been ready to write that person off. Whether or not, he was looking for a formula.

Jesus says, “No, not seven times. Seventy times seven.”

You know I am not good at math, but I can figure out this equation.

The answer is 490. The way I read it, this means we are to forgive the same person 490 times each day.

That is a lot of forgiving to do. At a rate of one act of forgiveness every three or so minutes, you could spend an entire day just forgiving someone!

But this is not about numbers.

Jesus was giving us a new math formula, a new set of truths for us to walk in forgiveness.

The first truth is this: Forgiveness is not about keeping score. It’s about losing count.

We are all going to get hurt in some way.

Your spouse will let you down.

Someone might gossip about your marriage.

Or, Someone might steal your money.

Also, Someone might steal your husband.

And Someone may have abused you.

Perhaps, Someone may have harmed your child.

While getting hurt is reality, getting and staying bitter is a reaction.

We must live a lifestyle of constant forgiveness.

This is not about satisfying the requirements of a mathematical equation.

We must forgive. All the time.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: Stop keeping score and start losing count.

Learn to Love Yourself First

God wants to restore you.

He wants to offer you the ring of acceptance.

And He wants to reconcile you to the Kingdom.

Also, He wants to invite you to sit at His table.

As it is written in Isaiah 61:7, “Instead of shame . . . you will enjoy a double share of honor.”

Once we get ahold of the truth of grace, not only does it empower us to forgive and love ourselves, it should also prompt us to forgive and love others.

Because, let’s be honest, there’s a Prodigal in all of us.

And sometimes it takes learning to love through a mess to get to the miracle.

You can read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, let’s put it in modern times. You may relate to the following scenario.

Lisa was raised in the church.

Her parents were great people who loved Lisa and wanted only the best for their daughter.

She made the mistake of her life when she began to date Bill.

After several months, Lisa was head over heels in love and wanted to marry him.

Lisa knew he had a drinking problem. He also had lots of excuses.

She knew he did not like to go to church with her much, but she convinced herself that she could change him.

Despite her pastor’s warnings and her parents’ pleadings, she went ahead and married him.

About a year and a half later, she was in a living hell.

Bill’s drinking evolved into physical abuse, and Lisa filed for divorce.

She was heartbroken. She had ignored all the warning signs.

Any time children of God marry children of the devil, they are going to have trouble with their father-in-law.

The good news is, God never gives up on us.

Recovering from bad choices you have made can be a heart-wrenching experience,

but God is always ready to restore you, to give you a new start.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: Learning to love others begins by learning to love yourself.

Don’t Give Up on God Because He Never Gave Up on You

God is not in the business of replacing damaged people. God is in the business of fixing damaged people.

He does not want to get rid of us. But He wants to change us. And He wants to heal us.

Also, He wants to transform us. And He wants us to live out the message of the cross.

A story is told about a man parked on the side of a road.

His car had broken down, and he had the hood up, trying to figure out the problem.

A limousine pulled up behind him, and a man got out.

Dressed from head to toe like a million bucks, he walked over to the driver of the broken-down car and asked,

“Do you need help?” The man, of course, said yes.

The man from the limousine tinkered around with the engine a bit and, to the other man’s surprise, the car started right up.

The car’s owner was beyond grateful, and he asked how much he owed.

While there are many variations of this story,

I heard one that included this response:

“Nothing. I’m Henry Ford. I’m the creator of this car. It really bothers me to see one broke down on the side of the road, not doing what I created it to do.”

God doesn’t just ride by in His majesty and pass us along the side of the road when we have been broken.

He wants to stop everything He is doing and come to our rescue.

The Creator longs to redeem His creation.

It bothers God to see you not living the life He created you to live.

He gets great joy when He sees you overcoming, when He sees you moving forward, when He sees your faith growing.

Do not give up on God because He never gave up on you.

Trust Him today. Love Him like you’ve never been hurt.

Whatever you are going through, whatever has happened, whatever loss or pain you feel in your heart, this is no time to quit.

Be encouraged. If you continue to trust Him, God will not let you fall.

He will not let you stumble. And He will not let you wobble. Indeed, He will walk you out of your desert standing tall.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: Love God like you’ve never been hurt. 

The Dirtiest Battle = Your Greatest Victory

2 Samuel 5:8

So, David and his men stood before the mountain. A wide area on top had been flattened.

Huge walls surrounded the city. There was no way in.

Then, David’s eyes fell on a water tunnel.

This can also be described as a water shaft or a gutter.

And David turned to his army and said, “First one who gets up the gutter . . .”

Have you ever cleaned out your gutters? It is an awful job.

Once you pull on thick rubber gloves that reach to your elbows, it’s time to start pulling out an endless pile of gunk and debris.

Out comes slime and sludge, twigs and leaves, remnants of bird nests and sometimes even small animals. It’s just nasty.

That is what David was willing to climb through.

He knew God had a bigger plan in mind.

And He knew God wanted him to do more than just settle for ruling in Hebron.

God wanted him to take Jerusalem.

And God said to David,

“Hebron is what you can do, but Jerusalem is what only I can do.

And I want you to get up there. It is not going to be easy. It is going to get ugly and dirty.”

David had to climb the gutter. Victory comes in the strangest of places.

The first one up was a fighter by the name of Joab.

He said, “Hold up—I’ve waited for this all of my life. Get behind me, young guns. I’m going up.”

And Joab started climbing.

When he popped out the other side, you can imagine how much gunk and junk was splattered all over him.

He looked bad. And He smelled bad.

But he raised his hands in victory and said, “God has given us this city!”

David and his men captured the city of the Jebusites.

Wet, smelly and dirty, they conquered what rightfully belonged to them.

You may be facing a stronghold in your life.

Maybe you are trying to save your marriage.

Or Maybe you are trying to salvage a relationship with a wayward adult child.

However big or intimidating the stronghold, God can set you free.

He can raise your family up from the depths of bitterness, shame and unforgiveness.

I do not know how dirty your battle has gotten.

But I do know that it is the very place where God will be glorified the most in your life.

It is where the anointing will come through.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: The dirtiest battles of your life will produce the greatest victories. 

Opposition Leads to Opportunity

Offenses are inevitable. No one is exempt.

One way or another, we are all going to get offended, hurt, insulted, betrayed, cheated, shamed, violated, or lose our pride.

Since being offended is a Biblical fact, we must learn how to deal with it.

Opposition can cause you to face things and do things you could not have done without the opposition.

Yes, Opposition will make you pray.

And Opposition will make you come running to God. Also, Opposition will make you increase your faith.

You may need to start seeing those who offend or hurt you as an opportunity for God to take you higher.

Right now, the Holy Spirit is pulling into your driveway. He is coming for you.

And He is swooping into your home with a defibrillator.

Charging the paddles with resurrection power,

God is ready to press them down on your heart and shock you back to life.

He is ready to revive whoever has been dead to you.

And He is ready to resuscitate your marriage.

Also, He is ready to resuscitate your family. And He is ready to resuscitate your spirit.

It is time to restart your heart.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: God can use the most trying of circumstances to fortify the walls of your marriage, your family, and your relationship with Him.

Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt.

Also Read: The Power of Mercy and Truth – Diademng (thediademng.org)

If you’ll like to read more, be sure to check out Jentezen’s book, Love Like You’ve Never Been Hurt: http://book.jentezenfranklin.org/