Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for looking into Prosperous Life Newsletter today. We've prayed that this article will edify you with the TRUTH of God's Word and cause your FAITH to grow stronger (Romans 10:17).

With this issue, PLN begins year number fourteen of continuous service to the Body of Christ. We know that over all those years tens of thousands of people, mostly Believers have come in contact with this publication and we hope that for most people it has been a blessing. It's our calling to sow the Word of God wherever we can and we pray that it finds good soil where it can take root and change lives as only the Word can do.  

Agape Love

As you can see we're also introducing a new series today called "Pursuing a Loving Lifestyle" and we'll probably talk about it for the entire year as the Lord leads. The Bible says that God is Love (1 John 4:8, 16). It doesn't say He's like love or that He loves all people which He certainly does; it just says quite clearly that He IS LOVE. The Greek word translated to the English word LOVE in this scripture is agape. In the Greek language which is the original language of the New Testament, there're several different words that English translates into the single word LOVE. In that sense Greek is much more precise than English and more specific meaning can be transmitted through the word choice.

The word agape is not talking about romantic love or family love or brotherly love or love among friends or love for one's employees or for things, etc. It is not based on one's emotions or feelings. It's a special kind of LOVE that's the result of a decision, a choice, a determination to LOVE based on one's will. It can be self-sacrificing and doesn't require LOVE in return. We decide to LOVE God and we decide to LOVE other people without regard for who they are, what they mean to us or what we receive in return. In the New Testament whenever it's talking about LOVE and God in the same context it almost always talking about the agape type of LOVE and it's the agape type of LOVE that describes what God IS. He's the personification of agape LOVE.

Quick to Give

The primary characteristic of agape love is a willingness to GIVE . God gave His LOVE when we were in sin. God gave His only Son out of His LOVE for mankind. Jesus gave His life because He LOVED the Father and He also LOVED mankind. God gave the earth to Adam and doesn't hold it against us that His gift was lightly valued and abdicated through sin. Propensity toward giving is the first manifestation of agape love. It's the highest priority of an agape life. Where there's selfishness there can be no agape. Where there's self-serving, there can be no agape. Where there's no thanksgiving and gratitude for what God has done, agape LOVE will be scarce. Where one's priority for money is higher than the Kingdom of God, there will be NO agape LOVE.  

In this country Believers are largely slow to give. It's not a high priority. Many Christians are resentful when the offering plate comes around during the church service of if the Pastor talks too much about money. But agape says I should give enthusiastically into God's work (the local churches and ministries) because He has blessed me and His churches and ministries have blessed me and taught me and inspired me and equipped me and helped me change and grow. Indeed the Bible says that God LOVES (agape) a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). The word "cheerful" here means QUICK to give. In sum, where there's reluctance to give from one's substance there can be no agape.

The Challenge

And so as we introduce this new series, we're going to do something we've never done before in the thirteen plus years of the PLN ministry. We have NEVER asked you for a Love Offering but for the first time we're going to challenge you.