Love in Action

by Rev Linda Hanson

Love. What is love? It’s a word we use frequently. I love ice-cream. I love the beach. I love my family. I love God. It’s a word that is very popular at weddings. I remember at my wedding a friend inscribed the words of 1 Corinthians 13 in the front of the bible he was giving us, not realising the words were already in the bible. Love is popular. But what is love? What does it look like? We read in Romans 12: 9-12, ^“Love must be sincere…Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” This is what love looks like.

I saw love in action as part of the Alpha Leadership Tour. Each day we were invited to say the ancient prayer, Come Holy Spirit, and invite God to fill us with love until we were overflowing. Each day was an infilling of the Holy Spirit. This started for me with worship at Holy Trinity Brompton led by pastors Sam and Archie Coates. Towards the end of the service they prayed for a refreshing of Holy Spirit on people who are serving. They said, “God wants to refresh you and fill you again with his power. God needs you in the game, filled with the Holy Spirit so you are serving God’s purposes. God has an assignment for you, to release you into a new place and you may think it’s a costly thing – but God has paid and God wants to set you free.” This was love in action. The church pastors showed me and my fellow leaders love and God poured out his love, renewing our spiritual fervour to serve the Lord.

The following Sunday at KXC (Kings Cross Church) Jon Tyson, an Australian ministering in the US, preached on encouragement. He prayed at the end: “I pray for my brothers and sisters gathered here.  Lord I just want to come against the spirit of discouragement that may be in their heart, that is maybe causing people to want to quit, give up or doubt the call of God on their lives. I just want to pray in the name of Jesus that in the innermost being of their hearts, that they would have that sense, that, Jesus, you promised I will be with you always.” What a powerful way to show love – to pray for one another, to encourage one another.

Rev Stephen Foster, of St Aldates Church in Oxford, one of the speakers at the Alpha Conference, spoke of being patient in affliction. His encouragement were words of love to the 5,000 people from 71 countries in attendance. He said, “Jesus - you can trust him and he knows how to honour those who honour him. He is faithful. He is worth it. I tell you, shaking will come. It's tough at times. Let the shaking around you stir a passion within you that can rightly fill your heart. And the peace of God, by the Spirit of God, surround your mind. Stay in the ring. Stay in the fight. He's worth it.”