Love Yourself = Loving God (Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:32; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14; 1 John 4:20; James 2:8)

T.L. & DAISY OSBORN

For over 50 years, the dynamic duo of Dr. T.L. Osborn and Dr. Daisy Osborn, traversed the globe, going where the need was the greatest, and seeing the spectacular supernatural, in mega mass open air meetings, from tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of people at one time, witnessing the miraculous manifestation of God's healing and saving power. Countless participants received blinded eyes opened; deaf ears unstopped; leprosy cleansed; demons cast out; and a myriad of hopeless healings evidenced, from the announcement of God's unfailing word. At the end of their crusades, they would hold teaching clinics, and instruct the hundreds and thousands, of new converts, in these...

SIMPLE TRUTHS:

God is who He says He is, I am who God says I am.

God has what He says He has, I have what God says I have.

God can do what He says He can do, I can do what He says I can do.

ETERNAL TRUTH

The eternal truth, presented in these foundational statements, launched born again Believers, from their mass crusades, into a life of victory and spiritual success.

FAULTY CONCEPTS

At the root of every Christian failure, are faulty concepts about who God is and who we are, as new creations, in Christ Jesus; and our position and authority in Him.

ZIG ZIGLAR said, " You cannot consistently perform, in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself"

"SELF" IMAGE

In other words, your "self" image, determines your success or failure in life!

ZIG ZIGLAR is also credited with saying, "You can change who you are, and you can change what you are, by changing what goes into your mind"

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

The 2nd most important commandment, in the whole of the OT, as quoted by Jesus (Matt.22:39; Mk.12:32), and the lawyer seeking to test Him (Lk.10:27), is to love your neighbor as yourself. (This is quoted from Leviticus 19:18).

Even though in the NT passages mentioned, loving the Lord your God, is said to be the first, and most important command (Matt.22:37-38;Mk.12:30;Lk.10:27), yet, the scriptures also say, that if you love one another, or your neighbor, as yourself, you have fulfilled the law:

ROMANS 13:8-10

"Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. For this, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if there is any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love works no ill to its neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law".

GALATIANS 5:14

"All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself".

This command and exhortation, to love our neighbor, must also fulfill the command to love the Lord our God, because the scriptures say, "...he that loves another HAS [past tense], fulfilled the law" (Rm.13:8) and "...ALL the law [nothing left out] is fulfilled..." (Gal.5:14), "...for the whole law in one utterance stands fully obeyed..." (Gal.5:14, Wuest), in loving our neighbor as ourselves.

FIRST COMMANDMENT

Therefore, the first commandment, to love the Lord our God, must also be fulfilled, by loving our neighbor.

LOVE GOD

The scripture also says, that if we can't love our neighbor/brother, whom we have seen, how can we love God, whom we have not seen? (1Jn.4:20). The point is, if we are able to love our neighbor, then we also love God.

LOVE OURSELVES

But, if we don't love ourselves, then it is impossible to truly love someone else, since we are to love our neighbor in the same way that we love ourselves.

"You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself" (Matt.22:39; Rm.13:9; Gal.5:14, Amp)

"You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself..." (Ja.2:8, Amp)

"...love your neighbor like yourself..." (Lev.19:18; Matt.22:39; Mk.12:31; Lk.10:27; Rm.13:9; Gal.5:14; Ja.2:8, Beck)

"... love one's neighbor no less than oneself..." (Mk.12:33, Wey)

"...(love) thy neighbor as much as thyself..." (Lk.10:27, Wey)

"...love your neighbor as you love yourself..." (Ja.2:8, Wey)

"...you shall love your neighbor in the same manner as you do yourself..." (Matt. 22:39, Wuest)

"...the whole law in one utterance stands fully obeyed, namely, in this, 'love your neighbor as you do yourself' " (Gal.5:14, Wuest)

"...you shall love with a divine and self-sacrificial love your neighbor as you love yourself..." (Ja.2:8, Wuest)

"...you MUST love your neighbor as yourself..." (Matt.22:39; Mk.12:31; Rm.13:9; Gal.5:14; Ja.2:8, Moffatt)

NOT SELF-ABSORBED

When we speak of loving ourselves, the scriptures are not talking about some ego maniac distortion, that is self centered; self consuming; and self absorbed.

AGAPE

The word used in the Greek is (agape, [ 25, Strong's]), meaning, to consider as more valuable and more precious, than anything or anyone else, because of intrinsic worth, not because of some benefit of usefulness derived from it. In other words, we must see ourselves as precious and valuable because of who we are, not because of what we have, or what we can do.

VALUE & WORTH

God, our Father, established our value and worth, in that He loved us so much, that He sent His only begotten Son, into the world, that whoever would believe in Him, would not perish, but would receive, eternal life (Jn.3:16).

PRECIOUS

When we see, how greatly our Father values and considers us, as His favorite, His most precious possession, we also understand who our Father really is; how He thinks, and establishes value; we see what is important to Him, and in doing so, we begin to value and and consider as precious, what He values, and considers as precious.

VALUES & BELIEFS

Christian parents have no greater joy than when their children actively embrace the faith, that they have prayed for, and believed for, their children to internalize. A child can be naturally born, but that child truly only takes on the image of their parents, when the child adopts, and makes their own, the values and beliefs, of their parents.

VALUE WHAT HE VALUES

We truly only love the Lord, our Father God, when we demonstrate, in our lives, by daily practice, what He considers to be most valuable and most precious. This can only happen, when we begin to see, who we are, in Christ; who He has made us to be; and the manifestation of that God-nature inside is released, in and through us; demonstrated for all to see.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours