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Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is from the KingJames Version of the Bible.Scripture quotations marked New King James Version arefrom the New King James Version 1982 by Thomas Nelson,Inc.Love Never FailsPDF ISBN 978-1-60463-135-730-800916 15 14 13 12 11654321 1987 Eagle Mountain International Church Inc. akaKenneth Copeland MinistriesAll rights reserved under International Copyright Law.No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying, recording, or by any information storageand retrieval system, without the written permission of thepublisher, excepting brief quotations used in reviews.This ebook is licensed for your personal, noncommercialuse only and may not be re-sold or given away to otherpeople. If you would like to share this book, or sow a copyinto another’s life, please purchase an additional copy for eachperson you share it with. If you are reading this book and didnot purchase it, and/or it was not purchased for your use only,please visit HYPERLINK "http://kcm.org" \o "http://kcm.org/" kcm.org and purchase your own copy.Kenneth Copeland PublicationsFort Worth, TX 76192-0001For more information about Kenneth Copeland Ministries, call 800-600-7395 or visit www.kcm.org.

Love Never FailsFear of failure. It has haunted all ofus at some time in our lives. Popularpsychology advises us to adjust, learn tolive with it. After all, failure is, to a certainextent, inevitable—isn’t it?Business statistics show eight out of10 new businesses will close their doorswithin the first two years. More than 50percent of today’s marriages will collapselong before the “death do us part” vow isever fulfilled. And yet the bulk of our failures never show up in such statistics. Theyhide themselves in the fabric of daily life.little failures on the job or with friendsand family that break our hearts one tinypiece at a time and keep us from being thesuccesses we always hoped to be.But the Bible tells us there is a failureproof way to live. It is the way of love.First Corinthians 13:8 says it plainly:“Love never fails.”

Now, to those who think love expressesitself through emotion, that may sound silly.Emotion can’t turn failure into success! Butreal love isn’t expressed through emotion—it shows up in action. And the right actioncan make all the difference.If you want to see an example of thatkind of love in action, read the storyrecorded in Matthew 14. There, Jesusfaces one of the toughest situations in Hisearthly ministry. If He responds in anger(as you and I would probably do), Hisministry will end in failure. But by actingin love, He turns tragedy into success.Read verses 6-14:When Herod’s birthday was kept,the daughter of Herodias dancedbefore them, and pleased Herod.Whereupon he promised with anoath to give her whatsoever shewould ask. And she, being beforeinstructed of her mother, said, Give

me here John Baptist’s head in acharger. And the king was sorry:nevertheless for the oath’s sake, andthem which sat with him at meat,he commanded it to be given her.And he sent, and beheaded Johnin the prison. And his head wasbrought in a charger, and given tothe damsel: and she brought it toher mother. And his disciples came,and took up the body, and buriedit, and went and told Jesus. WhenJesus heard of it, he departed thenceby ship into a desert place apart:and when the people had heardthereof, they followed him on footout of the cities. And Jesus wentforth, and saw a great multitude,and was moved with compassiontoward them, and he healed their sick.To get accurate insight into thissituation, you must realize that John the

Baptist had a closer kinship to Jesus inministry than anyone else. John was notonly His cousin, but a Spirit-anointedprophet who understood Jesus far betterthan Jesus’ immediate family or anyoneelse on earth. He saw Jesus through theeyes of ministry.When Jesus came to him at the JordanRiver to be baptized, John, by the HolySpirit, recognized who He was and said, “Ishouldn’t baptize You, You should baptizeme.” At that point, John was the only onewho knew who Jesus was and what Hewas called of God to do.Jesus dearly loved John and was blessedbecause of him. He once said, “Never wasthere a greater prophet born of a womanthan this man” (see Luke 7:28). You couldtell by the way Jesus talked that Johnmeant a great deal to Him.So you can imagine how Jesus feltwhen the disciples reported to Him thatJohn had been brutally murdered—not

for political reasons, but the result of adrunken party. He was murdered at therequest of an immoral woman becausesome ol’ boy shot his drunken mouthoff! His head was brought on a plate anddisplayed publicly. What a mockery!What would you do in such anemotionally taxing, grief-filled situation? Probably the same thing Jesus did.When He heard the news, He went outto be alone.But then something very strangehappened. When the people learned thatJesus was out there, they followed Him.What would your response have beenat that instant? I’ve often thought whatI might have done. Most likely, I wouldhave said, “Can’t you people ever leaveme alone? Can’t I be alone just oncewithout a bunch of people crowding meeverywhere I go?” But that is not whatJesus did.The Bible says Jesus was moved with

compassion and healed their sick. Hewas not moved with grief over John. Hewas not moved with self-pity. He was noteven moved with anger against Herod.Jesus was only moved with compassion.Why? Because He knew in the spiritrealm that Satan was the real enemy inthis situation.I used to wonder why Jesus neverretaliated—why He could just drop itand go on. What I didn’t realize was thatJesus did retaliate! He overcame the worksof Satan with compassion. He defeatedhatred with love.Jesus knew Herod was not reallythe one who had killed John. He wasjust a puppet. Satan was the one pulling the strings. So Jesus attacked Satanin the spirit realm by destroying hisworks—the works of sickness anddisease. He attacked pain and sufferingwith the compassion of God and healedand delivered those who were afflicted

by the devil. Jesus retaliated against thereal enemy, Satan. Don’t you know thatlaunching such an attack against Satan’skingdom was satisfying to Jesus!You see, Jesus walked in the spirit. Hesaw into the other realm—into a worldmore real than the one which can onlybe seen with the physical eye. He steppedinto that realm and did extensive damageto Satan’s kingdom by being moved withthe compassion of God.Compassion doesn’t just strike atthe surface of things or relieve outwardsymptoms. Compassion goes to theroot of the problem: the devil and hisworks. When you learn to be motivatedby God’s compassion, you realize thatpeople are not your enemy. When peoplecome against you with persecution,affliction and accusations to harass youand make your life miserable, launchyour attack against Satan because he isthe real enemy.

If Jesus had allowed Satan to forceHim into retaliating in the area ofhuman emotions, He would have beentrapped into physical warfare, whichwould have ruined His ministry. Operating in the flesh profits nothing. The Biblesays our warfare is not against flesh andblood, but against principalities, powers,rulers of the darkness of this world,and spiritual wickedness in high places(Ephesians 6:12).How could Jesus react in love in sucha murderous situation? Because He wasmoved by the Holy Spirit of God—Compassion Himself. He was motivatedby love. He reacted the way love wouldreact. God is love (1 John 4:8), and Jesusalways did only what the Father, who isLove, told Him to do. Compassion is aperson. Compassion is God Himself.“But that was Jesus!” you say. “He hada direct line to the Father. I don’t!” Oh,yes you do! You have the ability, through

the same Holy Spirit who indwelt Jesus,to be moved with compassion, just as Hewas. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love ofGod is shed abroad in our hearts by theHoly Spirit. All we have to do is makethe decision to be motivated by His loverather than our own human feelings.Love is not a feeling, and a feeling isnot the evidence of love. Love is a person,and action is the evidence of it. Whenthe Bible says that Jesus was moved withcompassion, it could have said He wasmoved by God, not a feeling. Compassion—the Father—sent Him into theworld, not to condemn it but to save it,praise God! Regardless of what peopledid to Him, Jesus was only moved withcompassion for them.Someone might say, “Well, if I didthat, people would walk all over me. If Iturned the other cheek every time I wasslapped, I’d be beaten to a pulp.” That’sthe way the world and most Christians

think because they don’t understand theprinciple behind turning the other cheek.Do you remember when Jesus wentback to Nazareth and the religious folkswere so angry with Him they wanted topush Him off a cliff? What happened?The Bible says He just walked rightthrough that hostile crowd. He didn’t hitanyone or call fire down from heaven onthem. He just walked right past them,and no one could lay a finger on Him.Another time they decided to stoneHim, and He didn’t retaliate that timeeither. He just walked off. No one couldtouch Him.I asked the Lord how it was possiblefor Jesus to avoid confrontation withoutthe crowd becoming violent and withoutbeing killed or stoned. He reminded meof Ephesians 6:16 which says that theshield of faith would quench all the fierydarts of the wicked one. All the darts—not just 75 percent of them!

When we are walking in the loveof God, being moved by compassion, asupernatural shield of faith protects usfrom all the fiery darts of the wicked.And the key to keeping that shield inplace lies in keeping and obeying God’sWord. Notice 1 John 2:5: “But whosokeepeth his word, in him verily is the loveof God perfected.”What does keeping God’s Wordhave to do with living in love? To bemotivated by love is to be moved notby feelings, but by God, by Compassion Himself. And God communicatesHimself to us through His Word, sowhatever the Word says to do, we just doit. We put God’s Word first place in ourlives. This is living in the love of God.Read 1 John 5:3 very carefully.Love is perfected by putting the Wordfirst place and the Bible says that lovenever fails. No matter what the situationlooks like, it can’t fail because God is love

and God cannot fail. You don’t have tobe afraid of failure anymore. In fact, youdon’t have to be afraid of anything. As1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear inlove; but perfect love casteth out fear.”So just take God at His Word. Act onit even when you don’t feel like it. Youcan depend on God to back His Wordand see to it that you don’t fail.When Jesus walked through thatbloodthirsty crowd, He wasn’t sneakingaway as if He were afraid they mighthurt Him. He knew they couldn’t touchHim because He was walking in theprotection of God. No one could harmHim until He laid His life down as theLamb slain for the sins of the world.Jesus told Herod, “You can’t take My life.It’s Mine to pick up or to lay down, andno man can take it from Me.”When Jesus said to turn the othercheek, He didn’t mean that you wouldhave to stand there and have your brains