Have you discovered how God’s love grows in your heart when you nurture and cultivate it? Growth, however, doesn’t just happen; it takes effort on your part. Developing the love of God in your life is like growing a garden. Gardeners nurture the tender, young plants as they grow.

For example, would you ever plant a tomato seedling in the ground and then leave it? No, if you did, it would wilt and die. For small vegetable plants to grow so they produce a harvest, they must be cared for and cultivated.

The fruit of God’s love in us works the same way. The love of God has been poured out in our hearts, but it has to be cared for, cultivated, and nurtured. We can do certain things to help our love grow.

For example, love is watered when we spend time in God’s Word and prayer. Weeds of selfishness and self-centeredness need to be pulled so our love can freely develop. Then we nurture that love by putting others before ourselves.

I encourage you to cultivate the love of God in your life! Soften the ground of your heart by saturating your thoughts with scripture about God’s love. Every time someone wrongs you, instead of thinking about the person’s bad qualities, think about the good. Replace negative thoughts by quoting the Word. And as you diligently weed negative thoughts and attitudes out of your heart, you’ll create a garden that only produces a harvest of God’s blessing!

I’m excited to share this issue of The Word of Faith with you. On page 8, my daughter, Denise Hagin Burns, writes about praying honest prayers and getting results. Lynette and I share godly wisdom from 53 years of marriage on page 14.

I pray that God’s love in you flourishes like a well-tended garden!