The heart condition I've been writing about is what keeps me writing the things I do. People want to know why I have set myself up as being controversial and it's because I wish to see God's people understand and walk in the fullness of Christ. We cannot arrive at the heart condition God wants for us without understanding beyond what religion has taught.
The answer to the heart condition is understanding the love God has for us and loving one another as He has loved us. If we don't understand God's love for us, then how can we love someone else in that way? We read how God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus so we might be saved. But, do we understand God's great love for us in our own lives? We've tried to perfect this love in our own feeble selves instead of totally surrendering to His love. In Romans 5:5 (Amplified) we read that, "Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given us."
The last verse of 1Corinthians 12:31 (Amplified) Paul gives a discourse on the great spiritual gifts. All of these gifts are still valid and alive and well in the Holy Spirit today. We make doctrines that discard them because we fail so miserably to walk in them rather than facing the fact there's still a heart condition in the Church. Paul speaks about love and the actions of love in 1Corinthians 13:1-13 (Amplified). We've tried walking in and understanding this scriptures, but mostly to no avail. Near the end of 1Corinthians 12:31 (Amplified) Paul says we're to, "Earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces), And yet I will show you a still more excellent way (a better way to obtain these gifts than to desire and zealously cultivate)." Paul goes on to says, "(Away that is far better to receive these gifts) seek after love as a higher and better way (to obtain the gifts)."
If we could learn to understand God's love to and for us, then we could move into this love for others. When Paul speaks about love in 1Corinthians 13:4-8 (Amplified) we must understand that it's not simply a way for us to act, but actually it's the very character of God Himself. 1John 4:8 (Amplified) says that, "He who does not love has not become acquainted with God (does not and never did know Him) for God is love."
We've sought out the power of God through the gifts of the Spirit. But, we've never understood the reason for the gifts. The Spirit gives these gifts "as He wills." It's God's love for the person who is sick that will override even the faults of the one who is praying to meet the needs of the one being prayed for. This is what moves the Holy Spirit to deliver these gifts to profit all.
We've seen how men can get puffed up by operating in these gifts. I've watched men misuse these gifts for personal gain, yet God's love for the sick person still allows them to operate. That's because He wants to see the sick well, the oppressed set free and the lost and hopeless be restored.
It'd be easy to let go of all the things that are viewed as controversial in the Church. Instead, ministers could just teach and preach what people want to hear and leave them in the same heart condition we are in. If we read the Word, we find that Paul was probably the second most (Jesus is the most) controversial man in the New Testament.
Paul struggled with the people's unbelief throughout his ministry. All he wanted to do was bring the people to a higher place in their faith than what they were in. Most of us become comfortable in where we are and don't want to be challenged to move up. It seems easier to simply let things go than to "eagerly desire the gifts."
Without these gifts operating in the Church and "in the world," how can we ever hope to reveal a true and living God and Father to the people? Jesus said that, "If you can't believe what I say, then at least believe Me for the works that I do." Did it work? Yes.
I've heard people ridicule gifted men and women of God who walked in this power of love. Some were branded fakes, crazy and some even as being from the devil. But, still, the Great Love Who is God Himself, kept them from ever quitting in their pursuit of God for the people. Only God's love can compel someone to continue on in the face of all opposition.
God still want what He set out to do in Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified) where Jesus stated what His anointing was for. Thus, He says, "The Spirit of the Lord (is) upon Me, because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah) to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are down trodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity)." Verse 19 goes on, "To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when Salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound)."
We're to be ambassadors for Christ. 2Corinthians 5:19-20 (Amplified) says, "It was God (personally present) in Christ, (reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself), not counting up and holding against (men) their trespasses (but cancelling them) and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor)." Verse 20 says, "So we are Christ's ambassadors, God, making His appeal as it were through us. We (as Christ's personal representatives) beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor (now offered you) and be reconciled to God."
As God's personal representatives, we are to reveal Him in all of His fullness. We are to represent Jesus as He represented the Father. We are His Own personal ambassadors to the entire world. Part of this representation is to return the eyes of the world to the supernatural power of the One we represent. Mostly, we're to reveal to the world and overcome the natural state of man by the supernatural power of God's love for them.
The lack of the power of God as shown through the gifts of the Spirit comes form a lack of understanding that God's Own love is already been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. If this love is in our hearts and isn't being manifest, then we still have a heart condition to deal with. When we love like we're called to love, then we cannot look at someone who is sick or disabled without being "moved by compassion" and setting them free.
Don't simply say such things as "some day when you get to heaven, you'll be healed." Jesus didn't wait for us to get to heaven before He set us free. He dealt with us now while we were here on earth and promised us heaven too. As the Church, we need to examine our hearts and see whether the true love (as He loved us) is really at work in our lives. We have the ability inside us to actually reveal Jesus as He was and as He still is. The world is searching harder than any other time for a Light to follow. We are the light of the world. Let's raise that light (which is Jesus, the manifest Love of God) high upon the hill so the world can see their way through the darkness. The enemy's always showing the world a false way to walk in. And, because they are lost and confused, they're seeking leadership like they were in Jesus' day. Jesus said they were "sheep without a shepherd."
Our heart condition is understanding that God's love for us is His love for them. If we set out to reveal this love and walk in it, if we seek after understanding and if we ask for wisdom, the Bible says that He will give it. James 1:5 (Amplified) says that God wants to show His love through you. If your heart is right, then it will never be you who is exalted...only Him. If satan or your own heart tells you that you're not a candidate for these gifts to men, then let God's love fix your heart condition.
These gifts are as much a part of our Lord as feeding the hungry or clothing the naked or sheltering the homeless are. One can be done by simple human love and the other will have to be done only by His love. Even natural men can feed the hungry, but only supernatural love can give sight to the blind or help the lame to walk. In Acts 4:19 (Amplified) the apostles were attacked by the people for healing a man. Verse 19 says, "But Peter and John replied to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you and obdy you rather than God; you must decided (judge).'"
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