Galatians 5:22-26 (Amplified) says, "But the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit (the work which His presence, within accomplishes) is love; joy, (gladness), peace, patience, (an even temper), forbearance, kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness, (meekness, humility), self-control, (self-restraint, continence), Against such things there is no law (that can bring a charge)." Verses 24-25 go on, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. If we live by the (Holy) Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (if by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit)." Verse 26 says, "Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another."
1Corinthians 13:4-7 (Amplified) says that, "Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily." Verses 5-6 say, "It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride) it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong) It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail." Verses 7-8 goes on, "Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything (without weakening). Love never fails (never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to and end)."
The above scriptures are the very pictures of a born again man who is submitted to God. The power of this man is moved by his Love, both the love God has for him and the love he has for God. Until we understand the love God has for us, we can never walk in a true love for Him. Galatians 5:14 (Amplified) says, "For the whole Law (concerning human relationships) is completed within the one precept; you shall love your neighbor as (you do) yourself."
Many of God's people struggle to learn to love themselves. For some, it seems prideful to love yourself. For God, it's a matter of how much He loves you. It's hard for us to look beyond religion to see the full power of His love for us. When we realize how valued we are in God's sight, it becomes seemingly sinful to say we're unworthy. We were unworthy when God found us, but He didn't leave us that way.
If you ever had a child who felt that you didn't love him as much as you love his siblings, then you know how the Father feels about His children. For some reason, maybe because of something he did, the child feels as though you no longer care for him the way you once did. Many children, even from good families, have this complex and it's extremely hard to make them see the truth. Some children will even do wrong things in order to get you to pay more attention to them. They live with low self-esteem and don't hold their heads high.
They come from the same family and the same bloodline, but never seem to walk in the same way as their siblings. If you cannot learn to finally love yourself like God loves you, then how can you display this love to others? You never want to extend a hand to others because you feel like you have nothing to offer. These people seem to always drift off into the company of others just like them. And, sadly, they mostly end up in trouble or simply reject other people and up up depressed and oppressed.
The discipline we always receive from God is the discipline of the Word into our spirit. God is a Spirit and He deals with your own born again spirit. People who cannot learn to love themselves like God loves them, are always people who are easy targets for the enemy's torment. They always feel like they deserve punishment. They have very little of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives because the fruit of the Spirit is the Love spoken of in 1Corinthians 13. This is the fruit of God Himself because God is Love according to 1John 4:8.
When we reject God's love for us, then we're actually rejecting God Himself. We feel boastful and arrogant when we say that "you can love yourself." God says that you are His treasure and His glory. We must learn to feel valued and loved. When God spoke of Jesus, He declared that, "This is My Son, in Whom I am well pleased." Do you ever see yourself as God's being "well pleased " with you? Yes! But, I still make mistakes and mess up. God sees you through the Blood of Jesus and if He was well pleased with Jesus, then He is well pleased with you because you are in Christ Jesus.
I believe the reason we don't see more of the gifts of the Spirit moving in our lives today, is that we do not accept the fullness of His love. All of the gifts of the Spirit we read about in 1Corinthians 12 are controlled by and flow by the Holy Spirit Who Is Love. This love was infused into our inner man (your born again spirit) when Love Himself (the Holy Spirit) was poured into our hearts like Romans 5:5 (Amplified) says. God didn't just pour out some love when He came because He is Love. When He was poured out into our hearts, it was Love Himself.
By nature, we learned not to trust others. We have such little sayings that show just how much we distrust as "if it looks too good to be true, then it probably isn't" and "there's no such things as a free lunch" and "they're only after your money." We have built up walls to protect ourselves from people and even God and we're afraid to let our guard down.
Man's love has been bankrupt for a very long time. We tried trusting in it and then were hurt. When you open yourself up to love, you think it makes you vulnerable and that people will walk all over you. Because of this, we won't even allow the fullness of God Himself to love us like He wants to do.
When the fruit of the Spirit becomes the Love of God, you're in a position for God to use you like never before. We must learn to trust our outer man to the new inner man which is in His Image. We say we trust God for eternal life, but we still protect our outer man ourselves. Even in our churches, we still look down on certain person and judge them unjustly. This isn't love that's bearing fruit.
We are called to be like Him. The only way to be like Him is to Love like Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment