We find that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-26 (Amplified) is almost exactly like what 1Corinthians 13:4-8 (Amplified) says about the Love God has poured in us when the Holy Spirit entered our lives. We describe the Holy Spirit as the power of God. We have mistakenly not identified the Holy Spirit as the Love of God. 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.
John didn't say that God does not know you, but that you do not know Him. We've viewed God in many different ways and doctrines. Some still see God through the old covenant viewpoint. Many have a viewpoint of God seen through uncertainty and confusion. Some have even preached the viewpoint of God being outdated for our lives today and that we are our own gods
God's true identity is the Father and we need to recognize His love for his children. The Word declares in Romans 8:14 (Amplified) that, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." The Holy Spirit is the Love of God Who has entered into our born again spirit and is directing us by Love. He never drives us, but He gently leads us in His love for us. Until we understand God's love, we will never walk in God's power. the fruit of the Spirit is the manifestation of God's Love in action.
This love is His power. Don't mistake meekness for weakness. When we yield to the Spirit of God, This is meekness, but it produces power and not weakness. The Apostle Paul commented on this in his letter to the Church of Corinth in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified) saying, "But He said to me; My Grace is (My favor and loving kindness and mercy) is enough for you (sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully) for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in (your) weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me."
Paul discovered that it was his ability to determine where God's love was able to reach it's full potential. Once he realized he was unable to do the work is when the works got done. We've looked at love as a form of weakness because when we walked in love, then people took advantage of us. That's the human love we're afraid to reveal. God's love is anything but weakness.
Jesus was the Love of God walking in the flesh. He's our example of how to walk in God's Love. No one could take advantage of Jesus because the Love would protect Him in everything He did. John 17:23 (Amplified) says, "I in them, and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and (definitely) recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved (them) even as You have loved Me."
The power of Jesus flowed from the love of God. John 3:16 reveals how powerful this love actually is. It was love that broke all the hold over the enemy in our lives. We've always looked for heroes to pattern our lives after. Mostly though, they showed up as Superman or Batman or some other powerful favorite. We never thought of Jesus as Superman. We can imagine all the super heroes doing any kinds of imaginable feats, but we only see Jesus as a man Who died.
Maybe, because Jesus yielded Himself to die on the cross, we feel pity for Him. But, His death on Calvary revealed the full power of Love because this Love raised Him from the dead. It was the Holy Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead by Love. Romans 8:11 (Amplified) says, "And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you."
The amazing Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Love, never fails. As natural men, we never considered that love is power. God's power works best and only by love. When Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit, he is talking about someone who yields to the Love in him by the Spirit of God.
We've condensed the fruit of the Spirit to "being nice." If we were nice to others, then we were walking in the fruit of the Spirit, right? We should be nice to others, but the fruit of the Spirit is for loving others enough to set them free. If I'm sick, then you're being nice to me doesn't help me. When we walk in the fruit of the Spirit then we're walking in Love. And, when we walk in love, then we're walking in the Spirit. When we walk in love, then we find we're now in the place where the "gifts of the Spirit" can be manifested in us.
1Corinthians 12:31 (Amplified) says, "But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and the choicest graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces) And yet I will show you a still more excellent way (one that is better by far and the highest of them all, LOVE." Paul said the better way to receive these gifts of grace other than seeking and coveting them, is to learn the power power of the One Who is the giver of these gifts-Love, Himself."
We've tried walking in love by our own efforts in our covenant walk. Love is the supernatural presence of God Himself in us. Acts 1:8 (Amplified) says, "But you shall receive power (ability efficiency and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
Romans 5:5 says that, "God's Love is shed abroad in our hearts." The Love Paul's speaking up is God's power shown through us to the world. We cannot use the same kind of love we used before we were saved and expect it to produce power. We must become so in touch with the Father like Jesus was and do the work He wants done.
John 14:10 (Amplified) says, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? What I am telling you I do not say on My Own authority and of My Own accord; But the Father Who lives continually in Me does the (His) works (His Own miracles and deeds of power)." The fruit of the Spirit is as supernatural as raising the dead or growing a new limb that was severed. We can never muster enough goodness in our flesh to operate in His supernatural Love. It must come by seeking Him to the point that it was with Jesus Himself. It's not me, but the Father in me Who does the work.
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