1John 4:8 (Amplified) says, "He who does not love has not become acquainted with God (does not and never did know Him) for God is love."
Until we become acquainted with the Father of the new covenant, we will never know love the way we should. Love is not the character of God, but is actually God Himself. Love is not a "gift of the Spirit," but is the actual presence of God's Spirit Itself.
Love is the author and the very person of the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. The more we allow our Father to fully live in and through us, the more of His Own person is revealed to the world. Without Him, we're incapable of displaying His person of love. Our natural person of flesh is by nature (fallen nature) selfish and boastful. We can only reveal our Heavenly Father to the worldby allowing Him to live through us.
The gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit are God Himself living in our place. Jesus said in John 10:30 that, "He and the Father are One." He said in John 15:9-10 (Amplified) that, "I have loved you (just) as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love (continue in His love with Me). If you keep My commandments (if you continue to obey My instructions) you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love."
This Love is not the gift, but is the Giver of the gifts. It's very person of God Himself. Without knowing Him as love, we become once again, religious in our relationship with Him. We begin laying down laws and rules and rituals in order to gain access to Him, when all the while, He has already made the way into His presence. All that is required of us is that we simply believe in His love (His person) and receive.
We can only ever hope to flow and move in His gifts and bear fruit by knowing Him in His person (love). John 15:4-5 (Amplified) says, "Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you (live in Me, and I will live in you). Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me." Verse 5 continues, "I am the Vine; you are the branches, Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me) you can do nothing."
Many in the Body of Christ today have either cut themselves off from or have been cut off from this knowledge of Him by teachings that don't reveal Love as the One Who is our life. We try conuring love by our own notions and mostly reveal a bias and self righteous presentation to the world.
1John 4:8 says that if we don't love and reveal God through our lives, then we don't now and never did really know our Father. We can be born again and saved from death, but still really not know our Father. We've never truly understood that it's not our understanding of what love is, but God Himself living in through us Who is love.
We become self righteous when we judge others in our own understanding of love. As we judge and allow Him to judge through us, can we only then reveal the redemptive character of Love (God).
We see the gifts of the Spirit (love) moving in order to release those who are in bondage to sin and the world in 1Corinthians 12. We've mostly believed that these gifts were for the Church. These can be used in the Church to help those who are still babies in Christ and are struggling , but they're mostly to be used by the Church for the unsaved world. God still "So loves the world" and is sending His Spirit, Who is Love Himself, to deliver them through us.
These gifts are the same life and character Jesus walked in when He said in John 14:11-12 (Amplified), "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the (very) works themselves, (If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's Name convince you), I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the thing that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
It was only after Jesus had gone to the Father and the Spirit of the Father (love) had been poured out on mankind and the earth, that we could ever dare hope to do the things Jesus spoke of. Jesus said that its wasn't Him, but the Father in Him, Who did the works. Only Love, God Himself, could ever overlook, forgive and remove all the things sin had brought onto the people.
The people under the Law rejected those outside the Law. Even those who had the Law, regulated the divine deliverance of the Law by judging wrongly. We see how those under the Law were commanded to love, but without God (love living in them) they couldn't do it. The leaders under the Law assigned certain days for healing and other things like it.
God (love) wanted to cleanse the leper, but man wanted to separate them. Love (God) wanted to change man's spirit, but man wanted to change man's behavior. Anything leaders under the Law invoked could never produce the Fruit of the Spirit (the character of God-Love) because they were still separated from the Vine Whoe produces love.
The entire character of our Father was displayed in the life of Jesus. We still judge and sentence mankind based on our own love that operates in us. When God's love, His very life is operating through us, we don't need to separate man from us, but separate them from the world by His gifts of the Spirit, Love (God) can and will set them free.
Isn't this what Jesus said in Luke 4:18 (Amplified) where He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, to release the captives, set at liberty those in bondage, to preach the good news?" These gifts are Love (God) living through us to deliver the world from captivity. Love has come into the earth, grace has removed the barrier, mercy has overridden judgment and Love God has triumphed over death.
Now this fruit of John 15:1-12 (Amplified) is actually producing the very life of the Vine Who is Love Who is God Himself in the midst of earth.
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