Love

Day 14

Love Day 14 (Something God’s been dealing with me about)

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (I. Cor. 13:13)

Love…Do I truly love people? How can I say I love Jesus and not love people? You can’t love God without loving people and you can’t truly love people without loving God.

Love. What the gospel was birthed out of. (John 3:16) I believe it is the most neglected message preached and least lived virtue out there. Why is that? It is a lot easier to judge, miss mercy, or be “hard” isn’t it? But love? That can be tough. Loving people. Loving enemies. We would much rather attack people with truth. You see although the “truth will set you free,” (John 8:32) truth alone, without being rooted in love, can hurt people. The Law kills but the Spirit gives life. (II. Cor.3:6) There has to be a balance. If you have truth alone but no love you become legalistic. If you have love but no truth, then it really isn’t love.” Speaking the truth in love.” (Eph. 4:15) I believe one of the greatest things that grieves the heart of God is to see the church attack each other and rip each other apart and Christians to attack and rip each other apart. Ignorantly, we don’t even realize Satan himself is using believers to kill each other with their mouths. Galations 5 says, If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

As believers/ministers we like to be told we are anointed, and we did great, and we sang great but one of the best compliments we could ever receive is “you are the most loving person I know.” The Bible says the greatest sign that you can tell that someone is a believer is not that you can speak in tongues, or prophesy, or speak an anointed message but it is that you can walk in the love of Christ. "By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." (John 13:35). I don’t believe it is by accident that the “Love Chapter” I. Cor. 13 is placed right in between two chapters (I. Cor. 12 speaks of spiritual gifts and chapter 13 speaks of tongues and prophecy) that speak of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is important because if we don’t operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit in love we can misuse them.They are to be used very carefully.

Years ago, the Lord began to deal with me about love. I had fasted and prayed about the Lord increasing the anointing in my life and the Lord giving me gifts, until one day he asked me, “When was the last time you fasted and prayed for the love of Christ?” You see I could preach an anointed message, flow in some of the gifts of the Spirit, say I was full of the Holy Ghost, but where was the love of Christ in all that? Was I ministering out of envy, jealousy, anger, flesh? If I wasn’t operating out of love I was operating out of the flesh.

My prayer is that my life, my ministry, and my family will be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. That everything we do will flow from that. My hope is that one day the church will lay aside all the pride, egos, and reputations and truly be “unified in the faith.” When that day comes, the church will be a force to recon with and the world will see the manifested love of Christ.