Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
As leaders, we set an example to others in love. Leaders are not some elite clergy that love on behalf of believers. Leaders lead others into the testimony of loving others. That love is not a matter of self-gratification. It is a matter of putting the needs of others before our own. Love is not just an emotion. Love is an action. Jesus demonstrated perfect love when He gave His life as a ransom for us all (1 Tim. 2:5). The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in regard to living lives empowered by God’s Spirit in a supernatural way, but that Spirit empowered way of living was to be motivated by love for others.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails…
Love is a giving attribute, not a means of fulfilling our own desires. When we live to love others, we discover a greater fulfillment of being loved. God’s love is poured out upon us and rises up from within us when we follow the example of loving others as Jesus did.
Romans 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
This testimony of love is fully dependent upon a supernatural testimony of God’s Spirit working in and through our lives. The actions of love are only authentic when they are motivated by the fruit of the Spirit. Love is a fruit of the Spirit, and the associated fruits of the Spirit are all connected to love.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
I believe that love is the foundation for joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Without love the other testimonies of God’s Spirit in our hearts lack the substance of authenticity. Love, like the other eight fruits of the Spirit, is supernaturally inspired, grown, and matured though our intimate connection with Holy Spirit in our hearts. The joining of our spirits to Holy Spirit is the secret to the manifestation of life-giving fruit. These nine fruits are not a discipline of the flesh. They are spontaneously revealed in our lives when we embrace and cultivate a living relationship with God in our hearts. The fruit of the Spirit will destroy the works of the flesh in our lives.
Father, we embrace a relationship of love with You in our lives. We were born to be loved by You. It is not because we are deserving of Your love, but because Your nature is one of giving love. As your sons and daughters, we willingly embrace Your Holy Spirit to empower us to love those You have given to us in this world. Help us to be patient and kind towards them. Deliver us from any self-seeking and prideful agenda in our way of life towards those we love. Empower us to be givers of life and not seekers of our own desires, agendas, or opinions. Help us to be peaceable and patient and able to see the good in others and not the evil. Even when we see a weakness in them or in ourselves, help us to be seekers of truth in a life-giving way. Open our eyes to see what You see. Empower us to bear whatever is ours to bear for the sake of those we love. Help us to believe all things according to Your will and way. Enable us to carry whatever we need to carry. Inspire us to believe all things that You say. Empower us to hope even when we cannot see. Give us cheerful endurance that proves Your love and grant us the overcoming testimony that only Your love can reveal. We know that Your love will never fail. It is not a strength of our flesh but an empowerment by Your Spirit in us.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
