Bible Study
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
I Corinthians 13:13 NKJV
In First Corinthians 12, Apostle Paul discusses extensively on the diversity of manifestations of the Holy Spirit and ministry offices in the Body of Christ. These offices and manifestations all make for the effective and efficient working of the Body.
Manifestations of the Spirit & Ministry Offices
The Manifestations of the Spirit as seen in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 are; word of wisdom, word of knowledge, special faith, gifts of healings, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues. The Ministry Offices (aka Ministry Gifts) are somewhat listed in verse 28, but more clearly in Ephesians 4:11. These offices include: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.
The More Excellent Way..
It is quite interesting and instructive to note Paul’s ‘closing remark’ at the end of that explosive teaching as seen in First Corinthians 12:13…
“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”
I Corinthians 12:31 NKJV
Apostle Paul is saying;- There is something GREATER than all of the Ministry gifts and Manifestations of the Spirit. And we find that greatest gift in the next chapter (First Corinthians 13) as LOVE!!.
So Paul’s summary of his awesome exposition on both the Spiritual Gifts and Manifestations of the Spirit is to LOVE. Oh yes! We should desire and earnestly covet whichever of the manifestations of the Spirit we consider best, however, LOVE is a More Excellent Way!
Now, here’s something to always remember…..Love is the only new covenant commandment! (Luke 10:27) ?. The summation of the Word is Love. How much of God’s Word we have imbibed, is reflected in how we love.
LOVE is a more excellent way!
You Are Made of Love
If you are reading this and saying, ‘Grace, I can’t love, I am not loving, I struggle with loving, I am not a loving person, I just can’t love‘…?. Well, I have great news for you; as a Child of God, You are Made of Love! ?
See John 1:12-13 and 1 John 4:7-8….
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become CHILDREN OF GOD, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13 NKJV
“Beloved, let us love one another, For Love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, For God is Love. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is Love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.“
I John 4:7-8, 16 NKJV
So you see, we have God’s nature, we are made of love! and with the help of the Holy Spirit we can love as God loves. We show that we know God, express our connection and resemblance to Him, identify with Him, when we know how to love as He loves. LOVE is a more excellent way!
So chin up, shoulders squared, as I share below on how you (and I) can develop our LOVE Nature and enjoy a better love walk.
1. Practise Love
Ephesians 3:17 speaks of becoming rooted and grounded in love.
“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17-19 NKJV
Practice leads to mastery. To become rooted and grounded in anything takes practice. To practise something is to perform it over and again in order to gain mastery of it. So there is a DELIBERATE commitment to doing that thing repeatedly. Steady practise inadvertently leads to improvement and many times mastery.
What is Love?
To know how to do something, we need to first understand what it is. According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7;
- Love is not rude
- It is not selfish
- Love does not easily get angry
- It forgives and forgets wrongs done
- Love is patient and kind
- It is not jealous
- Love is not proud
- It is not boastful
- Love delights in integrity
- It keeps trusting
- Never gives up on people
- It never loses hope
When our lives become a reflection of all the above listed features of love, then we can truly say we are matured and rooted in love.
Other ways to practice love…
Romans 12:20-21 and Luke 6:27-32 tells us some additional ways to practice love…..
“Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.“
Romans 12:20-21 NKJV
“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
Luke 6:27-32 NKJV
A Christian’s only enemy is the devil. Any other person parading as an enemy is under the devil’s influence. Sometimes encounter individuals who fit into a fair description of ‘principality’. And really, our humanly response to these kind of persons wouldn’t look anything like love. I mean who would ordinarily want to pray for, bless, give gifts or feed someone who doesn’t wish them well? Yet Luke and Paul tells us that to truly love, we need to act in ways contrary to our natural instincts.
The peace and calmness that comes from choosing to love rather than fight/hate is not something to trade for anything. Our response to difficult and challenging persons is an important determinant of how grounded and rooted in love we’ll ever be (selah).
Choose to act in love; it is a more excellent way!
2. Say Who You Are
Do you have a healing, prosperity, peace confession? Well, how about writing up 1 Corinthians 13 confession for the More Excellent Way of Christian Living for yourself? ?
The Word of God is seed. Every time we speak the Word over our lives we are planting seeds that will surely grow.
Our confessions of God’s Word represent our affirmation of faith; we agree with God’s Word as we commit to intentionally choose to act in love.
I have come to know through personal practice that faith confessions create realities. Some realities may take a little more time to manifest than others, but if confessions work in one area, they’ll work in others too. Halleluyah! So if we commit and remain steadfast with our confessions in any area of life, we will see a turn around for good.
Today, write up a personal confession on love and regularly enjoy expressing a more excellent way of Christian living.
3. Listen To The Holy Spirit
“… those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Galatians 5:24 NKJV
Crucify the flesh, listen to the Spirit.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.“
Galatians 5:16-17 NKJV
Any Christian comfortably harbouring any form of unforgiveness is not listening to the Holy Spirit (selah). Any Christian who repeatedly stirs up or responds in strife, envy, hatred, etc is not being led by the Spirit to do so. The Holy Spirit will never lead anyone to act in the flesh or to express evil (Romans 1:29). It is impossible to be yielded to the Spirit and yet to be comfortably walking in unforgiveness, hatred, malice, envy, strife, contentions, etc.
See what 1 Corinthians 5:14 says…
“Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.”
2 Corinthians 5:14 NLT
If you did a quick honest review of your actions, words, reactions or responses in the last couple of days, hours, minutes, would you say you were being controlled by the Spirit of love or by your old life (flesh) or by evil? ?.
We start healing when we tell ourselves the truth.
Not too long ago, I realized I was easily irritated (impatient, easily angered, raising my voice, etc). Truly, I was shocked at myself. One day, I said to my husband that something wasn’t right; I haven’t been this way in a very long time. I was really uncomfortable and disoriented being this way. Well, after a little thinking, I realized that I haven’t been praying in tongues as often as I used to. Meaning my flesh was acting up. I’ve since started enjoying more inner peace and calmness as I increased my prayer time. Praise God!
One way to develop one’s sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is by praying in tongues. When we pray in tongues we are built up and strengthened in our innerman (Jude 20, Ephesians 3:16). Then our charged up spirit gains and exercises more control over our flesh.
Friends, there is a love nature already at work in us, let us commit to tend it, fan it, and to let it grow and blossom. When we do this, then are we true disciples and representatives of Jesus Christ.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:35 NIV
LOVE is a more excellent way for Christian living.
Shalom!
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