GOD is LOVE. Love is not a feeling; Love is a BEing. Love is the first from which all good fruit emerges. Love always looks for ways to edify others. Love is neither a doormat nor strolls with hate. (read 1 John 4:1-21)  

  • “I advise to obey only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do, and then you won’t always be doing the wrong things . . . But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce in us the good fruit.” Galatians 5:16,22,23 (TLB)  

There are a significant number of Christians/Believers who are adept in their use of the power of God while devoid of further developing the good fruit. (And) there are Christians/Believers who are adept in their production of the good fruit while devoid of operating in the Ministry-of-Authority and more inherit of God’s power within. Mature Christians are to BE adept in both the use of God’s power as well as the production of the good fruit for effectiveness in our God-given assignment(s) that begins with the God-kind of faith operated by the God-kind of love, gifted at the onset of salvation (read Romans 12:3b & 5:5b), which we are responsible to further develop. That commonly referred to as “church hurt”, is rooted in ungodly behavior which stings and stumbles the saved and deters the unsaved or the lost; especially when such is exhibited by those called by God to the five-fold Ministry Gifts of Jesus: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher (read Ephesians 4:11). The primary purpose thereof is edification of the church, which is the body of Christ, and is far above or beyond either a robe or collar or title held. Hence, it is imperative that God-given leadership exemplify love. “For love always looks for ways to edify others.”1 

  • “If I speak in the tongues[a]of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of  wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV)  

Kenneth E. Hagin relayed that through 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul was essentially saying: “You have spiritual gifts , but the gifts are for power and the fruit is for holiness and character.”2   Faith powered or operated by love takes. That is, to be a parTAKER of the New Covenant ratified by the blood of Jesus requires us to take, by faith which works by love (read Galatians 5:6), of the inheritance. The first promise taken by faith is salvation through Christ Jesus that reconciles unto God the Father and restores all rights and privileges as heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (read Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:26-29). The inheritance includes The Blessing of Abraham (i.e., material blessings) and the fullness thereof (i.e., material blessings, spiritual blessings) by the redemptive work of Christ Jesus. Howbeit, the New Covenant is referred to as “better”  (read Hebrews 8:6 & 12:24) because parTAKERS thereof are also bestowed spiritual blessings previously inaccessible to all participants of the Old Covenant. Spiritual blessings includes that which is in keeping with Matthew 18:18, the Ministry-of-Authority in the Name above every name, and all f the other power weapons of God. To reiterate, the power within is of the LORD God and access to God’s power through the Holy Spirit was paid-in-full by the spotless blood of Jesus the Christ. Howbeit, God’s promises manifest by His power through the person of the Holy Spirit within and upon those “in Christ”, referred to as the Anointing. The plan of JEHOVAH MEKADDISHKHEM – Our Sanctifier, to redeem and reconcile mankind through His only begotten Son – Jesus the Anointed One and His Anointing, was fulfilled in perfect obedience to the will of His Father on behalf of all mankind just because of love. As further relayed by Kenneth E. Hagin, “sanctification is a process, and the fruit of the spirit must be developed in the life of every Christian.”3   May Christians BE producers of the good fruit as well as utilizers of God’s power through the Holy Spirit, to the glory of Abba Father, with thanksgiving in Jesus’ Name, Amen.  

Peace . . . Harriet  

1 -3  Hagin, K.E. (2007). Tongues: Beyond The Upper Room. (pp. 208, 212-215). Tulsa, OK: Faith Library Publications.