Category Archives: Love
Do Likewise
Gal.3:27-28 “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Eph. 2:12-14 “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” (emphasis added). We are spiritual Jews; our operations, Christianity as Jesus wanted it is not a religion. His desire is to have a people that are separated for Him and for His Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry
Big Picture
John 3:28 “You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’”
When we do not know who we are, we do not know who we are not supposed to be. So, we try to be who we are not supposed to be because we do not know who we are. But when we know who we are, we will know who we are not. Read the rest of this entry
In Person
John 1:14 “The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.” (GNT).
If you have a good relationship with The Truth, you are righteous. If you have a right standing with God, you are righteous. Knowing the truth is not necessarily about being right and proving that others are wrong. You can know the truth and be wrong, but you still know the truth. Read the rest of this entry
Hesed
John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (NRSV, emphasis added)
Jesus is full of grace and full of truth. Jesus is not half or fifty percent (50%) grace and half or fifty percent (50%) truth. Jesus is full of grace and full of truth. Jesus is hundred percent (100%) grace and hundred percent (100%) truth. Read the rest of this entry
This John, I
1Jn.1:1 “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.” (emphasis added).
John was big on love and relationship; he is known as the Apostle of Love. John is the one who would tell us in his letters that, “God is love; he that loveth not knoweth not God…” [1 John 4:7-8 please read]. James had a similar theme, but John was heavily focused on love. Read the rest of this entry
Surrendered
James 5:17 (AMP) “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours [with the same physical, mental, and spiritual limitations and shortcomings], and he prayed intensely for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.”
Gal. 5:22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (emphasis added). God’s Word is amazingly clear. Who produces the fruit? It is the Holy Spirit. We must remain yielded to Him. Read the rest of this entry
Joy & Peace
Gal. 5:22-23 “ But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
The joy that overflows, is a component of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I was reading the work of a renowned theologian Thomas Aquinas, and he said something very profound. He says, “God is happiness by His Essence: for He is happy not by acquisition or participation of something else, but by His Essence. On the other hand, men are happy by acquisition or participation.” Read the rest of this entry
Love & Joy
Gal. 5:22-23 “But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit…” (TPT)
Love is the first component of the fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in our scripture reference. We looked at a part of it in yesterday’s devotional. Today we will pick up from where we stopped. 1 Cor. 13:8-9 “Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!” Read the rest of this entry
Expressed
Gal. 5:22-23 “The Holy Spirit produces a different kind of fruit: unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kind-heartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You won’t find any law opposed to fruit like this.” (Voice]
We are going to run through the components of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the first one Paul mentions is Love. This is unconditional love; it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The love Paul is referring to in today’s scripture reference is “Agape” – unconditional. It is only the Holy Spirit that can make you love someone unconditionally. Read the rest of this entry
