As we continue to look at what it means to Walk With Jesus and Surrender ourselves completely, we will especially focus on how love influences our surrender. Today I would like to consider how The Fruit of the Spirit is Love! And how a life filled with the Holy Spirit will show itself in our daily Christian walk.
In the Old Testament we find the Holy Spirit often came upon people as a divine Spirit to show them the will of God, or to accomplish God’s will, but He didn’t dwell in them. I can’t help but wonder as I consider my own life, and your lives, if we wouldn’t prefer that Old Testament version of the Holy Spirit over the New Testament gift of the indwelling Spirit that animates and renews the whole life. You see when God gives the Holy Spirit, His great desire is to create in each of us a Holy character. He offers a Holy mind and an unselfish, loving spiritual disposition. Andrew Murray makes this short statement in his book Absolute Surrender,
“I must have the Holy Spirit sanctifying my whole inner life if I am really to live for God’s glory.” Page 19
As we look back at the disciples, and Jesus promise to send the Holy Spirit, we see Him giving them this gift to be witnesses, and then they received the Holy Spirit in such power that He took possession of their lives, and they became Holy men and women in every aspect of their lives. It was the filling of the Spirit in them that caused people to call them Christians. The Holy Spirit filled them with such love that everyone saw it. It gave their lives power that turned the world on end.
Galatians 5:22 tells us, “The Fruit of the Spirit is Love.”
We read that “Love is the fulfilling of the law” and we need to ask ourselves, has this been our daily habit to seek being filled with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Love? Has it been our experience that we are becoming more and more loving every day because the Spirit is dwelling in our life? This should be our greatest expectation in our walk with Jesus, that the Holy Spirit come into our lives as a Spirit of Love. I pray that I can get hold of this simple truth that the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, and that love takes possession of our lives when we are filled with this Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to every one of us.
God can and will bless our Wrangell Church beyond belief when we are filled with this love. It is when we as a body pull together that we are strong. In the time of the great religious wars when Holland stood up so nobly against Spain, one of their mottoes was: “Unity gives strength.”
Andrew Murray makes an observation on this very thing,
“It is only when God’s people stand as one body, one before God in the fellowship of love, one toward another in deep affection, one before the world in love that the world can see—it is only then that they will have power to secure the blessing which they ask of God.” Absolute Surrender page 21
It’s like a pitcher of water, if you crack it into pieces it can’t be filled. You might be able to take a little piece of it and dip out a little water, but if you want the pitcher full it has to be whole. This is true of Christ Church as well. I ask you to pray with me that we will allow Jesus to melt us together into one by the power of the Holy Spirit as He did at Pentecost, when He made the disciples of one heart in the Spirit of love. “The Fruit of the Spirit is Love.” As we surrender ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will come and teach us how to love more and more.
I love you!
Brad
In the Old Testament we find the Holy Spirit often came upon people as a divine Spirit to show them the will of God, or to accomplish God’s will, but He didn’t dwell in them. I can’t help but wonder as I consider my own life, and your lives, if we wouldn’t prefer that Old Testament version of the Holy Spirit over the New Testament gift of the indwelling Spirit that animates and renews the whole life. You see when God gives the Holy Spirit, His great desire is to create in each of us a Holy character. He offers a Holy mind and an unselfish, loving spiritual disposition. Andrew Murray makes this short statement in his book Absolute Surrender,
“I must have the Holy Spirit sanctifying my whole inner life if I am really to live for God’s glory.” Page 19
As we look back at the disciples, and Jesus promise to send the Holy Spirit, we see Him giving them this gift to be witnesses, and then they received the Holy Spirit in such power that He took possession of their lives, and they became Holy men and women in every aspect of their lives. It was the filling of the Spirit in them that caused people to call them Christians. The Holy Spirit filled them with such love that everyone saw it. It gave their lives power that turned the world on end.
Galatians 5:22 tells us, “The Fruit of the Spirit is Love.”
We read that “Love is the fulfilling of the law” and we need to ask ourselves, has this been our daily habit to seek being filled with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Love? Has it been our experience that we are becoming more and more loving every day because the Spirit is dwelling in our life? This should be our greatest expectation in our walk with Jesus, that the Holy Spirit come into our lives as a Spirit of Love. I pray that I can get hold of this simple truth that the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, and that love takes possession of our lives when we are filled with this Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to every one of us.
God can and will bless our Wrangell Church beyond belief when we are filled with this love. It is when we as a body pull together that we are strong. In the time of the great religious wars when Holland stood up so nobly against Spain, one of their mottoes was: “Unity gives strength.”
Andrew Murray makes an observation on this very thing,
“It is only when God’s people stand as one body, one before God in the fellowship of love, one toward another in deep affection, one before the world in love that the world can see—it is only then that they will have power to secure the blessing which they ask of God.” Absolute Surrender page 21
It’s like a pitcher of water, if you crack it into pieces it can’t be filled. You might be able to take a little piece of it and dip out a little water, but if you want the pitcher full it has to be whole. This is true of Christ Church as well. I ask you to pray with me that we will allow Jesus to melt us together into one by the power of the Holy Spirit as He did at Pentecost, when He made the disciples of one heart in the Spirit of love. “The Fruit of the Spirit is Love.” As we surrender ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit will come and teach us how to love more and more.
I love you!
Brad
RSS Feed