Well, we climbed the ladder of Fruits of the Spirit. We made it to the top: Love. There are many, many verses of love in God’s Word, and many, many, many quotes on what love is and what love can be and what love means to creatures as well as to the Creator. But I believe the most important one to meditate on is that God’s kind of love – Agape or Hesed – is not about a feeling but about a willful action.
This is God’s love – in and for me, without which I am nothing. It cannot be merited, earned or deserved. And we cannot do anything bad enough to chase God away! We have to change our mindset on what love is. According to God’s Word, love is strong affection, charity, benevolence, a giving to others; any kind of deliverance from selfishness.
No love is more powerful, more intense, more continuous, more pure, or more full-of-delight in the beloved than the love of God the Father for God the Son! It is an energy of joy that makes atom bombs look like fire crackers.
And Jesus tells us, “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you” (John 15:9). Then He continues on to say, “…love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Love needs an object to whom it can give itself away, in whom it can lose itself, with whom it can make itself one. The nature of love is always one, however different the object.
Love feeds on truth and when our hearts begin to know the truth of how God loves and desires us all, and who we are in Him, we are transformed from being weak in heart to bold in love! We are renewed by the knowledge of what we look like to Him.
Until you have a proper sense of self-love, a healthy and wholesome self-esteem, you are not able to freely and fully love someone else. You don’t give yourself to others or consider them valuable if you don’t first of all consider yourself worthy. Meditate on this: Love draws upon the resourcefulness of one’s own esteem in order to have sufficient supply to release it to someone else. It takes personal security to do this.
We succumb to society’s false judgment of our worth. As a result, a large segment of the population is plagued by feelings of worthlessness, inferiority, and self-condemnation. God has not equally distributed gifts, talents, and intellect, but He has equally distributed Himself. Our sense of worth must come from knowing who we are as children of the Great King. Something happens to us when we become convinced that our Heavenly Father is aware of and involved in our activities, and is, in fact, applauding our lives.
It is tempting for us to want to be like someone else, to be dissatisfied with who we are and what we can do. Yet God made us to be what He wanted us to be – what we are now. We should be content with who we are – it is only a work in progress anyway. It is so liberating to accept yourself!
I learned early on to respond to people who ask “Who do you think you are?” with a slew of scripture verses: “I’m more than a conqueror; I’m a chosen generation; I’m a royal priesthood, a peculiar person; God is for me, so who can be against me? I am a child of the One True King…
The Word of God is full of verses that tell us we are worthy to receive God’s promises. But remember that you can say all the right verses you want, yet if your heart doesn’t believe you are what you say you are, your promise will stay in lay-away until you are ready to claim it.
The depth of God’s love:
[You have shown] the wonder of Your great love (Psalm 17:7).
God demonstrates His own love for us in this: that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believed in Him shall not die but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:16-17).
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called Sons of God! (1 John 3:1)
Heirs of the Kingdom – which He promised to those who love Him (James 2:5).
God, our Father, who loved us (2 Thessalonians 2:16).
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that… nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).
For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight – in love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons… in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:4-5).
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2:4-5).
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Galatians 2:20).
I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me (John 17:23).
That the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them (John 17:26).
For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed I came from the Father (John 16:27).
What wonderful things God has ready for those who love Him! (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Love your enemies and be kind and do good [doing favors so that someone derives benefit from them] and lend, expecting and hoping for nothing in return but considering nothing as lost and despairing of no one; and then your recompense (your reward) will be great (rich, strong, intense, and abundant) and you will be sons of the Most High, for He Himself is kind and charitable and good to the ungrateful and the selfish and wicked. (Luke 6:35)
Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart. So shall you find favor, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight [or judgment] of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)
Make every effort to add to your faith… brotherly kindness (2 Peter 1:5-7).
Be kindly affectionate to one another in brotherly love (Romans 12:10).
Show mercy and kindness and tender compassion, every man to his brother (Zechariah 7:9).
As God’s chosen people… clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12).
The Lord’s servant… must be kind to everyone… (2 Timothy 2:24)
When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly… (1 Corinthians 4:12-13)
As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way… in purity, understanding, patience and kindness, in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love (2 Corinthians 6:4-6).
Renounce your sins by loving what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed… (Daniel 4:27)
And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tender-hearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32).
See that none of you repays another with evil for evil, but always aim to show kindness and seek to do good to one another and to everybody (1 Thessalonians 5:15).
That which is desired in a man is loyalty and kindness… (Proverbs 19:22)
He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor (Proverbs 28:8).
We are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple… (Acts 4:9)
May the Lord bless you because you showed kindness… And now may the Lord show loving-kindness and faithfulness to you… (2 Samuel 2:5-6)
May kindness and faithfulness be with you (2 Samuel 15:20).
Gentleness – responsibility with power, inward grace
Self-control – wall of protection to reduce vulnerability
Because all the Fruits of the Spirit are God’s by nature. Since we are of God’s nature, these fruits belong to each one of us all the time.
What would you accept in trade for the fruit of the Spirit? What material possession, or amount of money, or position on the ladder of success would you exchange for Love, Joy, Peace, or any of them?
How can you know if you are being led by the Spirit? If you respond to any situation by exercising any one of these gifts, then you are following the Spirit’s lead. Walking by the Spirit is a moment-by-moment / day-by-day experience. If you are trying to keep up a front of Christian Perfection in order to encourage saints and win sinners – forget it! That will never happen. But when you openly admit and ask for forgiveness for fleshly choices, you model the kind of spiritual growth which will touch both saints and sinners alike.
How do we walk by the Spirit? If I answered by giving a rigid formula, you would be back under another law. Walking by the Spirit is a relationship issue, not a legal issue or a ritualistic exercise. Relationships are more important to God than achievements. After all, Jesus declared the two greatest commandments are to love God and people. We can actually stand our ground on moral issues without violate Spirit fruits! If you cannot do something with love and self-control, maybe it is better left undone. Don’t lose control over the only person you can control!
The following sections contain God’s words on the various fruits of the Spirit. Where applicable, I used the Amplified Bible version of the verse to clarify some of the wordage used in hopes that it would help in the study. In other places, the Amplified seemed to muddy the waters instead, so I used a simplified version in those instances. And I tried to place the verses in an orderly fashion, after praying for wisdom of course. Now I pray that these verses and choices and sections provide some comfort and peace and, if possible, zeal for those reading them. May our God bless you on your journey to understand His Word and His ways.
God's Word on That 