Crash Course: Living Spiritual Love
Blog Repost
A lot of folks newly come to the family faith soon learn the foundational concept of “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Charity being the love of and for God in manifestation. In (in, in, IN!) operation. Through you! Living a love so unique up to the time this was revealed back in the first century it had to have a new word developed for it in the culture. The common language being Greek. The word being "agape." Concern with believing action applied towards assisting in the needs of others being met. Over and above the needs of one’s own. God calls this agape love the greatest of the 3 foundational truths for all believers today. It wasn’t available for anyone to have this love to offer and to give until the Day of Pentecost when it became available for all men and women everywhere to become a child of God by spiritual seed. Which is also required to “rightly divide” our Father’s Word. (John 14:26, 15:26, 2 Timothy 2:15). Let’s take a quick look at the three at these three foundational concepts for those new to the faith and for the edification for the mature.
Faith
This word every time in scriptural study always has to be understood in light of the context. The words translated “faith,” "believe" and “believing” in the text are the word or root word of the Greek word “pistis” which should almost always be understood as “believe” or “believing”. But the context must be checked into order to rightly divide the usage of the word. There’s a “family faith”, fruit of the spirit “faith”, the spiritual manifestation of “faith”, the “faith” of Jesus Christ and so on. Which highlights different aspects of believing. It is by our relying on our daily believing of the revealed truth of God’s Word whereby we appropriate results for our need and the need of others. Listed in the warrior’s armament of Ephesians 6 as the “shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the *fiery darts (*= flaming arrows) of the wicked." The shield of believing protects you from being hit from outside forces designed to take out your believing. (But greater is he who is in you... remember?) (Psst! *looks both ways* This "shield" can be used offensively by a trained warrior also!)
Hope
The anchor of our souls. The expectation of the future of when God fulfills His Word towards His people in the redemption of our physical bodies and life eternal in His presence. Hope helps us to endure this world while we wait. This hope purifies us. How? By looking for the return of the Lord, one would naturally want to be found faithfully going about doing what’s expected of us. To live righteously according to the rightly divided Word of God.
John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now (Right Now! And now! And now! The eternal Now!) are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when *he (*= Jesus Christ) shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We don't hope for something presently available. Just in case you didn't know. We find out what is available from God's Word and believe for it. We acquire it.
Romans 8:24
24 For we are saved *by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man *seeth (*= presently available), why doth he yet hope for? (*= Consider that word "by". We weren't saved "by" hope. We were saved by believing. On Christ. After checking my research books this word doesn't show up in any of them in this verse which would mean it was added. But not italicized in the KJV. (Italicized words in the KJV are the translators of the Stephens text letting the reader know the word was added by the translators.) In trying to mesh the ancient Greek with post Middle Ages and since English, other versions use the word "in." But I believe the word "to" is most accurate. We were saved "to" hope)
Romans 8:25
But if we hope for that we *see not (*= not presently available), then do (this is how we hope for the gathering) we with patience wait for it.
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Listed in the warrior’s armament of Ephesians as the “helmet of salvation.” The spiritual helmet protects your mind. Your thinking process. Should anything get past the shield of believing and make penetration.
Free Bonus: The mind is a part of the soul. It's NOT your brain!
Free Bonus #2: The soul is what gives life to the physical body
Free Bonus #3: Man was originally formed, BODY, made, SOUL, and created, SPIRIT. Free Bonus #4: Man lost the spirit when he "died" which was got him kicked out of the garden (and God's presence) and started the mess we're still in today in this world.
Love
This is not a feeling people. It is the same love God has for us. It is actively looking out for the best of others and then doing something to express it once an opportunity presents itself. Regardless of situation or circumstance. And… love isn’t listed as any of our spiritual armament. I submit the reason being this love emanates from the heart of an individual. In thought, word and deed. The heart… the very innermost part of your mind... what makes you you with all the trappings stripped away… is to be protected by the “breastplate of righteousness.” The realization you’ve been made the righteousness of God by way of the gift of holy spirit. (The “Christ in you.”) Many times a warrior attitude becomes a great resource in getting need met and in the fight for staying the course personally and for others. Not fighting against people but for them. In this love. It can be tricky to learn this but one early success for most folks is to stop defending personal weakness (as defined by God’s Word) and be meek to God’s Will. Which is His Word rightly divided. Whether by study, revelation or accurate instruction from another believer. This is where much of a disciple’s spiritual warfare takes place is in this fight to live love without surrender. Love is patient. NOT "patience." This wording puts it in the eternal now. Love is/equals patient. We are to be always patient. As far as I know it’s still a virtue. Patient with each other. With one’s own self. With circumstance. And for God... when our believing wanes.
I see this love tied into our hope. Did you catch it? In Romans 8:25? "...we with patience wait for it." But love and believing are uniquely tied together. Many times believers… and disciples at times also... struggle with getting a need met. Whether it’s physical, in service to our King or in understanding. A very important truth to understand is to consider it may not be a believing problem as it may be… assuming what’s perceived as a need is available… a lack of love being shared. With God and/or believers and/or unbelievers. Why? It’s this love of and for God in operation that energizes believing. It's not as man made religions require of doing the right thing at the right time with the blessing of some religious leader or denomination or political office or celebrity!
Galatians 5:1-6 (KJV)
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the *yoke of bondage. (* referring to the OT Law. Always doing the right thing at the right time.)
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Remember the contention in the 1st century church? It was over some folks started saying and teaching that the Gentiles couldn’t be saved except to get circumcised. (Acts 15) A fulfillment of the OT Law. Which was so disruptive to the family faith Paul had to go back to Jerusalem to help straighten it out among the leadership.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5 For we through the *Spirit (* Should be lower case, referring to the gift in operation) wait for the hope of righteousness by *faith (*=believing on a daily basis to get need met).
Did'ja catch it?! Believing and hope are tied together!
And here it is!
6 For *in Jesus Christ (* in fellowship with God through Christ) neither circumcision *availeth (*= has power over) any thing, nor uncircumcision; but (in contrast: what is powerful is) *faith (*=believing) which *worketh (*= energeo in the Greek. It means and is where we get our word “energized.") In our English it could read “which is energized) by love. Believing which is energized by love. Tradition has no power. What does have power is believing energized by love.
Or... in other words... when one is in fellowship with God doing the right thing at the right time all the time circumcision doesn't matter. Circumcision was a big deal to the ancient Hebrews having the tradition given to them by Abraham as a symbol of sanctification. What matters to God is believing His Word in all situations with believing that is energized by spiritual love. Therefore… if you run into a wall or walls it just may be time to grow some so you can step over the obstacle. Try stepping up your game! In service. In love! Ensure that helmet’s strapped tight. You’ve got that breastplate on. What'cha got on yer feet? Have that shield handy always. Wield the sword properly at the opportune moment. Expose your heart to the Word and then to the world and fire off some real love!
This post originally published on my blog TheHollerinStump.com on 08/26/2017. The blog was built on Blogger and hosted by Google. They locked me out of my account there. Therefore it didn’t get registered and ceased to be available the late spring of 2023. I am reposting as many of these posts here as I see relevant..
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