ARTICLES
The Inseparable Partner Of Faith -- LOVE!
by Jeanniene Lee
The Bible has much to say about the subject of love, although there is very little teaching on love from a biblical perspective. Quite the contrary when it comes to the topic of faith, almost every sermon touches on the subject - what is faith, how to increase your faith, how to walk by faith, etc.

LOVE IS THE INSEPARABLE PARTNER OF FAITH. If you want to know the real truth about it, your faith WILL NOT work without love. God's Word makes it quite clear that love is a partner to faith and must be activated in order for your faith to produce results. The following various translations of Galatians 5:6 makes it quite clear that love is a partner to faith.

(King James Version)
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but FAITH .. WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE.

(Amplified)
6 ... faith activated and energized and EXPRESSED AND WORKING THROUGH LOVE.

(Phillips Modern English)
6 ... faith which EXPRESSES ITSELF IN LOVE.

(Jerusalem Bible)
6 ... faith that MAKES ITS POWER FELT THROUGH LOVE.

(New English Bible)
6 ... faith ACTIVE IN LOVE.

To fully understand this teaching on THE PARTNER OF FAITH - LOVE, I must touch somewhat on the subject of faith. Just as God distributes to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3), so He also gives to each of us an allotment of love.

God bestows the measure of faith upon us at the beginning of our spiritual relationship with Him. In other words, God actually gives us the faith that is necessary to be saved.

It is by grace that we are saved through faith, and the faith that we have is not because of our own achieving it; that faith is supplied to us by God (Ephesians 2:8). The only thing that is required of us is that we must activate that faith in order to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and in turn become saved.

John's Gospel verifies that God bestows upon us the necessary faith to become His child. "But as many as received Him, to them GAVE HE POWER [God equipped us with what was necessary and required] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12).

Just as we receive a portion of faith at the beginning of our relationship with God, so we also receive an allotment of love at the start of our Christian life.

The new birth experience (salvation) occurs as a result of being born of the Spirit - the Holy Spirit. Jesus makes this point very clear to Nicodemus in John, chapter 3.

Jesus stated that "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" because "that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:5 & 6).

The born again experience (John 3:3) occurs by our spirit man being quickened and made alive through contact made with the Holy Spirit when He comes to live and dwell inside of us at the moment we call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is BORN OF THE SPIRIT" (John 3:8).

I said all that regarding the Spirit and being born of the Spirit, so that when I make this next statement about love you will understand what I mean.

The moment you are born of the Spirit, the INSTANT the new birth takes place, God deposits His love into your heart (spirit) by and through that same Spirit - the Holy Ghost - that quickens your spirit and causes you to become a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17).

Romans 5:5
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY GHOST which is given unto us.

THUS, AT THE BEGINNING OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. HE DEPOSITED WITHIN OUR SPIRIT ALL THE LOVE THAT WAS NECESSARY TO MAKE OUR FAITH PRODUCE RESULTS. He gave us the love that was necessary to please Him, to walk in harmony and have success in relationships with others and in all the affairs of life. This love was deposited within us through the person of the Holy Ghost (Spirit).

The Bible clearly tells us that love is one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit -"But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22, 23).

Since Jesus made it clear that the new birth experience is a result of being born of the Spirit (John 3:5-8), so love becomes a part of our new nature the moment the Spirit comes to live inside our spirit.

Although God has allotted to us the faith as well as the love necessary to live a victorious life, and in turn, to please Him, He does not force us to walk and live by faith or by love. We must choose to live a life of love, just like we must choose to live and walk by faith.
God has dealt to us the measure of faith (Romans 12:3), it's our choice whether or not we exercise the faith He has given us so that it can grow.

SO IT IS WITH LOVE. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. It comes from the Holy Spirit and is deposited as a seed into the soil of our spirit.

All fruit have seeds within it. When those seeds within the fruit are planted they produce more fruit. The fruit of love will produce more seeds and as you plant them, by walking in love in your every day life, they will grow and produce more fruit and in turn the love within you will develop and grow.

Every day we must choose to walk in love. Everything that is the direct opposite of love was present in our old nature, before we were saved. Why? Because the moment we were conceived in the womb we inherited Adam's sin nature (Romans 5:12, 14; Ephesians 2:3).

Knowing this, it is our responsibility to daily walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 declares that "if we live in the Spirit, LET US also walk in the Spirit." The words "let us" imply that we must choose to submit to the Spirit of God that lives on the inside of us. We must daily choose to submit to Him and let Him demonstrate the nature and character of God through us.

At the point of salvation, we exchange natures. We exchange the inherited sin nature of Adam for the nature of Jesus Christ. Because God is love (I John 4:8), the nature we inherited from Jesus is full of love, for Jesus is inseparable from God (John 10:30, I John 5:7).

Saying that, we know that in God exists NO hate, jealousy, envy, strife, selfishness, pride, unforgiveness or any such attribute.

Dear reader, love is the direct opposite of hate. Hate is a characteristic of your old nature.
Because you are a new creation in Christ Jesus and everything associated with your "old man" and his nature have passed away and you have a "new nature" ~ the nature of God - alive on the inside of you, it is no longer natural for you to walk in or display traits of hate. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).

Because love is now a natural part of our new nature, we must choose to release the fruit of love and resist the ways of our old nature (Romans 6:6, 11-13).

Beloved, LET US [implying that we must choose to] LOVE ONE ANOTHER, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellow man] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him]. He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for GOD IS LOVE" (I John 4:7 & 8, Amplified). The more you spend time with and in God's presence, through fellowship, the more His ways will become a visible part of your life.

As the just shall live by faith (Hebrews 10:38); so must we live and walk a life of love. The power of love released in and through our life will guarantee that our faith will produce the desired results for FAITH ONLY WORKS BY LOVE, and ". . . God's LOVE HAS BEEN POURED INTO OUR HEARTS through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5, Revised Standard).

God's love NEVER FAILS to produce results! Activate God's love along with faith TODAY and produce results!






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