Today we're going to be going over what Jesus Christ says about love. This episode is the first of nine episodes that we're going to be doing about the fruit of the Spirit. I'm so excited to do this episode with you guys about love and really just dive deep into the fruit of the Spirit throughout these next nine weeks. I know that if you take this journey with me to really dive deep and reveal the fruit of the Spirit in our hearts, that it can and will transform your heart.
I want to do things a little differently today and pray before we dive into this, because I want to pray that God reveals the fruit of the Spirit in our hearts throughout this journey of these nine weeks. Lord I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Lord I pray that you open up our eyes, our ears, our mind, and our hearts to you. I pray that you reveal the fruit of the Spirit throughout these next nine weeks to us and I pray that today you reveal the fruit of love to us. I pray that we see the truth of your words and that we open up our heart to receive love, to give love to others, and to know how much you love us and the love that we should be showing to others. Lord I pray that every person reading this receives it; they receive the love, they receive the teaching of love, and that they go out and show love to others as you have loved us. I love you with my whole heart Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Alright so now that we've prayed and our hearts are open to receive this message, let's get into it. First I want to read Galatians 5: 16-26 because these verses are where they talk about the fruit of the Spirit:
16 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." -Galatians 5: 16-26
I wanted to read these verses above because not only does it talk about the fruit of the Spirit that we're going to be going over the next nine weeks, but it also talks about the sinful nature and how when you live by the sinful nature, the different things that come with it. Throughout these next nine weeks we're going to go into this fruit of the Spirit so you will know that when we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, like we do when we're Christians, this is the fruit that should be revealed in our hearts and that we should be portraying to other people. Just because we're saved and we have the Holy spirit within us, doesn't mean we're exempt from sin and from the sinful nature. But whenever we have the Holy spirit within us, and we're having that strong relationship with Christ; we're studying our Bible, we are seeking to live the way that Christ wants us to live, the fruit of the Spirit can be revealed in our hearts and we can practice these every single day.
So today is all about love. Specifically I want to talk about what Jesus Christ says about love because there are some verses in the book of John that really portray love, how we should love one another, how Jesus loves us, and how God loves us.
9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other." -John 15: 9-17
These verses above are so powerful and it shows so clearly the command that Jesus Christ has for his disciples in this chapter. In these verses he was speaking to his disciples and as Christians, if we believe in Jesus Christ, we've asked him to come into our hearts, and we have the Holy spirit within us: we are Jesus' disciples. As Jesus' disciples these verses are also directed towards us. So Jesus says that as the Father has loved him, he has loved us.
Now, if you've been keeping up with my Bible studies then you know that I've talked about it several times about the love between God the Father and God the son. God loved us so much that he sent his only son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins and God the Father also loved God the Son very much and God the Son loved God the Father. Jesus has commanded for us to love each other as he has loved us. He died on the cross to forgive us of our sins. He loved us so much that he gave up his life for us to save us and then rose three days later. He knew that we were sinners and anybody that believes in Jesus Christ can have eternal life. That is the greatest gift that he could ever give us and he loved us so much that he did that. So he says "love each other as I have loved you."
I know that he was talking to his 12 disciples in these verses here, but anyone that asks Jesus Christ in their heart, they're saved, and they have the Holy spirit within them: Jesus chose them and they are his friends. He commands us to love each other and not only to love each other, but love each other as he has loved us. Jesus doesn't discriminate. He doesn't only love people that are "good". We are all sinners, we may not all commit the same sins, but we're all sinners. We've all done things in our life, we all have done things we regret, and we all have fallen so short from the glory of God. Jesus loves us so much, he died on the cross to forgive us of our sins and he sent the Holy spirit to counsel us and to show us truth.
Throughout the Bible studies of the book of John that I've been doing every week on here we have seen the love that Jesus has for us, for his people, and for every single person. He doesn't discriminate, he reveals himself to sinners, and he heals the broken and the wounded. He walked on the earth and lived a sinless life. Even though we are sinners, we're not exempt from sinning, and there's no way that we're ever going to live a sinless life, we can still practice showing love to others and loving others wholeheartedly as Jesus has loved us.
7 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." -1 John 4:7-12
I love these verses so much and they go hand in hand with the verses that I just read in John chapter 15. God loved us so much that He sent his only son to die on the cross for our sins. These verses here are so powerful and they just go to show that love is so important. There are so many other verses the Bible that I could have chosen about love, but I chose these because it just really shows the love that God has for us, the love that God has for Jesus, and the love that Jesus has for us as his disciples. These verses that we've read today just go to show that we shouldn't judge others based on anything. We shouldn't judge them based on what they've done, who they are as a person, their past, their race, their age: we should just love each other. I'm not saying to all just sing kumbaya and just hope everything's going to be great in this world. But I am saying that Jesus loves us so much and he didn't turn away from sinners, he didn't turn away from the wounded and the broken, he hasn't turned away from us and he's never going to turn away from us. If he can love us so much, the wounded, the broken, us, sinners that have done a lot in their lifetime, then we should love everyone anyway and spread the gospel to others. We should love people so much that we want and crave to spread the gospel to them so that they don't go to hell that they go to heaven when it's their time to go.
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
-1 Peter 4:8
So throughout this next week I want to make sure that we're really opening our hearts to love, to receiving it and to giving it to others. So I want you to get out a piece of paper, pull up the notes on your phone, or however you want to do it and write some things down to reflect on this and to really start opening your heart to love and to loving others as Jesus has loved us.
So here is a few things that I want you to write down about love:
1. Write down all the people that you love.
2. Write down the people that love you.
3. What you can do this week to show love to others?
4. What does love mean to you?
I just want you guys to know that I love you guys so much. I realize I may not know who you are, but just know that I love you and I want the very best for you. I want every single person that I come across to know about Jesus Christ and when it's their time to go, for them to go to heaven, for them to be saved, and to become disciples of Jesus Christ and that's why I do all that I do with this podcast, blog, and Bible studies.
So I hope this episode helped you guys. Next Tuesday we're going to go into joy so make sure you stay tuned for that.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
For weekly Bible Studies, tune in every week to my podcast. Every week I go over a new chapter/s of the Book of John.
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