When God commands something, He empowers us to do it. He is determined to bring the Body of Christ together into unity and love. But we must reach in for God’s love and cannot work it up in ourselves. It comes from the power of Christ and His Word.
Yeshua (Jesus) never told His followers to work out their doctrines. Instead, He commanded us to love one another as He loves us (John 13:34). We let the power of God’s Word impart to us the ability to love. Believe this love is available for you to function in unity with the Body of Christ. Our ability to abide in the Father and live with an open heart to each other comes through this love. Many are seeking a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the earth now. How do we get it? When we are filled with God’s love, we are filled with His Spirit.
“God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16).[i]
Those who have lived on a farm know that the wrinkles come out of a gunny sack when you fill it with grain. Just like this illustration, the more we are filled with love, the more it pushes out division in the Body of Christ. We will never be able to obtain unity by focusing on our brother’s faults or differences under a magnifying glass. But we can let the Holy Spirit fill us with this fervent love for each other. It is our choice.
After the resurrection, Yeshua (Jesus) challenged Peter by asking, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:16). In the conversation, two different Greek words were used: philó meaning the “affectionate love” of friendship and the other agapas meaning “fervent divine love.” Peter was deeply grieved because he realized the depth of love the Lord insisted that he have for God’s sheep—an intense love that preferred others above himself. Thus, when Peter wrote his first epistle, he reminded the brethren to maintain this fervent godly love.
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
This fervent love from God must be our focus. It is the answer to every problem. This love brings deliverance and transformation to the brothers and sisters we walk with together. The greatest example of fervent love is how Christ went to the cross for each of us and laid down His life. In our determination to live in love together as God’s family, we also prefer one another with a love that creates life.
The Body of Christ can be an example to the world that God’s love lives in us and it is casting out the darkness and plan of satan from the earth. As the Body of Christ, we set ourselves to function in unity so that this fervent love of God for all creation is manifested. We open the door to God’s everlasting love to establish His Kingdom on this earth.
[i] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95).