Love - Rhema

If we’re going to walk in health, we’re going to have to walk close
to God. We will have to do what He said in Mark 11:24–25 and
walk in love. Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I say unto you, What
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
them, and ye shall have them.” This verse brought me off the bed
of sickness.
Jesus said
of the very
ones who
crucified Him,
“Forgive
them. They
know not what
they do.”
Mark 11:25 begins,
“And when ye stand praying,
forgive, if ye have ought
against any.” We are instructed
to love our enemies.
To do this, we will
have to bless those who
curse us and do good to
those who don’t do good
to us. We are not walking
in love and forgiveness unless
we do.
Any number of times,
I’ve been like anybody
else. I’ve been tempted not
to forgive, but I refuse to
let the least bit of animosity,
the least bit of ill will,
the least bit of wrong feeling
get in me. In fact, when
people have talked about
me, I prayed for them. So
many times, people don’t
know what they’re doing.
Even Jesus said of the very
ones who crucified Him,
“Forgive them. They know
not what they do.”
By the time I was in the
second grade, I was mad
at the world. I felt like I’d
been cheated in life. Our
home was divided. My
oldest brother, Dub, had
to live with some kinfolks,
and I lived with others. We
both grew up with chips
on our shoulders.
If some of our kinfolks
did Dub wrong, he’d whip
them. I couldn’t start anything
because I had a heart
condition. If they did me
wrong, I’d say to myself,
I’ll never speak to them
again. I’d give them the silent
treatment.
But then I got born
again and the love of God
was shed abroad in my
heart (Rom. 5:5). It wasn’t
too many weeks after I was
healed at age 17 that one
of my kinfolks did me an
injustice. When this happened,
I said to myself,
I’ll give them the old silent
treatment.
The next day after I
said that, I was walking
downtown and saw this
person coming toward
me. The thought crossed
my mind to look into a
store window and turn my
back on them. Another
thought flashed through
my mind to cross the
street so I wouldn’t have
to meet them.
But then something rose
up inside me. The Bible
says, “The love of Christ constraineth
us” (2 Cor. 5:14).
That love was in my spirit.
I didn’t have to let it dominate
me. I could have let
my natural human reasoning
and flesh dominate me.
But thank God, I let that
love rise up in me.
Instead of turning
against those folks, I went
to meet them. I reached
out my hand and told them
that I loved them. I said
with tears, “I’m praying
for you, and I want you to
know that if it would help
you any, I would get down
on my knees right here
and kiss your feet.” When
I said that, they started
crying out, “Forgive me.
Forgive me. I’ve done you
an injustice.”
Love never fails. To
fellowship with God, to
walk with God, to walk in
God’s realm, to walk in the
Spirit, we must walk in divine
love, for God is love
(1 John 4:8, 16). To walk
in love means to walk in
the Spirit, because love is
a fruit of the Spirit.
God wants us to grow.
We can grow in love because
love is a fruit and
fruit grows. And by showing
the right spirit and loving
people, we’ll reap rich
rewards.
__________________
(Editor’s Note: This article
was adapted from Kenneth E.
Hagin’s minibook How to Walk
in Love.)
To learn more about
walking in love, go to
www.rhema.org
/wof, find this article in
the February/March 2011
issue, and click on the link
to an article by Kenneth E.
Hagin titled “What Have
You Done With
His Love?”
18 THE WORD OF FAITH // Feb/Mar ‘11