Love: Access to the Manifestations of the Spirit of God! By David Oyedepo

Topic — Love: Access to the Manifestations of the Spirit of God!

Welcome to another exciting week! I hope you were blessed by the last teaching. Today, we shall focus on: Love: Access to the Manifestations of the Spirit of God!

From scriptures, we discover that love is an important force that the Holy Spirit will use to distinguish His people these last days. Also,it is an attribute of the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. In John 14:21, we read: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Also, Paul said: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). So, there is a Spirit of love. In 1 John 2:15-17, God spoke very strongly: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Thus, the Holy Ghost, through His ministry, infuses the love of God into our being. On one occasion, the Holy Ghost spoke to me saying, “The only way to be free from the spirit of the world is to be possessed with the Spirit of love.” I want you to know that the love of God is what eradicates the love of the world and as such the spirit of the world cannot hold us captive when the love of God is resident inside us. The Spirit of love gets us addicted to God and that is what makes one to be a man after God’s own heart.

This love empowers us to do the following, among others:

1. Love Destroys Selfishness: The Spirit of love is the only way to destroy selfishness. We saw from scriptures that after the Holy Spirit came, the New Testament Church was baptised with the Spirit of love. So addicted were they that no one said that anything he had was his own. Those who hadpossessions sold them (Acts 4:32, 34-35). God became the centre of their lives and the Church flourished. The Bible records: And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:33).However, the spirit of selfishness took possession of Ananias and his wife Sapphira(Acts 5:1-3). Unfortunately, they lost their lives as a result.

Also Read: Engaging the Supernatural Power of Love! By David Oyedepo

2. Love Quenches the Devil: David was a man after God’s own heart because his love for God was hot more than any other person in his generation. It was his love for God that drove him to confront Goliath and this brought him the victory that Saul the king could not obtain for Israel. We must understand that love is greater than faith. We are told that there are three forces–faith, hope and love but the greatest of themis love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Now, if by taking the shield of faith we can quench all the fiery darts of the devil, then by walking in love, we quench the devil himself! Why? God’s Word says in 1 John 4:16: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. That means the love of God makes us become a partaker of God. The nature of God begins to flow inside us and satan can’t handle that!

3. Love Empowers us to Give: The love of God is active and it is a giving love. God so loved the world, He gave, and gave and gave! The truth is that He is still giving and giving till now. The Bible says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). We respond to His love by giving to show that we know what love really means. So, it is not the love of God if it is not a giving love.

4. Love Ends all Struggles: Man was stripped of the love nature when man fell in the Garden of Eden. So, it takes supernatural help for man to get back to that realm. However,the love of God is made easy and made possible by the help of the Holy Spirit. Every struggle ends by love. When the love of God is in place, our struggles come to an end. In other words,things work for us only to the level of our love for God.

5. Love Empowers us for Kingdom Endeavours: God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.It is written:…but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Also, Jesus said to Peter: …lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep (John 21:16). We must understand that the most valid proof of our love for Jesus is our passion for souls. If we cannot love what He loves, we don’t love Him. Thus, praying for souls to be saved and going out on the harvest field to get them saved is a proof of our love for God.

In summary, God is preparing us to be treasures on the earth and only the Spirit of love can make us give HimHis place in our lives. Thus, you must be born again to access the Spirit of love. Are you born again? If you are not, this is an opportunity to do so. Simply say the following prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Today, I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!” For further reading, please get my books: Anointing for Breakthrough, Understanding the Anointing, Anointing for Exploits, Release of Power and Manifestation of the Spirit. I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have five services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:20 p.m. respectively. I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 01-4548070, 01-4548280; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org; Face book: www.facebook.com/davidoyedepoministries/; Twitter: @DavidOyedepoMin

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David O. Oyedepo is a Nigerian Christian author, architect, preacher, and the founder and presiding bishop of the mega church, Living Faith Church Worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel