GIFTS, LOVE AND TONGUES (1 COR. 12,13 &14) 2
(week 04/15)
OLUBI JOHNSON
In our last article, we saw that It is GROWING INTO SPIRITUAL MAN-HOOD AND PERFECTING THE LOVE OF GOD in us that will qualify us to, like the Lord Jesus, receive the power of the Spirit without measure PERMANENTLY, and so CONSTANTLY have the gifts of the Spirit in manifestation whenever the need arises.
This week, we will see how praying in tongues will help us to grow into spiritual man-hood and perfect the love of God.
Divine love is discerning by WISDOM, feeling by COMPASSION and doing by POWER what God would do in every situation, because GOD IS LOVE! God defines love; love does not define God.
So WISDOM is the PRINCIPAL part of divine love; compassion and power simply follow where wisdom directs.
Proverbs 4:7 NKJV: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
Proverbs 4:7 NIV: Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Now, praying in tongues in conjunction with daily bible reading and study is how we will get the wisdom to walk in divine love daily.
1Corinthians 14:2 NKJV: For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
1Corinthians 2:7 NKJV: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
When we pray in tongues, we speak the wisdom of God in mysteries: in a secret code unknown to the natural mind.
As we hear, read and study the scripture, the Holy Spirit will through the scriptures enlighten our minds by giving us the spirit of revelation and wisdom to decode the mysteries we have been speaking in tongues.
Proverbs 2:6 NKJV: For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
Psalms 119:130 NKJV: The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
Ephesians 1:17-18 NKJV: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (18) the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
2Corinthians 4:6 NKJV: For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Also, praying in tongues and travail releases the power of the fruit of the Spirit to have compassion: to be touched with God’s feelings for the needs and weaknesses of others.
Finally, praying in tongues and travail releases the power of God to do what God would do in every situation.
So with an attitude of honesty and humility of heart and consequent diligent cleansing with the blood of Jesus (Heb. 13.20-21); hearing, reading, studying, meditating and PRACTICING the Word (1 Jn2.5) and fervent, effectual, praying in tongues and travail by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Jn. 4.12-13), we can perfect the love of God in our lives and so have gifts of the Spirit in consistent manifestation by the ABIDING ANOINTING of the SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE!
Hebrews 13:20-21 KJV: Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (21) Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1John 2:5 NKJV: But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
1John 4:12-13 NKJV: No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (13) By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
