THE VIRTUES OF FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE

RHAPSODY OF REALITIES
BY PASTOR CHRIS AND ANITA
OYAKHILOME*
DATE:-THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2014*
TOPIC:-THE VIRTUES
OF FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE
And now abideth faith, hope,
charity (love) these three; but the
greatest of these is charity (1
Corinthians 13:13).
Faith, hope and love, are three
important principles revealed to
us in the Word. All three of them
work together, but love is
revealed as the greatest of the
three. Anyone who comes to
Christ immediately learns the
value of faith, because faith is
imparted to your spirit when you
hear the Gospel. With that faith,
you receive the Holy Spirit, and
begin to walk in newness of life.
As you mature spiritually, you
learn something about hope.
Hope ministers patience. The
more you grow in the things of
God, the more you realize that
though your faith can do
anything, some things have to
wait. At this stage, you start
learning how to trust God.
Trust is the mixture of faith and
hope. When the Bible says
Abraham believed God and it was
accounted to him for
righteousness, he trusted Jehovah
with his life.
The reason love is the greatest is
that love encapsulates both faith
and hope. When you walk in love,
you walk in faith and hope. To
walk in the greater levels of the
anointing of God’s Spirit, you'd
have to understand the power of
God’s love, and walk in it.
The Lord Jesus explained
something beautiful about love in
Matthew 22:35-38, when a certain
lawyer, wanting to test Him, asked,
“Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the Law?” Jesus
answered him thus, “…Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. This is the
great and first
commandment” (ASV). If you ask
people to list the Ten
Commandments, they’ll most
certainly not start with this.
They’d say, “Thou shall worship
no other God before me.” But
Jesus brought love before worship.
He knows that if you’d love Him,
you’d worship Him.
It’s not so much what your faith
or hope can do; God is more
concerned about what your love
can do. Go beyond faith and
hope, and function in the arena of
love, where your words and
actions are motivated only by
love.
PRAYER
Dear Father, I thank you for filling
my heart with your love by the
Holy Spirit. This love overwhelms
me today, and many experience
the joy and genuineness of your
love-power through me, in Jesus’
Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
John 4:24, Deuteronomy 6:5
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING
1 Year Bible Reading Plan:
Romans 5:12-21 Psalm 52-55
2 Year Bible Reading Plan:
Ephesians 4:25-32 Isaiah 51