without love we are nothing!
We are told in the scriptures that if we diligently seek God, we will find Him. We are told that God is love. Therefore, it is logical to assume that if we seek or pursue love, we will find love. What does that mean? In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul gives an accurate and detailed description of the characteristics of love. He tells us of the necessity of having love in our lives. He places its importance above that of prophecy and spiritual gifts. Without love, Paul says we are nothing, or even worse, we are a noisy clanging symbol. If love is so important, should it not be the goal of every believer to make love a priority in their life? Since God is love and we are nothing without Him, should we not be diligently seeking to know Him, or in other words, to know love?
1 Corinthians 14:1 says, “Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” To “pursue” means to follow or seek to attain something or accomplish a goal. To pursue something requires action on the part of the one doing the pursuing. Paul describes love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 saying, “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” To pursue love, one must diligently seek to practice or have love in their heart. This means that we are to practice being patient, kind, etc., and we are to not be jealous, bragging, arrogant, etc.
To “earnestly desire” means to strongly wish for or want something. This does not require an action from us other than to ask the Giver of gifts for it. We are not told to pursue spiritual gifts as we are to pursue love. Instead, we are told to strongly wish for or want spiritual gifts. As a child of God, when we desire something that we cannot provide ourselves, we must pray to our heavenly Father and ask Him for the gift we are seeking. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:11, “So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
It is not meant for us to be able to perform the manifested gifts of the Spirit by simply practicing them or pursuing more knowledge about them. For example, we should not try to “learn” or “practice” our way into a prophetic ministry. We should not pursue a ministry of healing the sick, raising the dead, or casting out demons by diligently studying “how to books” or attending conferences being given by those who have already received those gifts. We should not assume that we will be given the authority by God to operate in a particular gift simply because we decide to be discipled by someone who operates in that gift either. You should not try to operate in those gifts unless God Himself gives you the ability and authority to do so. The Father decides who He will give the gifts based on their pursuit of love. We are instructed by Paul to “earnestly desire” spiritual gifts by asking the Father for them, not pursuing them. In other words, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for sale, and they are not given from one man to another. They are only imparted by the Holy Spirit. We can pray and ask God to impart the gifts, but it is up to Him whether He will authorize it or not. Peter made this point in Acts 8 while ministering in Samaria.
There was a magician by the name of Simon who “believed” in the gospel of Jesus Christ being preached by Philip and was baptized in the name of Jesus. He later witnessed Peter and John laying their hands on people and praying for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Simon asked if he might be able to buy the authority from them to do the same thing. He wanted to operate under the authority and power of the Holy Spirit. Peter said to him in Acts 8:20-23, ““May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness.” This man had bitterness and unrighteousness in his heart. He did not have love. He wanted to have the gift to be handed down to him by Peter instead of earnestly asking God and waiting for Him to deliver.
Is it possible for someone to perform miracles in the name of Jesus if they believe in Him, but they do not have love? Of course, it is possible. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.” Paul says “if” I perform spiritual gifts “but” do not have love, I am nothing. He suggests that it is possible to operate in the gifts of the Spirit without having love, but it is not the Father’s will, and it will not get us into heaven. In fact, it might lead us into deception by allowing us to believe we are operating in the Father’s will when we are not.
In Matthew 7:22, Jesus said, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’” He goes on to say that He will respond to them by saying, “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” If we “pursue” spiritual gifts but only “earnestly desire” love, we run the risk of becoming one of the many whom Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:22. They were able to prophesy and perform miracles in the name of Jesus because they had “all faith so as to remove mountains” as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:2, but they did not know or have love, so they were nothing. Infact, Jesus did not know them at all. They did not know Jesus, so He did not know them. They “believed” in Jesus, but they did not know Him. They did not know love because He is love. Because they did not know Him, He did not know them.
Paul says we are to pursue love. Love is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and to love others as we love ourselves. He told His disciples in John 15:12, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” He told them in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” We must know love, have love, and practice love if we are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. God is love, so we must know Him. To know God, we must diligently seek Him and spend time with Him in His holy place. King David said in Psalms 24:3-5, “Who may ascend onto the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? One who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul worn deceitfully. He will receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” The reward or blessing is to know Him by spending time with Him while building an intimate relationship with Him. It is to know Love and for Love to know us.
Before we “earnestly desire” the Father to manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we would be wise to “pursue” Him, so we might know Him and have His love established deep within us first. If we push forward and pursue the gifts of the Holy Spirit instead of diligently asking for them and waiting until we are established in His love, we can cause harm to those who might benefit from our practicing of the gifts. We must not operate in spiritual gifts unless the Father wills it. Jesus said He only spoke the words of the Father and did the works of the Father, so we should not try to operate outside of the Father’s will either.
The fruit of a plant usually holds its seed. The seed, when planted, reproduces the same kind of plant in the soil. Jesus told us He is the Vine, and the fruit of His Spirit is love. He wants us to spread His love to others by loving them in His name, so His seed or truth will take root and grow within their heart. Spiritual gifts are the tools used by the Holy Spirit to soften up the soil and prepare it for the seed. We must have love, or we will have nothing to plant after a person’s heart has been made ready by the Holy Spirit to receive His seed of truth. If the gifts of the Spirit are manifested, they will prepare the soil to receive a seed, but if the one who is using the gifts does not have a seed to plant, they will leave the person’s heart or soil prepared for another’s seed to be planted. The enemy looks for this opportunity to plant his own seed. This is how false doctrines and cults are started. We must be careful and know our Shephard’s voice, so we are not deceived and led astray by someone who is operating in spiritual gifts without the love of God.
If we are going to follow Jesus, we must pursue Him. We must not pursue spiritual gifts while we relegate our pursuit of love to a mealtime prayer. We should not seek healings or prophetic words of encouragement at the risk of losing our love for God. We cannot ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place if we have sin-stained hands with unforgiveness or bitterness in our hearts. We must have hearts full of love for God and for others if we want to come before His throne. I pray, if there are any among us who are pursuing spiritual gifts for financial gain or for the approval of man, they immediately stop and turn back to God. Pursue His love, so He might know you once again. Knowing God that He might know us should be a top priority for anyone who wants to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is not impressed by those of us who are performing miracles or building the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth if we do not have His love in us. If we are not seeking to know Him, He is not going to reveal the Father to us, and He and the Father will not abide in us if we do show Him our love for Him by knowing and obeying His word.
You can read more about this and other truths by obtaining a copy of “Prodigal to Prince” by Beau Walsh at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com.
