Grace Abounds Ministries

 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT  Love hopes all things “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:7 NKJV In today's article, I will discuss another dimension of Agape: "Love hopes all things." What does it mean? It means that Love doesn't give up on a person. Even though the person may not be living as he is supposed to live or acting as he ought to, love will hope that such a person would change. Agape hoping all things means that you don't write people off. Hope, by definition, is the confident expectation of what God has done in Christ to manifest in our lives, someone else's life, or a particular situation. Love will see people in Christ and will hope that Christ will encounter an individual who is not walking in God's path. Our perfect example, the Lord Jesus, exhibited this dimension of love when He was physically present on the earth. Despite all the misbehavior of His disciples, particularly Peter, He s...

  LOVES BELIEVES ALL THINGS 2 “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:7 NKJV In today's article, I shall continue from where I stopped in the previous article - Love believes all things. Love believes all things means love is free from suspicion. The way of love is always right. She does not walk about with an ill-preconceived mentality in her heart. She is just walking with freedom and always sees people the way Christ will see them. This issue of suspicion is very prevalent. Most times, it's because of what we had conceived in our minds, not necessarily because we had inspiration or saw anything regarding what we had imagined. For instance, some people cannot go to their village, not because God told them not to, but because they are always suspecting people are witches or not. Another example is when some people see a spider and immediately trace it back to their village people. I aim to show you Jesus and His love for...

Fruit of the Spirit 25 (Love believes all things) - 1 Corinthians 13:7  By Peter Ayoola Fakeye In today's article, I will be sharing how Love believes in all things. When you examine that statement, you then wonder, does it mean just to be gullible even when we have seen something that is false? No! That is not what it means. Therefore, let me delve into what it means. Love "believes all things." That doesn't imply blind gullibility, where you accept everything as truth. Instead, it means that love is free from suspicion. Love is not suspicious! Many people are just living their lives in suspicion. They are not free. For instance, if someone looks at them too much, they will say maybe she is a witch. They always read negative meanings into things. Their minds are always inclined toward the negative. That is not love. Love is free! It doesn't carry a preconceived opinion about people. For instance, some men would say, “All ladies are the same.” So, they always susp...

Fruit of the Spirit (Love bears all things 3)  By Peter Ayoola Fakeye (PAF) In this article, I will conclude the discussion, 'Love bears all things.’ To check our other article on this topic, kindly click  link 1  and  link  2 and be blessed. "Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:7 NKJV)  I had said what it means to bear all things (you can check the previous article). I shared that to bear all things, we must have a great room large enough to store up the Love of Christ in our hearts. Such that whatever injury or prejudice or insult and assault that our heart encounters, the Love of Christ will repel them without us losing faith or going to Adam's way. Adam's way is the way of self, fighting for oneself, thinking selfishly, and being the judge and Lord of oneself. You need to know that God created you, and He is the one who knows what will fit you- His Love. Ephesians 3:17-19 tells us about the gen...

 In the preceding article, we delved into the dimension of love encapsulated by the phrase "Love bears all things." Continuing on this trajectory in today's article, we explore how this enduring love is a testament to the magnitude of God's love within our hearts. We began by examining the process of enlarging our hearts to accommodate the infinite magnitude of God's love, enabling us to bear with all men and all things. A question was posed to me: "Is it possible to bear with all things?" My response was a confident "YES." Emphasizing that if it were not possible, the Bible would not have documented it. It's essential to recognize that whatever is true about Christ is true about us. This truth extends beyond what Jesus possesses; it also encompasses what Jesus can do. Jesus, indeed, bears with all things, including our failures, mistakes, and nonchalance. When acknowledging that what is true about Christ is also true about us, it's not...

Today, we'll look at this aspect of love, "Love bears all things." TPT translates it as "Love being a place of shelter," while another version  translates it as "Love protects." In simpler terms, love accommodates insults, injuries, prejudice, and differences without acting ill-mannerly or in disgust, or with annoyance. Another way to see it is that love puts up with everything and remains unchanged in the process. It is not embittered or corrupted in these processes. So, love bearing with everything is a testament to the magnitude to which our hearts have received God's love. We would be corrupted, defiled, and would even sin and err if injury, insult, prejudice, and the like do not encounter love in our hearts. So, of course, we are not talking about the love the world preaches or any natural form of it. We are talking about love that is only divine. Ephesians 3:17-19 Let me first say this: God is love! His love is the origin of His counsel and d...

  Someone who has experienced the love of Yeshua rejoices in the truth ( 1 Corinthians 13:6 ) In the previous article , I shared that Love does not rejoice in iniquity, in people's downfall, and the like. I also mentioned that the reason we often lack joy and excitement in our hearts is that we tend to look for others' downfall, condemn, castigate, and crucify them. Operating in joy becomes challenging under such circumstances.  However, through revelation and the experience of the Holy Spirit's work, I've come to understand that if you don't receive and extend the love of the Lord, other characteristics of the Holy Spirit, like JOY, cannot manifest. The default aura of a believer walking in God's love is Joy. I'm not just referring to emotional joy (although it includes that) but heartfelt joy that transcends circumstances and situations. That is the beauty of it. Therefore, when someone knows the truth, specifically the gospel of Christ, they rejoice. That...

  Love does not rejoice in iniquity. What does that mean? It means that Love finds no pleasure in sin. It isn't excited by sin, whether in its commission or when witnessing someone else commit it, and it certainly doesn't rejoice in the suffering or reproach caused by sin. Therefore, someone inspired by Love is not delighted to see people fall into sin. It's not the time to point accusing fingers or spread the news around. Beloved, when we truly understand what sin does to a person, we won't even wish for our enemies to be ensnared by sin. We can only see things in their proper light when we view them through the lens of what Jesus went through on our behalf on the cross. Beloved, it was our sins that led Him there. When you consider the consequences of our sins on Jesus' body, it becomes impossible to rejoice when people fall into sin. No one needs to be a victim of sin and its consequences because Jesus has already taken care of it. However, when someone is taken ...

  Today, we will be discussing "Love thinks no evil" ( 1 Corithians 13:5 ) So, what does it mean when the Bible says, "Love thinks no evil"? I see it in two ways, namely: It means that one does not keep a record of wrongs done to them, nor do they dwell on the evil done to them or constantly ponder upon it. Someone who is influenced by Christ's love does not impute evil or reckon it against the one who has committed it. Because someone who has received Christ's love understands the gravity of the sin they have committed, yet they have received forgiveness. Therefore, It will not be a callous and unforgiving heart that keeps tabs on people's errors and mistakes. But when we have come to terms with the love we have received from Christ, we will not hold people captive with the evil they have done against us. We will not keep them in our hearts. Actually, when love encounters evil, love will displace it. The reason we might harbor evil in our hearts is that...

1 Corinthians 13:5  1 Peter 2:21-23 I've often heard people wonder, "How is it possible that Christ never sinned?" While there are numerous insights I could share on this topic, let's focus on one thing: Peter, who was closest to Jesus, serves as a firsthand witness. Whatever he conveyed about Christ holds true. Consider this perspective. Peter remarked, "For this reason you were called." What reason is that? To understand, look at the preceding verse where he discussed enduring insults or mistreatment even when you've done well. Now, here's what Apostle Peter clarified: "We are called to endure insults and assaults, especially when we're on the right path." When people incite us and act against us, God's call for us is not just to tolerate, but to respond with love. Remember, this suffering is an integral part of your life as a Christian, not in the sense of material lack, but in enduring mistreatment. Particularly as Christians, t...

I n today's article, my focus rests on the profound statement, "Love is not provoked" (1 Corinthians 13:5). To be provoked implies irritation and anger, emotions that external circumstances can evoke. It involves a response from within us, shaped by various influences. Often, provoked reactions stem from handing over our emotional control to external forces. This lack of emotional restraint leads to consistent irritation and retaliation due to the absence of a stabilizing force within us. Our emotions become vulnerable to triggers, causing us to react impulsively. What we truly need is an inner anchor, a binding force that prevents us from succumbing to the destructive path of Cain. In 2 Corinthians 5:14, the Bible emphasizes the power of Christ's Love that constrains us. The binding force that can secure our emotions is the Love of God. This force enables us to remain serene and joyful even in the face of adversity. It transforms our inclination towards hatred into a...

In our exploration of the fruit of the Spirit, we turn our attention to the profound concept of love, viewed from the perspective of God. Often, our understanding of love falls short of its true essence, but God, being the personification of love, holds the perfect definition. Love originates from Him and flows through us as we draw near to Him. Referring to 1 Corinthians  13:5, we come across the aspect of love that declares, "Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil." Today, our focus lies on the phrase, "Love does not seek its own," aptly expressed as "love does not selfishly seek its own" in TPT. What does this mean? It conveys that divine love transcends self-centeredness, where personal happiness is not pursued at the expense of others. A heart motivated by God's love considers the needs and well-being of others, above its desires. However, it is important to understand that "not seeking you...