In Galatians 5:22-23, there is a list of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. The list starts as follows: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love………” Love is first and foremost in the list of 9. Love is a fruit and fruit will grow slowly and surely given the right conditions. We don’t even need to pray for love because love has been “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” if we are born again Christians (Rom 5:5; ESV). The apostle Paul admonishes us to “walk in love” (Eph 5:2; NKJV), abound in love (Phil 1:9) and to “increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone” (1 Thess 3:12; CSB). This suggests that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to grow this fruit of love in us. The Spirit will do this if we allow Him to. We can enable that growth by immersing ourselves in the word which gives a great deal of instruction on how to love. For example, in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Paul talks about the agape love of God. In that passage, we learn that love is patient, kind, not jealous, arrogant or selfish. It is not easily irritated, does not keep grudges, hides the faults of others, believes the best of people, endures under stress and never fails! Wow!!! These words were written long ago but are still very applicable for us today.
Prayer: Dear God, today I commit to express the love You have put in my heart and with Your help, to walk in love to those around me, in Jesus name I pray, amen