Summary for May 8

Prayed…

Thank You, Father, for Your light operating through us to be a light to others
We know it is all about You, Father
You are so good and Your mercy is so good
You reveal unto us when we get off the way of truth
Thank You, Father, for the presence of Your Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth
We rejoice today and stir ourselves up by praying in the Spirit

The following excerpt is taken from The Way to Victory by Kenneth Hagin

Another characteristic of the God-kind of love is that “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor” (Rom. 13:10). Well, you could read it this way and do that verse no injustice: “Love works no ill to anyone.”

For example. On time we went to preach for some folks, and we had just enough money to buy gasoline to get to their church. We arrived at the church in time to preach that evening, and after the service we werer hungry because we’d been traveling all day with very little to eat.

We were staying with the pastor and his wife in their parsonage, so we thought surely they would give us something to eat when we came home after the service.

But they didn’t take us out to eat after church or give us anything to eat at their house. They just went to bed, so we went to bed hungry. They next morning we got up hungry, but they had already gone.
My wife said, “Maybe they went out to get something to fix for breakfast.” But they didn’t come back. Later she said, “They’ll probably come back at lunch and take us out to eat.”

Well, they didn’t come back for lunch either. We didn’t have a cent in our pockets because we’d used every bit of our miney just to get to that town to preach.

Finally, they came in about church time and got ready to go to church. But they never said anything about dinner or about feeding us. They didn’t even ask us if we’d had anything to eat or if we were hungry.

It had been a day and a half since we’d eaten anything, and we were hungry. It’s one thing when you’re fasting and seeking God. Then you expect to deny the flesh! But we weren’t fasting. We were just going hungry because there wasn’t anything to eat.

Then after we finished the church service the second night, we thought they’d probably offer us something to eat, but they never said a word about it. They went to bed, so we went to bed too.
We got up the next morning, and they had already left. We thought they would probably come back by noon and take us out to eat or at least give us some food. But they didn’t come home.
Finally, we went into the kitchen to see if we could find something to eat because by then we were really hungry. We found one shriveled hot dog, one egg, and one stale piece of bread. We fixed the toast, boiled the hot dog, cooked the egg, and we each had a half a piece of toast, a half a hot dog, a half an egg, and a glass of water apiece.

I said to my wife, “I know what I’m going to do!” You see, your flesh and your mind can get stirred up when people do you wrong. That’s why the Bible says you’ve got to keep them under subjection to your spirit.

I said, “I’m going to call the district superintendent, and ask him, ‘What kind of ministers do you have in this district, anyway? We haven’t had anything to eat for two days!” You know, if you’re not careful, in a situation like that, your flesh will want to take over.

So I went to the phone and started to call the district supervisor, but something on the inside constrained me. It was the love of Christ constraining me.

I came back and said to my wife, “I can’t do it. I didn’t call the district supervisor. Bless their hearts! People who act like these pastors are not going to make it spiritually anyway, but I’m not going to contribute to their downfall. I’m not going to be the one to trip them up.

“I don’t care if they did do wrong. I’ve got to walk in love whether they do or not because the Bible says that love worketh no ill to his neighbor.”

Well, that couple finally came in before church on the third day and never said anything about dinner or even asked us if we were hungry. We went to church, and afterwards they just brought us home and didn’t offer to feed us anything. They hadn’t ever given us an offering so we would buy something to eat.

By then, it felt like my stomach was rubbing my back bone! When you go without food for several days, your flesh gets to crying out! I said to my wife again, “I’m going to call the district superintendent and ask him what kind of pastors he has in this district!” If you go to paying attention to your head and your flesh, you’ll get in to trouble.

I went to the telephone to call him, but again, something on the inside of me wouldn’t let me do it. The love of Christ constrained me.

I said to my wife, “No, I can’t do it. I’ve got a mind to get in the car tonight when the service is over and just leave. But I couldn’t do that either.

In the first place, people in the congregation would ask the pastor, ‘Where is Brother Hagin?’ Then they would wonder why I left, and it would look bad for the pastor.”

But by the next day, we were hungry! I started to call the district superintendent again, but I just couldn’t do it.

Instead, I said to my wife, “I can’t do it. These dear ones, bless their darling hearts, are never going to make it in the ministry acting this way. But I don’t want to contribute to their downfall. I’ll stay through Sunday. I’m going to do right whether these pastors do or not.”

People who don’t have any more character or concern for others than that are never going to make it anywhere, much less in the ministry.

In fact, this couple never should have been in the ministry to begin with. But I’m not going to contribute to their downfall, because then it would hurt me spiritually. Sooner or later this pastor is going to reap whatever he sowed, but I’m not going to help him reap it.

Besides, love worketh no ill to its neighbor. Love takes no account of a suffered wrong. Love – God’s love – is longsuffering, patient, and kind.

Finally, one of the church deacons came to visit us, and he began questioning me. I saw that he knew something wasn’t’ right. But I didn’t want to hurt the pastor by confiding in one of his own deacons. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. So I did my best not to say anything that would hurt the pastor.

The deacon finally said to my wife and me, “Come down to my house.” He took us to the back of his house where there was a deep freezer that was full of meat and fresh vegetables.

He said to us, “Just take anything you want.” We took the food home and fixed it ourselves. That pastor and his wife never did feed us or give us one thing to eat the entire time we were there.

They took up an offering every night, but they never gave us any of it, so we couldn’t go buy something to eat. Finally the last night of the meeting, they did give us a small offering. I think for the whole week they finally gave us about $43.

We were sorely tempted to get out of love, but I couldn’t gripe and complain about it. I’ve got to walk in love if I’m going to stay healthy. I just like it so much better staying well. So my wife and I just put our faith in God. We knew that down the road God would meet our need, so we just went our way.

What happened to those pastors? Sometime later the district superintendent called me and asked, “Did you preach for those folks?” I told him that I had held a meeting for them at their church.

He asked me, “Did you pick up anything in your spirit while you were there?” I didn’t have to pick anything up in my sprit! I mean, if nothing else, going all those days without food, my stomach told me something was wrong!

He said, “We had to deal with those folk. We just had to simply take that church away from them.”

I noticed that was the last church that couple ever pastored. The district superintendent had to dismiss them from their fellowship. No one ever heard from them again. In fact, they just disappeared off the scene.

We in the Body of Christ need to treat one another with love! Love works no ill to his neighbor! We can’t mistreat people and think we can prosper in the things of God.

Make this confession from your heart:

The love of God has been shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost. I shall endeavor to let the love nature dominate me. I have God’s love nature in my heart – in my spirit.

Therefore, I’ll not let my natural human reasoning dominate me. I refuse to allow the flesh to rule me.

I’m going to walk in the Spirit by walking in love. I am a lover, not a hater.

I will practice and exercise the fruit of love so that it can grow and increase.

One way I will practice the God-kind of love is by taking no thought for a suffered wrong.

I will also practice thinking the best of every person so my love can grow and develop, and I can be a blessing to many.

I will make the love of God my great quest in life, for them my love shall abound, and God shall reap the glory.

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Continued Praying….

Father, Thank You for the Love You’ve made available for us to walk in
Every fruit of the Spirit dominating our lives
You are always transforming us
We simply walk in Your love and do what You have put in us to do
It is the ministry of Your love that we pray for others
Let Your Church truly be filled with who You really are, love
We will shine like a bright lights
Not satisfied with the every day status quo
There is more; It’s coming around the bend, it’s better
We take ahold of it by faith
More and more and easier and easier it will get
In everything we pull back and look up and lift our voices
Without You we are inaccurate
Thank You, Father, for helping us to walk in the fruits of Your Spirit continually
You loved us so much You gave Your only Son
That we might not be lost but that we would have Your love
Thank You, Father, for helping us bring that love to others
We give You all the Glory, all the thanksgiving and all the Praise

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