Love Series: Love - A More Excellent Way than Power Gifts Alone

God is in the business of unity even in all of the diversity among mankind, both within the church and outside of it. However, apart from Him unity can neither truly exist nor be sustained. 

This is anything but novel but did you know that the Holy Spirit does not become female when ministering through a female? He is still God. One God in Three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son are in heaven thought not confined there, the Holy Spirit is both there and here.He is Spirit and not constrained by time and space. Although all three Persons are always together though in perfect.  Our human minds cannot comprehend this completely.  

So only in the Holy Spirit can we ever be in "real time" with God. When you leave Him out of your home, your marriage, your ministry, or your meeting, you end up flat. And only through Him can we do the works of Jesus Christ, Who said we can "do nothing without Him." (John 15:5). But Paul tell us that in the anointing, we are neither male nor female. I don't mean we lose our gender, but that the Holy Spirit ministering through a person does not change Who He is based on the person's gender. We adjust to God; God does not adjust to us. Paul explains in Galatians 3:26-29 about those baptized in Jesus Christ. This is so awesome, check it out! 

"26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Distinctions that bring divisiveness disappear in the Spirit. Remember the Bible tells us there is always unity among the Three Persons of the Godhead. Never once has there ever been or will there ever be a disagreement within the Godhead among the Three Persons, who are very distinct yet equal to each other. They, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, always operating as One. That is why in 1 Corinthians 12 while discussing the cooperation within the Body of Christ of using the Spiritual Gifts, Paul tells us in verses 24-31 that there ought not to be a schism, meaning division or disunion: 

24"But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 
25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 
28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 
31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

Yes, the reason the Church is still here is to do the works of Jesus. What did He do? Well, the most famous Person to ever walk the earth did so much that the Bible says that if all He did were to be written down, the world would not be able to contain the amount of books that would be written. That's amazing considering His ministry only about 3 to 3 1/2 years long. And although we do know all that He did, thankfully, there is a good indication of His works here on earth in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and Isaiah 42, 43, 53, 61 to start. 

How do we do these acts as He told us we would do in John 14:12 and elsewhere?  We do the acts of Jesus Christ by using the ministering gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, through faith,  obeying His mandate to teach everyone about Him and His Kingdom and disciple the nations. 

But in ending 1 Corinthians 12, the last thing Paul says is in verse 31 that there is yet "a more excellent way" than the gifts anointing, 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter. Love is the better way Paul was referring to. In that chapter Paul tells us we have Faith, Love and Hope but the greatest of these is Love.  God is Love, (1 John, 4:18). And Jesus told us that the Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of our heart, strength, and mind and that secondly we should love our neighbor as ourselves. That is the "more excellent way". Remember when Jesus performed miracles. Several times in the Gospels we learn that He was moved with compassion before He ministered in power. I believe the Holy Spirit is saying to you and to me, passion before power, or to operate in love it better than to operate in power. That is the crux of the whole thing right there. Love... 

Love covers a multitude of sins.(1 Peter 4:8):  "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” 

Love never fails, it conquers all. (1 Corinthians 13:8): "Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away."

It was love that moved the Father to send His son into the world to save us all: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him so not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

Gifts, powers, anointing, faith, hope love. The greatest of these is indeed love.