30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 17 3-6 Faith and relationships 06 Increase our faith in Him to love others
📖 Luke 17:3-6
O02Jul2020 - *Increase our faith in Him to love others* - _Luke 17:3-6_ - FAITH AND RELATIONSHIPS - _Galatians 5:13-16_
As God’s people, we are part of each other in the body of Christ. To build relationships with one another, we must *take heed to ourselves*. Every joint, ligament, bone and muscle must supply to one another what each has received from Christ, for the effectual growth of the body of Christ. This is not an option but necessary for the church.
Rebuking is needed within the body of Christ and we have said that rebuking has to be in an atmosphere of forgiveness. Both rebuking and forgiving are demonstrations of the love of God that we validate to one another.
The Lord set a high standard of rebuking in an attitude of forgiving, before the disciples. _Luke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. (4) And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."_
When the disciples heard this expectation related to rebuking in an atmosphere of forgiving, they were shaken. They knew that within them they did not have the capacity to rebuke in an attitude of forgiving. This is when they ask the Lord to increase their faith.
_Luke 17:5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."_
Faith is not a standalone truth. Faith is in the person of Jesus. When we talk of increasing our faith, we must recognise that we are knowing Him closer and in greater measure. Our faith in Him is proportional to our knowing Him.
As we know Him more deeply and this is a walk, in His Spirit, it results in our sincere love for the brethren, with a fervent and pure heart. _I Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,_
It is our faith in Jesus and our walk, in His Spirit that enables us to love one another. _Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another._ The liberty that we have in us is the liberty of His Holy Spirit, which overcomes the flesh.
As long as we remain in the flesh, we will not be able to love one another, sincerely. Our love for one another will be limited and imperfect. But when we operate in the freedom of the Holy Spirit, we are transported to realms of loving one another that we cannot imagine.
_Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh._
We can see now that the request of the disciples to Jesus when they heard from Him the expectation of rebuking and forgiving one another, was correct. They immediately understood that the high expectation of loving one another that Jesus was presenting before them, would not be possible by the flesh. It would be possible only by their faith in Him and in being led by His Holy Spirit.
Even now, many of us in the body of Christ, are attempting to rebuke one another in an atmosphere of forgiveness, by the flesh. How tragic. Let us wholeheartedly place our faith in Jesus and in the enablement of His Holy Spirit, love one another.
*Thought to ponder*
```The body of Christ is a community experiencing the healing of the Holy Spirit amongst us. Let us not hinder the wholeness of the Holy Spirit by working out of the flesh```