The Greatest Thing in the World
When I was a young evangelist, traveling around the country in a motorhome from church to church, someone handed me a book and said, “This book will really help you.” The title caught my attention, “The Greatest Thing in the World” by Henry Drummond, who was good friends with DL Moody. It was a classic message on 1 Corinthians 13 also known as the love chapter of the Bible. As I began to read, I thought, “There is no way I can love people, be kind, think and talk nice, and forgive those who offend me!” In my frustration and realizing how impossible it was for me to measure up to Paul’s description of the God-kind of love, I threw the book across the room and shouted, “There is no way I can love like this!”
Then I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say, “Go pick that book up, read it and put it into practice.” I picked up the book again and began to read. I can tell you today that what the Lord said is true about walking in the love of God and it has made a big difference in my life.
Henry Drummond said this about the Apostle Paul, and it gave me hop
Love was not Paul’s strong point. The observing student can detect a beautiful tenderness growing and ripening all through his character as Paul gets old; but the hand that wrote, “The greatest of these is love,” when we meet it first, is stained with blood.
Peter says, “Above all things have fervent love among yourselves.” Above all things. And John goes further, “God is love.” And you remember the profound remark which Paul makes elsewhere, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
The Lord Jesus Himself said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Paul, in three verses, gives us an amazing analysis of what this supreme thing is. It is a compound thing. It is like light. As a beam of light passes through a crystal prism, as you have seen it come out on the other side of the prism broken up into its component colors—red, and blue, and yellow, and violet, and orange, and all the colors of the rainbow—so Paul passes this thing, love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements. One might call it the spectrum of love, the analysis of love. Will you observe what its elements are? Will you notice that they have common names; that they are virtues which we hear about every day.
The spectrum of love has nine ingredients.
Patience…………………………….……………..Love suffereth long
Kindness……………………….…………………………...And is kind
Generosity………………………….………………...Love envieth not
Humility………………….. Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up
Courtesy……………………………Doth not behave itself unseemly
Unselfishness……………………………………Seeketh not her own
Good Temper…………………………………..Is not easily provoked
Guilelessness…………………..……………………..Thinketh no evil
Sincerity………….Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth
As I began to learn about love, to renew my mind and to put it into practice, my prayers started working and the blessing of the Lord was more evident. Then I heard a message from my father in the faith, Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin. It was also the last message I heard him preach before he went to be with the Lord. It was titled, “What Have You Done With Love?” He came down the steps of the platform, stood in front of me and began to minister about walking in God’s love. He had left his notes on the podium and asked me to run up and get them for him. He then began to unfold the most important revelation that night, and his words still burn in my heart about how to love those close to us and how to forgive anyone who has wronged us. That night impacted my life, and I began to put into practice what all the writers of the New Testament have to say about the God-kind of love. Dad Hagin said that walking in this love is the way to victory. He also said that if you step out of love you’re on the devil’s territory and he will attack you. You should jump back in as fast as you can.
Paul summed up his words about love in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The Passion Translation says, “Until then, there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love—yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run.” Walking in the God-kind of love is the way to win in life. The God-kind of love is inexhaustible and indestructible.
PARTNERS IN CHRIST
To help you grow in your love walk, we are excited to announce we now have in print the book by Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World. For your offering of $20 or more this month, we will send it, along with our book, Love: The Secret to Success.
Our next international trip will be in May ministering in Nigeria. We are believing God for an extra $100,000 to cover the expenses for this trip and ministry. Thousands of pastors and leaders will be charged up and equipped and we will also distribute hundreds of our books during these meetings. The Word is growing and multiplying.
We also invite you to our Holy Ghost Conference in our MHM Conference Center, April 23-25! It will be a glorious time as we study about the work and person of the Holy Spirit and experience powerful demonstrations of His power during the night meetings.
We declare to you, our partners, “Our God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
In Christ,
Mark and Trina