Galatians 5:6 ...faith avails, operating through love.
Ephesians 6:23 Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know that your faith operates through love? A person who hears the gospel, repents, and then comes to appreciate the Lord Jesus and feel that He is altogether lovable, will have a strong faith. This faith operates through his love for the Lord. The more we love the Lord, the stronger will be our faith in Him. This is Paul's thought in Galatians.
Ephesians, however, emphasizes love, not faith. In Ephesians Paul's concern is not salvation, but continuation and fellowship. This requires love with faith. If our faith is weakened because we accept doubts and questions, we shall find it difficult to love the Lord. Whenever faith is damaged, love will be damaged also. In order to continue in fellowship with the Lord through loving Him, we need a strong faith. Therefore, we need both the faith that operates through love and the love that is with faith.
Love is from God. This means that love is on God's side. Faith, on the contrary, is on our side. Hence, the phrase "love with faith" implies traffic between God and us and between us and God. Love is from God to us, and faith is from us to God. God gives us love, and we respond with faith. This is the traffic between love and faith. Through this traffic peace remains our portion. We are kept in peace by God's love coming to us and by our faith going to Him.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, that through faith and love together I can continue in fellowship with You. Do strengthen my faith and grant me a fresh love for You daily. I believe You will fill me with loving appreciation. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
SPECIAL NOTE: I will be on vacation next week and will not have access to a computer therefore there will not be a new "Scripture of the Week" until 09/24/00. God Bless...Brother Frank