Exercise our Spirit to have Brotherly Love and Love for All men to be God’s Expression

As believers in Christ who love the Lord and pursue Him to enjoy Him and experience Him, we need to develop the divine life and nature in us until we have the fruits of brotherly love and love; we need to add into godliness brotherly love, and in brotherly love, love. Amen!

Praise the Lord, God has granted us all things which relate to life and godliness – all these things are in the seed that we have received at the time of our regeneration.

We have been regenerated not with corruptible seed but with incorruptible seed, through the living and abiding word of God.

This seed came into us through the word of God; when we heard the word, faith rose up in us, and we simply received the Lord as the seed of life.

The seed of life that was planted into us is nothing but the Lord Jesus as our life, our faith, and our everything.

Now that He is in us, He needs to grow in us. He needs to make His home in us.

He needs to be formed in us. And He needs to live in us and even become us as we become Him. Amen!

According to 2 Pet. 1, we need to cooperate with the seed of the faith we have received at our regeneration to develop the virtues in the divine life and nature.

We need to be diligent to supply bountifully in our faith, virtue, and in virtue, knowledge, and in knowledge, self-control, and in self-control, endurance, and in endurance, godliness, and in godliness, brotherly love, and in brotherly love, love.

All these things are in us, in the divine seed we received at regeneration, but they need to be developed and exist in us bountifully so that we may have a rich entrance into the kingdom of the Lord when He returns.

When the Lord Jesus returns, He will come with His kingdom, and we want to be granted a bountiful and rich entrance into His kingdom, not to be put to shame at His coming.

Day by day we need to add, bring in beside, and develop the virtues in the divine life and nature in our spirit.

We need to exercise our spirit over God’s word, and we need to add to faith, virtue.

Then, we need to add to virtue, knowledge, the full knowledge of God and of Christ.

Then in knowledge, we need to add self-control, not being puffed up or proud of the knowledge that we have.

And in self-control, we need to add endurance toward others and toward the environment.

In endurance, we need to add godliness, that is, the expression of God, Christ living in us. Amen!

May we be those who exercise our spirit day by day to enjoy the Lord and cooperate with Him to develop the divine life and nature in our spirit!

Exercise our Spirit to have Brotherly Love and Love for All men to be God’s Expression

The final two virtues to be developed in Peter’s mind in 2 Pet. 1 are brotherly love and love.

In 2 Pet. 1:7 he encourages us to add all diligence to supply in godliness, brotherly love, and in brotherly love, love.

It is not enough for us to live Christ and express Him; we need to continue to exercise our spirit to have brotherly love. Brotherly love is in the divine seed given to us by God at the time of our regeneration.

The Greek word rendered “brotherly love” is philadelphia; it is composed of phileo (to have affection for) and adelphos (a brother), therefore indicating brotherly affection.

Brotherly love is brotherly affection, a love characterized by delight and pleasure.

We need to have brotherly love to love the brothers.

In godliness, which is the expression of God, this love needs to be supplied for the brotherhood, for our testimony to the world, and for the bearing of fruit (1 Pet. 2:17; 3:8; Gal. 6:10; John 13:34-35; 15:16-17).

The whole world knows that we are the Lord’s disciples if we love one another.

We bear fruit by abiding in the Lord and by loving one another, that is, by having brotherly love.

We need to exercise our spirit to add all diligence so that we may supply into godliness, brotherly love.

And in brotherly love, we need to supply love.

This love is agape, the divine love, God Himself in His nature (1 John 4:8, 16).

The ultimate development of the divine nature is love.

Agape, the divine love, is higher and more noble than phileo, the human love.

We can have the love which is God Himself by partaking of His nature to be saturated with God as love and express Him in full.

The full salvation of the Triune God issues in holiness and brotherly love.

The issue of God’s full salvation is the expression of God (godliness) and the love for the brothers, even love that is God Himself.

If we look at our experience, we realize that our love is very limited.

We love those whom we love, and we love the brothers we consider good and who love us back.

We have preferences in our love, and we love certain brothers or sisters more than others.

The apostle Peter knew this was the situation among the saints, so he didn’t stop with brotherly love but went on to speak of love, the divine love, the divine, deep, and noble love with which God loves all men.

God the Father loves us with His divine love. He loves all men indiscriminately.

In this age, the age of grace, God loves all men and wants all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth.

In Matt. 5:44-47 we are told to love not just those who love us but even more, love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us so that we may become sons of our Father who is in the heavens (Luke 6:27, 35; Eph. 5:1; Phil. 2:15).

Our Father loves all men, and He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust.

If we love only those who love us, what reward do we have? Even sinners do the same thing.

Our God loves us, and He loves all men.

He causes His sun to rise not only on the good but on all men, and He sends His rain not only on the just but on the unjust as well.

Because we have His life and nature in us, we need to partake of His divine nature and have brotherly love and love.

It takes special energy and strength for us to love our enemies; we need God Himself as love in order to love those who do not love us and who even hate or persecute us.

In the church life we need to exercise our spirit to develop the divine life and nature, and we need to eventually supply brotherly love and love in the divine nature.

We need God as our love. We need to enjoy and experience God as love, and we need to love not only those whom we love naturally and those who we like to hang out with but all men.

Only God can do this, and His divine nature of love is in us.

May we allow the Lord as love to flow into us and saturate us.

May we enjoy God as love and live out God as love so that we may love not only the brothers and sisters in the church life but all men.

His love has been poured out through the Holy Spirit into our heart; we need to exercise our spirit and add all diligence to supply in brotherly love, love.

May we open to the Lord concerning this and allow Him to shine on us, expose our inability to love, and let Him infuse us with Himself as love so that we may have brotherly love and love for all men.

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to supply in godliness, brotherly love. Hallelujah, brotherly love is in the divine nature we have in our spirit. We exercise our spirit, dear Lord, to develop the divine life and nature in us so that its virtues may be lived out through us. May brotherly love be among us. May we be all of the same mind, symphatetic, loving the brothers, tenderhearted, and humble-minded. Amen, Lord Jesus, grow in us as love. Pour out Your love into our hearts and grant us to be filled and saturated with You as love. We want to be children of our heavenly Father who loves the good and the evil, the just and the unjust. Oh Lord, You see how short and preferential our love is. Saturate us with Yourself as love. Dispense Yourself as love into our heart so that we may love not only those who love us but even all men! Amen, Lord, be the One who loves others in us. We want to live according to Your divine nature so that we may love others even as You love them!

Having the Development of the Divine Nature from Faith to Love to Become His Expression

In 2 Pet. 1:5-7 we see the development of the divine nature with its virtues.

God has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness; everything we need for us to live Christ and express Him is in the divine seed in our spirit.

We simply need to develop the virtues in the divine life and nature.

Peter lists a set of virtues in these verses, but these virtues are only some of the all things God has granted to us.

We need to cooperate with the Lord to develop the divine life and nature in us from faith to love.

The development of the virtues of the divine life and nature includes virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, and godliness, until we have brotherly love and love.

The full development and maturity from the seed of faith, through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, is the blossom and the fruit of brotherly love and love.

Our Christian life is not an outward life but an inward life, a spiritual life, a life lived in secret before the Lord.

We are not here to make an outward display of our virtues; if we do, we are like the hyprocrites that the Lord spoke of in Matt. 6.

As we seek the Lord, love Him, and exercise our spirit to enjoy Him, we cooperate with Him to develop the virtues in the divine life and nature.

We exercise our spirit to supply in faith, virtue, and in virtue, knowledge, and in knowledge, self-control, and in self-control, endurance, and in endurance, godliness, and in godliness, brotherly love, and in brotherly love, love.

There is a development of the divine seed in us.

The seed is faith, and this seed has two roots: virtue and knowledge.

Then this seed grows upward through the trunk of self-control, having two branches: endurance and godliness.

All these are for the purpose of exhibiting and supporting the blossoms and the fruit, which are brotherly love and love.

What others see is brotherly love and love, and when they see that we love one another in the church life and we love all men with God as love, indiscriminately, they know that we’re the Lord’s disciples.

We become the Lord’s testimony, living in godliness, having self-control, and having brotherly love and love for all men, and all can see and praise the Lord in our living.

If we allow these things to exist in us and even abound in us, they constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:8).

If we cooperate with the Lord to develop the divine nature with its virtues from faith to love, we will have the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we will not be idle nor will we be unfruitful.

May we realize that God’s divine power has granted us all things related to life and godliness, and may we see that the divine seed in us contains all we need to live Christ and express Him.

May we turn to our spirit again and again to exercise our spirit and develop the virtues in the divine life and nature until we become His corporate expression, living out God as love.

We don’t have to strive or strain; we simply need to enjoy the Lord and partake of the riches of His divine nature, and He in us will live the Christian life, even a life that is a duplication of the life the Lord Jesus lived. Praise the Lord!

Everything we need is in the seed, our faith, and we can and should exercise our spirit of faith!

Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to cooperate with You for the development of the virtues in the divine life and nature in our spirit! Amen, Lord, grow in us! We want to grow in life unto maturity. May the divine seed in us grow, expand, develop, and increase. May there be the roots of virtue and knowledge in us so that we may have the vigorous action issuing from the divine life and have the knowledge of God and of His economy. May we have the trunk of self-control, not allowing ourselves to be proud or lifted up but exercising restraint over ourselves. Amen, Lord, may there be the branches of endurance and godliness so that we may have endurance toward all men and a living that expresses God. Yes, Lord Jesus, fill us with Your love so that we may love not only the brothers but also all men! May these things exist in us and abound to constitute us neither idle nor unfruitful unto the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen, Lord, gain Your expression among us today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Peter, msg. 6, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 6, Partakers of the Divine Nature and the Development of the Divine Life and the Divine Nature for a Rich Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The divine provision – developing virtue by enjoying the divine nature, a portion from, Life-Study of 2 Peter, Chapter 7.
  – Partakers of the Divine Nature, via, Living to Him.
  – Partaking of God’s nature through God’s promise, a portion from, Messages Given to the Working Saints, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – 2 Peter (Program #5) – The Divine Provision (5), via, Bible study radio.
  – The key to experiencing Christ – the human spirit, a portion from, The Key to Experiencing Christ–the Human Spirit, Chapter 1.
  – Diligence for a Rich Entrance to the Eternal Kingdom, via, New Jerusalem blog.
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  – The way to enter into the kingdom, a portion from, The Kingdom, Chapter 50, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Now in all the churches flowing, / Brotherly love. / Light and life and love bestowing, / Brotherly love. / In the oneness all believing, / Fellowship with all receiving, / Nevermore the Spirit grieving, / Brotherly love. / To maintain the sweet communion, / Brotherly love; / Fellowship and healing union, / Brotherly love. / Love believing for the brothers, / Hoping all things for the others, / Suffering all with one another, / Brotherly love. (Hymns #1277 stanzas 1-2)
  – What I never could do God is doing in me, / By saying Amen to His Word. / And the change is so real all the brothers can see, / By saying Amen to God’s Word… / Now my love for the brothers abounds more and more / By saying Amen to God’s Word. / And I’m being related as never before / By saying Amen to His Word. (Hymns #1219 stanzas 2 and 5)
  – Jesus, Thine all-victorious love / Shed in my soul abroad; / Then shall my heart no longer rove, / Rooted and fixed in God, / Rooted and fixed in God. / My steadfast soul, from falling free, / Shall then no longer move, / While Christ is all the world to me, / And all my heart is love, / And all my heart is love. (Hymns #264 stanzas 1 and 5)