When God gave us the New Testament law of love, He said we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That just means we are to love our fellow man and our fellow believer as we would love ourselves. The Bible also said, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10)
Well, we don’t need to look around and judge the other fellow and see if he’s walking in love. We just need to be sure we are doing right and that we are walking in love ourselves! If we judge others, it will just cause strife and discord in the Body of Christ.
Discern the Lord’s Body
What we’ve got to realize is that under the New Covenant, whether or not we fulfill the number of our days is to a large extent up to us. Why? Because healing was provided for our bodies in the atonement. The Bible says, “…Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matt. 8:17).
So healing belongs to us. But we’ll never be able to walk in God’s provision of healing unless we learn to walk in love.
Well, if God has made healing available to us in the Atonement, then why isn’t everyone healed? If we are going to walk in health, there is something we need to understand about walking in love. Notice what the Bible says in First Corinthians 11.
for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the lord’s death till he come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
(1 Cor. 11:23-30)
Now let’s go back and analyze what we just read. When Jesus took the bread, He said, “This is My Body, which is broken for you.” You see, with Jesus’ stripes we were healed. Because His body was broken for us in the Atonement, we can receive physical healing for our bodies.
Then notice the word “unworthily” in verse 27: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”
The word used here is not “unworthy.” Many times folks say, “I feel so unworthy,” and they think this verse applies to feelings of unworthiness. But verse 27 is not saying that we are unworthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
The word “unworthily” refers to the manner and attitude in which you partake of the Lord’s Supper. So this verse is talking about the manner in which the Corinthians were partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
If you’ll read the previous verses and study the context, you’ll see that these folks were coming together, having a meal, and also taking the Lord’s Supper. But some of them even drank wine and got drunk. So Paul was saying, “These folks are bringing condemnation or judgment on themselves because they are partaking of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner.”
Then the Bible goes on to say, “For this cause many are weak and sickly and many sleep or die prematurely.” That infers that we should not be weak or sickly. Paul is talking about man’s physical body here. He’s saying that those who partake of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner can become weak and sickly and even die prematurely.
These verses are saying, “By not discerning the Lord’s body, many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep.” By “sleep” the Bible means that their bodies are asleep in the grave, and their spirits have gone to be with the Lord.
But notice that they died prematurely. The number of their days were not fulfilled. They shouldn’t have died. It certainly wasn’t God’s will that they die prematurely. Actually, if they had discerned the Lord’s body, they wouldn’t have been weak and sickly, and they wouldn’t have died prematurely.
The Bible is saying that sometimes there is a cause or a reason some people are weak, sickly, and even die prematurely, because if they don’t discern the Lord’s body, they bring judgment on themselves.
Christ is our Passover Lamb. His body was broken for our physical sustenance and healing: “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). If you don’t know that you are healed by His stripes, then you can go right on being weak and sickly physically. You may even die prematurely and not live out your full length of time down here.
But there’s also another side to this statement, “not discerning the Lord’s body.” You can also be weak, sickly, and die prematurely if you do not discern and understand that the Lord’s spiritual Body, the Body of Christ, is one. (Col. 3:15)
In other words, there is a spiritual Body of Christ on the earth today, which includes all the born-again believers worldwide (Col. 1:18). When Jesus was here on the earth, the only Body of Christ that was on the earth was Jesus’ physical body. But today the Body of Christ consists of believers all over the world. And we need to discern the Body of Christ and walk in love toward them.
In other words, by not discerning the Body of Christ—our brothers and sisters in Christ—and walking in love toward them, we can open ourselves up to weakness, sickness, and even premature death. And the reason many believers are in a weak and sickly condition is that they have not discerned the Body of Christ as they should have.
If you do not walk in love toward fellow members of the Body of Christ, you’re going to be weak and sickly, and you’ll not prolong your days on this earth. You’ll shorten your days, and you can even die prematurely. I didn’t say that — the Bible said that!
Some Christians have already died prematurely because they didn’t walk in love toward fellow members of the Body of Christ. They shouldn’t have died—it wasn’t God’s best for them—but their lack of love shortened their own days.
Whether folks agree with you or not on every doctrinal issue, you can still walk in love toward them even if they don’t walk in love with you. Walking in love is of the utmost importance.
by Kenneth E. Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.