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A Sweet Fragrance

4 Dec2016 LHarticle// Lynette Hagin

A POPULAR PASSAGE in Deuteronomy chapter 28 talks about all of our blessings—how we will be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, and the fruit of our body (our children) will be blessed (vv.1–4). We love to concentrate on verse 13 that says we'll be the head and not the tail and we'll be above and not beneath. While that is all true, sometimes we don't read the rest of verse 13 that gives the condition on which these blessings are based.

Deuteronomy 28:13 (AMPC) says these blessings will come "if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day and are watchful to do them."

You may wonder why sometimes your confessions of faith are not becoming realities. Ask yourself this: "Am I heeding the commandments of the Lord?"

What has He asked us to do? There are many commandments that we must do, and we must get into the Scriptures to find and obey them. The commandment I want to focus on here is the commandment to walk in love.

Matthew 22:39 says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus isn't telling us to love others just in words and thoughts but with consistent actions and deeds.

Acts of kindness are one of the strongest voices in the love walk. I believe that we've only scratched the surface of this commandment. The fact is, if we consistently keep the love commandment, we won't have to worry about the other commandments. They will become second nature to us.

What is supposed to come out of us when we practice the love walk? A sweet fragrance! Ephesians 5:2 says that when we walk in love, it's as "a sweetsmelling savour." In the Greek, that phrase means a sweet odor or fragrance.

I got excited when I found this out because I thought, "When we walk in love, we're supposed to smell like a brand-new bottle of cologne!" Most women like a certain fragrance of perfume or cologne. I believe God wants to give us a new perfume—the fragrance of walking in love!

The cares of life can bring us so far down in our love walk that if there's any fragrance left in us, it smells like cheap perfume. So let's check up on our love walk. If we want to live a life of faith, we must remember that faith works by love (Gal. 5:6).

The act of walking in love is a very important part of relationships. If we don't walk in love, then what's the alternative? Life is just too short to be living in selfishness and turmoil. We've been taught to seek first the Kingdom of God. The fact is, when we place God first, every hostility will evaporate and His love will permeate our lives like a sweet fragrance!

Can people around you "smell" the fragrance of God's love flowing through you? You may be thinking, "That's just not my personality type." Naturally speaking, you may not be a person who shows love easily. But if you are born again, the love of God has been "shed abroad" in your heart (Rom. 5:5).

When you seek the Lord and yield to His love in you, it has to come forth. Then, no matter what is going on around you, love will come out of your heart and mouth.

So many times we want the desires of our heart to be granted, but we stop short of the very thing that will bring those desires to pass—practicing the commandments of walking in love and forgiveness. Often we want forgiveness for ourselves and judgment for others, but we must forgive if we want to receive forgiveness and have our prayers answered. We need to be filled with love and walk in love so that everywhere we go a sweet-smelling savor surrounds us.

Yet this is one of the most difficult skills to master. That's because it's easy to experience such strong, negative emotions toward someone who has hurt you. I've had many opportunities to practice the love walk myself. I understand that someone might have done something to you—something that's hard to forgive. But I've found that the more you practice love and forgive others, the easier it becomes.

When you walk in love, peace and tranquility will surround you. You'll experience a joy like you've never known before and hatred and bitterness will dissolve away! Your whole life will have a wonderful fragrance—the fragrance of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

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Faith Nugget

Take the High Road

The Importance of Forgiveness

One of the things I witnessed in the life of my father-in-law, Kenneth E. Hagin, was that he not only taught the love walk, but he truly lived it. He was the greatest example I've ever seen of someone who walked down the love path. He never let anybody offend him. He never took offense at what anyone did or said.

I remember times when my husband and I would get exasperated when we heard others criticize and say hurtful things about our family or ministry. Sometimes we expressed our feelings to my father-in-law, but he would tell us, "Don't ever stoop to their level. Always walk the high road."

I am forever grateful for his example and for him being straightforward with us about these things. After all of these years, I still hear his words ringing in my ears when I'm tempted to walk the low road.

We can never allow offenses to trip us up, because faith works by love (Gal. 5:6). Faith and love go hand in hand.

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Read More

To read more from Lynette about walking in love, go to khm.com/lhr16.