God Rewards Our Love for Him

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Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “How is it you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered him. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23 (ESV)

Jesus answers Judas’ question in a very direct and, yet, deep way.

“If anyone loves me,” This is conditional. He states that we are to respond to Him in love and in caring ways. We know we are to pray, to read God’s Word, and treat others as we would want to be treated. 

“he will keep my word,” The person who loves God learns from His word how he or she should act in given situations. We have to learn to incorporate those teachings into our hearts and into our behavior.

“my Father will love him,” God will love us when we are obedient to what he tells us. I have learned that I cannot say, “I know what God says about this but I think I will do what I want.” When I have done this, I have unknowingly disrespected God by thinking I know more than God.

“we will come to him” Here, we read where God and Jesus comes to those who love God and keeps His word. They come to us in times of trial and tribulation. (I checked a Thesaurus, another word for tribulation is adversity.) God blesses us with good times and wonderful gifts. He brings us comfort when we hurt or grieve.

“and make our home with him.” Jesus lives in the hearts of all who yield their lives to Him.

It’s that simple. We yield our lives to Jesus and we receive all He has for us. God will live with us.

Love Your Neighbor

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                                                             And a second one is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39 (ESV)  

Jesus continued instructing the Sadducees. (See my previous post) With the words of our focus verse, the LORD gets down to the very core of human relationships, how we treat those around us.

                                                          

Our neighborhood has changed over the time we have lived here. People have passed away, others have moved away. Those houses that were owner-occupied might now be rentals, several which seem to be vacant. Because of these factors, we no longer know most of those who live along our section of the street.

I found a way to love these neighbors and these empty houses. I have a section of my prayer list devoted to my neighborhood. In checking a neighborhood social media site’s message board this morning I find I need to expand my section to include a few more houses on a street down the way from our home.  

As we continue to live in our world as things become more conflicted for those of us who love the LORD, we may need to look again at the values we hold and search for ways to please God as we pray for those near us and for those dear to us.

We can learn from the teachings of Jesus and apply them to our daily lives as we walk with Him. We can learn to seek His guidance before we comment on events and actions of others that we don’t understand. We can give Him the glory for the uplifting things He does and not try to take credit for anything He has done for us.

Love God Entirely

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You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38 (ESV)

Jesus responds to a lawyer’s question with our focus verse. I wonder why the why the man posed the question. Was he seriously seeking an answer to something that bothered him? Did the group of Sadducees put that lawyer up to asking a question in an attempt to trick or embarrass Jesus?

His answer may have surprised those in the crowd. The question, as presented, asks about a high thing, the greatest commandment. The Master told the group three ways in which to love God.

 

“with all your heart,” The human heart thought to be the seat of our emotions. When we choose to love another person, we want the best for that person. When we love God, our desire is to live for Him.

“with all your soul,” The soul is man’s true self, who we really are. Said another way, our soul is our inner core. When we say we know a person’s soul, we know his or her inner being.

“with all your mind.” Our minds control our thoughts as well as our movements. What we think at times dictates what we say or do. Our words convey more than we realize. Sometimes they convey hurt and cause problems. As followers of Christ, we are to represent Him in the world. As His emissaries, we are to live for Him hourly and daily.

Father God;

I thank You for Your lesson on how to love You. I ask that You help me to love You according to this verse in order that I may truly represent You in this fallen world. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. AMEN

God's Love Seen

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Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. John 14:21 (ESV)

The Apostle John gives us the basics of God’s love for us. He tells us that Jesus instructed whoever has and keeps my commandments does, in fact, love Him. Jesus also enlarges this thought to further say that those who love Him will be loved by our Father God.

Let’s see, if we love the Son, He will love us, and the Father will love us as well. As a result, Jesus will demonstrate or show His love for us to further establish Himself in our lives. When Jesus shows His love for us, I believe two things happen. 1.) We are assured of His presence in our lives. 2.) Others can see Him in us.

Because we have the assurance of Jesus’ presence, we strive to follow His guidance and obey his commands. We attempt to keep out of stressful circumstances.

When other believer’s meet us they see Jesus in us immediately. When those who have yet to believe in Jesus, we might not receive a warm reaction. However, we are to greet them as Jesus greeted us.

Down through the ages, hymn writers have written of God’s love. King David wrote psalms as he dealt with the issues of his life and how God reached out and love him.

Asaph, “appointed by David to preside over the sacred choral services,” also wrote psalms as well.  

Psalm 73

 A psalm of Asaph

1 Truly God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

The writer sounds confused and even distraught. But read closely the following verses.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,

    it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;

    then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places;

    you make them fall to ruin.

19 How they are destroyed in a moment,

    swept away utterly by terrors!

20 Like a dream when one awakes,

    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

21 When my soul was embittered,

    when I was pricked in heart,

22 I was brutish and ignorant;

    I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

    you hold my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel,

    and afterward, you will receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

    but God is the strength[b] of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;

    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

28 But for me it is good to be near God;

    I have made the Lord God my refuge,

    that I may tell of all your works.

I love the words in verses 23, 24, 28. God does guide us; He will receive us into Glory and we are to tell others of all God’s works.

God’s Sacrificial Love

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but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (ESV)

Paul makes a very important point in this verse. He highlights a point that we often take for granted. God shows His love for us. He does this every hour, every day, every month, and every year.    

Whatever the circumstance we find ourselves or our families are in, God reminds us of His love by directing our attention to the Cross.

God gave His Son. He did this without regard to how we may not appreciate His action. He did it for our ultimate benefit: that we would one day be able to enter heaven and live with Jesus.

We have been, and still are, sinners. We were sinners when He chose to carry out His plan for Jesus. At that time, the disciples didn’t understand the events that unfolded before them.  Present day, we don’t always understand what happens right before us. The disciples learned from the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ.

As we see things unfold in our world today, may we look at them through the eyes of Christ and learn from these events the lessons we need to incorporate into our lives.

God’s Everlasting Love

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I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. Jeremiah 31: 3b (ESV)

 

Our Father God gives us three very important messages in these 16 words. Let’s explore what these messages mean.

The first thing He tells us is that He loves us. Do we realize what all that entails? God looks at us with eyes of love. No matter what we may have done, He always looks at us and sees us in the light of love. He may be disappointed by our behavior but He still loves us.

The second thing He communicates to us is that His love for us never ends. Said another way, His love for us has no end. He loves us because He made us. I remember a dear friend asking her Wednesday night children’s class, “Does God love. . .” and then she mentioned some people who had done some horrific crimes against society. Then, she answered her question to them. “Yes, God loves them because He made them like He made you.” Sometimes, when I hear of a dastardly act done by someone, I have to remember that God made him or her and loves that person just as much as He loves me.

The third message that God gives us here is that He is faithful because of the fact that He made us.  He tells us several times in His Word that He will never leave us or forsake us.  I remember a love song from the 1960’s entitled, “The Twelfth of Never” The last line of the song states, “I will love you until the twelfth of never . . . and that’s a long, long time.” 

God doesn’t quantify or limit how long He loves His children. He says he loves them forever. That tells me he will ALWAYS love us, His children.

Amazed At God's Presence

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Yesterday, at church, I discovered a friend of mine was ill. She had been diagnosed with mononucleosis. She is a young looking middle-aged woman. I was concerned due to her age; I had never heard of someone her age having this ailment.

I did some research and learned that anyone who has the Epstein-Barr virus in their system should not have mono again. However, if a person comes down with it again, it is due to a compromised auto-immune system.

Auto-immune diseases include the arthritis family and fibromyalgia. Dealing with various forms of arthritis and fibromyalgia myself, I actually wonder how many auto-immune diseases a person can actually have. (This would have saved me from back-tracking to the restaurants along the way between home and the agent’s office.) I found myself apologizing to God for making such a crazy mistake.

After I finished up at the insurance agent’s, I went to the bank and took care of that business. I decided to go to the Chinese restaurant to the north, near to the insurance office.

As I opened the inner door to the restaurant, I saw my friend’s husband. We greeted each other and I inquired about my friend’s condition. We talked a short while and I excused myself to go order my lunch. When I received my order, I approached him again and told him to “be blessed.” And departed the building.

After I ate my lunch, I called one of my close friends who happens to be a cousin to the lady who is ill. I related what I had found in research and what I found out during this ‘chance’ encounter which we decided was God-ordained.

Yes, I believe that God ordains the times we experience meeting someone ‘by chance’, especially when we pray about a need and then we ‘happen’ to see someone who can help us understand what we have concerns about.

1.   God was in my day: He allowed me to sleep in, although that wasn’t my plan.

2.   God directed me to get busy and do the paperwork to get ready for my outing to the insurance agency and to the bank.

3.   God guided me to the Chinese restaurant to get my lunch. (I actually thought about getting Chicken Mc Nuggets both they could have caused me problems.)

4.   God allowed me to see my friend’s husband. He confirmed what I was thinking about his wife’s condition.

We sang the following hymn at church yesterday. It speaks of God being with us and accepting us as we are. I can truly say that I do stand amazed at His presence with me.

I Stand Amazed In The Presence