Love or Obedience?

Above all else, Jesus Christ desires our obedience.  In our obedience we communicate to Him that we love Him, but if we believe that Jesus Christ wants us to love Him above all else we won't always see it necessary to obey Him.  We will bask in pools of grace while forgetting the call of God to be Holy.  

 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.- John 14:23-24

"This is love for God: to obey His commands and His commands are not burdensome" 1 John 5:3

Jesus makes it quite clear that the one who loves Him is the one who obeys Him.  Your allegiance to Christ is made evident, not in your religious creeds or church attendance, but in your commitment to Him.  If you do not obey Him, then you do not know Him.  If you have no desire for fellowship with Him, no drive to turn from sin and towards His righteousness then you are still lost in your sin, unforgiven and before God you stand condemned.  

Do not fool yourself into thinking that just because you attend church or just because you prayed a prayer that one time that you have salvation.  Whether or not you have true salvation is revealed in your obedience to Christ today.  Are you walking with Him?  Desiring to be changed by Him?  Are you abhorring sin in your life, striving to overcome the old life by the power of the Holy Spirit?  If so, then good, keep fighting dear Christian!  But, if not, then you have been deceived into thinking that you actually know Him.  

You see, when you truly turn from your sin and towards the saving work of Jesus Christ you can do nothing but be changed.  You know that you will never be the same because the risen Christ has been made Lord of your life and has invaded your very being.  

Obedience to our Lord is what matters.  If we love Him, then we will obey Him.  It's really that simple.  

Examine your life and ask yourself, do I truly know Him?  Have I truly turned over control of my life to His Lordship?  Is He King and Master over my life?  Have I in my brokenness turned from my sin and towards the saving work of the risen Christ?  

I hope that you have today.  If not, then I beg of you, let go of your life and watch Him transform you.  

Love: More than a feeling?

How much do you want love?

What would you do to get it?   Would you take great risks?  Would you sacrifice something great in order to have it?

Many of us find ourselves right in the middle of all of these questions at some point in our life.  We might have taken a great risk for love or sacrificed something great in order to reach that pinnacle of "being in love".  

Maybe we thought that we met "the one" only to find out in the end that they weren't really "the one", but just someone that we got wrapped up in far too quickly.  We believe that love is a feeling, but love is not a feeling, it is so much more than that.  

Yet, our culture and our media teaches us that love is feeling.  It says be with someone who makes you happy and not just some of the time, but all the time and if they don't make you happy all the time, well then you can call it quits.  No big deal.  Isn't that an unrealistic expectation to put on someone though?  Aren't we making it about ourselves when we say its your responsibility to make me happy?  Is it, really? Or are we just projecting the selfish desire of our own selfish hearts onto someone who's looking to you to make them feel happy all of the time too.  In the end what we do is grow to resent that person, because they can't give us ultimate, lasting, 24/7 365 happiness.  

Maybe some of us have had our heart broken,  because that gaping hole that was crying out for love caused us to seek it from a person who couldn't love us unconditionally.  The feelings faded and the excitement of a new relationship wore off and here we were left with this person that we got way too emotionally wrapped up with right from the start.  Ever been there?  Yeah, me too.  

Could it be that love isn't a feeling?  If it were then our relationships would be based upon something that changes with the wind.  Today I love you, but tomorrow I'm mad at you, so now I'm not sure. See what I mean?

Maybe real love is grounded only in something that is unchangeable, steadfast, filled with hope and lasting joy?  Maybe real love involves commitment and sacrifice.

Maybe we're running around, burning the bridges of love, because we've never experienced this real and lasting love.  A love that doesn't change with the wind, but grows stronger with each passing day.  A love that cost someone a great price.  A love that reached beyond limits for you.  I like the sound of that love, don't you?  

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.- 1 John 3:16

Ah, there it is, real and everlasting love.  It's sacrificial, it loves without limits and it cost someone a great price.  It's that kind of love that no earthly person can give you.  Sure, people can love us to some degree like this, but ultimately this love is only found in Jesus Christ. 

You can spend your life chasing after love or you can stop, turn around and pursue love from Jesus Christ.  Ask Him to take control of your life and to set you free with the great love that he displayed for you by dying in your place so that you might have freedom, life and forgiveness from all your mistakes.  

I spent too much of my time chasing after love that faded, looking to a person to fill that gaping hole in my heart for love, but when I stopped chasing and laid my life down at the feet of Jesus Christ I found a love that was greater and that reached higher than any love I have ever known.  

I don't want to chase after love that can fade.  I want to chase after a love that is unchanging and everlasting, but what about you?  

Love, Acceptance and a Nintendo 64

Have you ever wanted something really bad?

I mean, really bad.

When I was a kid it was a Nintendo 64.  When I was a teen it was love and acceptance.  Then as I grew into adulthood it was marriage, success, and a name for myself.  

Often times the desires for those things will cause us to do things that just don't make sense and quite frankly, aren't very wise.  We find ourselves so infatuated with that desire that in our tunnel vision we make life far too much about ourselves, focusing on what we don't have instead of what we do have.  

As we reflect on this month of being thankful.  I wonder, what are you not thankful for in your life, because inside of you burns a desire to just have that one thing.  You'll do just about anything to get it and you believe that without you can't truly be happy. 

I'm not saying that things like love, acceptance, success, marriage, or even a Nintendo 64 are bad things.  It becomes unhealthy when we believe the lie that if we don't have those things than we are incomplete.  In our pursuit of that one thing we lose focus on what really matters and we do stupid things to get it.  

Maybe you've pursued love in all the wrong places?  Maybe you married not because you really were committed to that person and loved them, but because you were desperate and lonely.  Maybe you've neglected your family, because success at your job became more important than spending time with them.  You might say that you love your family most, but what we love most gets revealed by what we invest the most time, effort and money into.  

Maybe in order to be accepted by others you've comprised your morals and beliefs so that you could "fit in".  You go home at night feeling like a total failure, knowing that this is not who you are, but you put a mask on once again and do it the next day.  

Too many of us are running around trying to be someone that we're really not.  We're like vacuums, sucking the life out of everything that we can find, hoping that maybe, just maybe, this will fill us up and give us that lasting joy and satisfaction.  

This makes me think of an encounter that Jesus has with a woman at the well.  She was a Samaritan and Jesus was a Jew.  Now, Jew's are not suppose to associate with Samaritans, they viewed them as "half breeds" and dogs.  But, Jesus had a different view and that shouldn't surprise us!  Jesus reaches out to this woman one day at the well and He offers her living water.  He tells her that if anyone drinks from the water that He gives they will never be thirsty and in them will become a spring that wells up into eternal life.  

Oh my goodness, did you just get the best mental picture in your head of what Jesus is describing?  I did.  I bet this woman did too.  The woman then asks where she can get this water and Jesus tells her that He is the living water.  Meaning, that if we come to Him, confessing our sin and asking Him to take control that He will fill us with joy, newness of life, peace, hope and purpose.  He will wash all of our sins away if we in our brokenness would cry out to Him realizing that we in and of ourselves are broken and rebellious people in desperate need of rescue.  Jesus Christ wants to give you life and life to the full.  He wants to give you a hope and turn your mourning into dance. He wants to take that empty feeling from you and fill it with joy, real and everlasting joy.  

Stop running, won't you?  I know from personal experience that a pursuit of anything other than Jesus Christ will leave you empty, disappointed and wanting more.  Find your hope in Him and watch Him set you free from the trap of needing something more to be complete.  All other things can be taken from you, but Jesus Christ has existed from eternity past and He will always exist.  He can never be taken from you.  

What I really want is Jesus, how about you?

Are you insulted? Good!

"If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."- 1 Peter 4:14

Ever been insulted because of the name of Christ?  Yeah, me too. 

Fear not though dear friend, because God's Spirit rests upon you and in that there is hope, joy and life eternal.  In the Holy Spirit there is power to overcome the accuser, to rise above the insults and to put on Christ Jesus. 

"The fear of man is a snare, but those who trust in the Lord are safe".- Proverbs 29:25

Care too much about what other people think about you and you'll be caught in a snare, but put your hope and trust in the LORD and find safety and rest there.  The Greek word for safe is sagab which means an in-accessibly high place. Yes, its true if you are insulted for the name of Christ, yet bank your hope upon the LORD, He sets you in a high place, free from harm.  This doesn't guarantee a pain free easy life, don't get me wrong, its often times quite the opposite for the Christian, but it does mean a steadfast peace awaits those who trust in the Lord. 

Fear not what man can do to you, for their words are trivial, but fear God, serve Him, find your identity in Him and watch the power of God lift you up, fill you with peace, and the power to rise above the insults through the Holy Spirit.   

Praise God!

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!

 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.- James 5:17-18

When you pray, do you pray in earnest?  

God wants to do something new within our midst, but His people are far too busy and distracted to pray.  For if we would, we would see the ground shake with the glory of God, mountains move, the lame healed and the lost get found.  

We might not admit it to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but part of us wants to believe that such miracles were reserved for only those in Jesus' day.  Could you and I really pray as Elijah did?  Could we pray with such faith for God to do what only He could do?  Maybe we could pray that when, at least, when others are around so that we look spiritual, but in our hearts do we truly believe that God can do the impossible. 

Would we be like Joshua, who asked God to make the sun stand still and it did, for 24 hours.  As we know, without God's divine intervention it's impossible for the sun to stand still.  What in your life seems impossible, but fear keeps you from praying with such earnestness and trust for God to do it?

We so often put more faith in doctors, medications, support groups and self help books then we do in the power of God through Jesus Christ.  For within us, if we know Christ, lives the resurrection power, yes, the very same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you (Romans 8:11).  For this is power beyond measure and sadly, power that is often untapped due to fear and distraction. 

God wants to rend down the heavens (Isaiah 64:1).  To show the display of His glory and might through His people.  Do you want to see such a movement of God that its unexplainable through human understanding?  Then pray, pray that God would manifest Himself in our communities, in our lives, in our families so that relationships would be restored, the lost would be found and the name of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed unto the ends of the earth!  

Do not be afraid to ask God for what seems impossible.  He desire's to display His glory through human impossibilities.  Yes, that's right, through you and me. Do not let your own limitations keep you from believing that God can do more than you can ever ask imagine. 

A Prayer For This Generation

Lord Jesus,  tonight my heart is so very heavy for young people.  My desire is for you to do what only you can do.  Father I am desperate for a movement of your Spirit that will awaken our hearts to true repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

My prayer for teenagers is that they would submit all of themselves to you.  That they would devote their lives, their hopes and their futures unto your will.  God I pray that they would desire to be bold witnesses for your Kingdom.  Use them in their schools to make a great impact for the gospel.  Grant them courage when they feel weak.  Use their lives in such mighty ways God that their schools would have to take notice.  When they stop and take notice Father then let it be you that they might see.

God silence the enemy that wants to draw students away from your glory.  I ask that you might bring revival in the hearts and minds of young people.  I pray against Satan who desires to destroy them and I ask instead that they would listen only to your voice.

Pour out your Spirit in power on this generation of teenagers.   Use my hands and my feet, Father, to make known the truth of your gospel to them.  Let me not be distracted by the lies of Satan, but let my confidence, assurance and hope rest in you alone.  Do what only you can do for your glory in Jesus name.  Amen!

The Hope of the Gospel

The hope of the gospel is in becoming a new person. It is a work of both the will of God and of man's will.  It is God's will to make you a new creation, but He will not force you, for man must surrender his own will unto the Lord Jesus.

For when one surrenders his own will unto the Lord Jesus Christ He changes them from the inside out.

Christ is preparing you for the day in which He will clothe you in white and present you as pure before His Father.  In becoming that new man, you have an inheritance in Heaven that awaits you.  There is joy in the anticipation of what is to come, but there is also great joy in this life when Jesus Christ reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lord's in your own heart.

There is a home awaiting those who are forgiven and free in the Lord Jesus.  God is preparing a place for them in Heaven for all of eternity.  It is then that truly, you transform into a brand new person as you stand in front of your maker, made whole, spotless and clean.  

He will not force you to come to Him.  You must surrender your own will to Jesus Christ.  For when you do, then the change begins.  Hold onto your own life and watch it crumble, let go of it and watch the Lord Jesus put it back together.

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come"- 2 Corinthians 5:17