Recently I have been feeling the Lord speak to be about obedience.
To be honest that is a funny thing for the Lord to speak to you about. None the
less He is J. With that I would like to explore together what the Lord has
been putting on my heart. I have not worked this out to its fullest, but here
is where the Lord has me.
It begins with this:
Joh 14:15 NKJV "If you love Me, keep
My commandments.
The
other day in prayer time this verse came to my mind. Where I ended up going
with this was: "Our love can be defined by what we obey."
Think about this for a minute. If we say "I love my wife, kids, mother,
sister, etc..." Then we show it. I know for me there are things in my life
I no longer do because my wife doesn't like it. Or I refrain from things
because my wife asks me to. I do it because I love her. I do it because it is more important for me to please her then to please myself. Another example are
my kids. Oh how often they drive me crazy with their youthful disobedience. My
kids are 3, and 1 years old. So the growing and teach is in full swing J... My son will often say
"daddy I'm sorry for___" I reply with "If you are sorry then you
will not do it (___) again, and will listen to me." What I am looking for
is his obedience. I don’t lay these things out for him to obey, just to be
obedient, I lay things before him so that he will be safe, learn, be
respectful, etc... They are for his edification.... Well these things worked on
my heart. It made me think about our Father in Heaven. He doesn't lay rules out
for us to obey, just to obey. No, they are for our edification! just look at
one example here:
Joh 15:10-11 NKJV If you keep My
commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's
commandments and abide in His love. (11)
"These
things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
This
brought me to think about us and our growth in Him. To keep it short, we know
we have two warring things in us. our flesh, and our spirit. We all get
tempted, it may still be sexual sins, or others, but the fact remains that we
are all tempted. When those temptation are there in our life it is an
opportunity for us to show our love. Or at least for us to see what we love
most. You see when we follow the lust of our flesh (whatever that may be) we
are feeding our flesh. We are obeying it! Remember what we love is what we
obey! Though when we overcome that temptation (in Christ) we feed the spirit,
and we walk in life! Jas_1:12. We know the great example of that Paul preached to us in
Romans:
Rom 6:16 NKJV
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are
that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading
to death, or of obedience leading to
righteousness?
I
encourage you all to go back and read all of Romans Chapter 6! That alone is
enough to get ones attention! Though we see here in verse 16 that what we obey
is what we love, and will soon become its slave! For us to begin walking out of
the bondage of sin we must fall upon Christ and His finished work on the cross!
There we will see that in new life in Him we must get up and walk! We must be
active in Him! We must obey Him! That is how we show Him that we love Him!...
So what did He command that we do? LOVE!!! Love Him with all our heart, soul,
and mind! to put Him first, to be abandoned to Him! To set aside all the world
has to offer, and make Him first! that is a chose we have!... remember what you
are obeying is what you love most!!!
Paul
also gives a great word here:
2Co 10:6 NKJV
and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Disobedience
to what? That disobedience he talks about is when we obey the flesh, walk in
its lusts, and its desires! When we walk in those things we inevitably walk in
sin! Jas_1:14-15. Then we are in direct disobedience to Jesus! Why? Because we are
obeying the lust of the flesh, and loving our self more than Him! There in
those times we are showing that our love is more in us, and our desires then on,
and in Him! That is a hard truth, but its truth. Though with 2Co_10:6 in mind we
see that we punish our disobedience when what is done? When our obedience if
full filled! You see when we walk actively in Jesus and the things that He
commanded us to do, we punish (put to the cross) that which we were disobedient
in! What we obey is what we love!... Here is where it all comes down to, here
is what Jesus commanded:
Mat 22:37-40 NKJV Jesus said to him, 'YOU
SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH
ALL YOUR MIND.' (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like it: 'YOU
SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' (40)
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the
Prophets."
And in a more pointed focus:
Joh 15:12,17 NKJV This is My commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you...(17)
These things I command you, that you love one
another.
Let me encourage you to take some time this week to think about
how our Lord Jesus has loved you. Then think about how you might walk in
obedience to loving Him back and others!
When we do this we are proclaiming to ourselves, and others that
our love is no longer in us, or in this world! But that our love is firmly
grounded in Jesus and His finished work on the cross! For there is no other way
that we can love others or Him, if He had not loved us first!!! Let us close
with these few verses:
1Jn 4:7-11 NKJV Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God;
and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (8) He who does not love does not know God, for
God is love. (9) In this the love
of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into
the world, that we might live through Him. (10)
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought
to love one another.
How great is that! When we love others it proves the fact that we
love God, and that we are born of Him! (v.7) If this is not happening in our
lives, the us question our relationship with Him. Are we in right standing with
Him? Are we born of Him? Do we really know God? (v.8). For He loved us, and
manifested this Love for us in Jesus and His finished work on the cross!!! He
became a servant to all! He became an offering for our sins! He pored Himself
out for us! (v.9). So we love Him and others because He first loved us, and
showed us the example of true love! (v.10). So we should love Him and love
others!!!
These things are the biblical example of walking in obedience...
an obedience that punished our fleshly disobedience! Walking in love, takes our
flesh to the cross (daily)! Jesus was, and is our example! let us follow Him!
How have you been walking in love towards Him and others?
If not then how can you start walking in obedience in love to Him
and others?
Your Brother in Christ
Grace and Peace be with you
Nate Cook, Setting Captives
Free Team Member
And Jesus said to me:
Eze 3:10b-11a "...Receive into your heart all My words
that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get
to the captives..."
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