TO LOVE GOD

The greatest command is:"YOU SHALL

LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL,
AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH." Mark
12:30.
Many Christians will tell you that they love Jesus,
but our lives have to prove it or else it is just empty words. Jesus
said:"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."John
14:15. Jesus further said: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My
word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make
Our abode with him. 24“He who does not love Me does not keep My
words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s
who sent Me."John 14:23,24.
To love Jesus means to obey Him,
His words, His commands that were also recorded in Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. Jesus said that those who do not love him, do not obey
His words. He further promised that he will come and dwell in and
with the one who loves Him. He will make His Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
to dwell in the one who loves Him and therefor obeys Him.
Not only
will the one who loves Him obey His words, but will also obey His
Spirit, will be led by the Holy Spirit. We read in Romans 8:14 "For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
They are the children of God. It is thus a requirement for a child of
God to be led by the Holy Spirit and to obey His guidance, then we
will be in Christ, in His love.
In view thereof, let us read the
words of Paul in Romans 8 with understanding: 1Therefore there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of
sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was
through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the
flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us,
who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit. 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but
the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7because the mind set
on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to
the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8and those who are
in the flesh cannot please God.

    
9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10If Christ is in you, though
the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of
righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in
you.

      12So then, brethren, we
are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh— 13for if you are living according to the flesh, you must
die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the
body, you will live. 14For all who are being led by the Spirit of
God, these are sons of God.15For you have not received a spirit of
slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of
adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The
Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with
Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be
glorified with Him."
By obeying Jesus, we demonstrate our
love for Him. Further, through following the guidance of the Holy
Spirit we fulfill the first commandment, which is LOVING GOD. If we
follow after our flesh, we cannot please God, we cannot do His will,
because we do our own desires, idolizing and serving ourselves.

The Holy Spirit EMPOWERS us to OVERCOME
our flesh and OBEY the will of God, but we have to make every effort
to obey Him.

We are warned that every branch that does not
bear fruit will get cut off and burned. Without Jesus we can do
nothing. If we are not obeying Jesus and following the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, we cannot bear fruit, and are ready to be cut off
and burned.

Do we really love Jesus? Do we obey
His words and commands? Have we received the Holy Spirit and are we
following His guidance? Are we obedient children of God? Do we really
love Jesus?

May Jesus bless you.

Do you BELIEVE?

Many Christians confess
their faith in Jesus but their faith is not real. They do not really
have faith. They believe that they have salvation because they say
that they believe in Jesus Christ, but faith without works is dead.
If our faith does not produce works of faith, things that we do in
obedience to God, because we believe in Him, then that faith cannot
save us, then that faith is worthless.

We read in Hebrews chapter
11 verse 6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who approaches Him, must believe that He exists, and
that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Many people say
that they believe in Jesus, but do they really believe. Do you really
believe in Jesus? Do you believe that if you pray that He will answer
your prayer? Will you do what Jesus tells you to do if He speaks to
you? Is Jesus that real to you? Because if Jesus is not that real to
you then you do not really believe, then your faith is null, void and
empty.

We read in Hebrews chapter
11 verse 7:"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet
seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he
condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes
by faith." When God spoke to Noah and warned him about the big
flood that would come, what did Noah do? He built an ark to save him
and his family. If God speaks to you and to me and tells us to build
an ark or to move away from where we are; will we do it? Will we
believe that God's spoke to us? Do we really know Him? Will we obey
Him? Why was Noah justified? Because he obeyed God. He believed what
God told him.

The same with Abraham. We
read in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8:"By faith Abraham, when
called to go to a place he would later receive us his inheritance,
obeyed and went without knowing where he was going. By faith he
dwelled in the promised land as a stranger, in a foreign country. He
lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the
same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations
whose architect and builder is God." God spoke to Abraham and
He told him to move to a distant country far away. He did not know
where he would arrive at, he did not know what it would be like when
he arrives there. Did he doubt God? No, he obeyed God, and that is
why God justified him, because his faith was real.

We also read in verse
11:"by faith Sarah even though she was barren and beyond the
opportune age was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered
Him faithful, who had promised, and so from one man, and he was as
good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky,
and as countless as the sand on the seashore." Sarah believed it
when the messenger of God came and said to her that she will have a
boy. She was barren and Abraham was an old man. Did they they doubt
Him? No, they did not. They believed in God. They believed that He
would do what He promised. He promised Abraham that his descendants
would be as many as the stars in heaven and as the sand by the
seaside. Abraham believed Him.

If God spoke to you and
me, would we believe Him? Would we leave everything that we have,
that we've worked for all our life,and go where Jesus sends us? Do
you really believe? Most people do not believe in Jesus. If they
believed in Jesus, they would obey Him. Do you really believe that
Jesus Christ is God? Do you really believe that He will judge all
men? Do you believe? So, if you believe, do you obey His words? Jesus
said:"Repent and be baptized." Most believers do not obey
the words of Jesus. They say:" I cannot stop sinning."
Jesus said:"If the Son of God has set you free, you will be
free, and free indeed." But they say:"I cannot stop
sinning." Do they really believe? Obviously they don't. Do they
believe that if they pray Jesus will answer their prayer and supply
in all their needs." If Jesus tells you today to quit your job,
leave everything that you've worked for all your life and go
somewhere else, that you do not know. Will you go? Will you obey Him?
How real is your faith?

"The righteous one
will live by faith and if he withdraws, says the Lord, My soul will
have no pleasure in him." We cannot follow Jesus Christ, if we
are not willing to live by faith, if we are not willing to leave
everything and go after Him. Many want to know:"If I follow
Jesus, must I stop watching TV?" "Will I have to give up
this, or that, or the other? What will happen to me? What kind of a
job will I have to do? Will I become homeless?" Do you really
believe? Do you believe that He's God Almighty, and that all things
belong to Him? Do you believe that He has prepared a place in heaven
for those who love Him, who follow Him, and who obey Him? Do you
really believe that? Or do you just believe that you have salvation
because you confess that you believe in Jesus? But you do not believe
because you will not obey Him. You are only fooling yourself, dear
friend, because you do not believe. Your faith has not produced any
works. The works that Jesus requires of us, is obedience. We have to
obey His words the, gospel of Jesus Christ, repent and be baptized,
and then He promised that He will give His Holy Spirit in us, to
guide us, to be with us, to teach us, but people don't want it. They
rather go after people, they believe in the preachers. They believe
in the Bible, their interpretation of the Bible. They don't believe
in Jesus Christ. The Pharisees believed in the Scriptures, the Torah,
and when the King of Glory, the Messiah came; did they believe that
He truly was the One that would come? No they did not. They crucified
Him.

Do you really believe that
Jesus Christ is Lord? Do do you believe He is alive? If you do, you
will take action. You will leave everything and you will go after
Him, but if you don't your faith is worthless. Because if you do not
go after Jesus, if you do not obey His words and do not repent and be
baptized, and do not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that
Christ dwells in you and guides you, then you will never know Him.
You will never follow Him, and you know? Jesus will say to you:"Go
away I never knew you, you worker of wickedness." You were never
justified, because you never believed, you never put action to your
faith, you never went after Jesus Christ. Do you understand, dear
friend, what it means to be justified by faith? You have to go after
the One in whom you believe, because as it is written in Hebrews
chapter 11 verse 6: Without faith it is impossible to please God,
because the one who goes to Him, must believe that He is, and that He
is a rewarder, of those who seek Him and who go after Him.

Do you believe that? Do
you believe that Jesus Christ will reward you with eternal life, do
you believe that He has a place prepared in heaven, for those who
follow and who obey Him? If you really do believe, then go after Him,
because without Jesus there's no hope, there's no future.

Dear friend, do you
believe?

May Jesus bless you.

The Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is about Jesus Christ about following HIM and about DOING HIS WILL. It is not about YOU or ME about our joy, our fun or our pleasure. It is about OBEDIENCE TO JESUS.

Jesus said that:”Whoever WISHES to come after Me must deny himself, pick up his cross every day and come here FOLLOW Me.” The kingdom of God is a STRUGGLE it is a TEST and it is only those who endure until the end that will win the prize of eternal life. The kingdom of God is promised to those who ENDURE UNTIL THE VERY END. They will not be many. Jesus called them “little flock.”

Are you part of the LITTLE FLOCK, the VERY FEW that will follow Jesus and endure until the very end.

May Jesus bless you.