Published by admin on 25 Oct 2019 at 01:46 pm
HOW TO LOVE GOD
When I asked the LORD what to write today, it must have taken all of five seconds for the answer, which comes from 1 Corinthians 13:1-2. It is written,
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
It doesn’t make a hoot how much scripture you can quote, or how much money you give to the LORD’S work, or how many gold stars you have for perfect church attendance, if you have not LOVE, you are nothing. That’s one of the plainest messages in the Bible, that we too often try to justify our way out of. You know, the Lord Jesus boiled the Law down to just two things in Matthew 22:37-40:
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Maybe the reason people struggle with these verses so much is that they really don’t understand what love really is. To sum it up simply, love is doing what is right and good. But how do you “love God”? You can’t touch or feel Him, you can’t reach up and give Him your offerings, so how do you LOVE Him? That’s so simple, I’d deliberately have to work at getting it wrong: If you truly want to love God, take Him at His Word!
Imagine if I told you, “I love you with all my heart. But I don’t believe a word you tell me.” How would that go over, we’ll say with your mate, or your daughter or son, or your best friend? I’d say “not so good”. And yet we pray, or go to church and tell God how much we love Him, while all the time not believing all that is written to us in God’s Word. We pick and choose, believing what parts we choose to, and totally disregarding the rest. To me, that’s spitting in God’s face! Oh, we want to be blessed of God, and He tells us how to do so, but we insist on doing it OUR way instead. You would think it is an easy thing to put all your trust in God, seeing He has never lied in all eternity, but NO, we treat Him like a man, who CAN, and often DOES lie.
As you know, I preach and teach a lot about healing. So why isn’t everyone healed? What’s the problem? Jesus healed all who were brought to Him, or came to Him for healing. Not even once did He refuse to heal. He said in John 5:19-21,
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
And just to make it EXTRA clear, He said in John 10:30, I and my Father are One.
What, then, seems to be the problem? Why don’t we just take God at His Word and enjoy the benefits He offers us? Why is it we keep calling God a liar, by not believing all that is written in His Word. How can we say we LOVE God, when we are making Him out to be a liar? I often think how hurt it makes our heavenly Father feel, when He has given us such wonderful promises and offers us so many blessings, and we as much as say to Him, “Nah, I don’t believe that….” We may not be coming out and outright saying it, but as they say, “the proof is in the pudding.”
So right off the bat, when we don’t take God at His Word, we have already violated the commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. How can we love our fellow man and fulfill the second part of that commandment when we can’t even do the first part? It can’t be done. Yes, I realize it can stagger someone’s imagination to believe when they have a terminal disease that it can be POOF!, gone in a second. But WHY should it make us stumble, when Jesus went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. He did it then, and it is written in Hebrews 11:8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Oh, I know, that was back then, and this is today, and it’s different now, right? WRONG! You see, there’s your first mistake not believing Jesus Christ IS the same, yesterday, and today, and for ever. Unbelief will keep you out of the blessings of God every time. It will keep you out of your healing, it will keep you from being saved. In a nutshell, unbelief will kill you. And here you say you love God. PROVE IT! The best way is by believing His Word and obeying Him.
The greatest gift God has ever given us it the sacrifice of His own Son, to pay for our sins in full. Yes, that even includes the sin of unbelief, IF WE BELIEVE HIM! I remember once that a man had asked Jesus to heal his son, and Jesus told him in Mark 9:23, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
At least the man was honest enough to admit he had some doubts, and here’s what the next verse says: And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
And Jesus DID help him, both with his doubts, and his son’s condition. Most of us are too proud to admit to God we are in unbelief, so we keep digging in God’s Word for “loopholes”. Let me help you here: THERE ARE NO LOOPHOLES! God said what He meant, and meant what He said!
If you’re not receiving the promises of God, don’t blame it on anything but unbelief, because all the promises of God are “Yea, and Amen”. Don’t try to reason yourself out of receiving God’s promises by saying, “Maybe it isn’t God’s time”. It’s ALWAYS God’s time for you to believe and receive. It’s the devil who tries to instill doubt into your heart, not God. Get into God’s Word with a new heart today, saying, “Whatsoever is written there, I believe, period, no matter how impossible it looks to me in the natural.” You see, we don’t serve a natural God, we serve a SUPERNATURAL God, and He isn’t limited by anything. However, YOU are limited by your unbelief in getting whatever it is you need from God. Don’t say you love God when your heart knows you’re doubting His Word.
Get unbelief out of the way, THEN you will be in a position to start obeying Him, and THEN you can say you Love Him!