How Much Do We Love God Actually?

GOD is love. We love Him because He first loves us (1 John 4:19). Our love originates from God by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). 

Jesus' imperative for us is to love God wholeheartedly and to love people fervently.

" So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” "(Luke 10:27; NKJV)

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35; NKJV)

It is easy to say that we love God. However, is our love for Him shallow and according to our own dictate such that we pick and choose to love God when it is convenient and expedient, and love people only when they are lovable or only when we feel like loving them?

In John 14:12-14 Jesus spoke of having faith in God to do the greater works with His help and in verses 16-17 He spoke of sending another Helper in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Sandwiched between the aforesaid verses, Jesus said: " “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” " (John 14:15; NKJV)

After Peter's denial of Christ and Jesus' resurrection, Jesus encouraged Peter three times to keep loving Him by feeding and tending His sheep in spite of Peter's earlier misplaced and resolute distancing from having anything to do with Him. (John 21)

Without the undergirding of love for God and people, our good works will amount to nothing. "And now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13; NKJV) 

How much do we love God actually? God's love for us is undeniable. But our love for God will only be known through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit who searches our heart and knows how much we truly love God wholeheartedly and love people fervently.

No Longer Bound By Fear

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

As followers of Jesus Christ who have received the Holy Spirit, our inner man (spirit) is led by the Holy Spirit.

However, if our soul (mind, will and emotion) is more dominant than our yielding to the Holy Spirit we may end up doing things in our own might and power rather than by the Spirit of God.

Fear is not just a feeling but a spirit which we need to resist. Our weapons of warfare against evil spirits cannot be carnal (of the flesh) but must be spiritual such as the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit.

If fear is not dealt with, it would imprison us and keep us from growing in our experience of God's grace and our knowledge of God. But, thanks be to God for giving us the Holy Spirit.

" "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” " Acts 1:8 (NKJV)

"... the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:5 (NKJV)

" "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NKJV) This is the sound mind which understands the things of God and receives His instructions.

There is so much spiritual blessings that God wants to impart to us by the Holy Spirit. We need to stay hungry for the things of God such as the spiritual blessings of power, love and sound mind by letting the Holy Spirit permeate us and take over the driver's seat of our life to vanquish all ungodly fears such that the only fear that we know is the fear of the LORD.

Stop Comparing Yourself With Others

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -- Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) 

You are a unique creation of God like clay in the Potter's hand. God has created you for a specific purpose and has placed in you the disposition to accomplish what He has in mind through you.

Moses stood up against bullies and was a great nation builder, but he was not a warrior like his successor Joshua, and they both accomplish God's purposes in the leadership role required for Israel's season of time.

If you were a painter, how and what you draw would be different from someone else.

"Worthy" by Esther Tan

So stop comparing yourself with someone else and let God show you the potential of the person that you are meant to be. Grow in the knowledge of God and also of yourself. The following clip is a great reminder to stop comparing ourselves with others.

Click here Quit Playing The Comparison Game | Joseph Prince | Gospel Partner Excerpt. 

Let the Joy of the LORD Arise In You

"Then Ezra said to them, “Go [your way], eat the rich festival food, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be worried, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and your stronghold.”" -- Nehemiah 8:10 (AMP)

When you know that you know that God has got your back, there is nothing to fear or worry. He is your Heavenly Father who cares for you and all His other children. Indeed, He entreats you to come to Him and cast all your cares upon Him.

Truly, if God is for you, who can be against you? With God, you can speak to your mountains and they will be removed; don't rehearse your situations to God but decree with your mouth to unleash the power of God's word in your mouth over your situations. 

Joy is found in a Person -- our Lord Jesus Christ, whom every knee shall bow and confess that He is Lord. Fix your eyes on Jesus rather than the things of this temporal world and receive the joy of the Lord. When you have Jesus, you have everything that you need.

Click here for Joy (What The World Calls Foolish) | feat. Martin Smith | Gateway Worship.

Click here for Rend Collective - Joy of the Lord (Church Online).

Click here for ‘The Joy of the Lord Is Your Stronghold’.

True Worshipper of God With Direction and Purpose

If you are not excited about going to church, this message is definitely for you. You need to receive now a revelation of who God is by silencing your distractions; be still and know that He is God. 

Magnify God by making Him the biggest influencer (using contemporary lingo here) in your life. Dethrone yourself and let God be enthrone in your life.

When you go to church, don't just sing the songs; own them and sing like you mean it. More than that: own the songs and sing them as your testimonies of who God is to you and what God has done for you.

What you say and sing with your mouth is powerful. Let God arise and His enemies be scattered. When we sing and shout the name of Jesus, the adversary of our faith will be defeated.

Click here for Living Life on Purpose (Part 2) by Rev. Celia Apeagyei-Collins.

 

Do You Love God or His Blessings?

If there is no more blessings, would you still love God?

Would you be satisfied by a love relationship with God alone?

Is loving God enough as the destiny for you?

Would you still love God if there is nothing in it for you except for God Himself?

Would you be willing to let go of your precious in obedience to God?

Is your highest love reserved for God alone?

Click here and fast forward to 43 min and 50 sec for Kong Hee: Blesser or Blessings?

Our God Is Awesome

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17 (NIV)"

Nowadays we have misused the word "awesome" with reference to human achievements such as cooking, sports and engineering when it ought to be reserved for glorifying God alone.

Indeed as we grow in the knowledge of God (theology), it would cause us to behold the awesomeness of God which leads us to worship Him (doxology). And, we can then realise how much more immense and wonderful is God when compared to the things of this world.

The above verse reminds us that God is King forever and ever. We live in a finite world within the constraints of time and space. But God in His otherness transcends time and space, and reign as King from everlasting to everlasting. God is not our buddy; He is the eternal King of kings and Lord of lords.

God is the source of life and He lives on forever. "... He who is the blessed and only Potentate (Sovereign), the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:15b - 16 (NKJV)"

No one can see God and live. For our own safety, it is good that God is invisible because He is Holy.

Indeed, we ascribe all glory to God alone, forever and ever. We can take a glimpse of the throne room of heaven as follows:-

"Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty—
    the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,

“You are worthy, O Lord our God,
    to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things,
    and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

Revelation 4:8-11 (NLT)"

Click here and emulate David's praises unto our awesome God.

Be still and know that He is God.

The Fear of the LORD

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." -- Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV)

"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death." -- Proverbs 14:27 (NKJV)

Click here for [Let's Talk About] The Fear Of The Lord | Benny Ho

These are some takeaways from the above clip which are poignant with revelation for understanding of the Fear of the LORD.

* There is a difference between the fear of the LORD and being afraid of God. A non-believer would be very afraid of God and rightly so because of the dread of the LORD. But, believers can have the confidence through faith in Christ Jesus to come before God's throne with reverence.

* The proof of God's love for you is grace. The proof of your love for God is obedience. We may be sinning still, but God still loves us. However, we cannot say that we love God when we are living in disobedience. Jesus said, "“If you love Me, keep My commandments."" (John 14: 15; NKJV)

* The end goal of discipleship is: Christlikeness. We need to have a balance between Word-centric and Spirit-centric. Pastor Benny has outlined how we can achieve this by showing the process of nurturing Christlikeness with the need for both the Word of God and the Holy Spirit as follows:

CHRISTLIKENESS
🔝
Transformation by renewing of the mind
🔝
Apply God's Word
🔝
Spiritual Delights in the disciplines (I want to do it)
🔝
Spiritual Disciplines (I have to do it)
🔝
Spiritual Hunger
🔝
The Holy Spirit imparts spiritual hunger

The Word without the Spirit, we will dry up.
The Spirit without the Word, we will blow up.
The Word and the Spirit, we will all grow up.

"God's Intended End" by Pastor Peter Prothero

We are all a work-in-progress and God has an intended end for each of us as we continue to journey with Him by faith.

God is more concerned for us to cultivate our character unto Christlikeness than our comfort and conquest. 

Thus, if you are in a difficult place: hold on to the Word of God, truly know God for yourself, learn to trust Him and acknowledge Him in all of your ways.

The following message will be a great encouragement to you as you understand the heart of God and His intended end for you.

Click here for "God's Intended End" by Pastor Peter Prothero.