What It Means to Love God

 

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1–2)

Only God will satisfy a heart like David’s. And David was a man after God’s own heart. That’s the way we were created to be.

This is the essence of what it means to love God: to be satisfied in him. In him — not just his gifts, but God himself, as the glorious person that he is!

Loving God will include obeying all his commands; it will include believing all his word; it will include thanking him for all his gifts. But all that is overflow. The essence of loving God is admiring and enjoying all he is. And it is this enjoyment of God that makes all of our other responses truly glorifying to him.

We all know this intuitively as well as from Scripture. Do we feel most honored by the love of those who serve us from the constraints of duty, or from the delights of fellowship?

My wife is most honored when I say, “It makes me happy to spend time with you.” My happiness is the echo of her excellence. And so it is with God. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

None of us has arrived at perfect satisfaction in God. I grieve often over the murmuring of my heart when I lose some earthly comfort or convenience. But I have tasted that the Lord is good. By God’s grace I now know the fountain of everlasting joy.

And so I love to spend my days luring people into joy until they say with me, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

GOD DESIRES ALL YOUR HEART!

 

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY MAY 09, 2023.

SUBJECT : GOD DESIRES ALL YOUR HEART!

Memory verse: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God." (Psalm 42 vs 1.)

READ: Deuteronomy 6 vs 5; 10 vs 12:

6:5: 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

10:12: And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

INTIMATION:

The heart, for an easy transition, stands for man’s entire mental and moral activity, both for the rational and the emotional elements. In other wards, the heart is used figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life. The Scripture regards the heart as the sphere of divine influence. Consequently, God desires the submission of our whole heart to Him, as He desire to live in the hearts of those who love Him. The God of the universe takes up residence in His people, to be their “Faithful Companion,” in control of their physical, mental, and moral activities, both for rational, emotional, and spiritual elements of their personal lives.

Throughout our lives, we look for those rare individuals with whom we feel relaxed and comfortable and can share our heart and our secrets and know they will not betray us, who will always be there for us, and in whom we can have confidence; individuals we can respect and who in turn admire us and want us to be successful. God wants to be in that type of whole heart relationship with us, but He is even better than any earthly companion. For God is a perfect companion: the One who knows the road we are traveling on and all of the problems that lay ahead; the One who can give us dependable advice; the One who wants to share our lives with us and will not put us down when we stumble; the One who will never desert us if we fail or do not live up to His standards. 

God desires our submission inside, in our hearts. Submitting your whole heart to God is putting Him first in all areas of your life. Unfortunately many people never really seek Him with all their hearts. They are content to learn as a child would. That is, learning and following rules in order to avoid big problems, but not as willing to spend any great period of time with the Lord in the free time they have. There is little delight in the relationship, only obedience out of necessity. They have salvation from penalty of sin, but they will enter heaven "through the flames" (First Corinthians 3 vs 15). They have yet to cross that line of spiritual familial relationship into spiritual heart relationship.

A wise person once said, "When God measures you, He puts the tape around your heart, not your head." So how is your heart doing? Our memory verse indicates the heart relationship of David, the man God testified thus, "a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will." ( Acts 13 vs 22.) This kind of heart relationship should be the desire of every child of God. 

Whole heart relationship can best be explained through a human illustration. Some children grow up in families where their father is a strong disciplinarian. They obey because they do not want to suffer the wrath of their father. Although they may even respect the father and his accomplishments, they want nothing to do with him on a personal basis. It is not unusual for such children to dread the return of their father in the evening. As adults they spend as little time with him as possible. There is a physical relationship with obedience, but not the close heart relationship. Fear and mistrust are barriers to their ever being close.

On the other hand, some have fathers who have definite standards and rules to obey, but the relationship is one of love and respect. They are excited when Dad walks through the door at night. They love the weekends because Dad can be with them and they do fun things together. Such children obey because they love and trust their father, not because they fear him or the consequences of disobedience. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I desire You take me over completely; my whole heart yielding to Your desires in every area of my life. Build in my heart Your steadfast Spirit, so as to follow and obey You in every aspect of my life. My utmost heart desire is an intimate relationship with You. Help me, O Lord, to accomplish this, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Pleased with His Precepts

 

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:3–5)

What is plain in these verses is that being born again — being born of God — turns the commandments of God from being burdensome to being our delight. How does that work?

How does being born of God make the commandments of God a delight rather than a burden?

The apostle John says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4). In other words, the way that being born of God overcomes the worldly burdensomeness of God’s commandments is by begetting faith. This is confirmed in 1 John 5:1, which says, literally, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”

Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not cause ourselves to be born again by deciding to believe. God creates our willingness to believe by causing us to be born again. As Peter said in his first letter, God “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our living hope, or faith in future grace, is the work of God through new birth.

So, when John says, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” and then adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4), I take him to mean that God enables us, by the new birth, to overcome the world — that is, to overcome our worldly disinclination to keep God’s commandments. The new birth does this by creating faith, which evidently includes a disposition to be pleased by God’s commandments, rather than put off by God’s commandments, so that they feel burdensome.

Therefore, it is faith that overcomes our inborn hostility to God and his will, and frees us to keep his commandments and to say with the psalmist, “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).

Don’t Serve God

 

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. Neither is the call to Christian service.

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s the great worker. He’s the one with broad, burden-bearing shoulders. He’s the strong one. And he is looking for ways to show it. This is what differentiates God from the so-called gods of the world: he works for us. Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you [in other words this is his uniqueness], who acts for those who wait for him.”

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will not accept a bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine’” (Psalm 50:9–10, 12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary?

Yes. Our anxieties. Our needs. Our cries for power to do his will.

It’s a command: “[Cast] all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions and therapy. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s therapeutic regimen, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. Their wage. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work for it. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS ALWAYS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MAY 07, 2023.

SUBJECT : HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS ALWAYS!

Memory verse: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." (Philippians 4 vs 8.)

READ: Proverbs 4 vs 23 - 27:

4:23: Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it springs the issues of life.

4:24: Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.

4:25: Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.

4:26: Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.

4:27: Do not turn to the right or to the left: remove your foot from evil.

INTIMATION:

Whatever you choose to fill your mind with will affect the way you think and act. A mind filled with good things has little or no space for what is evil. An evil action begins with a single thought. Allowing our minds to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, jealousy, revenge, and other negative thoughts will lead to sin. Don’t defile yourself by focusing on evil. It is a dangerous emotion that always threatens to leap out of control, leading to violence, emotional hurt, increased mental stress, and spiritual damage. Instead, think of what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Turn your thoughts to God, His Word, and good thoughts, and you will discover more and more goodness, even in this evil world. 

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul lists the things upon which Christians must meditate. He exhorts believers to bring their minds into control. They must focus on that which is true (Ephesians 4 vs 25). They must focus on that which is noble (Second Corinthians 8 vs 21). They must concentrate on that which is right (First Thessalonians 5 vs 22; James 3 vs 17). They must keep their minds on the pure, lovely, and admirable things of life (First Corinthians 13 vs 4 - 7). If one will only meditate on these things, then his thoughts will be optimistic about life. 

There is no room in the Christian mentality for pessimistic thinking. When one understands that all things are under the control of God who can do all things, then he or she sees the best things of life. His or her focus is on that which is good and after the nature of God who is working all things together for good to them who love Him, and to them who the called according to His purpose (Romans 8 vs 28). This is the life about which Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10 vs 10). 

What you put into your mind determines what comes out in your words and actions. Program our mind with thoughts that are true, noble, right, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. If you have problems with impure thoughts and daydreams, then examine what you are putting into your mind through television, internet, books, conversations, movies, and magazines. Replace harmful input with wholesome material. Above all, read God’s word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure. It takes practice, but it can be done.

The apostle Paul manifested in his life a positive view of all things. He thus exhorts believers to follow the demeanor of his life (First Corinthians 11 vs 1). The brief time he had with brethren in Philippi was enough for them to recognize the godly nature of his behavior and spirit. They were thus to follow his response to the work of God in his life (First Thessalonians 5 vs 22). 

As a person thinks in his heart, so he eventually behaves. One must thoroughly examine his heart in order to bring every evil thought under control. In order to maintain the way of righteousness, one must be on guard. We work hard to keep our outward appearance attractive, but what is deep down in our heart (where others can’t see) is more important to God. What are you like inside? When people become Christians, God makes them different on the inside. He will continue the process of change inside them if they only ask. God wants us to have healthy thoughts and motives, not just healthy bodies. 

A man attended a funeral, and people were busy discussing the late man’s attitudes and behaviors. Then the man was called up to say something about the diseased. The man looked around and said, “I will never forget how the late man laughs.” He said that to avoid making any negative comments or fill his mind with negative thoughts. This should be a model of our thought process, knowing that we should give account of every single word we speak to the Lord in the day of judgement (Matthew 12 vs 36). 

Prayer: Abba Father, l know Your thoughts for me; they of good, and not for evil. Give me the grace to think good thoughts like You in every circumstance, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD! 

Truer Knowledge Brings Greater Joy

 And all the people went their way . . . to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (Nehemiah 8:12)

The only joy that reflects the worth of God and overflows in God-glorifying love is rooted in the true knowledge of God. And to the degree that our knowledge is small or flawed, our joy will be a poor echo of God’s true excellence.

The experience of Israel in Nehemiah 8:12 is a paradigm of how God-glorifying joy happens in the heart. Ezra had read the word of God to them and the Levites had explained it. And then the people went away “to make great rejoicing.”

Their great rejoicing was because they had understood words — the true words of God. 

Most of us have tasted this experience of the heart burning with joy when the word of God was opened to us (Luke 24:32). Twice Jesus said that he taught his disciples for the sake of their joy.

John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

John 17:13, “These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

And what we mainly see in the word is the Lord himself — God himself — offering himself to be known and enjoyed. “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:21).

The point is that if our joy is going to reflect the glory of God, then it must flow from true knowledge of how God is glorious. If we are going to enjoy God duly, we must know him truly.

GOD’S CONCEPT OF PROSPERITY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY MAY 06, 2023.

SUBJECT : GOD’S CONCEPT OF PROSPERITY!

Memory verse: "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1 vs 8.)

READ: Genesis 39 vs 1 - 3:

39:1: And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down here.

39:2: And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

39:3: And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

INTIMATION:

The dictionary definition of prosperity is the state of being prosperous; successful; good fortune; thriving; affluent; wealth. In our contemporary world, prosperity is viewed and acknowledged as the state of economic well-being: having money, possessions, and wealth. But God's concept of prosperity and good success does not connote the state of economic well-being. It is a function of obedience to God's laws, being strong and courageous to follow God's leading, and constantly reading, studying and meditating on God's Word to ensure you observe them. However, economic well-being can be an aftermath of functioning in God's concept of prosperity. 

In the passage we read today, Joseph, a slave in Potiphar's house, was noted in the Scriptures as a successful and prosperous man. His master saw that all he did prospered in his hands. All these were possible because the Lord was with him. Not because he had a flourishing business, money, or possessions. He, however, feared God, and was obedient to God’s laws. Therefore, prosperity and success are the aftermath of our relationship with God. It is embedded in our obedience to God's laws.

Many people think that prosperity and success come from having money, possessions, wealth, power and so on, hence their relentless desire to get ahead in pursuance of these things. But the strategy for prosperity that God is teaching us from the anchor Scripture goes against such criteria. For God it means being controlled by Him. Therefore, to be prosperous and have good success, you must obey the rules of living found in God's laws, be strong and courageous to obey, and follow His leading. You may not succeed by the world's standards, but you will be a success in God's eyes, and His opinion is final and lasts forever.

Often we can't see what the results or benefits of following God will be, but certainly the results are being prosperous and having good success. So, when you are not certain what to do, obedience to what God has revealed in the Scriptures is the only sure step we can take. So, resolve to set aside time each day to read and meditate on God's Word. Remind yourself of God's words day and night. Act today upon what you know God has said, and He will assure your success in carrying out His purposes, and living for Him.

Instances abound in the Scriptures of those that were prosperous and had good success by obeying God and following His leading. Our father in the faith, Abraham, through obedience became the friend to God, and was blessed in all things: "And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord blessed Abraham in all things." (Genesis 24 vs 1.) Obedience to God's laws and following His leading is the panacea to failure.

The most valuable thing in life is your relationship with God, and this is cost-free. He has given us the biggest gift to humanity, that is the "gift of salvation." The onus is on us to avail ourselves of this awesome privilege since God has freely given us the opportunity to accept the gift and the attendant reconciliation with Him through our Messiah Jesus Christ. 

Prayer: Abba Father, Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. Give me the grace to abide in Your word always that I may please You and enjoy the aftermath of making my way prosperous and having good success in this life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!