LOVE = OBEDIENCE AND SACRIFICE

 Good Afternoon to All!

Have you ever thought about how easy we have it?  I'm talking about being obedient to God.  In the Old Testament, there are many examples, but several really brought how easy we have it home to me.  God has Never asked me to place any of my loved ones on an altar and kill them.  He has Never told me to just up and leave my home country and everything behind.  He definitely has Never made me be in charge of leading millions of people out of bondage.  

In the New Testament, He does give us many commands and expects us to obey them IF WE LOVE HIM.
KEEP His commandments.  This is according to John 14:15.  This does not mean just following the "big" Ten. 

If you will notice, you won't find anywhere in the Bible where He asks us to do anything, or even make a suggestion.  It is always a statement, which in turn is another word for command.  He never says "will you please..., or it would be nice it you would.....  It is always do this or that.  

Again, He tells us "if you love Me, keep my commandments.  He tells us to "enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. (Psalm 100:4)  He told Peter to tell the people to Repent, be baptized everyone of you in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST for the remission of your sins and you SHALL receive the Holy Ghost.  (Acts 2:38)  

If we love Him, WE need to take the initiative and make the effort to show Him.  As one example, in Exodus 3:1-4, Moses came to the Mountain of Horeb.  He notices the bush is burning, so he looks a little closer only to see that it is not being consumed.  It says that he said I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.  This tells me that he is curious, wants to involve himself more and shows more interest.  God told him to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, so he did just that showing the willingness to please God.  He wants us to show that extra willingness to please Him.  
 Just as we go out of our way to please our loved ones and spouses, we should do as much or MORE for him.

We are to make that extra effort. God will not force us to do anything.  It has to come from within us.  If we want His help, We have to step up and ask Him.  We also have to show our faith in Him that He will do whatever it is that we need.   Just as in healing.  God is a healer, but WE MUST put up the effort to believe that He will do it.  After all, on the Cross, His last words were "IT IS FINISHED".  Meaning He has done His part. Now it's up to us to believe and have faith in Him.

He doesn't want us to read His Word like it is no different than a newspaper or a magazine.  He wants us to take an interest in it and study it so that we can learn more about Him, and the way He wants us to live. 

A relationship is impossible to have without knowing each other.  He knows us so well that He knows the number of hairs on our head.  His word tells us that He knew us before we were born (hows that for those people that don't think fetus' are babies?) That right there tells me that I need to get to know Him better, which means reading and studying His Word, praying and carrying on conversations with Him.  

We are in the last days.  His time is definitely drawing nigh.  Just listen to the news and study your Bible and you will see how close we truly are.  

God loves sacrifice and He loves obedience.  Therefore, we must give Him both.  Disobedience is a sin and as we all know, sin is not allowed in heaven.  Think about that one. 

I know this post was a bit all over the place, but I had so many thoughts roaming around in my head that I wanted to talk about them all.  LOL!

Have a Wonderful Afternoon and Evening, and May God Bless!

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