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Why
we must seek to Love God
By Brooke Harley
1.
You will do the most for the one you love most. Our love for Him is
the engine for obedience to His will.
2.
Love is consuming like fire-He said in Revelation 3:15, “I
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou
wert cold or hot.”
He continues to say that if they were lukewarm He would spew them
out. Don’t be afraid of this, but learn from it and listen to what
He’s saying. If you find that you don’t love Him “enough,” ask Him
to help you love Him more. This has been my most powerful prayer
and priority daily for most of my life. Most of my life I’ve been
asking Him daily, “Lord, make me love you more, give me a heart that
loves you, make me someone that you can trust.” That’s the beauty
of dependence, and all He is asking is for is dependence upon Him
and He will do the rest. A lot of times people may feel intimidated
or fearful if they find that they aren’t “perfect,” but that’s not
what it’s about, this is about being translucent before the Lord and
opening yourself up to Him. Don’t hide anything from Him, be honest
and open about anything you fear or struggle with. When Adam and
Eve hid after their sin in the garden the Lord came looking for
them. And He seeks us, looking for us, desiring fellowship with
us.
3.
The one we love the most is the one we are most faithful to-seeking
to love Him is the foundation for obedience and faithfulness to His
Word and His specific will for our lives. In John 14:23, Jesus
said,
“If a man love me, he will keep my words...”
The one that we love the most is the one that rules and dictates our
life. Think of how that relationship with your significant other or
spouse influences your life and daily choices. Think of how that
first love in high school ruled your every thought and you shoved
everything out of the way just to be with that person. The Lord is
jealous over our affections. He said in
Deuteronomy 4:24, “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a
jealous God…”
The scripture says in
Isaiah 54:5, “For thine maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is
his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the
whole earth shall he be called.”
Paul says in 2
Corinthians 11:2, “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy:
for I have for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
This love does not take away from our lives but makes our hearts
full. It will not take away from your marriage but make your
marriage full. The Lord will show you a new vision for your
marriage and trust you’d love it if you could see it right now!
“He that will lose His life shall find it…” (Matthew 10:39)
“How do I find this love for the Lord?” An excellent
question…
It’s so simple that the most credentialed scholars
have missed it. Simply ask Him to make you love Him which means,
surrender. Surrender your heart, your mind, your wants, your
desires, your ambitions and give it all to Him. As you surrender,
say,
“Lord, I don't know how to love You, show me. Make
me love You, make me faithful to you. Lord, I want to know you,
please show me who you are. Show me what you like, what you don’t
like, fill my life with fellowship with you and keep me full by your
spirit. Lord, reveal Your Word to me and fill me with living water,
let your presence overflow in my heart. Lord, baptize me fresh with
the Holy Spirit everyday and quicken me to follow after the spirit
and crucify the flesh.”
OPEN YOUR MOUTH!
You can say it as you feel in your heart but the secret is to just
say it! Open your mouth and talk to Him. If you’ve never been
filled with the Holy Spirit ask Him to fill you. You must have the
Holy Spirit to understand the Lord. The Holy Spirit is our coach
and personal trainer and He is the one that as you read the Bible,
He will give you understanding and help you to comprehend the
application of the word. In
John 14:26, it is written, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost , whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you.”
The Holy Spirit is the one that makes Jesus real. In the book of
Acts they were baptized by the Holy Spirit and it was like a mighty
rushing wind and they spoke in tongues (Acts 2:1-4). The Holy
Spirit will give you a prayer language that when you speak the
heavenly language every word is worship unlike anyone has ever known
because you are worshipping in the language of heaven where the
worship is pure and rich.
In
summary,
Seeking and Praying to love Him is His will
as we’ve established with scripture, and it's not a waste of time.
Loving Him is the engine for perfect obedience and
faithfulness. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is our personal
coach to reveal Jesus and the word to us so that we can become all
that the Lord dreams we will become. He wants us to love Him
because when He said, “Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with
me,” He wants to reveal something to us about Himself, He wants to
let us into the inner courts of the secrets of His kingdom. The
scripture says in
Colossians 3:2, “Set your affections on things above, not on things
on the earth.”
There’s more to the Lord than financial provisions and material
things. It’s important for us to prosper but we need to value and
have affection for the real thing first before the other things are
added. The scripture says in Matthew 6:33,
“But Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you.”
If we just seek the Lord’s hand, He will answer and He will provide,
however there is a more excellent thing that we don’t want to miss.
If all we seek the Lord for is things then we’re cutting ourselves
short. Money and materials have their place, I’m simply saying that
Jesus needs to be number one in our hearts, that our master would be
Him and not money or material things.
We
won’t be satisfied in anything but Him. He is the river that that
never runs dry. Jesus said in
John 4:24, “God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth.”
Worship is born when we are quickened in the spirit by Him, and it
brings everlasting water that fills and satisfies. If the enemy is
trying to tempt you and you are facing a struggle only run to
Jesus. Only run to His Word and let the word cut and divide between
soul and spirit. As long as we seek His word and eat the word then
we are strengthened in the inner man against the enemy’s bait which
is only in the soulish realm. He’s fighting against the spirit
because when we are full of the word and continually baptized fresh
by the presence of Jesus then
temptation does not exist.
She found Him at the Well...
The woman at the well in John 4, had a thirst that she could not
quench. She had multiple relationships and failed marriages, four
to be exact. Jesus did not condemn her or rub her nose in the sin
but instead He lifted her up out of the soulish life and revealed
Himself to her. He led her from the soulish life into the spirit
life. He said in 4:13-14,
“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life.”
He
knew that she was thirsting for something but she didn’t know what
she needed. He knew how to reach her and as the Good Shepherd, He
knew what she needed. When He revealed this everlasting water to
her she dropped her water pot and took off running into the city
saying in
John 4:29, “Come see a man which told me of all things that ever I
did; is not this the Christ!”
And many went to see Him and listened to Him because of what she
said and they bear witness with His truth (4:39-42). You see this
woman drew them with her hot, firry passion for the Christ!
Our love for Him is something He is going to do in us. It is His
work and we only need to yield and ask Him for this kind of
relationship with Him. This is the root cause and cure for all the
issues of life. There will be persecutions and battles but in the
midst of it He promises joy and peace and abundant life. We can
come to the place where persecution only provokes us to praise and
worship Him! A joy that cannot be taken away!
I pray that the Lord will draw you into His word
today that you will dive into the bible and eat the word and let it
go down deep into your heart and remain! I pray that you will hide
His word in your heart as your most beloved treasure. I pray the
Lord will quicken you by His spirit and fill you over and over and
over. I pray that He will strengthen you, lead you and guide you in
paths of righteousness. I pray that you will have the grace and
anointing to follow Him in those paths of righteousness. I pray
that your heart will be determined to Love Him and eschew evil
(rebuke it, chase it off, turn away from it, have no desire for
it.)
Pressing onward toward the "mark" of the high calling…
(It’s Jesus, the high calling!)
If
you focus on your sins you will see less of Him but if
you focus on Him you will have less sins.
If we focus on sins then all we are thinking about is sin and the
scripture says in
Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he...”
It says in
Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.”
The scripture tells us to keep our mind on Him. Sometimes we get
impatient and fearful and begin threatening people about their sin
but this is not the nature of the Lord. Just read John 4 and look
at the way He handled this woman who was fornicating, divorced,
failed marriages all those hot words that hardliners love to use to
rub your nose in the sin. I cannot find in scripture where Jesus
did this. He was too focused on curing the root cause of the sin
and had no time to do anything else but heal and forgive.
No
this is not a wishy, washy savior, this is the savior who calls
Himself in
John 10:14, “The Good Shepherd…”
Wisdom tells me to learn from Him and follow His example. If He
didn’t condemn the fornicator then I have no business condemning the
fornicator. Grace provokes the heart to repent. The scripture says
in
Romans 2:4, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing it is the goodness of God
that leadeth thee to repentance?”
Many times in ministry and churches we have robbed the Lord of the
opportunity to reveal Himself to the sheep because we have judged
and condemned instead of loved and forgive. Let me be the first to
bow my knee and ask the Lord to give me the grace to always please
Him in this area and to not ever rob Him of His way of causing a
soul to repent.
The woman at the well in John 4 repented. Some may
not have noticed this before because it’s the act of repentance
instead of words. The very act of her running off into the city and
telling them, “Come see a man who told me of all I ever did, is this
not the Christ!” The evidence of her repentance is her excitement
for him, when Jesus touches us we can’t help but out of the
abundance of our hearts to go and tell someone! Many followed him
because she evangelized that day and her words provoked them to go
and hear Him and they believed! Repentance means to turn away.
Just turn away from it, well we’ve struggled because we didn't know
how to turn away from it but only through Jesus, only through His
blood and the power of His spirit do we possess the strength to turn
away from “it” whatever "it" is just like this woman at the well.
In an instant her pattern with men was broken! In an instant she
became a mighty evangelist for the master! And notice He didn't
chase her down and say, "Hey, shut up your a woman don't you dare
say my name or represent me!" No, but if her evangelism as a woman
were offensive to the Father believe me He would've confronted her,
in other words He was pleased with this evangelism and took no
thought of gender.
My Prayer for YOU
I’m praying that you will be one with the Lord as Jesus said in
John 14:20, “At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and
ye in me, and I in you.”
I’m praying that you won’t give up, no matter what persecution you
may face. Job may have wanted to die when everything fell apart in
His life but the Lord did not allow him because He followed that
hardship with the greatest days of Job’s life! Are you in a dark
hour? Great days are ahead don’t give up! Don’t throw in the towel,
just use it to wipe the tears off your face and pick yourself up and
get back in the race!
If God is for you, who can be against you!
By Brooke
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