Are You In Love With God?
Gal 5:6
Do you offer leftovers to Holy, Creator, Almighty God? (Mal 1:8-10)
God wants our best, deserves our best, & expects our best.
Faint praises & sickly offerings aren’t better than nothing… they’re an insult. (Mal 1:10)
God says “shut the Temple doors”… no worship is better than apathetic worship
You have a choice: just let life happen, which will result in serving God your leftovers, or actively run toward Christ.
It is impossible to please God in any way other than wholehearted surrender & pursuit.
Many American churchgoers are deceived & lukewarm… (Rev 3:17)
They are wealthy & successful, but they don’t have what really matters… what really matters is saving faith expressing itself thru love for God & for others. (Gal 5:6)
True biblical salvation is not a commodity, or a past event. It is a current & on-going love relationship with Jesus. Many treat it as a past event & are deceived.
To love God you must forsake the world… you cannot love the world. (1Jn 2:15; Ja 4:4)
If you claim to know (love) God but don’t obey Him, you are a liar. (1Jn 2:3-4)
We must return to biblical truth that real faith invariably produces holiness of heart & righteous behavior (love is a verb).
True believers follow Christ… walking as He walked. (1Jn 2:6)
Nothing should concern us more than our relationship w/God… to know & love Him is eternal life. (Jn 17:3)
Lukewarm living & claiming Christ’s salvation simultaneously is disgusting to God.
Solution is not to try harder, make bigger promises, or to will yourself to love Him more.
When loving Him becomes an obligation, we end up focusing even more on ourselves.
Our only hope is Christ in us living His life thru us, as us. (Col 1:27)
We must focus on the Truth… you have been crucified with Christ & you no longer live… Christ lives in you (Gal 2:20), & you are now a new creation. (2Cor 5:17)
We keep falling back into the old pattern of self trying to fix self… an impossible task.
The new life & power to change all comes from H Spirit indwelling us.
To the lukewarm church, Jesus did not say try harder… He said let me in. (Rev 3:20)
Are you in love with God? (Gal 5:6)
God is glorified when we crave a relationship with Him & deeply desire Him.
You are free, but not to indulge your sinful nature, rather you are free & empowered to love God & one another. (Gal 5:13)
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself thru love to God & others. (Gal 5:6)
Do you find true joy & pleasure in your relationship with God? (Ps 63:1-5)
The hunger, intimacy, & closeness to God we see in psalms can be ours… lift these prayers to God: (Ps 131:2; 4:7-8; 16:11; 28:7; 90:14)
Only God’s love is acceptable to God… His Spirit must love God thru us.
We must fully surrender to the Spirit so that Christ’s heart may be formed in us… the heart that so loved us & the Father that He willingly went to the cross to save us from hell & to save us from our bondage to sin.
As we focus more on yielding to Christ… loving Him & others becomes more natural.
As you consider the cost of giving yourself to God, remember He said… test me, see if I will not pour out so much blessing that you won’t have room for it. (Mal 3:10)
We have given only what has come from God’s hand. (1Chron 29:14)
Christ, who gave all, will continue to abundantly give to God & others thru you.
Christ in you… your source for loving God. (Col 1:27)
How we know we love Christ… we lay down our lives for others. (1Jn 3:16)
If you love Christ… you must walk as He walked. (1Jn 2:6)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. (Phil 2:5-9)
Are you willing to make yourself nothing & become a servant? (Phil 2:7)
Christ came to serve… we are all called to be servants too. (Phil 2:7)
As God’s servants, we are stewards of His resources… one day we will give an account of our stewardship. (Rm 14:12)
Give to those in need so that no one will have too much or too little. (2Cor 8:13-15)
Whatever you did to the least of these… you did it for Me. (Mt 25:40)
Do you really believe that each person you come in contact with provides you the
opportunity to love Jesus by ministering to them? (Mt 25:42-45)
Let us not love with words only… but with action. (1Jn 3:18)
Can we truly have God’s love in us & not have compassion for those in need?
Jesus demonstrated His love for us by giving Himself to meet our greatest needs.
God so loved the world that He gave… (Jn 3:16)
God established the connection between loving & giving.
Giving that is not motivated by love is worthless. (1Cor 13:1-3)
Prayer: Lord, I am weak, worldly, & desperately need you & your strength. Take all of me. Live your life in & thru me. May your love abundantly flow thru me… to your glory.
02-08-09