Loving Jesus
Loving Jesus is expressed in obeying His instructions:
John 14:13“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
To know Jesus' instructions is to know Him. You must hear Him, and receive His leadership to actually love Him. Many love the idea of Jesus, or love Him in very introductory ways...from afar...but they do not know Him, and have accepted that as the normal Christian experience...they are satisfied in not growing in their experience of hearing Him.
Knowing the Bible isn't the same as knowing Jesus:
John 5:38“But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
Hearing Jesus takes time. Learning to know someone's voice requires time spent trying. Talking with Him, not at Him. Obeying His instructions and then seeing the fruit...exercising faith that you are really hearing Him so He can demonstrate to you that you are!
Hearing Jesus is essential to knowing Him. Hearing Jesus is essential to loving Him. To grow in love for Jesus requires growing in my ability to hear Him.
That is actually what being saved is for... It is an invitation to start knowing what He is saying and following His directions....agreeing with God as a lifestyle. Simply agreeing He exists, or agreeing that He died to pay for sin, these are essential beliefs, but they are not enough to love Him. To love Him, I need to grow in actually experiencing Him as alive, powerful, able to direct me...worthy of me keeping His commandments.
In the end times, Jesus promised MANY would be surprised to hear they didn't know Him. They will appear to know Him...they will prophesy...they will pray...they will cast out demons....but they will have done all these things PRESUMING they are what Jesus wanted, rather than obeying His minute by minute friendship. Jesus can only be leader...master...king. To be His friend means I MUST yield to His voice, because of the simple truth of who He is....uncreated. It is a mystery that the uncreated God wants to be my friend...but the truth is He does. For me to live in the truth of this relationship requires I follow His every word.
But, it is a real relationship. Anything less is not truth. Choosing satisfaction with anything less than hearing Jesus is a choice to forever be far from hearing Him...it is a choice to forever not know much of His leadership....a choice to forever know loss:
Matthew 7:19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Many will argue that this is too much. That simply calling on the name gives freedom from sin and any other requirement. That any more than this is religion. This is a false religion in and of itself. There is no salvation without repentance...Jesus will never run His kingdom bowing to the leadership of another. Obedience to His commands is necessary for truth to exist in the presence of the king of kings.
The fact that this sounds like a different Gospel to many is simply evidence that the true Gospel has been under attack for some time. Lawlessness has crept in. We cannot have Jesus on our own terms. We cannot serve Him apart from hearing Him and obeying His direction. It is impossible.
There is no salvation without repentance...which simply means agreeing with God. Perfect execution of His commands is not required, but complete agreement that His commands matter is, actually, required...for real.
If you signed up for Jesus, for real, then you signed up to learn how to increasingly hear and obey Him. When He returns, our entire existence will be centered on hearing Him and obeying Him. If we won't do it now, we won't do it then.
According to Jesus, a storm is coming to TEST whether or not your life is built on first hearing Him, then obeying Him. Can you see the storm? It has formed all around us and is making landfall even now. Priority number one in this hour should be hearing Him...more and more....and yielding to Him....for real. This is life.
Revelation 22:11“He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
12“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
13“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
John 14:13“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
To know Jesus' instructions is to know Him. You must hear Him, and receive His leadership to actually love Him. Many love the idea of Jesus, or love Him in very introductory ways...from afar...but they do not know Him, and have accepted that as the normal Christian experience...they are satisfied in not growing in their experience of hearing Him.
Knowing the Bible isn't the same as knowing Jesus:
John 5:38“But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
Hearing Jesus takes time. Learning to know someone's voice requires time spent trying. Talking with Him, not at Him. Obeying His instructions and then seeing the fruit...exercising faith that you are really hearing Him so He can demonstrate to you that you are!
Hearing Jesus is essential to knowing Him. Hearing Jesus is essential to loving Him. To grow in love for Jesus requires growing in my ability to hear Him.
That is actually what being saved is for... It is an invitation to start knowing what He is saying and following His directions....agreeing with God as a lifestyle. Simply agreeing He exists, or agreeing that He died to pay for sin, these are essential beliefs, but they are not enough to love Him. To love Him, I need to grow in actually experiencing Him as alive, powerful, able to direct me...worthy of me keeping His commandments.
In the end times, Jesus promised MANY would be surprised to hear they didn't know Him. They will appear to know Him...they will prophesy...they will pray...they will cast out demons....but they will have done all these things PRESUMING they are what Jesus wanted, rather than obeying His minute by minute friendship. Jesus can only be leader...master...king. To be His friend means I MUST yield to His voice, because of the simple truth of who He is....uncreated. It is a mystery that the uncreated God wants to be my friend...but the truth is He does. For me to live in the truth of this relationship requires I follow His every word.
But, it is a real relationship. Anything less is not truth. Choosing satisfaction with anything less than hearing Jesus is a choice to forever be far from hearing Him...it is a choice to forever not know much of His leadership....a choice to forever know loss:
Matthew 7:19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Many will argue that this is too much. That simply calling on the name gives freedom from sin and any other requirement. That any more than this is religion. This is a false religion in and of itself. There is no salvation without repentance...Jesus will never run His kingdom bowing to the leadership of another. Obedience to His commands is necessary for truth to exist in the presence of the king of kings.
The fact that this sounds like a different Gospel to many is simply evidence that the true Gospel has been under attack for some time. Lawlessness has crept in. We cannot have Jesus on our own terms. We cannot serve Him apart from hearing Him and obeying His direction. It is impossible.
There is no salvation without repentance...which simply means agreeing with God. Perfect execution of His commands is not required, but complete agreement that His commands matter is, actually, required...for real.
If you signed up for Jesus, for real, then you signed up to learn how to increasingly hear and obey Him. When He returns, our entire existence will be centered on hearing Him and obeying Him. If we won't do it now, we won't do it then.
According to Jesus, a storm is coming to TEST whether or not your life is built on first hearing Him, then obeying Him. Can you see the storm? It has formed all around us and is making landfall even now. Priority number one in this hour should be hearing Him...more and more....and yielding to Him....for real. This is life.
Revelation 22:11“He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
12“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
13“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
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