DO YOU TRULY LOVE ME...

"If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 14:15 NKJV

The hardest part about being a Child of God and following God's word is not to understand it. I will say that again. It is hard to obey God's written word when we do not have a full understanding of it. For a very long time, I felt guilty and condemned myself for not helping people that I came in contact with that needed money, food and my time. I would be reminded of what the bible says about loving your neighbour but it still did not bring me peace or comfort. Over and over again people would be in need and I would give and leave myself in the negative, sometimes feeling depleted, needing to borrow to pay bills and believing that God will provide. Many times the money or things did not work promptly and I started to resent the Bible, being a Christian and was frustrated about how God wanted us to love so many people. Over the last few weeks, I have been reminded to use God's word as a reference for itself, using one scripture to back up the other. Jesus is the ultimate example of what and who we are working toward. If we look at the way Jesus distributed love it was conscious and well thought out. Jesus handpicked the people who would be with Him daily and chose people who respected Him to be a part of His circle. Jesus Himself had boundaries and they were clear. When someone said something that went against the word of God He corrected and rebuked them even His friend Peter. When He felt overwhelmed and needed replenishing He retreated and sought God in prayer, this was where He had renewed strength to continue to teach and preach.

Additionally, Jesus did not heal or try to save everyone. Jesus went home to His people, to His city and was unable to deliver and heal while He was there. There was no faith in Him as the carpenter's son, the boy that was born in the barn with animals. Jesus was looked down upon and He knew they did not receive Him. Sometimes we are not received by the people we love the most but maybe we are not called to them. We are not called to everyone but to a set of people. Imagine preaching to a group of people who you were not deligated to speak to them and you leave feeling drained, frustrated, angry or even unwanted. They were not the people you were called to, how would you know who you are called to?

This is something you can take to God in prayer.

In the Kingdom, it is not God's plan for you to serve Him as a Pastor, an evangelist, an apostle or whatever and after serving you feel unhappy, disappointed or angry. As we serve God in serving we are replenished once we are serving the people we are called to. Notice when a Pastor is teaching or preaching it seems as if they get more energized over time. That is God pouring more strength, love, and grace on them to serve His children. God is not sitting around angry at the mistakes we've made and wants to punish us for them. He wants us to continuously seek Him so we have clarity and understanding on how to serve, who to serve and what you are serving. You may be wondering why I keep using the word serve, but what we do for the Kingdom is a service to God. We are not only God's children but we are His servants. As you read this if you are anything like me I thought the use of the word servant was demeaning, belittling and degrading. This is not what God wants us to think or feel but He came as a servant to serve His children, even though they did not deserve it. God came in human form and served although His creation turned against Him and kept choosing everything thing else other than Him. God still loves us when we choose our friends and family over worshipping Him or watching movies and television instead of spending time with Him. But we get answers, clarity and peace when we seek Him.

I thought certain people loved me in relationships, I thought people were my friends until I got a better understanding of God's plan for love. Someone once said to me if you are celebrated, you are tolerated. I have heard and read the story of the Good Samaritan many times until I got a new revelation that I would like to share with you. The priest and Levite had been ridiculed for not helping this man but they were not called to help him. They did not have the means to help him as the Good Samaritan did, who had extra money to pay for his stay, oil, bandage and wine. I am learning to pay attention to people that show me mercy, kindness or what we would know as a favour. In some cases, this would be the person that is called a destiny helper, when they are showing me love and compassion I can use that opportunity to pour back into them. The people that have favour on us are more likely to receive us, rather than trying to show love to people who resent and hate us.

Chile, hit me up if you have had experiences where you thought your love could help someone or win them over? But in doing that you are left feeling tired, drained and unhappy. There was a woman that wanted her daughter to be delivered from demons and Jesus did not run to deliver her, He waited to hear the heart posture of the mother (the legal authority).

Last week we talked about guarding our hearts, in guarding our hearts we must learn and understand how to use the word of God so we are not being defeated. We can sometimes be defeated by the mere fact that we are not obeying by seeking Him, worshipping Him, or asking Him for direction. A few weeks ago there was a lady that I spoke to that was having issues in every area of her life as far as she told me, she said she was tired, frustrated and wanted to give up. She said she had always been praying and declaring God's word over her life. In the conversation, I realized that there were areas in her life where she had been violating God's word and had expected it to still favour her. She was living in sin, she had given her life to Christ as a child but did not truly have a relationship. This reminded me so much of myself. Living in sin; going to the club having intimate sexual relations with someone that is not your spouse or better said your husband or wife but still prayed expecting answers. God's promises did not and will not work if you are not in a relationship with Him and your heart is not connected to Him. If we continue living without faithfully believing what God has said is true and His promises will be fulfilled.

An example is Abraham who was faithful in serving and obeying God. God spoke to Abraham giving him instruction time after time, the instructions were not all easy but they helped Abraham in the end. I would like to reiterate that God is not sitting around angry and waiting to reprimand us. He gives instructions through the Holy Spirit so we can have answers to those prayers we've been praying. Have you ever thought about how easy it would be to sacrifice your son? The son that you have been waiting for for years. Without question or thought Abraham went up the mountain to give God his son as a sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice to obey God; the instruction He has given you in your private time. For months because of pride, I did not connect with some friends I was told to speak to, when I finally decided to obey I got answers to prayers I had been praying for months. It took walking in obedience that one door opened another door and one answer brought another answer. What was hard was that I did not have enough faith in God to fulfill the prayers and I went out trying to get answers for myself.

In conclusion as a new kid to the kingdom, a new believer or babe in Christ there are many things we may not understand but answers are there and it takes us to seek, ask and petition in prayer for answers. If you love God you will keep his commandments, His word, His instructions. We get frustrated many times because we are doing things in our strength and we may be serving the wrong people

#learningGodsword #obeyingGodsword #fulfillingGodspromises #obeyingGodisshowinglove