LOVE: THE TRUE FOUNDATION FOR OBEDIENCE

Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.
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Anyone who does not [really] love Me does not observe and obey My teaching. And the teaching which you hear and heed is not Mine, but [comes] from the Father Who sent Me.
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John 14:23-24 (Amplified) Obedience is one of the prerequisite for serving or following God. But the question we should ask ourselves as Christians is this, am I obeying God out of fear of what would happen to me if I dont, or am I obeying because I love Him and choose to do so?
This is the million dollar question that we all need to ask ourselves, and give a genuine answer to. Fear is not a strong enough force or foundation to build a life of obedience upon. In fact fear is a negative spirit and does not come from God. Fear is of the devil, it is no wonder that there are 366 fear not in the bible, one for each day of the year! God is a God of faith (Mark 11:22; Heb 11:3), and those that will serve Him must do so through faith Heb 11:6. Many of the Israelites, who were under the law, obeyed God out of fear of His wrath and Judgement. Their love was out of obligation and not of free will. This means if wrath and judgement were taken out of the picture, they probably would have done their own thing. In the opening scripture Jesus gave us the true foundation for obedience to God. The key to a life of obedience is, Love. It is the most power force in the kingdom of God. It is the reason why God has done everything He has done for us till date. God has no other motivation factor than His love. He loves us that is why He saved us. He sacrificed his Son for us, washed us in His blood and forgave us all our sins, and clothed us with His righteousness, and adopted us as His children. All we ever did to Him was to disobey him and break His heart Gen 6:5-6, yet He delivered us from darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear son. John 3:16 (Amplified Bible)
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For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not

perish (come to (everlasting) life.

destruction,

be

lost)

but

have

eternal

Love was the reason why God gave up His son Jesus for the salvation of mankind! Jesus said, If a man loves Me, he will keep (obey) my words. Making a chose to obey God because we love Him is more power than obeying Him out of fear. It takes faith to love God and choose to obey Him, without taking into consideration the effect of your not obeying Him. Faith is of God, but fear is of the devil. This is why we need to really search our hearts and locate the force behind our obedience. As you focus your mind, on the goodness and mercies of God, and remember His faithfulness towards you. When you were still dead in your trespasses and sins, and how He made you alive through His Spirit and washed you in the blood of the lamb, and the fact that he daily loaded with His benefits. How can you not choose to love Him back.

What Does It Mean To Love God? 1. To honour Him 2. To reverence Him 3. To please Him 4. To glorify Him 5. To worship Him 6. To praise Him 7. To fellowship with Him When we chose do all these things with the help of the Holy Spirit, obeying God and His word will not become a struggle but a life style! Obeying God should not be an obligation but a choice that we freely make because Gods love reigns in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. He first loved us, now it is our turn to show Him that we love Him, by making a choice to live a life of obedience.