I Am The Lord Your God (part 14)

God considers His laws serious and undefilable, although man has done just that many times. (Deuteronomy 17:1-13) God wants the purity of my heart because that purity and that purity alone makes my deeds pure. Judgments, rulings, laws by God are given such that I know what purity of heart is. God has after all appointed and anointed me as one of His priests (1 Peter) along with those He has also called to be Christian. God’s law is spotless. What I and others have to ensure is that with our legalism we do not spot God’s law, that we don’t allow politics to damage His Word and desires. For God’s heart is in those laws, God’s workings of the earth, the laws of nature conform to God’s laws because He made nature and the laws that govern nature. For example, God thinks marriage is serious, as He says in Deuteronomy 22:13-29, serious enough to say that one must consider carefully the person one has chosen to be married to, that there are things that may cause them to want to put them away but these must not be taken frivolously. I cannot just decide I do not want to be married anymore, not without evoking God. God considers marriage a contract with Him and me and my spouse. Neither my spouse nor I can break the contract without giving God a good reason. Just as woman was made for the man, man was made for the woman and God is in control of it all. (1 Corinthians 11:8-12)

I Am The Lord Your God part 14

When I please God, He is happy and rejoices. How do I please God? By living as He tells me. His commandments are not difficult in deed, only in my limited thoughts: 1) I am to live according to His commands (John 15); 2) I am to love Him and my fellow man (1 John 3); 3) I am to walk as He walked (Philipians 2); 4) I am not to lie or cheat or hate (Ephesians 5); 6) I am to be peaceful (Romans 12).

That is not to say that I will not sin. God knows that. That’s why God provided Christ. His blood covers me. But does that mean I can keep on sinning and not learn? (Rom 6:1) No, because sin is serious. God considers it so. (Deuteronomy 21:1-13) No matter what, and how rebellious I am, I am still accountable for what I do. Even though God has mercy to say I have a place with Him in heaven when I come to Him humbly and penitently, there are always consequences. Even though no one sees me in my sin, even though I think that God doesn’t mind one little bitty sin. If I am not in Him, I cannot be with Him in heaven.

I Am The Lord Your God

According to Deuteronomy 19:6-21, God tells me how to live. He tells me not to take life into my own hands because I can never control it, and I did not create it to begin with. That means when things are inconvenient, or someone cuts in front of me in traffic, or someone does something to me that just irritates me to no end, pray for my enemies rather than curse them. God knows what is going on and He has control over it. Revenge belongs not to me, but to Go. In fact God goes further and tells me to act on my prayer.I am exhorted to give my enemy something to eat when they are hungry and something to drink when thirsty. (Romans 12:19-20) I am not God, and only God knows what is true justice for those that do wrong. Even in my thoughts, if I just kill in my mind and not with my hands I am not allowing God to be God. Christ knew this. That is why He advised the Apostles and other followers not to hate, not to even nurture the thought because it would come to be eventually. Satan knows how to tempt me, and that is through my thoughts. No one needs to plant the seed, I can do that quite well. What I need is a way to nurture the seed . Even though it may not be for the best of God’s creation. When I let satan into my thoughts all that matters is it temporarily satisfies me.

And then God cries.

I am THE LORD, Your God (part 12)

One could ask the question why were the early Christians persecuted? Or better stated how could God let this go on? Could this be to make His people (yes, Christians are God's people too (I Peter 2:5)) strong in their faith? (Romans 5:3-5) Certainly, they knew who God was and what awaited them. They knew the road was hard. Could it be so that since those suffering knew God wasn’t the instigator of this, they could see what truly was the cause of their suffering? And knowing His people knew this, God meant to show others who were and would become His people what laid ahead by demonstrating it through the Christians that were suffering then. It definitely called for those who were riding the fence to make a decision. And it was a way for people to count the cost of following Jesus, that it was no bed of roses. It was also a way for God to show that nothing on this earth mattered and it doesn’t last forever. While there are exciting and beautiful things here on earth, that is nothing compared to what awaits those that believe in Him.

I AM the LORD YOUR GOD (Part 11)

God is God, and those that come to lead us are those because God allows it. According to Psalm 72:1-20, God gives leaders their righteousness; it doesn’t come to them by anything they do. God blesses them and at the same time He will protect those who are poor and ill and He promises to break the oppressor. God is in control of all life. What I forget is that while I wish He could do things right now, and am impatient for what I perceive as justice to take place, He knows the best timing. How do I know that if He was to take action when I think He needs to that others may not turn into oppressors too? Humanity doesn’t change that much. That being the case, while delays in removing oppressors seems unjust, at the same time, oppressors are seen for what they are, and God’s mercy and kindness is seen for what it is. What is God’s purpose, to remove the oppressor? No, it is to show us a different way of seeing our situation and in fact a new way to look at the old way that God presented to His people in the Old Testament. He after all did look after the Jews. All He asked was that they looked to Him. And He kept them protected as long as they believed in Him, as long as the whole nation recognized and acted upon the notion He was the One and Only, He kept warring nations away from them. But the minute the nation as a whole sanctioned hypocrisy and idols then God’s justice came down upon them. It is as if the warning of Deuteronomy 13:12-18 to accept only Him as God and to cleave to Him truly bore fruit. He followed through on His warnings.