You can't truly love others without keeping the commandments of God.

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jn 3:21  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Why is it people try to convince others that commandment keepers are different than those who do away with the commandments and focus on loving others?

You can't truly love others without keeping the commandments of God.

Love is the focal point of every commandment.

First is LOVE, because GOD IS LOVE.

All the commandments stem from LOVE.  But people don't want to see that, they'd much rather toss away the commandments that to them are restrictive.

Our Savior's commandment is to LOVE.

You cannot LOVE without truly recognizing the LOVE of God.

Some people say the moral commandments have been done away with, and they refuse to recognize the LOVE of GOD in them.

God knows, our Savior knows that if we keep HIS commandments we are LOVING as He would have us LOVE.

Can you keep the commandments and not love?  NOT if you are keeping them as GOD would have you keep them.  You can PRETEND to keep them just as you can pretend to LOVE God. You can deceive yourself into believing you are keeping them when you aren't keeping them at all.

Remember this-

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Co 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

The same word- Charity and Love.

GOD is LOVE,  LOVE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL THINGS BECAUSE - GOD IS LOVE!

We have to have GOD. We have to be submitted to GOD. We have to be committed to GOD. IF we do NOT have GOD then all we do means NOTHING!

God suffers long- He's proven that throughout all history.
God is kind.
God envies not.
God does not vaunt Himself.
God is not puffed up.
God does not behave Himself unseemly.
God does not seek His own.
God is not easily provoked.
God thinks NO evil.
God bears all things.
God believes all things.
God hopes all things.
God endures all things.
God never fails.

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Joh_4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh_4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Joh_6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Joh 14:14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

The Spirit makes it all possible through our SAVIOR.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

All in HIS LOVE.

You transgress God's moral law every time you sin

1Jn 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5  And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1Jn 3:6  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Rom_3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

There is NO getting around it, not even a little bit- sin IS a transgression of the law.

To say that there is no law for us to follow any more, is to say there is no sinning any longer.

How can people sin if there is no law to follow?

If ALL have sinned then that means there is STILL a law in existence.

We don't get to create our own laws in regards to sin. We don't get to say I'll make this a law- Law #1- No jumping up and down.   And then have the person who breaks that law by jumping up and down called a sinner. 

Sinners break GOD'S laws, the MORAL LAWS of GOD's MAKING.

The first sin was the breaking of the first moral law-

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Eve chose to listen to the serpent, Eve chose to listen to the serpent as if what HE said was more important and trustworthy than what God said. Eve put the serpent before GOD. Eve put HERSELF before God. Remember what the serpent said to her?

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

'Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.'

He told her SHE would be as a god!

She heard those words and did she right then and there recoil from the mere thought of placing herself, a creature on the same level as the Creator? No.

Her curiosity was peaked and she was tempted by the idea of knowing good and evil as a god would know. She wanted to be as a god.  She WAS putting herself before God. She SINNED.  It wasn't just a matter of eating of the tree that God commanded her not to, it was much more than that. The sin was horrific. It wasn't like a child taking a treat they've been told not to touch. The child isn't imagining that they will take that treat and eat of it and suddenly know all the things their parent knows.  But Eve was TOLD by Satan that if she ate of that fruit she would be as a god.  That PLAYED a huge part in her decision to eat the fruit, it was the REASON behind her eating the fruit. She wasn't disobeying God's command not to touch the fruit without a reason, in her mind a VERY good reason. She disobeyed with the incentive to become something other than the creature that God had created her to be. She wanted to be like the Most High God.  What's the Bible tell us about wanting to be like the Most High?

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

SATAN wanted to be like the Most High and HE wanted Eve to desire the exact same thing, and she did, if only for a fleeting moment, but it was long enough for her to take that fruit and bite into it.

Sinning doesn't take long. Some of our WORST sins can happen in mere moments.

1Jn 3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5  And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1Jn 3:6  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Sinning IS and will always be known as the TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW, God's moral law!

Like I wrote earlier we cannot sin if we are NOT transgressing God's law.  Every single sin means you are transgressing God's law. 

We need to confess our sins- we need to comprehend that we are transgressing the law of God when we do sin, and confess that transgression, confess HOW we've disobeyed God in sinning, confess our wrong, understand the wrong and REPENT.  Confess, repent, seeking forgiveness from our SAVIOR.

God knows that we are WEAK, so very, very weak. But we need to comprehend that in our creature weakness we have been given the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord to understand what sin is and to KEEP from sinning through HIM and HIS power. We don't keep from sinning through our OWN power.  We need to BELIEVE, we need to have FAITH that we will be able through our SAVIOR to believe in HIM and HIS POWER to forgive us and keep us in HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Please LORD, help us! Love us! Keep us in YOU ALWAYS!!!!!!!

BY YOUR AMAZING, AMAZING GRACE and MERCY!

IN YOU LORD, IN YOU!

You are a liar if you do not keep our Savior's commandments.

1Jn_2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Remember this from yesterday--

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

We HAVE to listen to our SAVIOR and He was NOT instructing us to do away with His commandments. Why would He even say those word- the first of ALL the commandment, the second is like- why would He say that if He really just wanted us to do away with His moral ten commandments and just say we know what it means to love? 

How arrogant we are! How presumptuous we are! We dare to imagine that WE know what it means to love! We dare to believe that we do NOT need the moral ten commandments from our Savior!  We dare to question His commandments the very commandments HE LIVED when HE walked the earth!

Why would He tell us this…

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

If we have decided that to be a Christian simply means living right, not hurting anyone are we following our Savior's commandments? If we put our own commandments in place of His, are we following HIS commandments? IF WE CHANGE the commandments to suit ourselves we are not listening to our Savior. Yet so many want to change them. They won't admit it, they refuse to admit that they are going against our Savior's words, so they talk themselves out of believing they are by throwing up that the only thing that matters is love and nothing else. And they toss in, God knows my heart.

It is true LOVE is everything.
It is true God knows our hearts.

But when we REFUSE to believe that the moral commandments were given from the SOURCE OF ALL LOVE, and are LOVE, then we aren't loving at all. We've thrown up our own idea of love believing we know better than God.

JESUS SAID- IF YE LOVE ME KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.

1Jn_2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Do you know JESUS?
Do you keep HIS COMMANDMENTS?

You CANNOT know Jesus if you do NOT keep HIS commandments!

Make up your own religion if you want to, but that will mean making up your own Jesus, and that means you won't know Jesus at all.

He will tell people this--

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity

He will tell them He never knew them, and it'll be the truth because they haven't worshipped Him at all but rather a Lord of their own devising.

By the GRACE of God may we through the power of the Holy Spirit keep HIS COMMANDMENTS and NOT the commandments of our own making. May we KNOW our LORD and may HE KNOW US!

All in HIS LOVE!
By HIS MERCY!

LORD JESUS- Be the END of our FAITH- OUR SALVATION

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

'The word te???, (Transliteration: Telos)  end, is often used so as to imply the issue or reward of any labor or action.'  - Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible.

The reward of your faith.

The reward that comes at the culmination of our faith.

Salvation!

Saved from sin!

Reunited with God, no longer separated from Him by sin.

Saved!

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

SAVED!
SALVATION!

To be saved-

(Strong's Dictionary)
--to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively): - heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.

Delivered.
Healed.
Preserved.
Made whole.

Joh 4:42  And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

The Savior of the world!
The Deliverer!
The Redeemer!

If we ENDURE to the END we will be SAVED.
The END of our FAITH is our SALVATION.

For one moment I want you to think about something- WHAT HARM COMES FROM HAVING FAITH IN OUR SAVIOR?

Seriously… believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior causes what harm?

The harm comes in when people THINK they are believing in Jesus Christ and then set about trying to force their beliefs on others.  I emphasized THINK they are believing because they are deceived into believing they follow the true Savior when the truth is the true Savior would NEVER force anyone to believe in HIM, NEVER. They may call their Savior by the same name as the true Savior, but underneath that name they've created a god of their own devising.

The truth of our SAVIOR is love, pure love without any force.

Yes, our Savior OUT of His love desires obedience from His Creatures and that obedience He desires is pure love. The commandments, the moral commandments He's given us are commandments of the PUREST LOVE.

No where in any of the commandments does it read … thou shalt force others to believe in me. 

We are commanded as INDIVIDUALS to obey the LORD and His commands, and those commands are love realized, love actualized.

Remember this--

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

LOVE.
LOVE GOD.
LOVE OTHERS.

The first four moral commands focus on our LOVE of GOD.
The last six moral commands focus on our LOVE of OTHERS.

Having FAITH, believing in Our God, our Savior, One who is pure love and longs to give us this same pure love, HARMS NO ONE! Why is it silly, stupid, horrible to believe in LOVE that way? That LOVE threatens EVIL, it's DESTROYED EVIL'S ultimate desire. And EVIL HATES that LOVE and wants it completely destroyed.  That EVIL will do all it can to make having FAITH in GOD seem EVIL, to seem wrong, to be stupid, unenlightened, prejudice, and so on. That EVIL has successfully corrupted the minds of millions and millions and millions to outright think that GOD'S LOVE through HIS SON JESUS CHRIST is evil. That EVIL has successfully corrupted millions and millions and millions into believing in their OWN idea of the God of LOVE, and therefore believing in a false god.  That EVIL will have the majority of people on its side when our SAVIOR returns.

PLEASE LORD LET US BE ON YOUR SIDE! LET US LOVE AND BE LOVED BY YOU! LET US KNOW AND BE KNOWN BY YOU! ALL THROUGH YOUR MERCY, YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE, YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! ALL THROUGH ALL THAT IS YOU- the GOD WHO IS LOVE!

IN YOU!

Be the END of our FAITH- OUR SALVATION.

Our faith will make us whole

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The end of something, we know that the end of something is very important. If you're working towards something you expect an end, a finish, the finale.  All of us can probably remember various aspects of our lives that consist of beginnings and endings. We can recall them with fondness or sadness, but we can recall them.  When a test was finally over and you passed. When a journey was begun and then over. When a life became part of your life and then that life was over.  We experience so much and the sum of our experience is our life. At the end of our lives people have funerals and almost always speak of the life of the person whose life is now over. People often try to remember the very best of the people that have passed even as they know their lives were just as their own- filled with ups and downs, good and bad things.  Life is filled with so many ups and downs and that is for everyone- no exemptions at all.

Life's ups and downs. People write books on life's ups and downs. Daily we hear about life's ups and downs- just pick up a newspaper and you'll very likely find good stories and sad/bad stories. Constantly in magazines, in tabloids, on television shows,  the radio, and online we are reading, listening, watching the ups and downs of peoples lives.  If there are big group ups they can go down in history, if there are big groups downs they too are written in our history record and told for many, many years to come.

These are life's trials.

Yes, I said these are life's trials, including the good, including those ups to our lives.  Because though a lot of people do not tend to consider anything good a trial it is.  How we live our lives when we receive the good tells so much about us. The glory belongs to God in all things.

Read this-

Luk 17:13  And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Luk 17:14  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
Luk 17:15  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
Luk 17:16  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Luk 17:18  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
Luk 17:19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

He was healed- A GOOD thing!
He was cured- he was having an 'UP' day, not a down day.
And he glorified God with a LOUD voice!
His FAITH made Him whole!

Were the others cured? Yes, but they didn't hear these words of Christ-  'Arise, go thy way; they faith hath made thee whole.' 

The others were cleansed.  'And it came to pass that as thy went they were cleansed.' 

But were they 'made whole'?

Think about it.  Their leprosy was gone but that doesn't mean that they were truly made whole- spiritually, physically, mentally. They did not glorify God. They were Jews, not Samaritans and they did not glorify God upon receiving a cure for this horrendous disease.

We DO have a trial of our FAITH in good things, make no mistake about it.

'Thy faith hath made thee whole.' 

The Samaritan's faith made Him whole.

Our faith can make us whole.  Our faith in God can make us whole.

The END of our FAITH is our being made perfectly whole in CHRIST.

By the grace of our God more tomorrow!  All in HIS LOVE may we have faith that will make us whole in our Savior!

Please LORD, save us!

The end of our faith- SALVATION

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your FAITH, being much more precious than of gold

From yesterday-

'We can look at our lives and the pain whether emotional, mental, or physical - or a combination of any or all of those- and we can know that the pain is from the FIRE TRYING OUR FAITH.

We might call our trials by many names- abuse, fear, hate, depression - there are soooo many names our trials have and everyone of them is made of spiritual FIRE.'

1 Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold THAT PERISHETH, THOUGH IT BE TRIED WITH FIRE

Gold perishes.  People love to think things like gold and precious jewels and such last forever but the truth is they can perish.

You can accumulate storehouses of gold and it can still perish.

All that gold, in fact, all the gold in the world means nothing when measured against the 'TRIAL of our FAITH'.

Our trial of faith is more precious than gold. That means all the pain, all the grief, all the heartache, all the abuse, all the torture of living in this world ruled by Satan is more precious than gold. Every single trial you are called to endure is more precious than gold IF it's the trial of your faith.

I say 'if' because there are those who have no faith. There are those who do not believe in God at all, let alone His Only Son Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR.   Those people suffer too without any faith at all, and Satan loves to use that as an excuse to have everyone believe there is no God. Seriously. Satan loves when people do not believe in God and by lumping us all in the same boat, he succeeds in doing so for so many people. They see no differentiation in those who believe and those who don't so they jump to the conclusion that there is no God rather than there is a God because believing God calls for sacrificing self and people hate the idea of having to sacrifice themselves- their pleasures, their desires, their wants.  When called to choose to believe in the road that leads to self-sacrifice or the one that leads to self-indulgence people more often than not choose to believe in the one that allows them to indulge self.

Whether people believe in God or not, they suffer life's tragedies but this is NO WAY negates the TRIALS of a person who has FAITH in God, who believes in God. 

The trials those who do not believe in God can sometimes lead them to God. When that isn't the case and people go further from God through their trials it is very tragic. When a person who has faith is confronted with a trial it truly is more precious than gold because it will STRENGTHEN their faith if they allow it through their belief.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The 'end of our faith' can ONLY be our faith steadfast, our faith strong, our faith fully realized all by the Glory of GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

Nothing is more precious than SALVATION IN JESUS CHRIST, nothing! So is it any wonder that the trials of our faith- though it be tried with fire- is more precious than gold?

All by the GRACE and MERCY of our SAVIOR! All in HIS LOVE!

More precious than gold- the trial of your faith

More precious than gold.

What is more precious than gold?  Not faith, but the TRIAL of your faith.

The TRIAL of your faith.

We just recently read about the various trials of faith that people in the Bible have been called to go through. It's easy to read about others going through their trials and being triumphant, but it's not so easy experiencing trials yourself.  No, you might not be experiencing trials like those we've read but if you are a Christian, if you are following Christ, if you are, by faith, believing in God the Father and God the Son, as well as God the Holy Spirit then you will have that FAITH TRIED.

You can't escape the trying of your faith.

You shouldn't want to escape the trying of your faith.

Yes, it will be PAINFUL, it will be HORRIBLE, it will most likely be the WORST thing you've ever had to experience in your life, but in the end if you hold fast to that faith it will be MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD.


1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God THROUGH FAITH unto SALVATION ready to be revealed in the last time.

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your FAITH, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the END OF YOUR FAITH, even the salvation of your souls.

Tried with fire.

Can you imagine how horrific it would be to be burned to death?  I've burned myself before- little burns that have hurt tremendously. I've had sunburns that have caused me incredible pain. Yet I cannot imagine being burned worse. I've seen my sister burned worse and it's terrible! I've seen the results burns leave on people, so awful. I know that they put the severely burned into medically induced comas because the pain is just so horrific.  Fire burns and bring pain, a lot of pain.

We can look at our lives and the pain whether emotional, mental, or physical - or a combination of any or all of those- and we can know that the pain is from the FIRE TRYING OUR FAITH.

We might call our trials by many names- abuse, fear, hate, depression - there are soooo many names our trials have and everyone of them is made of spiritual FIRE.

More tomorrow by the grace of God!

In HIS LOVE!