Sin exists because of disobedience to God

'How great and manifold are the misconceptions of the true elements and functionings of prayer! There are many who earnestly desire to obtain an answer to their prayers but who go unrewarded and unblest. They fix their minds on some promise of God and then endeavour by dint of dogged perseverance, to summon faith sufficient to lay hold
upon, and claim it. This fixing of the mind on some great promise may avail in strengthening faith, but, to this holding on to the promise must be added the persistent and importunate prayer that expects, and waits till faith grows exceedingly. And who is there that is able and competent to do such praying save the man who readily, cheerfully and continually, obeys God?

Faith, in its highest form, is the attitude as well as the act of a soul surrendered to God, in whom His Word and His Spirit dwells. It is true that faith must exist in some form, or
another, in order to prompt praying; but in its strongest form, and in its largest results, faith is the fruit of prayer. That faith increases the ability and the efficiency of prayer is true; but it is likewise true that prayer increases the ability and efficiency of faith. Prayer and faith, work, act and react, one upon the other.

Obedience to God helps faith as no other attribute possibly can. When obedience --
implicit recognition of the validity, the paramountcy of the Divine commands -- faith ceases to be an almost superhuman task. It requires no straining to exercise it. Obedience to God makes it easy to believe and trust God. Where the spirit of obedience fully impregnates the soul; where the will is perfectly surrendered to God; where there is a fixed, unalterable purpose to obey God, faith almost believes itself. Faith then becomes almost involuntary. After obedience it is, naturally, the next step, and it is easily and readily taken. The difficulty in prayer is not with faith, but with obedience, which is faith's foundation.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 59)

*******

Obedience to God.

Sin exists because of disobedience to God,  the rejection of perfect love.

How can we imagine we can disobey God, continuing to reject perfect love and yet have God hear us?

Do we one to another like to listen to those who reject us?  Yet we want God to constantly listen to us as we pray to Him while we constantly reject Him through our disobedience.

Eve knew right from wrong and chose wrong, she chose to disobey.

We too are allowed to know right from wrong, God hasn't hidden it from us expecting us to work it out on our own. Plainly we are told right from wrong and once we are told right from wrong we make choices for one or the other.

We choose to obey or disobey.

It is so true that prayer, faith, and obedience are all together, if we fail to see this we are choosing ignorance over truth, we are choosing blindness over sight.

Please LORD, please help us to comprehend all we need to in order to pray as You would have us to pray, to have the faith You desire we have, to obey You as we must all through YOUR LOVE!

By YOUR GRACE!

Rom_6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

'No name, however precious and powerful, can protect and give efficiency to prayer which is unaccompanied by the doing of God's will. Neither can the doing, without the praying, protect from Divine disapproval. If the will of God does not master the life, the praying will be nothing but sickly sentiment. If prayer do not inspire, sanctify and direct our work, then self-will enters, to ruin both work and worker.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 58)

This is TRUTH!

Truly this is the 'circle of life' if you will.  We do God's will and our prayers are effective, we pray and are enabled to do God's will.  They go hand in hand, there is no ONE without the other there cannot be.

People want to stop at whatever sounds best, whatever seems easy. People might be willing to go just so far into something difficult and stop, they set limits on what they'll do so far as believing and living is concerned.

I can't get out of my mind right now how Jesus spoke these words--

Joh_5:14  Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

Joh_8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

He was TRULY in fact telling them to go and keep God's law! Because to say go and sin no more means to go and do not transgress the law any longer.

If CHRIST did away with the law, there would be NO sin because there is NO law to transgress from.

People love to say Jesus gave NEW commandments that replaced the old ones.  Soooo what did He mean when He said this--

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mat 19:18  He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 19:20  The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mat 19:21  Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Jesus was quoting what commandments? Where are these commandments taken from?

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
ONE Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
TWO Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
THREE Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
FOUR Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
FIVE Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
SIX Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill.
SEVEN Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery.
EIGHT Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal.
NINE Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
TEN Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.


Deu 5:6  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
ONE Deu 5:7  Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
TWO Deu 5:8  Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
Deu 5:9  Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
Deu 5:10  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
THREE Deu 5:11  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
FOUR Deu 5:12  Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
Deu 5:13  Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
Deu 5:14  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
Deu 5:15  And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
FIVE Deu 5:16  Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
SIX Deu 5:17  Thou shalt not kill.
SEVEN Deu 5:18  Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
EIGHT Deu 5:19  Neither shalt thou steal.
NINE Deu 5:20  Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
TEN Deu 5:21  Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Exo 25:21  And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
Exo 25:22  And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

Deu 10:1  At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
Deu 10:2  And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
Deu 10:3  And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
Deu 10:4  And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
Deu 10:5  And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

Jesus is quoting from the TEN COMMANDMENTS, the commandments that were placed in the ark of the covenant. Jesus was telling this man that it was GOOD that he kept them. Jesus did NOT tell the man he no longer had to keep them.  He did tell them that it wasn't ENOUGH just to keep them, there was more needed. Jesus MAGNIFIED the law, He broadened it, He expounded upon it, He revealed the HEART of the law which is to LOVE GOD and LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS.  If we are TRULY loving God and Others we automatically will desire to keep the laws of God. This is fact!

So when Jesus told people to SIN no more, He meant go and no longer transgress the law but live by the law as revealed through HIS compassion something that was stripped from the law by people over time making the law something harsh and loveless even as it tells us to love. The love we imagined we were giving to God was something hollow and lifeless without compassion and true caring.  Saying you love God is not the same thing as LIVING as you love God.  Doing good to others by not hurting them is not the same thing as doing good to others through caring for their needs.  Don't just NOT steal, lie, cheat, hurt but give, be truthful, help and heal others.

No other laws of the many hundreds of laws given in the old testament were put into the ark of the covenant, just those ten commandments, and that was done for a reason we dare not overlook.

Rom_3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Rom_6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Rom_7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

There was a law that was done away with, there was an old covenant that was done away with- that which pointed to a Sacrificial Lamb.  Our Savior is the Lamb of God!

So yes, we need to live our lives in accordance with the will of God and pray in accordance with the will of God.  This is something we cannot afford to not fully comprehend as God reveals it to us. To pray without obedience is to tell someone you love them all the while doing awful things to sadistically harm them- it is wrong and untrue. To obey without prayer is like loving someone without ever communicating with them in any way at all when all means are available to you, there is no real connecting your obedience to your love of them.

Please LORD GOD, PLEASE help us to LOVE and OBEY, to PRAY and OBEY, to live in YOU, for YOU.

Please LORD bless us! Save us from our unworthy, sin-filled selves. Please!

THANK YOU!

Psa 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins

Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Psa 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

We've been talking about obedience and prayer this past week or so and truly how many seem to believe they can live a blatant life of disobedience and still call upon God.

What do I mean by disobedience? It's not what I mean that matters, it's what God means.

What is God's standard and don't you dare say He hasn't one. Don't get up on your high horses and declare that Jesus did away with all the obeying stuff and put love in its place. Don't tell me that Jesus loved sinners, He went to the sinners and hung out with them so obviously we aren't to be concerned with not being a sinner.   I'm asking you not to tell me all that stuff because it's the stuff of lies. All that nonsense has been propagated by Satan and all those he uses as his minions in order to deceive. Satan wants you to be among the many who cry out to Jesus- Lord! Lord! Didn't I serve You!  And Satan will rejoice when he hears the Savior tell you to get away from Him, that He doesn't know You.

So while you are clinging to the belief that disobedience is the way to go, putting your own idea of what God wants from you in place of the moral laws He created Himself, thinking about the Jesus who walked among the sinners coming back and saying to sinners- 'Get away from me'.  You don't want to think about that Jesus, do you?!  Those are HIS WORDs, that is HIS PROPHECY!  That is Him saying 'Get away!'  It's not Him saying, 'Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.' Not any more.  The time for people to come to Him and find HIS rest is past, they've either accepted Him and live for Him truly without guile, or they've rejected Him- even those who profess His name and profess love for Him --if it is not in truth and without guile they will be rejected.

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
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?

Are you reading Jesus' words? Are you? How do you equate this with the idea that Jesus doesn't care if you obey? He says plainly-  'He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.'   This is OBEDIENCE!

WHY can't people understand?! WHY must they choose blindness over the truth?! Why do they serve a false God believing they serve the true? Why will they have to cry out that they prophesized in His name, that they cast out devils in His name, that they did many wonderful things in His name never realizing that the One whose name they used never knew them. Why did He never know them? Because they weren't doing the WILL of the FATHER IN HEAVEN, but their own misguided will.

Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Psa 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Can we understand our errors and cleanse ourselves from secret faults? No, we need the understanding and cleansing that our Savior offers us. We need our God to keep us from presumptuous sinning so that it doesn't rule over us! Only when we have God keeping us from this sinning will we be upright and innocent from the great transgression.  We need our words, and our hearts, our every thought to be acceptable in the sight of our God, He is our STRENGTH, He is our REDEEMER!

God will cleanse us, God will make obedience possible because it is not of our own accord. What is of our own accord is the willingness to yield to Him and allow Him to work in us showing us the ways He would have us walk in.  He wants us to go and sin no more every time He forgives us. He never wants us to go and sin some more every time He forgives us.

And if we are to go and sin no more- He is telling us we should keep His moral laws- because- SIN is a TRANSGRESSION of the LAW, the MORAL LAW! So sinning no more means keeping His law. He wants us to Keep His moral laws! He wants us to go and NO longer break His laws.

1Jn_3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

May we THROUGH the power of our Risen LORD live our lives in obedience to His Father's will!  May HE KNOW US in that Day!

Please LORD, know us undeserving ones, us who are desperate to know and do YOUR will, through YOU and YOUR power!

Please LORD.

Thank YOU!

Not everyone...only those who do the will of the Father

'True praying, be it remembered, is not mere sentiment, nor poetry, nor eloquent utterance. Nor does it consist of saying in honeyed cadences, "Lord, Lord." Prayer is not a mere form of words; it is not just calling upon a Name. Prayer is obedience. It is founded on the adamantine rock of obedience to God. Only those who obey have the right to pray. Behind the praying must be the doing; and it is the constant doing of God's will in daily life which gives prayer its potency, as our Lord plainly taught:

"Not every one which saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto Me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name, and in Thy Name have cast out devils? And in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that worketh iniquity."

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 57)

*******

When we call upon the name of the Lord, when we say- 'Lord, Lord,'  we are praying to Him. We cannot talk to God without calling it prayer. Any conversation we have with the Lord is prayer. Whether or not it is true prayer, sincere prayer is between the Lord and the one praying.  We have to take to heart what our Savior is telling us though. We have to listen to Him as He speaks.  When He plainly tells us that 'NOT EVERYONE WHICH SAITH UNTO ME, LORD, LORD, SHALL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN'  Jesus is telling us plainly that NOT everyone who prays to Him will be HIS. He doesn't leave it there though, He goes on to tell us who of those who say Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven…

'HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN'

Those who DO the will of the Father God.  Those who OBEY!

If we are praying to our Lord and not obeying our Lord we will not BE our Lord's. He will ONLY know those who DO- His will.

His will is to love and love is God and God gives us a moral code of LOVE to follow.  Our Savior lived the moral code, our Savior magnified the moral code.  His life is our example, if we live our lives as He lived we will be doing God's will, and we will be following His moral code fully.

He that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven…

Do we do God's will? Do we?

Shouldn't we?

Please, LORD, please help us to do Your will in all things!

Bless us, help us, keep us, save us! By Your grace! Through Your righteousness, your love.

We walk before God

'In the instance of King Hezekiah, it was a potent plea which changed God's decree that he should die and not live. The stricken ruler called upon God to remember how that he had walked before Him in truth, and with a perfect heart. With God, this counted. He hearkened to the petition, and, as a result, death found his approach to Hezekiah barred for fifteen years.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 56)

Isa 38:1  In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.
Isa 38:2  Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,
Isa 38:3  And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Isa 38:4  Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,
Isa 38:5  Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Isa 38:6  And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
Isa 38:7  And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken;
Isa 38:8  Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

Hezekiah DID pray, and we are talking about prayer. Told by a prophet of God that he was going to die, telling him to get his affairs in order, Hezekiah did not do what he was told. Instead of setting his house in order he turned away from everyone and faced a wall, and then he prayed. Remember, Hezekiah was SICK, very, very sick and that sickness was going to kill him. In his sickness he turned from everyone and prayed.  His words….

REMEMBER,  O LORD…

He was asking the Lord to remember, God does not forget.  He was reminding God, wanting Him to remember…

...HOW HE WALKED BEFORE HIM IN TRUTH, WITH A PERFECT HEART, DOING WHAT IS GOOD IN GOD'S EYES.

Can we say the same to God?

Are we walking before God in truth?
Are we walking before God with a perfect heart?
Are we doing what is good in God's eyes?

Can we, like Hezekiah, pray that prayer? Can we? And if we cannot, we have to ask ourselves why not?

No, we are NOT perfect and we will not be perfect, only our SAVIOR is perfect and He and He alone will forever be perfect and ANY perfection we reflect is HIS. We are told to be perfect as God is Perfect…

Mat_5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

We cannot ignore what God wants from us. We must be devoted to Him and devoted to a life pleasing to HIM!

We must walk in GOD'S TRUTH, we must walk with a PERFECT HEART, and we must be doing what is GOOD in GOD'S EYES.

ALL through HIS grace, HIS LOVE!

Spirit of Obediece

'Prayer puts into those who sincerely pray a spirit of obedience, for the spirit of disobedience is not of God and belongs not to God's praying hosts.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 55)

Gal 5:7  Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Gal 5:8  This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you

When we don't obey the truth we are not honoring God, we are not God's.

Read the following...

Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile

When we DO NOT OBEY the truth we are obeying UNRIGHTEOUSNESS!

Tribulation and anguish waits for those who do evil!

Those who work good will have glory, honor, and peace.

How can we say our obedience doesn't matter? How?

'Prayer puts into those who sincerely pray a spirit of obedience, for the spirit of disobedience is not of God and belongs not to God's praying hosts.'

A spirit of obedience is something we truly need! If we are SINCERELY praying then we will receive a spirit of obedience!  If we aren't praying in sincerity we cannot expect to have a spirit of obedience, a desire to obey rather than disobey.  We must PRAY, we must obey.

By the grace of God may we obey, and pray to obey.

Why can we ever imagine God would have us disobey, ever?

Please, Lord, help us!

In YOUR LOVE!

We cannot accept our sinning

'Obedience to God counts tremendously in the realm of prayer. This fact cannot be emphasized too much or too often. To plead for a religious faith which tolerates sinning, is to cut the ground from under the feet of effectual praying. To excuse sinning by the plea that obedience to God is not possible to unregenerate men, is to discount the character of the new birth, and to place men where effective praying is not possible. At one time Jesus broke out with a very pertinent and personal question, striking right to the core of disobedience, when He said: "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" Luke 6:46

He who would pray, must obey. He who would get anything out of his prayers, must be in perfect harmony with God. Prayer puts into those who sincerely pray a spirit of obedience, for the spirit of disobedience is not of God and belongs not to God's praying hosts.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 54)

*******

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Jesus ASKS us WHY we are calling Him Lord, Lord when we are NOT doing the things He says!

Then Jesus goes on to say those who hear what He says and then do what He says that, that person is protected against the storms because they are founded upon HIM- the Rock.

Jesus doesn't stop there, He goes on to say that those who do not do what He says are not protected against storms.

So why, I have to ask something I've asked a lot of times, why do we imagine that we do NOT have to do what Jesus says? WHY?!

Truly, as E.M. Bounds wrote-

'To plead for a religious faith which tolerates sinning, is to cut the ground from under the feet of effectual praying'

-we CANNOT tolerate sinning!   We cannot excuse our sinning!  We cannot ACCEPT our sinning!  We cannot be among those who say we cannot obey! To do that is to say we do not want to be among God's saints.

Read this--

Rev_14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

HERE are those KEEPING the COMMANDMENTS of GOD and the FAITH of JESUS!

They are obeying! Here are those who are obeying!

Why would we be told such a thing if such a thing were impossible? We wouldn't be! God would never tell us that there will be saints who keep His commandments if there can't be saints who keep the commandments.  The sooner we BELIEVE it is possible through CHRIST to keep the commandments, the better. The sooner we can truly be obedient to OUR God, our Savior!

By God's grace may we be HIS, may we OBEY as He would have us OBEY, may we hear and do what He says so that we may truly be HIS as this life of a storm beats as us daily.

All in HIS GRACE! All in HIS LOVE!