You Love Me? Prove it!

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."  John 14:21

To know the mind and will of God is for Him to reveal it to you.  It is through prayer that we hear from God and our disobedience can keep us from hearing Him clearly.  It 'short-circuits' our prayer.  Ah, the author says prayer is more than the words you speak! It's, more importantly, hearing from God.  How many of us fill our prayer time with words we speak and don't stop to listen to what God would say to us? 

Obedience starts from within.  It's not about a checklist of actions we've come up with that we check off each day...let's see: had my devotional time this morning, read my Bible, spent a few minutes talking to God, didn't curse anybody out in the traffic on the way to work, did my work (as working for the Lord), was good to my spouse and kids, go to church regularly, give of time, talent and treasures, etc.... Yet, how many of us have fallen off that track time and again... and yes, we get back up again. It's like those New Year's resolutions we start off with each year so faithfully but never quite get past the first month or maybe two in being obedient to follow through.    I believe we've gotten it backwards - starting from the outside and hoping to work out that change inside of us.  But real change, transforming change happens first from within.  For us as believers, it starts with accepting the free gift of salvation from God through Christ.  That's when God, through the Holy Spirit, starts working out our salvation from within.   "It is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."  (Phil 2:13)  And that's where we come in as active participants with God in working out our salvation - in obedience to His will. 

It is in the daily acts of obedience we grow closer to God.  As we draw nearer to Him, our relationship deepens, we become freer - set free from the bonds of sin that would restrict the flow of His life through us.  The author says our sins - rather the root of sin - is what limits our potential!  The potential to become all that God desires for us.  And, it's a lifelong process of being set free from our sinful human nature and the behaviors and thought patterns that have enslaved us..and this process is empowered by and through the Holy Spirit in us!  That's what this 'becoming like Christ' is all about and God who began this good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  Phil 1:6

Finally, God will call you to obedience at the place where you are most securely tied to the kingdom of this world.  He will call on you to risk everything to follow Him.  Where might that be for you?  For Abraham it was the sacrifice of his son; for Mary it was her reputation (even her life) as an unwed mother, for Paul it was to give up position, power, prestige; for you....?   

The author ends with saying an obedient heart, a habit of obedience, is cultivated in the small daily moments.  Unless you learn obedience in the dailiness of relationship, you will not be equipped to respond in obedience to the big challenges. 

"Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."  Hebrews 4:7 
What have you heard from God?  How have you responded?