Lovest Thou Me? (Feb 6, 2012)

If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14: 15. 

I haven't left 1 Cor. 13, not in the least, but just in case we thought that the LORD did not mean for us to LOVE...I mean, just in case, we thought that He will just bless us because we're His precious children...God actually requires us to grow up.

So, let's just look a little deeper here...

In order for me to apply the Word to me...to Teddi...to my life and what concerns me...I have to study ...to meditate on what I'm being told to do.

You see, if my Bible is my map..the Way..the Truth...and the Life, then, why would I veer...why would I want to turn left...or right??

I mean I'm not a dummy.  And I understand words...I mean I'm not just a teacher...I'm a word person! I'm a linguist! I mean I taught language arts...English to we older ones.  I taught words, and the meaning of words and how words were used. I'm a grammarian and a writer.

So, bear with me as I look deeper...I'm doing it and going to do it all by myself..or with one or 2 of you..or with as many as would like to join me...

1 Cor. sounds impossible for us...and we say LORD , you'll have to do this through us and somehow wait for Him to do something.

Friends...sisters in Christ...the amazing part is that He has done it! It is finished. I have to pick up the sword of the spirit...the WORD of God. I have to meditate on it for it to be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

So, I must do what the Word says, in order to receive what it says I will.

In 1 John 5 says, in verses 1-3,

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Going back to the gospel of John, Jesus says in verse 12, of Ch. 15:

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Verse 14 says,

You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you.

My prayer here is, LORD, I confess my sins of disobedience to You, coming to this understanding today, that where I am holding any disappointment or unforgiveness against anyone, I am not loving You because I'm not obeying You.  I am seeking a heart after God like David.  Thank You, LORD, for giving me the desire of my heart because I am delighting in You. I am repenting of disobedience to Your Word.  Where I've not loved anyone as You love me, I pray that You mend all the broken places and bind up all the hurt and wounded feelings.  Restore, LORD, relatioships in Jesus' Name.  Amen and Amen

You say in 2 places that the world will know us by our love, and it will know us by our fruit.  Our fruit is love, and Ch. 15, vs 12 of the Gospel of John says,

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Sisters, are we getting this? Are we understanding that LOVE is a verb and must be practiced whether we feel anything or not. Love is not a feeling.  It is a choice...a decision..

Now, let's look at 1 Cor 13: 4b-5

...love does not envy; love does parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil..(NKJV)

Reading in the amplified, it says,

...love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy, or fretful, or resentful...

Let's see...am I guilty of any of the above? Well, yeah...how about you?

Looks like I have some of those things better under control...at least for awhile...some things that I don't do as I did when younger...but I'm glad that Jesus is still working on me...

I know that my husband is glad...and that my Mama smiles (from Heaven)...when I don't stomp off and slam a door or slam down a phone...a not so long ago Teddi might have done any of those...

Let's see...unbecoming and unmannerly...guilty!!

Did I ever say aloud, "That's not fair!"? or did I have a self-protective stance arguing with my sibling, husband, parent...responding to buttons pushed? Guilty again!

Now, realizing, that as Sharon Jaynes, writier of The Power of a Woman's Words, is reminding us in another Bible Study I go to  twice a month, in this week's study...to put off the old man...and to put on the new man.  Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 and Romans 6, all talk about this.

It's not like I haven't had a Bible all my life...from the crib. I just drank milk a very long time, and as Paul tells us that we are to grow up...that too many of us who should be eating meat are still drinking only milk...

Imagine in the physical realm...how uhealthy we would be...certainly malnourished!

Well, ladies...sisters in Christ...we as a Church...still want the pastor to feed us all we need...and it is insufficient.  Our spirit's may not be emaciated...or full of sickness and disease...or dead...but our spirit's may very well be only eating candy and snacks...or all fried foods...or we may just be lean and mean.

We are going to continue to discuss ...I'll continue to share until there's any discussion..or just someone that wants to share that she is being ministered to...refreshed...revived...renewed...or?

Love you in the LORD,

I'll be back tomorrow...We're going to study together...meditating on the WORD actually...gleaning all we can in order to apply the WORD to our life today. 

This is day 3...be sure to read days Feb 2nd and 3rd. 

Please join...we have 3 members as of the time I started writing this...and post this study on the walls of your sisters in Christ who could benefit from studying with us.

I'll be here daily...5 days mostly...more if the LORD leads...but you all have different schedules.

You may do all in one day...and then not be back for a day or 2.  It doesn't matter the time either.  I am doing another virtual Bible Study with Jill Hill at Shinegirls ... studying 1 Samuel...and I have loved that I can get on very early...or midday...or late...or miss a day and catch up. 

The meat is here, and I will be mincing and mashing...blending in a blender...etc,.. to help you in anyway I can to enjoy Jesus and all His commandments. When we walk with the LORD in the light of His WORD what Glory He sheds on our way. While we do His good will, He abides in us still...

The LORD has given us to each other challenge each other to walk in what we know.  When we know, then we must will to do.  Then, step 3 is to DO...the hardest of all steps.  We can know to do good, and we can want to do good, and we fall short of loving our JESUS, for He says, "He who loves Me, keeps My commandments."  Keeping His commandments means doing what He says.

Start...now...putting off whatever old man is still hanging on! and putting on more of the new man!!!

Sojourner with you,

Teddi