Obedience that comes from Love

Love That Leads to Obedience

Love for God is not something we force upon ourselves; it is cultivated as we behold Him, know Him, and trust Him. Before obedience can become the natural outflow of love, we must first fall in love with God. It is only when our hearts are captivated by His goodness that obedience ceases to be a burden and instead becomes a joyous response.

Scripture makes it clear that we do not initiate love—God does. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Friends, when we spend time in prayer, Bible study, and fellowship, constantly being reminded of, and reflecting on God's love, which was demonstrated in Christ’s sacrifice and our resulting salvation and adoption, our hearts begin to understand God's great love for us, and we reciprocate. The more we come to know Him—His holiness, kindness, patience—the more our hearts are drawn to Him.

Trust is an essential part of love. A child clings to a loving father because they have confidence in his care. So must we learn to trust God, knowing that His ways are perfect. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). The more we surrender to His wisdom and rest in His promises, the deeper our love grows, producing a delight in Him that surpasses all earthly affections.

Search Me, O Lord—A Spiritual Evaluation of Growth and Conformity

Search Me, O Lord—A Spiritual Evaluation of Growth and Conformity

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

Self-examination is not merely an act of introspection—it is an act of surrender. We stand before the Lord, asking Him to search our hearts, to test our faith, to refine our walk. This is not a fleeting exercise but a continual process of proving ourselves in the faith, as 2 Corinthians 13:5 exhorts: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves..."

The fruitfulness of our labour, our obedience to the Word, and our connection to God must be evaluated. Galatians 6:4 reminds us: "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." But let this evaluation not be grounded in external results—our works, our efforts—but rather in our growth and commitment to studying God’s Word.

Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart (Part 3)

Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart (Part 3)

Paul's 9-church epistles, Romans to 2-Thessalonians, is a curriculum of spiritual growth and transformation for the grace believer. By studying the doctrine progressively, and in the appointed order as presented in our King James bible, it takes one from being a babe in Christ to an adopted and mature son of God, from being carnal, yielding to the flesh, to being spiritual, yielding to the Spirit of life, and from being ignorant of God to having knowledge and wisdom in spiritual things. In addition, there is one more thing the curriculum does when it starts to take effect in one's life. It slowly changes the heart. It starts with a work of faith, renewing the mind to trust in God and trust in the doctrine, but as a believer grows in faith, the curriculum starts to work a labour of love. 

What the labour of love is not!

Well, simply put, it is not your own good works. It is not even your love. It is a work of God that comes into operation as you become less, and the Word of God starts to take preeminence. So, forget about earning favour and credits by helping the elderly across the street (for example). The labour of love is not something you do by your own reasoning mind and good will. Doesn't Isaiah bluntly say, 

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6. 

I'm not saying that kind acts are fruitless, but I am saying that they are not the definition of the 'labour of love' which we are dealing with in this post.

Living From the Inside Out: A Spiritual Blueprint

Living From the Inside Out: A Spiritual Blueprint

Through faith, we grow and mature into love for all the saints. Once we reach this point, we are ready to receive the spirit of wisdom, revelation, and the knowledge of Him. However, this wisdom does not come passively—it is not something we merely receive. Paul wrote these words, and his prayer, having fulfilled his part in revealing them, is that through this revelation, believers may receive the spirit and have the eyes of their understanding enlightened.

Now, let’s consider this understanding:

Man is a three-part being—body, soul, and spirit. But at his core, man is a living soul. As Scripture says: 

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

The soul possesses both a body and a spirit. Through the body, the soul comprehends the physical world—it sees, tastes, hears, and experiences the material realm. But just as the body allows the soul to perceive the physical, the soul can only understand spiritual truths through the spirit part of his three-part being.

This is how a person receives understanding—through the spirit, not the body. Many people attempt to operate in the wrong order, seeking spiritual truths in a physical manner. But this is backward; we must operate as God designed us—spirit first.

Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart (Part 2)

Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart (Part 2)

Renewing the Mind: The Journey to Spiritual Maturity

When you accept salvation through faith, you embark on a transformative spiritual journey. The first step, justification, secures your eternal peace with God and grants you a new identity in His kingdom. However, this is only the beginning of the fuller salvation experience. The second step, sanctification, is where the real work begins—the renewal of your mind and growth into spiritual maturity.

Think of your spiritual life as similar to your physical life. When you were born, you received an identity and began to grow, explore, and develop. You learned, set goals, and gradually adopted new patterns of behaviour. Likewise, your spiritual identity as a child of God calls for growth and development. You cannot remain a "spiritual babe." Just as an heir to an empire must mature to fully enjoy the benefits and participate in the responsibilities of their inheritance, you must grow spiritually to embrace the fullness of your future inheritance in our Father's heavenly kingdom.

What Does Renewing the Mind Mean?

Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart (Part 1)

Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart

How does the bible describe the internal workings of biblical salvation? This thought occurred to me the other day, so I went to the source to find out exactly what happens. 

Consider Lydia, a woman from Thyatira, whose encounter with the message of Paul is recorded in Acts 16:14: "One of those listening was a certain woman, whose name was Lydia, the seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." I heard an expression a while back that fits the context perfectly. "We are all blind until the Lord opens our eyes". This is so true! We wouldn’t even know the salvation that the Lord offers until His grace reaches us and we choose to receive it. Lydia’s heart, closed to the truth for all those years, was divinely opened by hearing the grace gospel, and it is in that very moment of faith that salvation took root within her. This example in Acts confirms a core principle: Christianity originates within the heart.

From that very moment a believer responds in faith and believes the grace gospel, they are justified and are saved from the wrath of God and from an eternal doom. From that moment on, nothing, absolutely nothing, can change that instantaneous and permanent standing with God. Paul confirms this perfectly in Romans 5:1-2 when he writes, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Notice how we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God! The hope expressed here is not a fear of an uncertain outcome, but an optimistic expectation and confident anticipation of its assured realization. Justification is permanent. God’s decree states that those how have faith in His Son are counted as righteous, an eternal promise He made to Abraham 4000 years ago, Romans 4:3: a promise that stands eternal and that guarantees peace with God, Romans 4:9-11.

Remember Love

Remember Love

When one first learns about dispensational views and rightly dividing, it quickly becomes deeply rooted in one’s heart and it changes everything about one’s views and interpretation of scripture. I am personally convicted in my heart that rightly dividing the Word between Israel and the Body of Christ, between law and grace, and between prophecy and mystery, is the ONLY way to effectively understand and interpret scripture. It has exponentially changed my understanding of God’s Word and my relationship with Him, and I’ll never turn back to my old understanding of merging or blending all the Bible into a single doctrine that is all about me, or for my needs and cares and wants.

Having said all this, I do want to mention something that is of crucial importance. I’m not sure about you, but this is something that I have experienced and want to bring to your attention.

To be passionate about dispensational truth and rightly dividing is vital in this world where sound biblical knowledge is so scarce. However, for us, who view scripture rightly divided, we should be careful not to get too passionate about the theology and the words, that we forget about love and the human connection. 

What do I mean here? 

DM#5: That which may be known of God is manifest

Doctrine of the Mysteries #5

Rom 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (19) Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. (20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (21) Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

That which may be known of God is manifest

A person can make up excuses. They can tell themselves, and others, that they do not believe in God, or in being accountable to Him. They can reason away the truth with philosophy, or science, or skepticism. They can even revel in the glory of their ignorance, but they can never completely hide themselves from God. There will always be that deep sense of truth, ever present within them.

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 5 - Redeemed Israel gets a NEW Heart, Grace Believers get a NEW Mind)

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 5 - Redeemed Israel gets a NEW Heart, Grace Believers get a NEW Mind)

If you have been following this series of posts, you will be familiar with the two opposing lives (and laws) within the grace believer. In Romans chapter 7, Paul tells us about the war between the heart (the outer man) and the spiritual mind (the inner man), and how they are contrary to each other. Just read this short passage again to get the context,

Rom 7:14-24  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.  15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 3 - The Spiritual Mind)

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 3 - The Spiritual Mind)

Start the series here: Part 1
Go to the next part here: Part 4

This study began with a brief overview of the three-part structure of a human being, spirit, soul, and body. It is the soul component that is the primary focus of this study since it is the part that is formed when God’s Spirit, His breath of life, enters into the clay shell of the flesh. It is the soul, and more particularly, the contents of the soul that is of significance, as it is here where the Word of God works.

The content of the soul forms the heart of the person, the essence of the person, and what flows out of them into this world. Part 2 of this study placed brief focus on the heart, to define it, and identify its role in the context of a person. It is vital that you clearly understand what the heart of a person is, in order to better understand this next part that I am going to introduce in this post, which is the spirit of the mind,

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 2 - The Heart of Man)

How does Romans 5 to 8 work in a Human Being? (Part 2 - The Heart of Man)

Start the series here: Part 1
Go to the next part here: Part 3

There is more to the design of man than just the three components of spirit, soul, and body. We need to go deeper to find these underlying parts that are the primary elements that define the individual. In the previous post of this series, I mentioned that the soul can be understood as a container that needs to be filled with the essence of that person. What a person demonstrates to the outside world, in character, personality, desires, fortitude, etc, is that which is stored, processed, and released from the soul. (Please note that this attempt to express the soul, and make it easier to understand, is my personal, and creative explanation based on what I learn from the Word.)

Now, what comes out of the soul of a person is expressed in a few different ways in the Bible. We have investigated some biblical references to things like, the heart of a man, the spiritual mind, the carnal mind, the natural man, the spiritual man, the new man, also known as the inner man, and the old man. Jesus hinted on the contents of the soul when he reprimanded the pharisees, saying they were like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, in the soul, they were full of dead men’s bones, uncleanness, hypocrisy and iniquity, Matt.23:27-28.

Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences (Part 8)

Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences (Part 8 --- Accompanying signs)

We continue with the comparison of the gospel of God and the gospel of Christ by looking at key elements that distinguish them from each other. I recommend to start at the beginning of this comparison to gain the necessary context of this series of posts.

The Kingdom gospel and the gospel of God had accompanying signs

The earthly ministry of Jesus was validated by a myriad of signs (or miracles) that He performed. These signs, according to prophecy, were to validate His ministry and prove to the Jews that He was their Messiah. To confirm this, John ends his gospel with a remarkable statement;

John 21:24-25 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.