Do You LOVE God?

 

Shaken Awake Podcast Ep: 70 – “Do You LOVE God?” 

 

Hello and welcome to Shaken Awake podcast, the non-sugar-coated Christian podcast on the net!  Sugar-coating causes truth decay, which is why we here rely on the very Word of God to dictate our direction and path in life that God has set before us, not what the world, man-made doctrine, or the necessarily what the pulpit dictates.   I’m not here to tickle your ears, I’m here to share the words from GOD’s Word, and provide you what He and the Holy Spirit have convicted me of and are pressing me to communicate out.  

 If you’re a first time listen, welcome!!! If you’re a long-time listener, welcome!!!!  Glad to have your ears and attention for a just a few minutes to share what God has led me to share with you on this episode.  A special shout out and thank you for a few, new listeners from Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Malta, Italy, and Norway!!!!!  Thank God for placing this in your path and for sharing in these messages along with us!  Welcome aboard! 

 

Without further ado, let’s move on with Episode 70 entitled, “Do You LOVE God?”

 

As many of you may, or may not know, I’m an introvert at heart.  That used to be considered a “bad trait” to have, but over the years, research has given us insight into the pros and cons of both the introvert and the extrovert, and of course, there are varying degrees of both.   Due to the line of work, I’m in, I’ve done a lot of research and coaching on both personalities, but I won’t speak on those today – what I will say is that introverts like myself prefer to think (A LOT) before we speak.  If we say something aloud, generally speaking, we’ve done a little bit of thinking before we let it out of our mouth.  We live inside our head a LOT.  So, it’s not uncommon to ‘feel’ like we’ve had a very productive day and need some downtime and to feel like we want some peace and quiet – even though we may not have even spoken to anyone that day – we’ve done a lot of thinking and talking inside our head.  Anyway, I digress – but I guarantee any introverts listening know exactly what I’m saying. 

 

So, in my thoughtfulness during the day the other day, it dawned on me that I have, finally and due only to God and the understanding of the Holy Spirit, a lot of true peace, a complete change of heart towards those that speak ill of me and my Brothers and Sisters in Christ and of Christ alone, a calm about me no matter the lunacy and evil spiraling all around me and the rest of the world, feeling loved by the Father no matter who is portraying hate and ill-will towards me, both in person and online, a determination and boldness to do what the Father asks of me, no matter the perceived or real consequences of doing His will, a constant yearning to learn more, and the knowledge that I have a finite time left here on Earth and to actually feel, daily, each grain of sand pouring through my life’s hourglass that was flipped upside down the minute I was born.  I know longer wake up feeling like I’ll live forever, and I have all the time left to get right with God and to do His will.  I also have been awakened, shaken awake to be exact, to the fact that 99% of what I see and hear each day has nothing good in store for the Kingdom of God, nor the unsaved, nor the saved, nor for the time I have left remaining on this Earth.   In fact, all it is, is noise that surrounds me and attempts to cloud and protect the god of this world, satan, and become a deterrent towards doing good for the will of God.  Every minute counts, so to speak. 

 

With all I just said, what amazes me and what I also give God praise and worship and thanks, daily for is the simple but potent fact that it is HIM and HIS HOLY SPIRIT that has given me the knowledge, understanding, peach, love, joy, expectation, desire, passion, and foreknowledge that I’ve never had in the first 41 years of my life, but also that it is not permanently attached to my spirit and the Spirit to Whom I walk in now.  My flesh cannot overpower it, and the darkness can no longer put out it’s light.  Let me remind you, these things are not of my doing or of my power, but of God’s.  Jesus even corrected the man who called him good, and reminded the man that no one is good, not even Jesus, but only the Father who had sent Him.  And therefore, it is not by my good works or faith, but by the mercy, and love, and kindness, and salvation, and the promises of God to those who love Him.  I love Him.  I cannot love anything until I love Him.  I cannot love myself, and I cannot love my neighbors as myself until I love Him, God.  As His Word so eloquently states, We love Him because He first loved us.  How many of you would die for those you don’t know?  Not one of you and not me.  How many do you know that would not only die for those they don’t know, but would die for those they don’t know AND would end up hating them?  Not one of you and not me.  And yet He did.  He did and we miss that when we are going about our days.  We have become so numb to the world that we have lost sight, as a church, that what happened over a 2 thousand years ago is as alive today as it was on that day He said, as He was dying for you and I, “It is finished!”.  God lives outside of time and space – time and space is only relative to your and my feeble little human brains.  What He did before He created the earth still remains in effect today no less than the actual day He did so – and He did it, loving you thousands upon thousands of years before you were born, knowing that HE….HE would knit YOU in your mothers womb.  And the amazing thing is, it’s not just a cool tale written in the Bible – this truth holds true every time you open your eyes when you awaken to a new day, like today, and each time you inhale and exhale.  And it will be the same until you take your last breath on Earth, and your first in Heaven. 

 

The spirit behind today’s podcast, which I feel led to speak on today is, Do you really LOVE God, or the thought of Him?  Where, who, and what is your heart most consciously devoted to, daily?  Is it God, or is it YOUR life and the things and people in it?  Don’t worry, I’m not asking to shame you or place guilt or cast stones – I’ve asked myself this question repeatedly.  I’m an introvert – I do this often.  It’s not an exercise in living my best life – it’s an important tool to assess whether we are running the race set before us, loving God with every fiber of our being, day in and day out, and loving those around us – everything else is of this world, not of the eternal Kingdom.  It’s not holding fast to a holier than thou, free-will belief system, regimented works-based living arrangement.  This is part of living your life for God and not for you, for the moment you and your sins died with Christ on that tree, you were resurrected (born again) in a new life and given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  You, at that very moment, belonged to Christ – Christ in you….no longer the god of this world / flesh in you.  The flesh will always be at war with God, but the Spirit will always be aligned with God and will help establish your steps.  You’re either a child of God or a child of satan – the Bible tells us that.  So, do you LOVE God? 

 

Romans 8:28 – 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” 

 

I read that and I’m sad when I hear of those who live in turmoil, who profess to be Christians.  Not that I believe they’re not Christians or that I’m questioning their beliefs, but I wonder why they’re not looking for God in the midst of their anguish or problems.  Why are they not more at peace?  Why are they not convinced that God is always bigger than their problems?  They nod their heads in church when the pastor says it, and give a loud “hallelujiah!” and raise their hands in approval.  Yet, when they are tested in the spirit, they cower.  They crumble.  They look for guidance from others.  Their hope is depleted, or anger heightened, or grief made worse.  Where is God?   He’s always there through the good and the bad – how can we LOVE a GOD we don’t trust when the going gets rough?  When the winds and the storm grow stronger by the hour?  Or, conversely, how can we truly LOVE God when the times are good and our paths are straight, but the moment we enter into tribulations and darkness and trouble, we either don’t seek Him for our first and only resort, or we look to the people and the things of this Earth to help save us from destruction?   It cannot be both and cannot be either/or.   

 

Isaiah 29:13
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 

Ezekiel 33:31
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. 

Mark 15:8
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me

Mark 7:6
Jesus answered them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 

 

These verses are continually used to convict me and keep me looking at where my heart is at any given time.  Am I a hypocrite in action, thought, and heart, or am I on the narrow path that leads to life? 

 

Then I come to another passage, which I love so dearly, written by the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit: 

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” 

…..”which God has PROMISED to THOSE who”…….What?.....”who LOVE HIM.” 

 

How do you remain, when under trial? 

 

 

Remember why this podcast is called “Shaken Awake” – that’s what God’s Word does. 

 

 

Here, we find another example: 

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 

Do we love one another?  I’m not talking about loving those who love you, nor loving those who you like.  I’m talking about the same God is talking about – ONE ANOTHER. 

This next verse allows me to receive it in context of the Spirit and deliver it to you in the same.  To this very day, every time I read it, I’m as convicted as the first time I read it – blown away.  If the shoe fits – KICK IT OFF: 

Luke 6:32-36 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to  receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same  amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the    ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” 

 

 This is a great outline and blueprint for how God thinks and can break it down for our feeble minds to understand and then provide us the free will to either understand, accept, and obey, or not. 

 

 

And here’s another promise I love for those that love God: 

“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” 

Again, “which He has promised to those who……LOVE HIM”. There is no if, ands, or buts in there.  You either Love Him or you don’t.  He knows the heart and because He searches and knows the heart, there is no doubt why Jesus said that “few will enter into the Kingdom”.  It’s Love for God – the greatest and first commandment.  And the second is just like it. 

Here is another that further sheds light into the otherwise dark doctrine that many would have us believe and stray from the truth of God and His Word: 

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves, has been born of God and knows God.”   

There’s your ultimate Compass North.  Love for God and love for one another indicates that we have been born of God and that we know God.  There is no other way to dance around this scripture, to dilute it, or to otherwise ignore it or to offset it’s power by justifying the opposite with another scripture.  I’m seeing a lot of this between the supposed church and it’s members these days and it’s sickening and from the devil.  God cannot be wrong.  He cannot lie.  He can contradict Himself.  He cannot remove His promise.  There’s your freewill to believe, or to not believe and be convinced on something else based on the worlds misdirection and by the author of confusion. 

 

Here is a simple test for you, but one you can really only answer honestly and fully if you read your Bible through:  How is your life? 

 

Are you afflicted with sadness, with grief, with turmoil, with strife, with rejection, with hopelessness, with unforgiveness, with pain, with a past that holds you in bondage, with confusion? 

 

If so, do you LOVE God?  Are you living your life for Him, or for yourself?  Are you sights set on Him, or on tomorrow?  Is your thought life on you and the things of this world, or on Him and on Heavenly things? 

 

When you love something – truly love something with all your heart, your soul, and your mind – how do treat “it”?   What has to happen for you to stop loving it with all your heart, your soul, and your mind?  Or, what happens for you to put it off to the side and not actively love it with all your heart, soul, and mind.  And here’s the last question that may hurt – if you don’t love it continuously, day after day, with all your heart, soul, and mind – do you really LOVE it?  

 

Do you LOVE God? 

 

Thank you all for listening in and I pray this touched you in some way today.  If so, please pass this forward.  Also, please take 10 seconds and leave a review somewhere to help attract others to the show.  Just search Google for “Shaken Awake podcast” and pick one that you like – this show is online everywhere from FB to YouTube, to the website, Instagram, etc.  I just want the word spread as far as God will allow.   Also, enter your email to subscribe and don’t miss another episode.  Also, please check out any past show you may have missed.  There is a lot to be heard and using the actual Bible for this show is the only way to produce the fruit of the Spirit, if applied. 

 

Thank you for listening and we’ll talk again soon! 

 

God bless you everyone!