Dearest Readers,
There is great joy that comes when we walk in faithful obedience to God and His commands. God’s first and greatest commandment to us is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5 When we take this command seriously and follow it with the help of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we are following all of God’s commands. When we love God this much, He becomes number one in our lives over anything or anyone else. Living our lives with God as number one will bring glory and honor to God in ways we can only imagine. When we honor God with our lives, God will bring honor to us through our relationships, our health, and our daily goings on. But, this is a benefit we can experience only if we stay close to God through Jesus Christ.
King Josiah was a faithful and obedient king of Judah, who learned very early about God’s commands and instituted them during his reign. He did even more than his great-grandfather King Hezekiah in getting rid of the false idols and false gods that had plagued Israel and Judah. He destroyed all the high places where the Israelites burned incense. He also eliminated all the priests that were not from the line of the Levites. King Josiah completely demolished into dust anything that dishonored God in His kingdom. This then made it possible for the people of Judah to be lead to worship the one true God. For awhile there were no more deceptive objects of worship around to steal the hearts of the people away from God. King Josiah lived a life faithful to God in all he did. He loved God and followed Him no matter what. He trusted God as the Ultimate Authority and that authority was to be followed.
Recently I have learned that God has been waiting patiently for me all my life. Finally, my heart and soul began to understand that He is the only one I can truly depend on and trust with my heart and soul. Only God through Jesus Christ can truly love me the way I was created to be loved. Once I understood this, I was better able to love Jesus and allow Him to come in a powerful way every moment of the day. He is everything I have ever needed and wanted. Now that I am experiencing Jesus’ true love for me, my love for others has been greatly blessed. When I have Jesus this close, I can know He is leading me through the good and bad days. I can depend on Him to show me the better way to handle all the ups and downs of life. This is walking in faithful obedience to God the way He desires us to; closely communicating with Jesus all day long.
Isn’t this the way Jesus walked when He was on this earth? Just look at many of the examples during His ministry. He was in constant communication with His Father in Heaven. The obedience Jesus showed to God is our perfect example of how we should live each day in obedience to Him.
There is always going to be circumstances in this life that can pull us away from God a little. As soon as we realize this, seek God’s presence to continue walking with Him again. This way of living brings glory and honor to God. If we don’t realize that there is a problem, and we ignore God and continue in the wrong direction, we are sinning against Him. If we don’t stop and turn back to Him we are left on my own, unprotected with limited guidance from God. This is when we stop hearing from Him, and we will tend to continue walking in the wrong direction. Other things lead us away from Him, just like the idols and false gods during King Josiah’s day, lead them away from God. The blessings received when we walk this way, are limited. Hopefully Christians will notice that a distance has come between them and God, repent, cry out to God, and seek to walk closely with Him again.
When this happens to me, I remember who is in charge. It is a fearful thing to know that I have stepped away from God. God never leaves me, but I can forget Him. Because I have respect for God and love Him with all my heart, I do what He asks because I trust Him completely. Whether it is a book to read or not, something to do for someone else, or how to handle difficult people, I seek God’s guidance first. I am doing God’s will and I am delighted to do it. If you are walking closely with God, that relationship with Him should be all you truly desire. The rest will flow from that life of obedience to God.
“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.” IIJohn1:6
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” Psalm13:5
“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.’” John 14:23
There is only one sure thing is this world, that is the love of God. Do you know that love?
We will now be reading 1Chronicles 1-9 for one week.
Blessing,
Tricia
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