We hear much about the importance of the word, faith, prayer, praise, the fear of God, obedience, humility, repentance and the need for change in our Christian walk, and so we should. But Gods cardinal commands are to Love him with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22:37-39).

Jesus gave us a new command that we love each other as he loves us, by this he said the world would know we are Christians (John 13:34).  In the great love chapter of the Bible (1 Cor 13:1-13) Paul tells us that without love we are nothing. Of faith hope and love the greatest is love Paul says (1Cor 13:13).

The Greek word for love that is used dominantly in the New Testament is agape (noun); God’s unconditional love and the love that we are called to love with. First Corinthians chapter 13 defines this love for us, take time to meditate on it. 

The bible says God’s love is in us, poured in by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5) God demonstrated the extent of this love by allowing Christ to die for us (Rom 5:8). We are called to love with our words (Eph 4:15); words that come from our hearts and are spoken in love. But love has to go beyond our words to actions, our deeds (1 John 3:18); love must be demonstrated, just as faith is not faith without corresponding actions (James 2:17). Think how you can share Gods love today; a gentle encouraging word, a kind spontaneous action.

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 Where are you with God? Is God shining through you? Are you all God wants you to be? Are you experiencing all he has for you? What limits God in our lives? We have salvation, (John 3:3-7) we are his children and his Spirit lives in us (John 14:16-17). We are spirit beings and we live in a body and have soul; our soul is our mind will and emotions (1Thess 5:23).

For so many Christians their flesh (body and soul) dictates the type of life they lead and their spirit, directed by the Holy Spirit, is a secondary influence. Paul talked of this wrestling match (Rom 7:15-25), his spirit wanting to do the right thing but his flesh doing the wrong thing.

The only way to live the God kind of life (John 10:10), in his peace and abundance, is to let God be God in our lives. We must let God have control, let the Holy Spirit have the ascendancy and let our spirit direct our soul and body. To do this we must strengthen our spirit (Rom 10:17), renew our minds (Rom 12:2) and discipline our bodies (1 Cor 9:27).  We need to spend time in his word, prayer and fellowship with him; there are no short cuts. Get alone with God, pray in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 14:15), still your mind and allow God to speak to you. His love, wisdom and guidance are to found in such times of fellowship. Then you can start to grow and step up into all God has for you.

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"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed" (John 8:31; KJV). The word: “continue”, is often translated: “abide” and also means to cleave to, dwell and remain. There is the sense of sticking with it and being affected and obedient.   According to this verse, in order to be good followers of Jesus we must not only spend time reading the word but obey what we learn. There are advantages of doing this. In 1 John 2:5, the Apostle tells us that if we obey the word God's love is matured in us, and in his gospel the apostle John says that we will be loved by God and Jesus will reveal himself to us (John 14:21).

The parable of the sower in Luke 8:5-8 teaches us that the word in us bears fruit and in Colossians 3:16 we read that the word in us will give us wisdom. There is so much to be gained by being a student of the word (2 Tim 2:15) but the main thing is that the more time we spend fellowshipping with God in this way the more we get to know him and the more sensitive we are to his voice; after all the word is God speaking to us.

So, read the word slowly and listen as you do so; pray and ask God to open your spiritual ears to understand his word. Remember that no time doing this is ever wasted because God's word does not return void, it will always achieve its purpose (Isa 55:11). It will always bring wisdom (Col 3:16), guide and direct us (Ps 119:105), open our spirituals eyes to God’s promises (2 Tim 3:16) and build up our faith (Rom 10:17).

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Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our book:     “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to others.

 Joseph, in the Old Testament (Gen 37-45), had dreams that his brothers and father would bow down to him. This did not go down well with his brothers. Joseph new God had a call to greatness on his life but many challenges faced him before he achieved his call. His brothers were about to kill him but God intervened and he was sold into slavery in Egypt.

In Egypt he served Potiphar and God blessed him and his master’s house. Potiphar’s wife wrongly accused Joseph of molesting her and Joseph wound up in prison. While in prison Joseph found favor with God and became the right-hand man of the prison keeper. God gave Joseph the interpretation of dreams for two of the Pharaohs servants who were imprisoned. Pharaoh had two dreams and one of the servants who had been in prison with Joseph new Joseph could interpret the dreams.

Joseph came before Pharaoh and because of his great wisdom was made Pharaoh’s deputy. In this role Joseph got to see his brothers again as they came to Egypt for grain in a time of famine; the brothers bowed down to Joseph. It is interesting how God was with Joseph throughout all his trails and no doubt used some of them to form character in Joseph for the task he had for him.

God has a plan for all of our lives (Jer 29 :11) but his timing is not the same as ours (2 Peter 3:8). His ways are above ours and we don’t always understand how God works (Isa 55:8-9). We need to be patient and keep our eyes on him; keep focused, trust him. Don’t try to second guess God or work out the plan for God; we need to allow God to change and mold us for the task he has for us. It will be good: “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”, in other words they don’t change (Rom 11:29; KJV).

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 In Isaiah 43:7 the prophet said we are created for God's glory. How do we bring glory to God? I believe one way we do that is by worshiping him. We worship God because he is holy, because of who he is not because of what he has given us.

There are very many psalms that encourage us to worship God. In psalm 99:5 the psalmist says: "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy". In Revelation 4:10-11 (KJV) the elders in heaven are constantly worshiping God, saying: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are were created".

The word used for worship in both the new and old testament is similar in meaning and scope. The words collectively mean to make oneself low, humble, in obedience but to lift up, exalt, honor and adore the Lord. From these words we also see a sense of intimacy in worship; intimacy with our God.

In John 4:24, the apostle John wrote that: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”. This is a heartfelt worship in integrity and assisted by the Holy Spirit (Phil 3:3) We don't have to be in a church to worship the Lord, we can do it anytime anywhere; we can do it out loud or we can do it in silence. Either way worship ushers us into the presence of the Lord where God can speak to us, change us and minister to us.

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Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to others.