If We Love Him We Will Obey Him

[Ramez5]

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O Lord;teach me your statutes!

With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes;I will not forget your word. Psalm 119: 10-16


I have no words to describe my feelings on reading Psalm 119.

God has so filled me from head to toe with love, affection, and adoration for his Words. Every one of them is precious and meaningful.. the very voice of God to me.

While we are still on the theme of thankfulness.. I have to say that God's word is better than life to me!

To think I once could open my bible and see only words on a page.. ink and paper.. Truly, He has changed my heart this year!

Obedience, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, makes God's word real. Without obedience, God's word is basically just fruitless in our lives.

Only a few months ago, I finally started to understand that...

Until we actually read with a commitment to obey every word, we will never understand the power and beauty of God's commands or life in Him.

It's not the written word that changes us.. it's loving the statues and laws of God and being committed to love and obey them with our whole hearts. It doesn't matter how painful the command or how impossible it seems, it is God's word to you and me.

We are Jesus' disciples and He owns us and expects us to live our lives by His commands out of sheer adoration and as his bond-slaves of love. This is not legalism.. just simple obedience and love.


If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;…John 14:15,16


Real joy.. comes as we step out in faith and obedience to do every word..as the Holy Spirit points it out and brings it to life in and for us.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, May we never question the commands of our Heavenly Father! Rather let us question our faith.. or point to our flesh that hates denial.. or to the enemy who wants us to ignore or discount the Word. But God's word.. may we never question that!


Just because we are not living it, experiencing it's reality, or because no one we know 'seems' to be living it..
does not mean it is not true.

I remember when the Lord started confronting me with my heart. Did I really love obedience? Did I really want to obey every word he commanded. The law, I had been taught, was gone and no longer in effect for us today. We are 'free' in Christ.. to liberty.. sadly.. to pick and choose and to indulge.. if we are really being honest here.

But the Lord disagreed. He died so we could be free from the bondage of sin, and be free to be slaves of righteousness. He came to fulfill the law not to destroy it.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one stroke or one pronunciation mark shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-20
5:17-20 Let none suppose that Christ allows his people to trifle with any commands of God's holy law. No sinner partakes of Christ's justifying righteousness, till he repents of his evil deeds. The mercy revealed in the gospel leads the believer to still deeper self-abhorrence. The law is the Christian's rule of duty, and he delights therein. If a man, pretending to be Christ's disciple, encourages himself in any allowed disobedience to the holy law of God, or teaches others to do the same, whatever his station or reputation among men may be, he can be no true disciple. Christ's righteousness, imputed to us by faith alone, is needed by every one that enters the kingdom of grace or of glory; but the new creation of the heart to holiness, produces a thorough change in a man's temper and conduct. Matthew Henry


Perfect obedience to God's word apart from God's grace is an difficult thing to do and it will never bring us salvation. But after salvation, it becomes our delight.. our way to give our love back to Him.. through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.


"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. "You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.…Ezekiel 36:26-28

How glad I am that the Lord called me to obey and to love obedience.. to love his Word and however hard.. to face that command honestly and ask God to make me able to obey rather than to question the veracity or applicability of the written word.

Believing and obeying God's word and hearing God speak to us through it requires death to our 'modern Christian' life and self.. and the miracle of sanctification in us. It takes Faith and the power of the Holy Spirit working through us.

Be so very careful, dear friends, not to assume a verse doesn't apply to you or your situation. Come to God with a teachable heart.. and leave your preconceived prejudices and pet theories.. and simply take God at his word. True joy and peace is on the other side of that commitment. No we are not 'able' but with Him yes we sure are!

Salvation makes no sense to the modern mind, nor does sanctification, nor does being crucified with Christ. Nor does faith or healing or prayer. It's all foolishness even to many Christians.

Honor the Sabbath and keep it Holy. Sell all you have and give to the poor... Forgive 70 x 7, pray without ceasing... rejoice in everything, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me. Do not worry.. be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Love the Lord with all your heart.

Give to him who asks of thee...Turn the other cheek..Love your enemies. Don't even look on a woman to lust after her... Ask and Ye shall receive. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you WILL be saved! Love your neighbor as I have loved you.


Do some of these verses bother you? Yes, some of them bothered me too. They made me squirm to be honest. But my prayer now each time is.. "Lord make me able"... not "well this is unreasonable and therefore cannot apply to me."

We are new creations in Christ and all things are possible to him who believes. So many promises to those who love the Lord and delight in His law and live to obey through His grace!

My life is different because I believed.. like a child. I needed a miracle of transformation and the Lord graciously gave it.. but at the price of my own will and my temporal pleasures and desires.

It was a glorious trade. I do not regret it. Nor will you! God's laws are not only wonderful but do-able and obedience is where true joy and peace in your walk with the Lord will be found--and only there.


Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Dear Lord, May we, your children, step out in faith to love your Word and expect that it is not only true, but can be obeyed by the power of your Holy Spirit. Cause us to love your word and delight in it's truth and beauty and saving transforming power. May our lives be changed by your redeeming and sanctifying power. Amen

[Mary Naeem]

Thanks Ramez