Jesus said, “If you love Me, you obey Me.” (John 14:15)

Obedience is birthed from love.  We love because He FIRST loved us (1 John 4:19).  It is our established identity of being loved is what graces us to love.  Always keep in mind that our being precedes our doing and that we cannot give what we do not have.  Obedience therefore is an expression of our love for Him.

I just attended a conference where the guest speaker was so amazingly yielded to the  move of the Holy Spirit.  The meeting was full of power that demonstrated the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Oh how the minister carried the glory of God expressing the love of God for His people.  She prophesied, prayed for healing, encouraged and called people into their destinies.  It was marvelous to behold that caused a violent stir in my heart to press in and learn how to be intimately sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit that will cause me to abandon my intellectual capacity and utterly submit to His authority.

I have witnessed some other speakers that I listen to and receive from as well and their common denominator is total submission and surrender without hesitation or resistance.  It doesn’t matter how they looked or sounded, but as the Spirit of the Lord leads them, they follow.  There is so much trust displayed, for one can only abandon oneself to the One we know Who loves us unconditionally.

Jesus knew how much He was loved by the Father.  The Father was so well pleased with Him that He broadcasted, “This is My beloved Son.” (Matthew 3:17)  Because of Their love relationship, He was so obedient that He only did what He saw His Father doing and only spoke what He heard His Father speaking.  He yielded Himself up to the point of His death.   “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

One thing that is of vitality for us to see when He obeyed at this point in time was that an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him (v.43).   Hmmmm … when we make a decision to obey what He asks of us, angels who are ministering spirits are sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14).  We are never alone.  Moreover, it is not in our own strength for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in us, energizing and creating in us the power and desire, both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. (Philippians 2:13 AMPC)

Yes, Jesus is the Son of God but mind you, He is also the Son of Man.  I believe that was why an angel appeared and strengthened Him.  He left His glorious heavenly abode to come down, born as a Man for a very important purpose and that is to save you and I.  He was the redemptive solution for us to be reconciled back to the family of God and experientially know God as our Father after the fall in the Garden of Eden, where we got separated from Him.

Many know God as God, but only through Jesus Christ will we have this ONE sure WAY to call God, our Father, and experience what it means to be loved by Him and love Him back expressed through our love for each other.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6)

Many thought of Him as mere man and not as Savior for He came in absolute humility that one can only revere Him as Lord and Savior when one BELIEVES.

I have been asked a few times, “how do you hear from God, be led by Him and obey?”  Well, I, too, asked the Holy Spirit how and this was what I got.  He said, “You don’t need to strain yourself to hear from God and obey.  It is all by His grace.  Just be mindful that You are a child of your Heavenly Father and it is His responsibility to be heard by you.  Always remember that you are a sheep in the Good Shepherd’s sheepfold and His word says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)  Oh wow!  How liberating it is when He breathes into His word that comes alive in us.

One other time when I was listening to one of the preachers and he quoted this verse, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”  (Romans 8:14), I was tenderly touched in my heart as soon as I heard it.  You see, I used to think that for me to be called a child or a son of God (please note … not “THE” Son), I need to be led by His Spirit first.  I need to obey first.  Then, I get to be a son.  But this time, when the light of revelation pierced into my heart, the Holy Spirit made me understand this verse differently that brought freedom in my heart.  He said, “You got it the other way around.  First and foremost, you need to believe Who Jesus is and how much you are loved by Him when He died at the cross for you and made you righteous.  Once you receive Him as your Lord and Savior and believe Him as the ONLY WAY to the Father, the Spirit of God comes and resides in you.  Only then you can call Him Abba, Father and you become His son.”

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

Most of us work to qualify.  But in the kingdom of God, it is the finished work of Jesus Christ that qualifies us.  It is His Precious Blood shed at the cross that made it possible for us to cross over to the other side, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His marvelous light.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”  (1 Peter 2:8)

Our being precedes our doing.  Our revelation of being His sheep allows us to hear the voice of the Shepherd and we follow knowing that the Good Shepherd always leads us to a place of green pasture. Our confidence in His love makes us secure that He is always with us and that He will ALWAYS cause us to triumph because there is no defeat in Him.  Our identity as His children or sons, as we mature in our relationship with Him, enables us to hear His voice and His Spirit in us graces us to obey knowing in our hearts that our Father is a Good, Good Father Who is always in a good mood, Who rejoices over us with singing and quiets us in His love.

“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

There is absolute security in Him and it is His perfect love for us that casts out all our fears, FOR THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE.  Our value before His eyes is matchless.  Our Heavenly Father did not spare His only Son, Jesus Christ, but gave Him up for us that we may become His own sons.  This truth is beyond comprehension and can only be received by faith.  This is the kind of love that when it is perceived right enables us to obey as sons.

Jesus spoke a new commandment and such requires obedience.

“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as            I have loved you.  (John 13:34 TPT) 

Ouchhhhh!!!  Oh wait … what if I really don’t like them?  Love them?  Hmmmm …

Yes, in and of our own ability is an impossibility.  But WITH GOD, there is nothing impossible.  We just to need to make our spiritual connections and frequencies right and aligned.  Time in His presence is of vitality where our hearts are changed and re-arranged according to His.  He created us to be partakers of His divine nature but only our intimacy with Him can this be attainable.  It is ONLY by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will this be made possible and achievable.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me just as much as You love Jesus.  Thank You, Jesus, for loving me just as much as You love the Father.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, for always pouring the love of the Father and of the Son into my very being that I may be filled and flooded with the richest measure of Your divine presence and be a body wholly filled and flooded with You, Yourself, Who is love.  Amen!