God operates in commandments, not suggestions. Edwin Louis Cole

Something of a question is stirring inside me that I pray will come across effectively in today’s message.  As confessed Christians, do we find ourselves simply working for Christ, with good intentions in our imagination, or are we actually walking in Him and co-laboring with Him?  In other words, are we a true follower of Christ?  If so, how do we efficiently anchor ourselves for the challenging journey of the fulfilling life He’s promised?

Clearly, these are uncharted waters in which we live.  It is in such perilous times of advancing lawlessness that “easy” Christianity simply will not do.  To live the counterfeit lifestyle while calling it the genuine article of living for Christ is to enhance or enable the downward slide of society. The wisest move to make is to turn to the true standard and live it out with a newfound gusto. God’s way is the only purely magnetic and flawless solution. There is no one but Almighty God (Lord & Commander) who could issue the absolute (not obsolete) commandments in stone.  He is the only One who could promise prophetically to write them on the Spiritual tablets of our heart (Jer 31:33).  He stands alone to personally die in our honor to pay for our sins to fulfill the law He originated.  Amazingly, by faith in Him, His grace makes us righteous and re-energized to live as overcomers in this fallen world.

Let’s take an honest look at our date book and checkbook to assess if some lesser “thing” is first in our life, or if The Lord God, Jesus is.  The Biblical God, Commander and Savior, also named Jesus, said the following: “Where your treasure is there will be your heart be also (Matt 6:21). You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you (John 15:14). This is love, that we walk after His commandments (2John 2:6). This new commandment I give you that you are to love others like I have loved you (John 13:34).”

Family and friends, when we read and hear the Holy Spiritual life-giving, light- bearing, and liberty-releasing  words of the true God or Lord and Commander Jesus Christ, everything relational about us in Him must uncompromisingly move, adjust, and reconfigure in obedience to His unchanging and perfect standard or command.  He is also best at helping us to do that, so in prayer…

Dear Father God in Heaven,

Please let us live, move and be in the divine reality of You being our Lord, Holy Commander, and Shepherd.  May we surrender our lives, not to retreat, but to prosper in our entire being.  Your genius is perfectly authoritative and whole.  No one is before You, behind You, below You, or above You.  It’s not by our might or power but by Your Holy Spirit that works in us both to will and to do Your good pleasure. You promised to write Your commandments upon our hearts. As we hold You near, we receive Your standard promise right now, for such a time as this.  We pray and receive this amazing blessing, in the name of our Lord God and Commander Jesus Christ, and in the Ultimate Word of His power.  Amen!

 Exodus 20; Matt 5: 1-16; Matt 6:33; Psalm 1; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 2:13