If You Love Me…

Jeremiah 10; Jeremiah 11; Jeremiah 12; John 14
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Scripture

John 14

13 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

Observation

In the Bible reading for today in the book of Jeremiah and in the book of John the emphasis was on obeying God. In the days of Jeremiah the people had gotten very far away from God and were worshipping all kinds of other gods and their disobedience was bringing down the wrath of God on them. In the Gospel of John in chapter 14 Jesus is encouraging his disciples continue to follow him and if they would obey Him then He would be right there in their lives to answer their prayers no matter what they asked.

Verses 13 and 14 are tremendous promises for us, but I believe that they are directly connected to verse 15 where Jesus talks about obedience. A few Sundays ago someone was at church who hadn’t been to church in at least 6 months, maybe it has been a year since he had darken the doors and he was in tears and he was saying that he hadn’t worked in months and how could he believe in a God when all of this bad stuff was happening to him. As gently as I could I let him know that God’s blessings are linked to our obedience. If you are disobedient don’t expect God to bless, no, you should expect God to discipline! Matthew 6:33 comes to my mind, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “Because the Lord disciplines those he loves”…Hebrews 12:6 “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10

We as parents don’t bless disobedience and our Heavenly Father sure doesn’t either!

Application

I will memorize these three verses this week. (John 14:13-15)

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I want to be able to ask you for anything and have you answer my prayers. I realize that my obedience to You and to Your Word is evidence of my love for You. Help me to obey You today. Show me anything in my life that I need to change. Convict me strongly the moment I choose to disobey You. Make me miserable until I confess my sin and get back on track.

Pour out Your blessings on our church. Pour out Your blessings on Your people today. You are worthy to be praised. I love you Lord. Help that man that came to church and questioned whether You existed or not. He wanted to lash out at You because of his own disobedience, I pray for him today that he would repent and that he would put You first in his life so that You can bless him and so that You can bless his family. Open his eyes today and open his heart so that he can experience Your wonderful blessings. In Jesus Name Amen.

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