WHERE IS THE LORD?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“If you love me, keep my commands.”
(John 14:15)

MEDITATION:
I have heard Christians say, “I just can’t seem to connect with the Lord”
or “Jesus just doesn’t seem as real to me as He does to other believers”.
Others ask, “Why don’t I feel the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life?“
When we look at God’s Word, we can see why
these questions and comments are used frequently.

Everything begins with “keeping His commands”.
His commands are clear, and even if we don’t read them, or have them committed
to memory, we know when we are doing things outside of His boundaries.
Jesus didn’t say, “Here are My commands, but you can modify them to fit your
lifestyle, and ignore the ones which are difficult for you to obey”.

Sometimes we have a tendency to complicate the scriptures,
but Jesus is very succinct and clear on how we prove
that we love Him – we keep (obey) His commands.
When our obedience shows our love for Him,
then we can experience His blessings in our lives.

First of all, Jesus will ask our Heavenly Father to give us the Holy Spirit
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you
and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives
with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

And when we receive the Holy Spirit, we have a decision to make.
Will we give Him control of our life (starting with our minds),
or will we continue to chart our own paths?
If we suppress His leadership in our lives,
then we cannot expect to feel His presence.

Giving Him control means a willful surrender from us
(giving up selfishness for selflessness).
Remember, surrendering to the Lord is not a sign of weakness.
Surrendering to the Lord shows the strength of our faith and commitment.

Secondly, we discover a new relationship with the Lord.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long,
the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because
I live, you also will live.” (John 14:18-19)

When we feel His presence, we discover a new way of living, which is
much better than how we live when we are disobeying His commands.
Notice that Jesus does not want us living our lives to ourselves (as orphans).
He wants to be an integral part of our lives when we prove we love Him.

Lastly, we develop a family type relationship with our Heavenly Father.
“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me,
and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one
who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too
will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:20-21)

This new connection with Jesus and our Heavenly Father opens the door
to receiving love from them, and feeling their presence in our lives.
Why is that important?
Feeling their love and presence gives us the encouragement
and strength we need for continuing to obey their commands.

Think about it for a moment:
the more we obey, the more we show and prove our love;
the more we prove our love, the more we receive their love;
the more we receive their love, the more we are able to obey.

Picture in your mind how this continual two-way expression of love
makes it possible for us to become the people we wanted to be
when we first surrendered our lives to the Lord.
It is something we cannot accomplish alone;
we need the presence of the Trinity in our lives on a daily basis.

ACTION:
Have you totally surrendered to the Lord’s commands,
or, are you still tailoring them to fit your own lifestyle?
Do you have one set of His commands that you obey (the easy ones),
and another set that you continue to justify disobeying?

Think back to the time when you surrendered your life to the Lord.
Remember how nothing else mattered more to you
than inviting the Lord into your life.
You fully expected this desire to continue in your life,
but somehow you allowed Satan to change your thinking.

Remember how he did the same thing to Eve in the Garden of Eden?
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.” (Genesis 3:4)
Although she didn’t die physically at that time, she did die later.
However, her disobedience caused the death of her close relationship with God.
She and Adam even tried to hide from Him
as a result of their guilt from disobedience.

When we think of Eve’s disobedience, it is easy to say,
“How could she do that? She and Adam had everything good God had for them!”
Now make it more personal….when we disobey and fail to ‘keep His commands’
we are forfeiting everything good He has for us.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me for my disobedience of Your commands.
Take me back to the day I surrendered my life to the Lord and remind
me of my desire for obedience. Re-instill that desire in my life today
so that I can feel the presence of You, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in my
life daily. Give me the strength, wisdom, and guidance for recommitting
myself to obeying Your commands in their entirety. Thank You for what
You are about to do in my life! I want to prove my love for You every day.”

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