Do you love God?
My dear Partner in the Kingdom of Christ,
Nothing happens accidently in any Christian’s life!!!
Every tiny detail, even every hair, is known, taken care of, and counted by Our Heavenly Father…
And even if we don’t pay attention to so many things in our life, God never lets anything pass or happen to us or with us without His permission.
We are engraved in the palm of His Mighty and Merciful Hand.
We are before His eyes constantly.
In Psalm 32:8, God says to you and me: “
- I will instruct you, and,
- (I will) teach you in the way which you should go;
- I will counsel you
- With My eye upon you.
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WHILE, you and I, dear Partner in Christ, must always be & do what we read in Psalm 16 (focus on verse 8 & 11),”
- 1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
- 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
- 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, & to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
- 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
- 5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
- 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
- 7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
- 8 I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
- 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
- 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
- 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
I have set the LORD always before me.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken/moved.
That’s: I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand,
So I will not be shaken.
I know the LORD is always with me.
He is right beside meYOU, O LORD: 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life,
That’s You, My God, will make me SEE YOU in YOUR path of Life!
And although these verses/words apply first and foremost to Our Lord Jesus, yet they also apply to each one of us who are in Jesus Christ.
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Whatever you may say about my/Fady’s “long” messages:
I AM NOT writing a lot, or enough to you.
In seminary, we were trained to preach for exactly 9:50 to 9:59 minutes/seconds…
Without crossing the 10 minute-mark or finishing shorter than 9 minutes 30 seconds!!!
WITHOUT watching/checking our watch!!!
I certainly can send you a message of only 10 phrases/lines…
But… The Word of God is wider than the oceans and flooding rivers…
And we are all: emmmmmmmpty!
We need to be filled by His Spirit and WORD a looooooooooooot.
If you feel my messages/studies are lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng… then,
I can say (it could be a sign of you) that it is rather you, yourself, who is not reading enough…
That’s why you may expect to receive and read a little bit/small/short messages.
Because if you read the Bible (for example, which is the best example) ENOUGH (that's according to Him), then, my message would look veeeeery tiny!
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In 93-94, as I was studying in my Master’s degree in Theology, I received among the other books, a book of 600 big pages, and 1000 questions!
Yes, ONE THOUSAND questions!
That’s only 1 single book!
As Ramona was studying for her Master's degree in Theology, and in order to prepare a thesis or a dissertation: she was required to read 125 books!
And make the right exact (to the point & the comma) quotations, indicating every tiny detail in each page, paragraph, and line!!!
God’s Word is waaaaaay much important than all our thesis…
So, we are required to respect it and give it all the priority and importance, and we must read, study, believe in, obey, and live it, then, share it and bless everyone around us with/by it, much more and waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than any other book on earth and in history!
Are we?
As a believer, brother and friend, and, as pastor, or servant of God, I have the duty/responsibility, and also as part of my sincere Christian love and respect to/toward you, I must ask you important questions, which may:
- challenge you,
- defy you,
- stir you, and stir in you, or
- even bother you…
- for your good and well-being in Christ…
- not for the sake of bothering you negatively…
- I won’t/never do that!
- That’s not my goal at all…
I sincerely would like you to:
- Slow down (from the busyness of life),
- Stop, (your busyness and worries),
- Stand (or sit – before Him),
- See, (Him and what He wishes for and wants from you),
- Search, (you do the search)
- Seek, (you put all your effort), and finally,
- Seize, as you find and receive His treasurers, blessings, and crowns…
That’s my only goal!
Please, believe me.Because I will give my account to God, I have to tell you...
And because it is absolutely important for you to be asked/be accountable to Him:
So, here is my (bothering) question:
DO YOU READ YOUR BIBLE EVERY DAY???
I am asking you now and here, because if you don’t read ENOUGH (according to God; not according to you or me), then,
You will pay for it, and reap the consequences here and now, as well as THERE AND THEN!
I don’t want you or me to present "hard/negative" accounts before the Seat of Christ!
If you read ENOUGH in the Bible, then, my messages which are based on the Bible would never look too “long”!
For the Bible is waaaaay longer than my messages,
&, since you love to read a looot in the Bible, so my messages won’t look looong.
GOOD FOR YOU!
You are the blessed child of God! You truly are!
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I remember this very simple, yet very important and true test:
Do you want to test your love to God?
Then, how much do you love these 3 “….”???
- His name(s),
- His Word, and
- His children?
See… easy!
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Do you love God?
Then,
You love His name(s),
You love His Word, and
You love His Children!
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I told you, It’s easy!!!
Or is it?
Easy?
Is it really easy?
No!
It is not easy!
It’s toooooooooo loooooooooooong!
- His name(s)!
- Do you love His name(s)?
Do you know ALL of them, all the names of God?
- … Do you???
- That’s: Do you know all His names in the Bible- … Do you???
- That’s: Do you know all His names in the Bible?
- How do you say that you love someone if you don’t really know His name(s), all His names and their meanings…???
- If not, then, you don’t love Him truly, completely, perfectly, as He requires, and from ALL your heart, for ALL that He is and how He is???
- That’s all His names AND His attributes with ALL that is related to His names, and His Own Personal Revelations of Himself, which are also His names, like, I will give you some examples here:
- The Merciful, the Compassionate, the True/Faithful Witness, the Amen, the Good Shepherd, the High Priest, the Holy One of God, God of Abraham, Fear of Isaac, the Ladder, the Way, the Lord of Hosts, the Initiator and Perfector of our Faith, Holy of Holies, the Messenger of the Covenant, Prince of Peace, the Word/Word of God, & last but not least, Peniel-Face of God, etc. & certainly,
- His names: Jehovah, Jesus, Elohim, El-Shaddai, Shiloh, & Immanuel, etc.
- I just gave you here a glimpse of the name(s) of God in the Bible!!!
So, again: do you know ALL the names of God?
- How can you test if you truly love God if you don’t know ALL His names?
- You need to know them first in order to love them all!
- Right?
So, your first homework is to:
- Go now, search, and find all the names of God,
- Read them all (at least… to start of),
- Understand their meanings,
- Annnnnnnnd, well, LOVE THEM!!!
Love them, that’s:
- Recite them,
- Call Him/them,
- Repeat them in your heart,
- Share them with others…
- Annnnnnd: Memorize them!!!
- I know, we are growing old, and our memory is not as well as before…
- I know, I know…
- But: we have to!
- Late is better than never!
What about me?
What do you mean?
Why do you ask ME this questionwhen I am asking YOU this question?
I am NOT accusing you. Never. That’s not my intention at all!
I can do again (since I have done it) with you the same homework.
I can recite and write down here and now (all) the names of God with their meanings…
It is not about who will get the highest grade in this test!
It is about us all searching, finding, understanding the names of God, all of them (if possible, that's, the names which are revealed to us in the Bible), reading them, and if possible, memorizing them, and using them when we speak to Him or about Him.
This is the 1st step in loving the name(s) of God.
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We come now to the second point in our test if we truly love God:
Do we/you love His Word?
Well, it is almost impossible for us to KNOW all the Word of God.
I don’t know of anyone, and I don’t think it is humanly possible for someone to memorize by heart the WHOLE Bible!
Now, while it is something really huuuuuuge, immmmmmmense, and logically impossible, yet this should never stop us from taking the 1st steps of:
- Reading His Word, as much as we can,
- Reciting it in our hearts,
- Repeating it to ourselves and to others/sharing it,
- Memorizing it (important verses, paragraphs & chapters) as much as we can,
- & certainly, asking Him to help us obeying/living it by His Holy Spirit.
Before going to the next step: Do you remember that the Lord Jesus said to us, "He who loves me, keep my commandments!"? So, do we truly know ALL the commandments of Jesus?
I am not asking you if you know the 10 Commandments which God gave to Moses!
Even these 10 commandments: Do you truly know them all, in order? Every word in them?
And please, don't throw the same question to me. I personally memorized word by word the whole chapter of Exodus 20, where we find all the 10 Commandments.
My question is rather about: ALL the commandments which our Lord Jesus gave us in the New Testament: that's ALL what He commanded usmainly in the 4 Gospels and the Book of Revelation, where we find the words which He uttered from His Holy Mouth!
So, He is saying to us that if we truly love Him, then, we have to keep, that's know, memorize, and obey His commandments!
The question here is again:
Do we know ALL what the Lord Jesus commanded us, at least in the 4 Gospels and the Book of Revelation?
I presented over about a year, a series of sermons entitled:
"The 10 Commandments of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount", in which I summarized all the orders and commandments of Jesus which He presented in Matthew 5, 6, & 7... in a way to help myself and my listeners to recognize, know, keep and share the Commandments of Jesus from His great sermon on the Mount.
Yet, these are NOT ALL the commandments of Jesus.
So, how can we say that we love HIM, if we DO NOT know ALL His commandments?
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Finally, the 3rd step in this test is to:
- Know His children
- Know their names & as much as we can, & about them,
- In order to pray for them.
That’s at least the 1st steps in loving them…
There are certainly other more important and practical steps in loving God’s children like:
- helping them in time of need,
- maybe moving with them (if we are still young/strong),
- feeding them in time of hunger,
- covering them in cold winter or in poverty,
- caring for them spiritually, psychologically & physically,
- listening to them,
- sitting with them,
- fellowshipping with them,
- eating and drinking with them,
- visiting or receiving them,
- praying for and with them,
- teaching them,
- counselling them,
- comforting them in time of sickness, distress, fear, & pain,
- standing with them in time of trial, sorrow, or death beloved ones,
- feeling with them,
- giving them the needed time (as much as we can), &
- holding/upholding them, etc.
So, in summary:
Do we truly love God?
Do we truly keep His Greatest Commandments summarized by Our Lord Jesus in 2 commandments:
The Greatest Commandment: Love Your God from all your heart…
And the second one beside it: Love your neighbor as yourself!
Again, the test: Do you truly love God? That’s:
Do you truly love His name(s), His Word, and His Children???
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You know?
I didn’t reach yet to the study which I had prepared for this message…
So, I will wait until I send you the rest of this message, while you do (try to do) the 3-point test above...
I hope you do.
See you in my next message.
Fady.
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