We are instructed to love the Lord our God with everything inside of us. Our heart, our soul, and with all our strength. Our hearts love God when we allow it to be fed God’s word, because His word explains how to love. Everyone’s idea of love can be very different. To love the Lord with our souls is where we must invoke our will to make it happen. The soul area of the human makeup is where all the minutiae is dealt with. Lots of unwanted thoughts are dealt with in our soul-ish area which houses our emotions. Renewing our minds with God’s word, gives understanding in how to love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength, so the sooner we learn of the Lord and His way of doing things, we will be resting in His joy which turns into strength for our life (Nehemiah 8:10). God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to be sacrificed for our sins (John 3:16). Instead of us all winding up in hell paying for our sins, Jesus took the hit for everyone. Loving the Lord means we are amenable to follow his commandments which help keep us safe. Doing what the Lord has commanded in his word gives Him clear evidence you love him (John 14:15).

Honor esteem and value as precious your father and your mother. You may say, I’ll never honor my parents after the way they treated me growing up. Or you may not have known your parents. Any person you look up to or consider close to you are the people in your parents stead. The main idea is to honor those having authority over us or those who are responsible for our welfare. When there’s no parent in the picture the Lord is our heavenly Father, the parent of all those who have accepted His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. Because of the new birth, we can now have close fellowship with God. Everything we need for life and godliness has been given to us in His word (2 Peter 1:3). To honor everyone is the ultimate goal. Things can get hairy in the family unit at times. Parents aren’t perfect, by them being imperfect gives opportunity for the children to exercise the love of God in their hearts. Honoring your parents or guardians brings long life with honor to your door step.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. We christians are the great light in this world because we shine the glory of God straight from our new recreated human spirits. In turn our behavior is under better control. Any person who is not born again, not saved, and is not a Christian, is walking in darkness according to today’s text (your human spirit is dead to God; Ephesians 2:1-5). Unless a man or woman is born again you cannot be in the kingdom of God, die on earth, and go to heaven afterwards (John 3:3). It’s a family affair with God, and He’s only taking in people who choose His Son while living on earth. He was crucified on a cross and then tortured for three days and nights for our wrong doings. Justice must be satisfied; so be judged now by God’s word in obeying it, or die and then spend eternity being punished so that justice can be satisfied. The Bible says we will be without excuse for not choosing God (Romans 1:20). Our light shines brighter as we keep ourselves built up in Christ. We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), and have been called out of the darkness expected to shine for the Lord to help others.

Because Jesus loved everyone (or He wouldn’t have been crucified on a cross for our sins), and we are His followers, we should love one another. There’s no greater love than when someone lays down their life for another (John 15:13). We as Christians should be dying to ourselves, all the inordinate desires from our lower nature must be kept at bay, not to be ruling our behavior. Without God’s love in our life our faith won’t be up to the task ordered by our purpose and destiny. Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). So if you’re being ugly with someone and don’t catch yourself or apologize for your bad behavior, you’re no longer walking in love, and your faith is zero to God. We need faith to deal with unlovable people. It isn’t easy to love a nasty somebody especially when they are manifesting on you. But by faith we deal with them being mindful it is a living sacrifice to God that we even try to love them (Romans 12:1-2). Loving them from a distance works too. For some people, it’s best to totally avoid them, and it may well be the love of God for them that you don’t go off on them. Different levels for different devils that are using people. Love one another, it’s a command from the Lord.

Are you a peace maker or do you have drama tendencies that you feel must be expressed. Maybe you’re neither but have learned how to stay on the fence without people noticing your own indecisiveness. God said, ” If you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelations 3:16). In no way am I suggesting you start drama or be a destroyer of peaceful settings. But by invoking your will you could be the peace maker for the moment when facing a turbulent situation born of a heated discussion. A soft answer turns away anger (Proverbs 15:1), especially right smack dab in the middle of the other person manifesting all over you. Try it next time someone loses it around you. Being a maintainer of peace causes you to be blessed, able to enjoy enviable happiness. Life – joy in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions. We are the true sons of God when we become peacemakers and the maintainers of peace in spite of our personal struggles.

The Lord is our hiding place and our shield. Hoping in His word for refuge, and that secret place of the Most High God is attainable by faith (Psalm 91:1-16). The daily battles of life’s struggles are very real. We can become weary and beat down if we’re not doing anything to stay firmly connected to the Lord’s ways. God’s way of life is dependent on a participatory action on our part. Once we’ve put our hope in the word of God, all things become possible (Mark 9:23). Because we have the assurance of God’s word that things have been worked out, we just need to stay on the right path. Fighting the good fight of faith is the only way to succeed in life. By doing so, we are acknowledging the Lord in all our ways so His direction can take the lead (Proverbs 3:6). When the going gets tough, fight! When the fight stays intense for a long while, head over to God’s hiding place for refuge and a time of refreshing. Spending quality time with the Lord builds us up and restores our mind and souls to clarity. Put and keep your hope in God’s word. He is our refuge and our shield in life for the battles ahead.

God will never leave you or forsake you. If you don’t feel like the Lord is close to you anymore it’s because you moved. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). When we change positions from where we’re supposed to be in Christ, we move from the place of God’s favor and blessings, His provisions preplanned for us, and His protection. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). There is also the constant checking by God to be sure we’re still in the faith position with Him. Because without faith God isn’t pleased (Hebrews 11:6), nor is He able to physically get help to us without faith. He will never leave you nor forsake you. The only way to feel God’s presence is by you doing something that causes Him to manifest in front of you. I have great news for you, “God inhabits the praises of His people” (Psalm 22:3), there by manifesting attributes of his glory which affect our mind and our body, our soul-ish area being energized and bringing full clarity to our thought life. You will be totally refreshed in a way like nothing this world could ever offer. Give yourself to worshipping the Lord for a while, put praise music on and sing along with it, and you’ll feel God in your life. Praise Him until you know He is God for yourself.

Having the Lord supply our needs according to His riches in Glory is to have more than enough. Imagine having your provisions met according to God’s riches in Glory. In Glory or in heaven, right now the streets are paved with gold, clear transparent gold, the purest form of gold only found in heaven. Walls made of jasper, the foundation of the city where God resides are garnished with many specific precious stones and jewels. The gates are made of pearl (Revelation 21:15-21). These are God’s riches in Glory depicting the wealth that surrounds Him. The question is how to get help from heaven to manifest here on earth where we live. The one word answer is faith. The only way to receive anything from the Lord is by faith. We pray for the need to be met, and we through faith and patience wait for the answer to come. The waiting will test you and your faith which must be developed. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). God supplying your need is a promise, but when we break our connection of faith with the Lord, it stagnates the answer coming, and sometimes severs our receiving end.

From the book of Proverbs in the bible it says,”The generous person will prosper whoever refreshes others will be refreshed”. We must be as the rivers and all moving water are. Stagnant waters lay the groundwork for disease and sickness. Moving water is vibrant and alive never giving place for the works of stagnation to manifest. This same principle is true concerning our position on being a giver. Open hands release and receive blessings, the hands of the tightwad are closed. There should be a constant flow of us receiving financial assistance and giving out financial support to others. No one should be in need according to God’s plan for our prosperity and financial freedom (follow the plan). We must let go before we can receive it. We put a seed in the ground not expecting it to produce a harvest over night, the same is true with the process for our progress. Be ready at a moment’s notice to give whatever you have at the moment, for the Lord’s use. Generosity is the bedrock of God’s nature. He loves blessing His children and would love to see us acting like Himself concerning our finances and the spirit of giving. “You can’t beat God giving, no matter how hard you try”.
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Silence Be Still! This is the command we need to address our problems with. Jesus spoke to the raging sea and commanded it to be still. The bible says; and there was immediately a great calm, a perfect peacefulness. Peace and quiet is one of today’s hard to come by commodities in life. Even in the mist of a life raging storm peace can be possible. Having faith to move mountains (big problems) is not uncommon for many christians (Mark 11:23-24). Many of us have laid the necessary groundwork for the Lord to build upon it a mighty Ephesus of God’s favor and Grace in our lives. It is unimaginable what God can do with a faith believing Christian who’s bold about their faith (Hebrews 11:6). When we believe in our hearts (what we want) and confess it out of our mouths, we will have what we say (Isaiah 55:11). The power of the tongue is very effective and must be handled with care. Our words can also work against us if our confessions are negative. The stuff we say over and over will eventually come to pass, it is a spiritual law. Use your words, speak to your problem, and believe your situation will change NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES, that’s faith in action.