22 - God's Law Written Upon Our Hearts

                      GOD’S LAW WRITTEN UPON OUR HEARTS

              NOTE: We follow the law through love not by rigid legalism.

                                          (COMMANDMENTS) 

                 . They are not hard if they become a part of our behavior through love.

.  We must always worship God and give Him our energy, money (Heb. 13:38), understanding and love. - THE FIRST COMMANDMENT (EX. 20:1-7) & (Deu. 5:6-2)

. We must stop showing a lot of attention to false things (like craving for wealth, compulsions and our selfishness). THE FIRST COMMANDMENT & (RM. 13:9)

. We must use God’s name for holy purposes not for slanderous talk. SECOND COMMANDMENT

. We must rest (to honor God) one day a week (if possible). THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

. We must respect our parents and all elderly and show older people our kindness and love. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

. We must never (socially kill the unwanted or defenseless people or the sick or punish killing with killing - we do not kill. THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

. We must avoid adultery or sexually immorality of all kinds. THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

. We must stay away from cheating, stealing or bearing a grudge. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

. We must not accuse anyone falsely when we are acting selfishly. THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

. We must keep our minds clear of envy (or desire) for another’s spouse, home, or goods. THE NINTH & TENTH COMMANDMENTS

. We must let God’s spirit control us so we will not pass judgment on another (RM. 14:1 & 4),  or form a prejudice (RM. 14:13) toward other people.

                                                 (GIVING)

                         . It is not hard if we place God before ourselves.

God has given to us, now we give ourselves to Him:

. We give our bodies (that they may be cleansed and purified).

. We give our souls (that they may be free from sin).

. We give our hearts (that they may always love God)

. We give our thoughts, words and deeds (by inspiration of God’s Spirit).

. We give our time to God’s honor & glory and to do God’s work of giving to others.

                                                (CHRISTIAN VIRTUES)
                        . Virtues can be many but the greatest of these is love.

To show theological Christian virtues, we must have faith, hope and love (1 Cor. 13:13) within our hearts. To show moral Christian virtues, we must show prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude (Apocrypha - Wis. 8:7) 

                                                    (TO BE FAITHFUL)
                          . It should be in our nature and in our being to be faithful.

Let us make Christian friendships with people who are concerned for one another and show love for others (RM. 12:10) and may never give up the desire of meeting together to do good deeds and worship (Heb. 10:24).

Let us free our minds so we will never pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing (but instead pay back with a blessing (1 Pet. 3:9).

Let us walk away from being selfish, greedy, boastful, or deceitful (Jas. 4:16); and let us shield ourselves from any desire to be unkind, merciless, slanderous or violent; and let us use God’s Spirit to guard us from being treacherous, reckless or swollen with pride (RM. 1:30) for our final fate may be what we do to others.

Let us not be owned by this world or anything that belongs to it, but instead love God and everything that belongs to Him (1 JN. 2:15).

Let us show kindness to the traveler (representing the person searching within themselves) and the prison (representing the person filled with oppression) (Heb. 13:1 & 3).

Let us see no more lying from ourselves, let there be only our truth working through us towards others.

-----  (Ref. the following is paraphrased from a prayer from Francis of Assisi)   ----

For we can preserve ourselves with holy wisdom (as pure simplicity).

For we can be blessed with holy poverty (as divine humility).

For we can be justified with holy charity (as true obedience to faith).

For we can give of ourselves with holy virtues (as Christ in us)       

                                 

                                       (CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL MERCY)

                               Mercy is God’s kindness being introduced by us.  
    

To show mercy, let us help the sinner, teach the unlearned (1Tim. 4:11 & 6:2 and 2 Tim. 2:2 & 2:24), council the doubtful (1 Pet. 5:2), comfort the sorrowful (Gal.6:2) bare wrongs patiently (LK. 9:16:24), forgive injuries (Eph. 4:32 & MT. 18:35) and pray for others (Jas. 5:16).

                                  (CHRISTIAN MORAL MERCY)

                      . Doing the right thing is being right and true to God’s will.

To show moral mercy let us: feed the hungry, clothed the naked, shelter the homeless (MT. 25:35-40), visit the sick (Jas. 5:13-15), visit the imprisoned (Heb. 13:3) and bury the dead.  

                                     (TO BE GOD’S SERVANTS) 

                           . Being in God’s service is a reward in spiritual pleasure.  

. We must restrain from anger for it leads us to sin (Eph. 4:26), a separation from god.

. We must bless our faith with thoughts and deeds that can help shelter the homeless, comfort the needy, guide the lost (MT. 25:35-40), for there are many rooms in God’s house (JN. 14:2) - let us treat all potential believers as brothers and sisters.

. We must have a faith that enables us to live simple without being wasteful, hoarding or living in excess with greed.

. We must have a faith that pronounces God’s name over all meals and gives Him thanks. Furthermore, we must be living a humble life that avoids treating God as a sport or entertainment or a fleeing pastime.

 . We must have a love within us that enables us to forgive others as God forgives us (and let this be an act of God’s kindness coming from us) (Eph. 4:32) (Col. 3:13).

. We must bless those who persecute us (or treat us wrongly) and we must have the strength to love everyone warmly (with eager) and show respect (so that our love is completely sincere from within us).

. We must allow our marriages to always be that permanent commitment (kissed by God’s Spirit) so we may share and dedicate time, energy, money, understanding and love on this union.

. We must be concern for the welfare of all (Heb. 10:24), to help counsel, to be patient, to be last (not first by being the servant of all).      

NOTE: It should be our most sincere hope to show our thankfulness by being like Christ in our daily conduct. We should want to love more than we are given to, because we can be God’s most thankful servants.

                                            (FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT)

                               . Life forever dies if it does not produce love from itself.

To know the fruits of the Spirit, we must show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness and self-control. Scripture says: “The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have them with passion and desire. The Spirit has given us life” (Gal 5:22-25a).

                                                  (TO BE PATIENT)

                                     . Patience is God’s humility at work in us.

.  We must have a heart that always tells us to use helpful words not harmful words that put down and hurt (Eph. 4:29) and may we speak no sexual immorality or indecently or obscene language (Eph. 5:3) or with greed from our heart.

 . We must never let earthy pleasures become excessive (to control our lives) - to separate us from our values that come from loving God (like drugs & alcohol to escape our lives, eating to forget our problems, adulteress sex to feel valued, craving for money to feel important or work place power to feel status) (Eph. 5:18).

. We must let our hearts be open and value others (all others) (RM. 12:17b-18), to not exploit, to not rob (Eph. 4:28), or take what is not ours. Let us love our neighbor as ourselves because we love God (RM. 13:8) with all our hearts souls, minds (MT. 12:19) and strength - for an eternity.

. We must open our eyes to be thoughtful, to be reverent, to not give into bodily passion (1 Pet. 2:1) or not take revenge on someone who wrongs us (RM. 12:19). May we love our enemies (LK. 6:35) by seeing them as God’s children of love (even though we may not like their actions). Let us not judge them as wrong people but attempt to separate their actions from their existence as a creation from God that He loves.  

Let us rely on God’s mighty power and grace with His infinite ability to move us to new levels of faith. Let us spread God’s presences into our existence (by His inspiration through us) to give God’s patience to others.          

                                       (CHARISMATIC GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT)

                                     . Charisma is to express our natural joy for God.

There are different gifts from the Holy Spirit and there are different ways of showing them. They are: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophesy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongue (1 Cor. 12:4-11). Some traditional Christians consider: understanding, right judgment, courage, reverence (or piety) and wonder (or awe towards God) as gifts of the Holy Spirit.  

Let us live with God’s holiness: to be humble and to be kind; to show peace and to show love; to have patience and to have joy; to be faithful and to show self-control. For it is a choice to have God’s holiness as a part of us.

                                             (TO BE HUMBLE)

                   . Humility is to step outside of ourselves and experience God’s simple ways.

. We must restrain our tongues from spreading false rumors or gossip (RM. 1:29), for we do not wish to destroy anyone’s reputation or hurt anyone’s feelings in an unjust way without the complete facts of living in their shoes. 

. We must put our faith into action and express our worship customs to God without a big show that gives attention to us and not God (MT. 6:5 & 16).

. We must not make a vow or swear when making a promise (if we may not be able to keep it) (Jas. 5:12).

. We must help our church to help those who are suffering disease, poverty, loneliness, grief or injustice (2 Cor. 1:4-5).

. We must always work for the common good of God’s children to show no fraud, to take no bribes, to oppress no one, to say no hate, to show no favoritism and to be honest.

. We must be true to the covenant of God, to discipline ourselves, to dedicate time to read the Bible, to worship God and to pray (morning, day and night).

                                          (HOLY SPIRIT GUIDED)

                             The Spirit causes us to let go and to see God’s glory.

Scripture says: “For just as from the heavens rain and snow will come down, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats - so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return void but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it (IS. 53:10:11). This word (scripture) is inspired by the Holy Spirit and it settles deep within us to bear fruit.

The Holy Spirit is the reason for our love (RM. 5:5). It is the glue that bonds The Father to The Son. It is the glue that bonds every Christian to God. It is the glue that bonds our relationship in to one.

Without the Holy Spirit, God is Yahweh in His temple, separate from us and His ordinary people (like in the days of the Jewish Temple State). Just like in those days of long ago, the religious human law rules not the love of God. Each line in the Bible could become a law in itself to be obeyed (not through love) but by selfish motivational type of salvation (Saying: “My group is saved because only we believe and do right”). Christian standards must be written upon our hearts with the ink of the Holy Spirit (to be a part of our loving behavior not as strict dogmatic rules for some people to control others).

Without the Holy Spirit, Christ is just a man (maybe divinely inspired) but only a human prophet, God’s example of good teaching. With the Holy Spirit, Christ is living in us and all Christians are to be the living Body of Christ (here and now). The emphasis is on NOW, for we do not have to wait for the second coming of Christ for Jesus to rule our lives. The evil one is defeated if we see “The Kingdom “in us and around us.   Because of the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God is in heaven (within our salvational future), in our churches (within our Christian community), in our minds (within our special thoughts), in our hearts (within our love for all) and in our existences (within all our words and deeds of compassion to others). Because of the Holy Spirit, we love all of God (especially all his Children). There is no other reason for us to be on earth now but for this (also see 1 JN 4:13).

Without the Holy Spirit our beliefs are decaying like our bodies after death. With the Holy Spirit, each birthday is a celebration with God of His blessing for us. For the Spirit is God (a gift to us) and it raises us up to God’s way - through God’s guidance.

God’s love and our faith (inspired by the Holy Spirit) is beyond reason, for it is belief in the unseen (1 Pet. 1:8-9 & Eph. 4:2b). Scripture brings us to the point of reason and reason to the point of faith but God’s love (through the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) takes us beyond this world. Therefore, we feel the presence of God in us. This is how the Holy Spirit guides us (through God’s love).

Let the Holy Spirit come and relax us; to give us a calmness and peace, to make each daily event an opportunity for growth, and to make each person a message from heaven. Let the Holy Spirit come into our souls and ease our minds - to take control of our lives (through Christ).  D. Crone

                                             (BECOMING PRAYER - ITSELF)

                                         . The highest form of prayer is ourselves.

Let us place God’s law of the heart within our souls - to become our behavior and to shape our lives:

With a sincere heart (to feel God)

With a loving behavior (to serve Him)

With a humble spirit (to hear His quiet voice)

With a devoted faith (to experience His love)

Because:

We do not know God totally until we come closer to Him

We do not understand God until God’s will becomes our will too.

NOTE: When we become prayer that is love, it will be a love that seeks not its own, a love that has courage, a love that is pure, a love that is humble, a love that encourages, a love that forgives forever more. For we will never know anything greater than becoming prayer (itself) through our love. The sweet essence of this can bless our lives and relax our souls - to make us happy with God forever.

                                                                                                      D. Crone