“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-16 ESV)
We, in our human nature, and in our natural selves, cannot adequately grasp the reality of all that God has prepared for those who love him. And who are those who love him? They are those who obey him, who do what he says to do, whose lives are surrendered to the Lord, and who are committed to his service and to living holy lives, pleasing to him. For just as faith = obedience, love for God also = obedience. For the word “love” means to prefer what God prefers, to live through Christ, to choose his choices, and to obey them through his power. For this is what God prefers (chooses).
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 8:51; John 10:27-30; John 14:15-24; John 15:10; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 5:9; 1 Peter 1:1-2; James 1:21-25; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6,15-17; 1 John 3:4-10,24; 1 John 5:2-3; 2 John 1:6]
But these things are revealed to us through the Holy Spirit and through the teachings of Jesus Christ and of his NT apostles. And so we can know what God has prepared (not all of it, perhaps) for those of us who love him, who walk in obedience to his commands, and who no longer walk in sin. But we must know that all that God has prepared for us is not all pleasant. For not only does he have blessings for us, but he also has hardships and trials to test our faith planned for us in order to grow us to maturity in Christ and to make us strong and determined in our walks of faith to do his will.
But we need to be people of much spiritual discernment who are able to divide what is of this world from what is of the Spirit of God, so that we don’t get the two confused. For the world and the worldly church may be giving us the wrong ideas of what God has for us, and they may not be teaching us all that Jesus and his NT apostles taught regarding what God has planned for our lives. Far too many people are being fed all the happy-happy stuff, but they are not hearing the hard truths of the Scriptures regarding what God requires of us and what all he has planned for us.
And critical to us understanding what all God has planned for us is that we read the Scriptures in their context and not out of context. For far too many people are being promised that they are recipients of God’s promises, but absent of the conditions to those promises. For the conditions for John 10:28-30 to be fulfilled must be found in John 10:27 where Jesus said that his sheep listen to him, he knows them, and they follow (obey) him. They will not perish, but they will have eternal life with God; not all who give lip service to the Lord only but who do not listen and who do not obey God.
So, yes, it is great to hear all of God’s promises for those who love him, and who obey him, but we have to read these in the context of to whom they apply. Otherwise we may be being given false hopes and false promises which do not apply to us, for we may not meet those conditions. For the condition is not just to make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus, but the conditions include obedience to our Lord and the forsaking of our sins and us living holy lives, pleasing to the Lord, in practice, in the power of God, and that we no longer walk in sin, making sin our practice.
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70
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