{"id":21458,"date":"2021-06-27T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/?p=21458"},"modified":"2021-06-25T19:14:10","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T18:14:10","slug":"love-obeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/2021\/06\/27\/love-obeys\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Obeys"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-21458-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/June-27.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/June-27.mp3\">http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/June-27.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/116\/jhn.14.23-24\">John 14:<sup>23-24<\/sup><\/a> \u201cJesus replied, \u201cAll who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn\u2019t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/116\/jhn.2.7-8\">John 2:<sup>7-8<\/sup><\/a> \u201c<i>Jesus told the servants, \u201cFill the jars with water.\u201d When the jars had been filled, he said, \u201cNow dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies<\/i>.\u201d <i>So, the servants followed his instructions<\/i>.\u201d <!--more-->The key thing about this passage of the scripture is that the servants and the disciples did exactly what they were told. I tried to put myself in their shoes; I can be very curious. I am listening to a conversation between mother and son. Mother says to son, \u201cThey do not have wine.\u201d Son says, \u201cI have nothing to do with that.\u201d Mother says, \u201cDo something!\u201d Then son decides to do. So, they send me to and fetch and take the water that will become wine to the master of ceremony. I probably will attempt to taste it on the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Would you not want to taste it or am I the only one? My personality is very curious, I would want to find out if water can and if the water has really become wine. In fact, I would want to put some aside, not because I want to steal it, but I want to experience this experiment first-hand. The servants did not do that. The Bible says, they followed instructions obediently; they did exactly as they were told. It is so important to obey. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/en-GB\/bible\/114\/1sa.15.22\">1 Sam. 15:<sup>22<\/sup><\/a> \u201c<i>So Samuel said: \u201cHas the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams<\/i>.\u201d (NKJV]. Obedience and love are so intertwined. Jesus said to the disciples, \u201cIf you love Me, you will obey Me, you will do what I have told you to do.\u201d Something is wrong with claiming to love God but hating people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">If you do not love the man you can see, how can you love the God you cannot see. Similarly, if you cannot obey the man you can see how can you obey the God you cannot see? Your husband says, \u2018let\u2019s do A\u2019; \u2018A\u2019 is not a sin and it is not against God\u2019s will. You claim you obey God, but you disobey your husband, something is wrong with that. If \u2018A\u2019 is against God\u2019s will or a sin, obviously you have to talk about it. Most times, when God wants to test your obedience to Him, He tests your obedience to men. If you cannot obey the man you can see, how can you obey the God you cannot see?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most times when God wants you to test your love for Him, He tests your love for men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matt.25%3A35-40&amp;version=ESV\">Matt.25:<sup>35-40<\/sup><\/a> \u201c\u2019\u2026<i>For\u00a0I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you\u00a0gave me drink,\u00a0I was a stranger and you welcomed me,\u00a0 I was naked and you clothed me,\u00a0I was sick and you\u00a0visited me,\u00a0I was in prison and you came to me.\u2019\u00a0 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, \u2018Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you\u2026 sick or in prison and visit you?\u2019\u00a0 And\u00a0the King will answer them,\u00a0\u2018\u2026as you did it to one of the least of these\u00a0my brothers,\u00a0you did it to me.\u2019<\/i>\u201d (ESV]. In other words, if you can love the men you see, you have loved God.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Prayer<\/b>: Father, please help me walk in total obedience; help me demonstrate my love for God through my love for God\u2019s people, in Jesus Name. Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John 14:23-24 \u201cJesus replied, \u201cAll who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn\u2019t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,72,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ability","category-direction","category-obedience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21592,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21458\/revisions\/21592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}