Episode 62
I am continuing with the series from my new book, God’s Dream for Your Life. Today, we will talk about how love and obedience brings blessings into our lives.
The following is from my book, God’s Dream for Your Life.
In John 14:23, Jesus told his disciples, “Loving me empowers you to obey my word…” (John 14:23 TPT). The word obey has a broader meaning than we understand. It is the Greek word tereo, which means to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard, to observe, to reserve.
I want us to recalibrate our thinking when it comes to obedience. I remember when I was growing up with my four siblings, when my dad told us to do something, we did it! And it was not because we loved him; it was because we feared him. So obedience was a form of survival! This whole concept of being empowered by love was foreign to me. Honestly, like many of us, our understanding of obedience to God stems from what we learned as children. I learned to equate fear with obedience!
Instead, God wants us to understand His perspective, which becomes clear when we understand the true meanings of the words obey or observe. He is asking us to keep, to guard, to take care of, to attend to carefully what He has asked.
Our ability to obey is powered by our love of Jesus, not our fear. And the more our love grows for Him, the greater our obedience grows.