Heart & Soul - - Cleaving To God

 

Joshua 22:5

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 1692

Cleave: cling, keep close, hold fast, be joined together

From the Hebrew word 'dabaq' (pronounced daw-bak'). Examples:

Joined Together--Genesis 2:24 (as man to wife). 

Cleave To--Ruth 1:14 (as friend to friend)

Hold Fast--Joshua 23:8 (as a people to their God)

JOINED AT THE HEART

    Psalm 63:8 "My soul follows hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholds me." 

Follows hard after is a phrase which means 'clings tightly to'. Think Gorilla Glue stuck, unable to separate from. 

This is the fourth command in this verse.

1. Love The Lord Your God

2. Walk In All His Ways

3. Keep His Commandments

4. Cleave To Him

5. Serve Him With All Our Heart and Soul

    When we choose to love God above all else (1), the others will happen automatically in the Spirit. Our hearts need to be right with God, aligned in Him according to His Word. (2) Loving God will cause us to want to walk in His ways. (3) Loving God will instill a desire within us to keep His commandments for we will always want to be found in His favor. (4) Loving God will cause us to cleave to Him, wanting always to be near Him, near enough to hear Him speak softly to us, to hear His voice call us. (5) Loving God will give us a desire to serve Him faithfully and with honor. 

    Just as in a personal relationship with our spouses or best friends, we will desire only the best for the other. We speak truthfully and honestly with each other. When we speak as friend to friend in our interpersonal relationships, we not only need to speak the truth, but we need to speak it tactfully at times, so as not to hurt feelings: speak in words of love. 

WHOLEHEARTED LOVE

    Again, in a wedding ceremony where the man declares his love and fidelity to his bride, and she declares her love and fidelity to him, the promise of lifelong commitment is made. A wholehearted commitment to be faithful to each other, to honor the other above all others, to work together in raising their children (seed) in the Love of the Lord. It is a joining together of God plus the husband plus the wife: an intricately woven life, a tapestry of love. 

    Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."

     Psalm 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You." 

    Romans 6:17 "But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed."

    We, the born again, are God's church. He creates us for Himself. Through the blood of His only begotten Son and the power of His Holy Spirit, He woos us to Himself, drawing us close. And when we respond to His call on our hearts, we offer our whole lives to Him, not wanting to hold anything back. We are His beloved and He is ours. 

    Sometimes marriages dissolve. Even God divorced His beloved Israel. But for good reason: she left Him first and worshiped other gods. In other words, Israel whored herself out to the service of idolatry. (Jeremiah 3:8). Yet, still God loved Israel and Judah. He called them to repent of their wicked ways and return to Him. (Jeremiah 3:11-20). His people had not cleaved to Him and their relationship was severed; not with a finality, but with a promise of restoration of only she would repent and return to Him. 

WORLDLY vs WORDLY

    A worldly heart will make worldly decisions and also follow through on those decisions. But a heart that has chosen God needs to make Wordly decisions and follow through, stand strong, in those decisions. Which includes the decision to LOVE GOD and CLEAVE TO HIM ONLY. He wants an exclusive relationship with us. 

    Have you made the decision to cleave to Him, to be in this exclusive relationship with Him? He's calling your name even now.

CLEAVING TO GOD

 

Heart & Soul - - Love God Only

 

Deuteronomy 32:39

'Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.'

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No.

Deliver:  to strip, plunder, deliver oneself, be delivered, snatch away, take away, pluck, defend, escape

From the Hebrew word 'natsal' (pronounced naw-tsal'). 

ONE GOD & ONLY ONE

    Psalm 18:31

For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

    Exodus 15:11

Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You--majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

    

    Who defines you? You or the people around you? Whose words describe who you really are? God tells us Who He is by His own Word. Here are a few examples of Who God Is:

>He's a Jealous God: Exodus 34:14

>He's a Consuming Fire: Hebrews 12:29

>He's a Forgiving God: Exodus 34:6, 7

>He's a Righteous Judge: Psalm 7:11 

>God Is Spirit: John 4:24

>God is Exalted in Power: Job 36:22

>God is Merciful: Daniel 9:9

    No other god can do what our GOD can do. No other god can speak, can say what our GOD can say. No other GOD has the mobility to be in all places at once: our GOD is omnipresent. No other GOD knows everything about everything and everyone: our GOD is omniscient. No other GOD is a god like our GOD: our GOD is omnipotent. 

    All other gods are incapable of doing anything for anyone. They are clay and wood, gold and silver; images and icons of animals and people and the heavenlies (stars, sun, moon, planets). They cannot because they are not. 

GOD MADE US TO BE HIS PEOPLE

Created by God - Genesis 1:27

Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Psalm 100:3 

Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me? Job 10:8

GOD WANTS US

Job 22:21 Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

Psalm 34:10; Isaiah 27:5; John 17:3; Romans 6:19; Romans 12:1, 2; Isaiah 1:18

GOD WANTS OUR WORSHIP

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth."

Exodus 23:25; Psalm 96:9; 2 Kings 17:39; John 4:24; Luke 4:8; Psalm 68:4.

GOD WANTS OUR PRAISE

Psalm 66:8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard.

1 Kings 10:9; 1 Peter 4:16; Psalm 68:19; Ephesians 1:6; Psalm 47:6

GOD WANTS OUR LOVE

Psalm 31:23 Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.

Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27; Psalm 29:2

    Uncle Sam may want you to join his army, but THE LORD HE IS GOD wants you for Himself. He wants to delight in you even more than we want to delight in Him. He desires us to be with Him in eternity, but He won't force us. He waits to be asked, to be let in to the inner recesses of our heart. He knows our hearts aren't clean enough for His glory.  (Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone should hear My voice and open the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.")

    When The LORD God makes His home with us, when our hearts become His tabernacle, He cleans us up through the washing away of our sins by the blood of His perfect Lamb: The LAMB of GOD Which Takes Away The Sins of The World. He removes the darkness in us by shining His eternal LIGHT in our hearts, highlighting that which needs to be removed and polishing that which will remain. (2 Corinthians 9:5 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.)

    His fire burns in us, burning up all that is not of Him as He goes about His work within us. We shine because our GOD shines in us, through us and around us. He covers us with His glory, and the fear of GOD emanates from us to the world around us; which is why some are drawn to us and many are against us. 

Deuteronomy 4:35 "You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him."

ABOVE ALL 

Hosanna

Raise A Hallelujah

The More I Seek You

Good, Good Father

How Great Is Our God

Even When It Hurts

Breathe

Waymaker

Gratitude

Lead Me To The Cross

King of My Heart

    

Intelligent Worship -- Love God -- Part 10

 Intelligent Worship brings us into the presence of God through Loving God. Part 10.

 Mark 12:28-30

Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 

Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment."

Joshua 22:5

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave (cling, stick like glue) unto Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 John 4:21

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

LOVE: agapao (pronounced ag-ap-ah'-o) which means 'to love', 'to prefer'

For us who believe it means we choose to live through Christ, we prefer to live in Him and allow Him to live through us (1 John 4:9-10). 

While most of us know John 3:16, few remember to read the next few verses, as well. 

John 3:16-18

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

God loves us so much He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty once and for all for all sinners everywhere. That's how much God loves us. And He wants us to love Him and each other with this same love: unconditional, no strings attached, all-encompassing love. That kind of love is Agape: divine love. Loving God and Loving each other through the power of God. See? It's not a love that we can accomplish under our own power: it's only available through Christ. It's an Active Love, an Obedient Love. 

We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19. 

Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

How do we Love God?

By loving each other with His love. 

It would be very beneficial to us to read and re-read 1 John 4. And to study it out.