TO LOVE GOD

The greatest command is:”YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” Mark 12:30. 
Many Christians will tell you that they love Jesus, but our lives have to prove it or else it is just empty words. Jesus said:”If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”John 14:15. Jesus further said: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24“He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”John 14:23,24.
To love Jesus means to obey Him, His words, His commands that were also recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus said that those who do not love him, do not obey His words. He further promised that he will come and dwell in and with the one who loves Him. He will make His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to dwell in the one who loves Him and therefor obeys Him.
Not only will the one who loves Him obey His words, but will also obey His Spirit, will be led by the Holy Spirit. We read in Romans 8:14 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” They are the children of God. It is thus a requirement for a child of God to be led by the Holy Spirit and to obey His guidance, then we will be in Christ, in His love.
In view thereof, let us read the words of Paul in Romans 8 with understanding: 1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

      9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

      12So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
By obeying Jesus, we demonstrate our love for Him. Further, through following the guidance of the Holy Spirit we fulfill the first commandment, which is LOVING GOD. If we follow after our flesh, we cannot please God, we cannot do His will, because we do our own desires, idolizing and serving ourselves.

The Holy Spirit EMPOWERS us to OVERCOME our flesh and OBEY the will of God, but we have to make every effort to obey Him.

We are warned that every branch that does not bear fruit will get cut off and burned. Without Jesus we can do nothing. If we are not obeying Jesus and following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we cannot bear fruit, and are ready to be cut off and burned.

Do we really love Jesus? Do we obey His words and commands? Have we received the Holy Spirit and are we following His guidance? Are we obedient children of God? Do we really love Jesus?

May Jesus bless you.