Love God first and love your neighbor!

Ten Commandments from the Old Testament:

1. You shall have no other god’s before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord you God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal,.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:3-17 and Deuteronomy 5:7-21

From the New Testament:

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” “You shall Love your neighbor as yourself.” “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37, 39

Jesus said, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and 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.” And: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” “There is not other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30 and 31

And in John 13:34 is the commandment Jesus gave to those who are His.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:10-17

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandment’s and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slave, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.”

My Comments: As a child going to school in California I remember going for part of the day to a couples home down the street from the school. We were walked there and it was something that in those days was sanctioned by the public school.

At the home of this nice couple we were taught the Bible and the Commandments of the Father. We had to memorize verses in order to earn a Bible. I did not earn a Bible as memorizing was a difficult thing for me, but I did try. We sang songs and read the Bible and were loved on by that sweet couple. I do remember I learned the Ten Commandments though and they stood me in good stead growing up. Not to say I always did the right thing all the time though I did know right from wrong.  I am very thankful for those two being a part of my early life.

When I think how our children are loosing out on learning about the Bible, God and the Ten Commandments in the public school system I am saddened. And it is not just in school that America misses out on learning truth. The Ten Commandments that our laws were founded on and our courts were governed by, have been removed due to a minority of people forcing their removal. The more we move as a country away from God and His commandments the weaker and the more corrupt our country gets.

Our children are growing up without morals that the Commandments fostered and nurtured in the generations that preceded them.  Our children run the streets and form gangs at alarming rates because they do not have the “family” to guide them and teach them wrong from right. Families knew what was right because they had God’s word to guide them. Now they have the Government telling them and they see the government being caught in lies and deceptions and they are confused. When the commandments of God guided them they were not confused.

Jesus came not to abolish the law or the Prophets, or get rid of it but “to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17) the law. He brought love. The Law was to point us to Him and He points us to the Father. When we accept His gift of Salvation we are no longer under the law and do not have to have animal sacrifice or any other because Jesus was the ultimate Sacrifice once and for all time.

He laid down His life for us in the greatest gift of Love ever. He willingly allowed Himself to be crucified for us. And because He did go to the Cross for us in our place we can become Children of God the Father by confessing our sin and accepting the free gift of Salvation that Jesus obtained for us. Because we are Justified by Him and have put on His Righteousness when we accept Him as our Savior and only way to the Father then out of Love for Him we keep His Commandments, to Love God completely and our neighbor as ourselves.

In loving Jesus, Abba Father we keep the Commandments of the Father as our guide for what makes for a good relationship with Him and our neighbor. The Commandments become our map to living and walking in relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the more we live a life that is pleasing to God the stronger our walk with Him gets and the more we hear from the Holy Spirit who came to dwell in us when we accepted Jesus as our Savior. The Commandments are no longer burdensome because it is a joy to serve the Father in all we do. Children now days do not know that joy because all the restraints have been removed that is why they live in the "Me" world.

The world without the guidelines of God is a world without a rudder, it is a world where children actually feel unloved because there are no guidelines other than, "do whatever you feel is right or makes you feel good." That is the lie Satan spoke to Eve, the lie criminals tell themselves when they take what is not theirs, be it a persons life, goods off of the store shelf/rack, rape, or whatever gives them a thrill for the moment. But the fleeting "joy" they feel is never enough because it is not from God.

When one lives for God one finds the true Joy of serving Him and serving others. Being His is true Joy. 

Abba Father, thank You for giving us the guidance of Your Ten Commandments so we will be able to live our lives to glorify You.  I pray You prick all hearts with Your commandments so people will know their need for salvation. My hearts desire if for my family and loved ones and the whole world to come to You through Your Son Jesus Christ.

Thank You Jesus for Your wonderful love. Thank You for showing us how to follow the commandments of the Father and how to love our neighbor.

Thank You Holy Spirit for opening our hearts to the truth and for Your guidance.

I pray we all will love more and love and serve each other as Christ loved and served so the world will see Him in us and desire to follow Him. In Jesus name I pray all to the Father, Amen.

Rebishka