Being God's Friend... We Can't Make God Love Us More...But We Can Love Him More!!!

God can't love you any more tomorrow than he does today. He won't love you any more in the next second than he did when he created the Heavens and the earth. That is because God's love is eternal, everlasting, from age to age... You can't earn God's love...however, you can reciprocate God's love

You can love God more tomorrow than you love him today. You can love him less. You can love God more in the next minute than you did in all your previous life put together.

We don't follow Christ to earn God's love. We follow Christ because we love him.

We also can't earn his grace but we can GROW in grace. We can ACTIVATE grace...we can GO BEFORE THE THROWN ROOM OF grace and receive mercy and help in our time of need.

While mercy is extended to all as God sees fit...Grace must be activated in some way, tipped, if you will...

Grace and mercy are two very different brothers cut from the same cloth but with very different jobs.

The Bible says that God shines his sun on the just and unjust....

Romans 9:15 For He saith to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy.

However, with Grace... it has one key activator... while not earned, it is activated...
1 Peter 5:5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.

Like this baking soda/vinegar volcano!!!!! Grace is ACTIVATED!!! 

While you can't earn either mercy or grace... Mercy is extended to all, but God's grace, we can activate, like the reaction of baking soda and vinegar. God must give us all the ingredients. We can't EARN THEM... but we can ACTIVATE THEM... we can STIR THEM UP, SHAKE THEM UP, PURSUE THEM...

How? so so simply... we activate God's GRACE through a submissive and humble heart...

2 Corinthians 12 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Grace Can Be....

MULTIPLIED..
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
We can GROW in Grace! Grace is a MINISTRY! 
2 Peter 3:18 

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. Grace is given out to God's ministers to empower them Ephesians 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: Grace is a GIFT! Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. GRACE IS MEASURED OUT AS WE NEED IT! Ephesians 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Grace comes forth from PURITY OF SPEECH and cannot come from perversion Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. We can FALL FROM GOD'S GRACE Hebrews 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; We can get MORE GRACE THROUGH HUMILITY but NOT through pride James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Romans 5: 7  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Walking in Grace will CAUSE us to be more humble Romans 12: 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

So, what is grace? Strong's number G5485...Greek: charis

1. grace
   1. that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
2. good will, loving-kindness, favour
   1. of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
3. what is due to grace
   1. the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
   2. the token or proof of grace, benefit
      1. a gift of grace
      2. benefit, bounty
4. thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward

Luke 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour G5485 with God.Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace G5485 of God was upon him.Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour G5485 with God and man.Luke 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious G5485 words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?Luke 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank G5485 have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace G5485 and truth.

Grace is a gift, it's an EMPOWERING force that emanates from God and rests on a believer. Grace is what allows us to have salvation... for by grace we are saved...Grace is God looking down on us and saying "I'm going to love you, equip you, protect you, give you wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that you could not otherwise know to help you in life. Grace helps us through our weaknesses. Grace fills us up with the delight of the Lord even though we know we can never earn his rewards... grace bestow them upon us... and all we need is true humility! 

So, we can't earn God's love, but we can ACTIVATE God's grace... 

What happens when we do activate God's grace? We walk in the love of God... and we love God... 

Imagine a rancher who had two sons. One went rouge and became a heavy drinker and partier. He did things that ashamed his father. Do you think a good father would love his son less? No, like Job, he would probably be praying his heart out for his son to return.

Then imagine a son who set out to be just like his dad. Where his dad went he went. When his dad taught him how to rope cattle, he practiced diligently. He grew up to work alongside his father, and honored him in all his ways...Now, one son loved his father more, but both were equally loved..

However, the father found more pleasure and joy in the one than the other... 

Did you know we can't make God love us more but we can LOVE HIM MORE!  We can and should work to please him in all our ways! God can find MORE JOY in us everyday. We can MAKE GOD happy or make him sad... We can even make him angry, especially when we hurt ourselves or others. If a father is a sheriff and he finds his son stealing from a bank, even though he loves his son, he would be dissapointed, sad, and have to put his own son in jail 
Let us Love God and Seek to PLEASE him!!! 
Galatians 1:10 For presently do I seek approval of men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

How do we Please God? 

BY IMITATING HIM and his servants gone before us (like Paul, the apostles, and men of God,like Martin Luther, John Bunyan, George Washington, to name but a few) Imitate him like a little boy would IMITATE his beloved father like the pictures above!! 

Be Imitators of God

Ephesians 5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved [a]you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God [b]as a fragrant aroma.

There are those who do NOT please God... they deny others from preaching the Good Word of the  Gospel... a sure fire way of getting "out of God's good graces" is to shut up those who are preaching the pure word of God... 1 Thessalonians 2 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

1 Thessalonians 4 4 Finally, believers, we ask and admonish you in the Lord Jesus, that you follow the instruction that you received from us about how you ought to walk and please God (just as you are actually doing) and that you excel even more and more [pursuing a life of purpose and living in a way that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation]. 

When we PURSUE THE LIFE GOD HAS FOR US we PLEASE HIM!!! 2 Timothy 2 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him

This is such an interesting scripture... Paul is telling Timothy not to be consumed in worldly pursuits, just like a soldier no longer pursues civilian life... 

Finally, my friends... if we want to love God, please God, walk with him like a son walks with his cowboy father to learn from him...if we want to grow in grace, that gift of God that enables us to walk uprightly... it all comes down to one word... FAITH... 

Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him

I will end with this... if you have one moment more, please read 

through Hebrews 11 and see how men and women of faith 

pleased God through living out their faith. Let us take up their 

example... and as it is said of Abraham...he was a friend of God....

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

My greatest pursuit in life is to be this... not to be rich, not to be famous, not to have people think anything great of me... I want to spend my days like David, enraptured in God's love and talk with Him all day long...I daresay, I want for God to say "I enjoy spending time with you...you love me (through the love he has given us for we cannot even love him without his love but we can receive it as a gift... Hebrews 3:15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.") 

I hope to live a long long life, so everyday I can be more and more pleasing to him....to actually make God happy...to love him as he loved us... 

You cannot make God love you anymore but you can love him more... blessings!!!!

By Faith

Hebrews:11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faithNoah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that hasfoundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, buthaving seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out,they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up,refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness,became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,  they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us,that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

It's better to be poor! But Rich in Faith! Inheriting God's "govern" ment" "Kingdom". Know God and his laws, ways, love. Be clean. Turn away from the world's governments and worldly laws, rules, ways that only

"corrupt the soul". 

Be encouraged and comforted: you are doing the right thing!
Would you like your children to be very close to God and go to heaven? Don't buy them anything, no toys, no cell phones, no bicycles, no expensive anything. etc. of course lead by example.
...............They less you have, the more you have to make things, discover how things are made, you have to pray about things etc. Try teaching your children from your heart, your anointing that God gave you and taught you, instead of school books!
I have known a lot of Christians who seem to be on fire for God. It seems like they would "die" for Jesus Christ. 

But because we are saved and raised in American churches we are "the rich young ruler," and when push comes to shove we are not going to sell everything and follow Christ. If we don't have all the amenities that everyone else has we are ashamed or embarrassed. We have been brain-washed into thinking: If we are young and just starting out 19-28 years old its ok, but 30-40-50 years old and still not standing on our two feet is a shameful thing. In America, Christians exalt the wealthy, football players, movie stars, CEOs, the college educated and so on. For the first 1900 years, the church exalted the poor, those who prayed all day, monks, priests, those dedicated to poverty to be close to God. We have it all twisted around.
It's all Wrong. ; Knowing Jesus, that's all that matters! It is so true; if your want to be rich in "faith", don't have everything: go without TV, Cell phones, fancy cars, movies, the telephone, electricity, etc.

 The Amish do have more faith in God and have a closer relationship with God because of this. Working the land with your horses and your own two hands is being very close to God. I know they have a lot wrong but maybe that is the government denying their religious rights and freedoms "Demanding" "Taxes", demanding they have money which they cannot grow or produce with their own two hands. (It's called indentured servitude or forced slavery!) Every time Christ has talked to me to do something or learn something, I don't make money, I lose it! Why? Those who seek to be rich rich fall into many temptations. Isaiah says the things of God cannot be obtained with money. The less money, the more faith in God you "have" to have, the more knowledge and understanding of God you need, and the more gifts and abilities/things of God He bestows.
James 2:3-6English Standard Version (ESV)

3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
John 9:8 AMP
When the neighbors and those who used to know him by sight as a beggar saw him, they said, Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?

Mark 10:17-27English Standard Version (ESV)

The Rich Young Man

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again,“Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”