Duty or Delight - End of Week 5

By Linda

Have you ever felt that God REALLY wanted you to get something? Not physically, but to understand something in such a way that the knowledge traveled from your head straight into your heart and manifested itself in the way you live? The past four weeks we have been learning so much about God’s love for us…how He has: chosen us, redeemed us, promised us and supplied us.  It is really sinking in. How can I not love a God who loves me (and you!!!!!) so much? How can I help but delight in Him?

In our fifth week of study Tammie brought us to that very thing ~ our response to His love.  The title for this week was Knowing God has Commanded Us.  We began the week with the passage in Mark where Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment. "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: '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. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these"   (Mark 12:29-31).  I don’t know about you, but this command seems daunting yet I believe each one of us yearns to be able to love God and others like this.  

Tammie began the week by teaching us what it means to love God and finished with showing us what it means to love others. To Love God:

1) Forms the beginning and end of our worship.

2) Is to trust His leadership in all our living.

3) Is to worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

4) Is to choose to love people.

5) Requires God-given heavenly skill.

We learned that how we love God and love others has much to do with how we delight in Jesus.  Loving God is not about keeping the rules but rather delighting in our relationship with Him. The human relationships in our lives can often be our greatest challenge. We need the Spirit’s power to help us do them well. Tammie points out that we were never meant to do this without Him.

This past week I heard another bible teacher speak on loving God with all we have. She made the point that God will never ask us to do something we are unable to do. Along with this, she reminded us of 1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him”.   Doesn’t this fill you with joy and hope?  As we pray and ask God for a supernatural love of Him and others, He will surely answer!!

Here are the three things to know this week:

1) You will be completing the final week of homework, week six. It begins on page 130,  Knowing God Has Secured Our Victory. 

2) Last week we completed our last memory verse. Continue to refresh your spirit with the five verses we have memorized over the course of this study. 

3) Lastly, here is your video segment:

I can’t believe we are so near the end. Keep up the good work! It is so encouraging to know that as you have been studying God’s Word it is transforming your relationship with Him to one of delight.