Timely Insights into God's Word from Khandielese Reyes

“Thou shalt have none other gods before me.  Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.  Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.  Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maid servant, nor thine ox, nor thin ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.  And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.  Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hat commanded thee; that they days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.  Thou shalt not kill. Neither shalt thou commit adultery.  Neither shalt thou steal.  Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.  Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbour’s.  These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more.  And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.”  (Deut 5:1-22)

In the days when the Lord God brought the children of Israel out from under the bondage of Egypt, he made a covenant with them and delivered his commandments through his servant Moses, on tablets of stone.  Instructed by the Lord, Moses went atop Mount Sinai where he spent 40 days and 40 nights in the presence of the Lord, and there he “wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments” (Ex 34:28) as given to him by the Lord to deliver to the people. The basic principals for living a life righteously, and pleasing before the Lord, was etched in stone and given to Moses to give to Israel, that they may learn, observe and do all that was written and commanded.  The breaking of these laws would render judgment, and the keeping of these laws would render blessings.   Thus, Moses shared with the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded being the mediator between them and the Lord as written in Deut 5:5.  When the children of Israel had need of instruction or prayer, it was Moses who went to the Lord on their behalf and likewise, the Lord who chose to deliver His Word to the people through his servant Moses.  The Laws given to Moses by God, were regularly broken by the children of Israel, thus atonement for their sins had to be made on a consistent basis.  They found it difficult to heed to all that was written on the tablets of stone.

But, then came Jesus who demonstrated a more excellent way to fulfilling the laws of God that were written in stone, by writing them in our hearts in the form of Love.  He summed the entire written laws into two MAJOR commandments being: “Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy mind” following with “Thou shalt Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Of which he concluded: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”   If we examine the first four of the written ten commandments, we will notice they deal strictly with our Love for the Father.  For they instruct us to: have no other Gods before Him; to make no graven images or likeness of anything in heaven, on earth, or in the waters to bow down and serve them, to Not take His Name in vain, and the keeping of the Sabbath. If we adhere to the Greatest commandment of Loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and minds, we would then automatically fulfill these four of the ten commandments.  In like manner, the last 6 of the ten commandments given to Moses, deal mostly with our love and responsibility towards others as they instruct us to: Honour our father and mother; not to kill; not to commit adultery; not to steal; not to bear false witness against our neighbor; and not to covet that which is our neighbors.   Thus, if we heed to the second commandment given by our Lord to love our neighbor as ourselves, we would then automatically fulfill these last six of the ten commandments.  Therefore, we can conclude that LOVE is the FULFILLMENT of the LAW! 

If we truly love our Father, then we would do whatever is necessary to please Him. We would not allow our minds, to control our behavior, but our hearts.  If we notice the command was to Love the Lord our God in this order: OUR HEARTS (FIRST), SOUL (SECOND) AND MIND LAST.  However many attempt to love Him in opposite order being the MIND (FIRST), SOUL (SECOND) and finally attempt to love him with the HEART!  This is why we fail, for we cannot love him first with our MINDS, but MUST begin by first loving Him with our SPIRITS (HEARTS), which stirs up the love for him in our SOULS (where all our emotions lie), and finally the MIND comprehends and receives.  All working together, we are then loving our beloved Father with our whole being, with every part of us that makes up for who we are.

Likewise, if we truly love our neighbor, we would then treat him/her as we ourselves desire to be treated. If TRUE love would abide in our hearts for each other, it would prevent us from speaking unkindly towards one another and gossiping about one another; from becoming bitter; angry and vindictive towards one another; from lying on and to one another; and from esteeming one above the other. It would prevent us from tearing one another down, and would cause us to deliberately lift one another up.  It would erase entirely feelings of jealousy, hate, insecurity, prejudice and all manner of evil thinking towards our brothers and sisters that many attempt to tuck secretly away, believing they are hidden yet are exposed by their fruits or lack of.  If love truly existed in the hearts of believers for one another, before the thought would ever arrive in our minds to mistreat, to gossip, or speak unkindly of our fellow man, the power of Love would instantly come and overtake it!  If we have not love for one another, we have NOT Christ for there is NO possible way the Spirit of the Lord can reside in a heart that has even an OUNCE of hate towards it’s fellow man.  Thus, before we boast of our “great Love” for the Lord, let us examine our hearts to determine if we have surrendered completely to the second commandment to Love our neighbor as ourselves, for we cannot truly and sincerely love the Lord whom we’ve not seen, and hate our brother whom we have!

We cannot fulfill the will of the Lord for our lives individually, as well as collectively without Love. Oftentimes, we place such great emphasis on trying to be “perfect” in keeping the commandments of God, and consistently fail at our attempts.  We set out daily with a conscious effort to do everything right, but lose the battle because we lack the substance, the heart of the law, that being Love.   When love is present and active in our hearts, it locks the doors of temptation to sin against God.  Our Love for Him is inevitably proven GREATER than our desire to fulfill the evils of our flesh.  

Therefore, the one thing that’s required to fulfill the commandments of the Lord, before anything else, even faith, is LOVE.  FIRST loving the Lord our God, and second loving our neighbor as we do ourselves. If we without question KNOW the Lord,  and if He without question is absolute LORD of our lives, then the law of LOVE by Him has been “written in our hearts” and blessed are they that keep it!

I love you all so very much. Have a blessed week in the Lord and remember: Whatever we do, do ALL for the GLORY of GOD, who ALONE is worthy of the GLORY and the PRAISE!

May the peace of the Lord be with you today and always…….

Khandielese
Daughter & Servant
   of the Lord God