Written by: John Sernaque
Call to Worship
John 14: 15
14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Those who bring their petitions to God, claiming His promise while they do not comply with the conditions, insult Jehovah. They bring the name of Christ as their authority for the fulfillment of the promise, but they do not those things that would show faith in Christ and love for Him. {COL 143.2}
The above verse is quite clear, and is conditional. In other words, if you do not keep God’s commandments, you do not love God. You cannot be a commandment breaker and claim to love God. Period. With every sin, we crucify Jesus afresh. That is not love, it is selfishness on the part of the sinner. Do not think that you will merely have deathbed repentance and receive forgiveness at the last moment. There is a point whereby you can grieve away the Holy Spirit, the unpardonable sin, and this can happen way before you pass away. There is no repentance in the grave either. God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger on two tablets of stone. God’s Ten Commandments are eternal and have not been done away with, as some teachings of men would have you believe. If you come to God while holding on to known sins, your words will fall to the ground, and your prayers will go unanswered. So, you need to ask yourself, do you love God? Are you keeping His commandments? If you come to God with a contrite heart, He will help you overcome, as He overcame. Confess and repent of your sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before You, as sinners, asking and praying for Your forgiveness. We realize that we crucify You afresh with every sin committed. We are sorry, and humbly repent of all our sins. Please forgive us of our sins, the known and the unknown, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We love You dear Lord, and do not wish to hurt You anymore. Please help us overcome the evils and the temptations of this world that we may overcome as You overcame, that we would sin no more. Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us, that Your Spirit may live and dwell within us. Abide in us that we may abide in You. Keep us faithful and help our unbelief. We thank You and praise You. We pray in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
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