God's First Command Is Love

Mark 12: 28 - 31, Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." NKJV

Why do you suppose the first commandment is to love God? God is love. Therefore, when we love Him more than all else, we are allowing the very nature and essence of God to live and flow through our hearts. It's interesting, to say the least, that God requires us to love Him because there is no love (agape) apart from God; and man was separated from God through sin. It is no surprise then that when God gave the commandment for Israel to love Him, they naturally fell short.

As a minister of the gospel, I hear and see many people who confess faith in Christ, but fall short in living for God. The reason they most often give me as to why they fall short is they lack the power to live for God and to overcome the pleasures and desires of sin. What many believers who struggle to live a godly life fail to realize is that it takes the love of God abiding in our hearts before we can successfully live for God.

Even as Christians, we can't love the world and love the Father at the same time; we will have no power to live holy before Him. We are required to choose whom we will serve. The Apostle John tells believers in Christ that if they love the world, then the love of the Father is not in them. Thus, we will fail whenever we try to live for God. We must accept the gift of God's Son, who was given by the Father out of His great love in order to bridge the gap between Him and us.

After Jesus had risen from the dead, He appeared to His disciples several times. About the third time, Jesus "cornered" Simon Peter and asked him if he loved Him. Jesus asked Simon Peter this question three times. Perhaps, Jesus dealt with Simon's heart three times because he had previously denied knowing Jesus three times. Nevertheless, Simon wasn't living for Jesus, and Jesus wanted to know if Simon truly loved Him. It was there with Simon that we see Jesus tying together living and serving God with loving Him. 

No one can live for God for a lifetime, if they don't truly love God first. We're told in 1 Corinthians 13 that love never fails.

Consequently, if you regularly struggle to overcome sin and to live for God without feeling under condemnation, then you must ask the Lord to fill your heart with His love. You must also seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The more you allow yourself to love God by placing self on the cross of obedience, the additional liberty you will have to live for Him.

To love God or even someone else is simply an act of your will. You're willing to put them first in your life. As we prioritize our life to live for God's pleasure, then He will be released to fill our hearts with His divine nature and give us power to overcome the will of our flesh. You can do all things through Christ, and live a holy life.

Loving God,

Pastor Asa Dockery

Listening to the Wrong Voices

Genesis 3: 1 - 5, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." NKJV

Adam and Eve were doing very well in life until Satan decided to show up dressed like a serpent and deceive Eve. We know the serpent deceived Eve because Paul confirms it as truth in 1 Timothy 2: 14. Satan could mislead Eve because she didn't know God, or her identity as a daughter of God. Had she known the truth, Eve wouldn't have fallen prey to Satan's lie, which caused her to sin in order to become like God. It is imperative for new believers to become disciples of Jesus, so that they learn their spiritual identity and are not robbed by Satan's deceptive schemes.

Because of Eve's spiritual ignorance, Satan could cast doubt in her heart about God and His command to refrain from eating the Tree of Knowledge. Like I stated earlier, Adam and Eve were tremendously blessed until Satan came into the story. After the serpent engaged Eve into a conversation, he began to feed her another opinion about the consequences of sin; and he sounded believable.

Satan used doubt to rob Adam and Eve of their spiritual inheritance and blessings from the Lord. As a result of their sin, they were driven out of the garden of provision, where God had supplied their every need; now, they had to work in order to eat. When we entertain a voice of doubt that offers another opinion or option to what God has told us to do, then we are playing around with something that is going to be used to rob us of our spiritual blessings from God.

Doubt occurs when we vacillate between two opinions because we may not like or agree with what God has said to us concerning something in our hearts or in our lives. Obviously, Eve wasn't exactly pleased with God's instruction not to eat of the forbidden fruit, or she wouldn't have listened to another opinion. There was something in Eve's heart that opened her up to consider Satan's lies as a viable option to God's point-of-view. Therefore, since we are descendants of Eve, we, too, must guard our hearts, so that we don't receive ANY REPORT that contradicts God's Word as our final authority. If we allow another opinion, other than what God's Word declares, then we are opening the door for Satan, the thief, to rob us. 

If you are struggling with doubt, and you're in need of a touch from God, then begin looking at anything that may be adversely influencing you to believe something that goes against God's Word as being truth. Once the Holy Spirit reveals the doubt, begin separating yourself from the cause of it...through prayer. Now, you can stand on God's Word as your final authority and see the salvation of the Lord. The One who called you is faithful to His Word.

Oh, How I Love Jesus,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Exposing the Root of Doubt

Mark 9: 17 - 24, Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" NKJV

I shared this portion of scripture from Mark's gospel because we can certainly relate to it in our own lives. Here is a father who is desperately seeking help from Jesus' disciples, but they are unable to set his son free from the spirit. Finally, the father brings his son to Jesus. The father realizes that he wants to believe; however, he is dealing with unbelief. 

Isn't it frustrating to have needs in your life, but you lack the faith to receive the answer to those needs? I applaud this father because he was open and honest with Jesus. Therefore, it enabled Jesus to help him get past the unbelief in his heart and see the boy get delivered. Like this man, you, too, have probably tried different ways to receive a healing, a miracle, a deliverance... etc., but to no avail. Consequently, because of all the times that you haven't received an answer to your request, you are probably dealing with a little doubt or unbelief in your own heart, and now it stands in the way of "getting your breakthrough." 

It's a fact of life that living in a world that is filled with sin and unbelief will sometimes cause us to be adversely affected by their voices. Satan loves to use disappointment and discouragement to dampen our faith. Therefore, we must guard our hearts against doubt, fear, and unbelief, especially when seeking the Lord for a breakthrough in our lives. We must close out the voices of bad influence and negative circumstances that could cause us to falter in our walk of faith. If we allow anyone or anything to cause us to waver in our faith, then we have found where the root of doubt is creeping into our hearts. 

Please keep your heart protected against all influences that place God or His faithfulness in a negative light. God is faithful!!! (Period) There will be times in our walk of faith when God will allow us to wait for a while before showing up to deliver us. Even so, we know that God has promised to deliver us from ALL our afflictions. Read James 1 to help understand why God allows us to wait. 

Remember this today: Doubt occurs when we believe one thing, but listen to someone or something else that contradicts what we believe. James tells us in chapter 1 that if we waver, then we WON'T receive anything from the Lord... even though He wants supply our need as much as we want Him to. Without faith, we can't please or come into agreement with God. Have you been waiting on God for an answer to prayer for a long time? Keep standing, guarding, and believing! He will surely fulfill His good pleasure in your life, in His time.

God Is Still Faithful,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Robbed

Genesis 3 : 2 - 7, And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. NKJV

Have you had something stolen from you, or perhaps you allowed someone to borrow something, and it hasn't made its way back to you? After you realize that someone has taken/or kept a possession of yours without your permission, then you must deal with the myriad of emotions that explode in your soul. When you are robbed, you feel violated. However, when you work through the process of trying to rationalize or make sense of such a dastardly deed, you soon come to the conclusion, "Satan has robbed me."

I bring up the subject of being "robbed" to share some powerful truths about the one whom Jesus called, "The thief- Satan." We read in today's scripture that Satan appears to Eve as a serpent. The thief loves to operate in the element of deception. I heard a story the other day where a woman's cell phone had been stolen. The thief saw a number with the name "husband" listed in her contacts and texted him, pretending to be his wife. Since the husband didn't know the phone had been stolen, the thief asked him for personal information; the husband sent it to the thief and was robbed. The thief was operating under the cloak of deception and, therefore, was effective in robbing the victims of their money.

After Satan came to Eve in the form of a serpent, he began to challenge both her knowledge of God and what He had said about the forbidden tree. When Satan disputed the truth with Eve, it caused her to doubt God's commandments as truth. Consequently, when she doubted God and believed Satan's lie, he was allowed to rob Adam and Eve; and he did so with their cooperation. It's one thing for someone to rob you, but to collaborate with the enemy like they did is dumbfounding. Even so, that is exactly what they did; and Satan was laughing at them the entire time. 

We know that God had already blessed Adam and Eve. The Lord had given them many promises, which are also called "our inheritance" in the New Testament. However, when Satan caused man to sin against God, man gave Satan the power to rob every person who would be born after them. Anytime we struggle with doubt, fear, and unbelief Satan is allowed to rob us of our spiritual inheritance. Only when Christians get to heaven and stand before the judgment seat of Christ will we see all that our flesh and Satan took from us on earth. 

Well, the Lord has given me this word  today to challenge you to take back from Satan what he has stolen, or is currently robbing from you and your family... before you get to heaven. You can do this by getting in the Word and reading about your spiritual inheritance in Christ, and then standing on the promises that pertain to your life and those of your family. Joel tells us in chapter 2 that God is the God of restoration. We must not doubt God's Word or His faithfulness to us, lest we allow the enemy of our soul an opening into our spiritual house. It's time the body of Christ takes back all that the enemy has stolen because God has laid it up for His people. It's time for the wealth of the wicked to be transferred to the righteous people of God. Just before God delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh, He had the women borrow the wealth of the Egyptians. The Jews came out of bondage WITH their natural inheritance. Payback! 

Take Back Your Inheritance,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Guard Your Heart against Doubt

John 11 : 17 - 22, So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. NKJV

"If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Can't you just hear the heartbreak, disappointment, and sorrow pouring from Martha's heart? Why would Jesus do this to His dear friends? Why did He wait until Lazarus was dead and in the tomb for four days before making an appearance at the tomb? Didn't Jesus realize the pain that He would cause to Lazarus' family? Didn't He care that they were hurting? 

You have to be careful that you don't entertain questions like the  ones I posed to you today. Although they may seem like legitimate ones, they are birthed out of a heart that is filled with hurt and that is giving doubt a place. There's a fine line between hurt and allowing the enemy to gain access to your heart through doubt. Are you looking to God for a breakthrough or miracle in your life, but it seems that God doesn't care about your condition? Whenever we have an unmet need, and it appears as if it is going unnoticed by the Lord, then that is the time when we must be careful to guard our hearts against doubt and unbelief. If we entertain thoughts such as, "Miracles happen in other people's lives, but not in mine." Beware! The enemy is trying to use delayed blessings as a weapon against us to cast doubt in our hearts and make us feel isolated. Jeremiah tells us to place our hope in the Lord; and when we do, God will bless us. We will be like a tree planted by the waters. We won't fear when heat or drought comes because our roots are in Him. 

Faith, hope, and perseverance will wait until the promise comes; they won't give in to the schemes of the Devil when it looks like God is late. The reason Jesus waited until Lazarus had been dead for four days was for God's glory. God operates on a level that far exceeds our feelings. He is in the "business" of saving souls. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it was so notable and irrefutable that it sent Jesus to the cross. The scribes, Pharisees, and elders were afraid that Jesus would become so popular that they would lose their strangle-hold on the people in Israel. They didn't want Jesus to become their king, so they conspired to crucify Jesus... all because He raised Lazarus from the dead. 

The purpose of today's devotion is to help you guard your heart against becoming a "victim of God's timing." When it comes to God meeting our needs, we all have a time frame. Nevertheless, faith will still believe even though God doesn't move in "our time." We have been called to believe until the saving of the soul. We must not draw back in unbelief because it didn't happen when we thought it should.

God is no respecter of persons. If He has healed others, then He will heal you as well. Don't doubt; just hold on to your faith until the Lord moves on your behalf. The JUST shall live by faith. Look! Here comes Jesus...

Waiting in Faith on God,
Pastor Asa Dockery

The Thrill of Discovery

Proverbs 25: 2, It is God's privilege to conceal things and the king's privilege to discover them. NLT

Have you heard of the term, "The thrill of the hunt?" This term isn't exclusive to hunters. Christopher Columbus was a pioneer, who had a passion to discover new lands. Treasure hunters spend much of their lives scouring over land and sea looking for something of great significance and value. There is much satisfaction that comes from discovering something valuable that has either been lost, or that could help to better the world, such as vaccines and new medicines.

Why is this term, "Thrill of the hunt" so pervasive throughout the world? It seems that people from all walks of life, for example, explorers and astronauts are on a quest to invent, discover, or find ways to improve their lives or the lives of others. However, it is God who created us with the thirst to quest and to conquer. He has hidden things on purpose, so that we would be blessed with a sense of accomplishment when the riddle is solved or the problem is resolved. 

By His own nature, God set us up to be blessed. It is a blessing to Him to see His children get excited over the discovery of a great find. There are many people who became famous because of their contributions to society, whether they are inventions, innovations, or breakthroughs; however, God's greatest desire is that men will seek Him with whole hearts.

The Word of God tells us that God covers Himself in darkness. I find that odd considering that God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness. Nevertheless, He has hidden Himself so that we would form a thirst to know Him. We see this with the title of the final book of the Bible, the "Revelation" of Christ. God wants to reveal Himself to us; nonetheless, He wants us to seek Him. God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Let me add this from my own personal pursuit of God. When we pursue the revelation of God and His ways, it will spill over into other areas of our lives. In other words, we will become more enriched by our pursuit of God because His presence is released into our lives by the hunger and openness of our heart for God. By pursuing and discovering the ways of God, we are really discovering who we were intended to be before the fall of man. God is our Creator, and only He knows what we were created to be and His purpose for placing us on the earth. Let us develop an even greater thirst to seek after and discover our God. Even though He is invisible to the human eye, we can come to know Him in our hearts. 

The Is No God like Jehovah,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Justified Or Making Excuses?

Acts 13 : 38 - 39, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man (Jesus) is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. NKJV

Thank God for Jesus Christ! Can you begin to imagine what life was like for the Jewish people who were under the law? God didn't give the law so that the children of Israel could be justified by their works. It was given to make them aware of the sin hidden in their hearts. If a person doesn't understand the ways of God, they might misinterpret what God's motive was when He gave Moses His Law.

God didn't give the Law to condemn people; it was just the opposite. However, through the Law of God, man became conscious of his own sin nature. They began to realize that with their failure to obey the entire law, they were, in fact, committing sin against God. Consequently, the result of breaking God's commands caused the Jews to feel naked, ashamed, and exposed. 

 Once the Jewish worshiper realized his or her own shortcomings, it would give way to the voice of guilt, shame and condemnation from Satan. You might be thinking, "Why did God want them to feel guilty or hear condemning voices?" Paul tells us that God's law is holy, and He is just. It wasn't the law that made the Jewish worshipers feel the way they did, but rather it was the sin which was hidden in their hearts that condemned them. God gave Moses His commandments in the hope that once the people realized they were in sin, they would turn to the Lord for salvation from it. 

When Jesus came as the Messiah to God's chosen people, some accepted Him; however, many more rejected His truth. Those who rejected His teachings as truth didn't want to admit to having sin in their hearts. Therefore, in an effort to avoid falling under the convicting power of God after hearing the truth, these non-believers chose to make excuses to cover their sin.

Today, as Christians, we can try to justify ourselves by making up excuses, or we can become justified through faith in Jesus and God's Word. As you seek to be justified by faith, if Satan begins to accuse you, all you need is to point to the Word of God and let God defend your character in Christ. Anyone who rejects the righteousness of God by faith will fall into the trap of blaming the consequences of their sin on others... as Adam did with Eve. Since it's just you and God right now, be honest with yourself. Are you at peace in your heart about your life? Do you make excuses to God and to people when you know that you have done wrong? If so, then humble your heart before the Lord and ask Him to be your Justifier. It will change your life forever.

Justified by Faith in Christ,

Pastor Asa Dockery