Do You Truly Love God? A Message From the Holy Spirit
Though this message may seem simple at first, it is actually more complex than it seems. This is time for you to reflect.
Introduction
Many people will tell you they absolutely love Jesus. They may even post some memes and videos on social media to let you know that. At church, they may seem very devoted on the surface and shout songs of praise.
When looking at the world, on the surface, it would seem many love Jesus and there is even a revival happening, hence the supposed outpouring at Asbury, which I have critiqued here.
While only God can read people’s hearts, I believe He put the above verse from Matthew as a warning to true believers. Just because someone says they love Jesus, doesn’t mean they do. If I scrolled though social media right now, a lot of people would express with their lips that they love the Lord.
And sure, maybe this is all obvious to you, but for me, I’m going to tell you it has been a hard lesson I have been learning. I have been fooled by many that say they love Jesus, but their fruits later reveal otherwise. So many profess His name, but quite simply, they are Satanists in disguise. Yes, that is my claim, and I’ll go back to it at the end of this post.
Before I became a Christian, my friend was preaching to me over the phone. I told him I believed in God — I just wasn’t really sure about Jesus — a common agnostic/atheist argument. He then gave me a verse which is now my FAVORITE verse. Yes, this is my favorite verse of the entire Bible, and people often find it strange when they ask:
- James 2:19:You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
When he told me this verse, I was shocked. Literally, my jaw dropped. You see, for those of you who have read part of my testimony, I had many experiences with actual demons. So, when I realized that even demons believe in God, then…well, was I any better than a demon?
The answer, at the time, was…not really. I tried to live a good life, but I was full of unrepentant sin.
Now, going back to that verse, many can acknowledge that God exists, claim they love Him, and then act like a demon in their hearts. So, here is my question to readers: How do you know if you or others really love God? How can we discern? There are simple answers to this, but God gave me a deeper answer after fasting.
Loving God Through Fasting and Prayer
Yes, I know I mention fasting a lot, but I really, really want to promote fasting to readers. I am not trying to brag. I am telling you fasting has changed my life. Remember, Jesus told us there were some demons that could only be removed by prayer and fasting, and this was true for me. When I started fasting, I was shocked by the amount of anger, hate, bitterness, and repressed sadness that it released. It was only until I started fasting that I could face those demons inside of me. I understand now that food is a way to distract from those emotions, and it can even become an idol. Anyway, let’s get back to the topic.
So, how can we know if one truly loves God? Well, you can’t deeply love someone until you know them deeply. For example, I couldn’t love Witness 1 until I knew him, and while there are automatic forms of love, a deeper love exists for us now, as we know each other inside and out.
God told me CLEARLY, after this fast, that many do not KNOW him, and therefore, they cannot love Him as they claim. This is largely because they spend such little true, devoted time with Him. Going to church and praying every so often do not suffice, and honestly, churches these days are often worshiping another spirit to begin with - one that is NOT Jesus Christ.
Now, when I first became Christian, I wish someone would have told me this: Pray. All. Of. The. Time. My friend mentioned recently that some churches don’t even give more than five minutes of prayer time anymore. Isn’t that strange?
The Bible says pray continuously. It doesn’t just say pray when things get hard, or pray in the morning, or pray at church. Pray as much as you can. Become disciplined in your prayer life. Pray every moment you possibly can. I mean that. It will transform your life.
This process of praying started during Covid for many. I had so much more free time, working from home, and I started praying more. Even then, I just prayed about 30 minutes a day, and it started to transform me. Now, Witness 1 will tell you I'm always saying, "I'm going to go pray now."
Recently, I’ve stumbled across some videos that have given the same message. If you can’t even devote an hour of your day to God, then are you really that committed? Now, for those who struggle with attention, especially due to technology, try to pray in segments throughout the day. Put a timer on even, and see how long you go.
No, it isn’t about quantity; however, it is about quality and discipline. One time I timed myself just to see how long I could pray in tongues (I’ll write about tongues another time as I know it causes controversy), and I think I went about 30 minutes, which was hard for me! For some avid prayers, that is baby stuff!
When we love someone, we discipline ourselves for them. I know Witness 1 and I discipline ourselves for each other because we deeply love each other.
In this modern world, is the word discipline even used anymore? Discipline isn't a bad thing. I would rather discipline myself, first, before God disciplines me. However, He loves His children, so there are times when disciplines us (and trust me, there are many times he has disciplined me!) But in all seriousness, discipline has taken out of childhood, school, and even work at times. It's not a word we here often anymore, but as true follows of Christ, it is important.
When I pray, I put my phone on airplane mode. It’s a simple solution to interruptions, and remember, Satan will do anything he can to distract you.
Still, there are people who pray a lot and spend time with God, but is that enough by itself to show love for God?
Loving God By Keeping His Commandments
No - fasting and prayer alone aren't enough. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments:", and one of His commandments is to love others as yourself.
So, not only must you spend time with God in prayer, reading the Word, but then you might actually have to do something to show your love. This is where there is some huge debate amongst Christians, and I really just don’t understand it. To me, faith and works are interdependent. Faith is expressed by works, and work builds faith. Here is an infographic I made of how I view faith. Notice the double arrows, showing faith and works work together:
The other day, a man messaged me and was irritated about me giving money to poor people (I'm not lying). What is strange about this conversation is I didn’t bring up anything about it - he did. He told me that he likes to give people his ideas, not money. In response, I quoted this verse:
- If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
So, there are a lot of Christians these days who will tell you it is enough to believe, but I will say this, if you truly believe, you will produce works in some way, shape, or form.
If you have difficulty understanding this, just think of any relationship. Generally speaking, when we show our love, we show it through our actions. It’s really that simple. Witness 1 shows he loves me by writing me lovely poetry, for example. Yes, we can say I love you to each other, but it will mean nothing if we don’t show it.
I think people struggle with this because they want it to be black and white and easy. But love is rarely easy, which I will get back to in the section on sacrifice.
I don't understand any debate about faith and works. I believe those debates are from Satan to produce quarreling. If you have faith, you will show works. However, the Bible isn't a checklist of items to do, and unfortunately, another extreme happens where people become obsessed with works over faith, which we will talk about in a moment.
Moreover, I once heard a sermon that there are times when we are the helpers, and there are times when we need to be helped. In my life, there are times when Christians have loved and helped me, and I was built up. Now, I remember those times, and I try to build people up, too. There are times in our life where we are full of works, and there may be times where we are lacking in works.
None of us are perfect, and we need to work together as one body. God does not expect us to be writing a list of our daily, perfect works for Him, but He does know our exact situations and when and where we can help. Plus, he doesn't really like excuses.
I always hear how people, for example, don't have any money to give to anyone, and then I think of the poor widow, who gave only gave two small copper coins, but it meant so much to the Lord.
What I'm getting at is that when you are truly devoted to God and putting Him first, excuses start to go away. Every moment is an opportunity for some type of work, whether it be reading your Bible, singing a song of praise, helping someone, praying with someone, or something else.
Still, our actions alone do not show we love God, either. If we perform some good works, like many of the elite “philanthropists” do, does it mean anything to God? NOPE! Let me explain why.
Good Works Mean Nothing Without God
People who struggle with this (and trust me, there are many), do not understand love. So, what is love?
First, we cannot understand love without God. God is love!
None of the acts Bill Gates has done are with love (sorry, Bill Gates - prove to me you love Jesus Christ of the Bible), but rather, they are used to accelerate his false philanthropy to gain the trust of vulnerable people. Most, if not all of his acts, are done without the love of God. In other words, I could stack up a million good works in this lifetime, but without love for God and others, it means absolutely nothing to Him. Yes, this is correct.
So, let’s reverse the quote now: Works without faith are also dead. You see the interdependent connection here?
So, now let’s look at this step by step to help us all:
- God is love.
- We can’t know love without God.
- We must know God to love God. We have to develop a relationship with Him.
- We can only know and love God by spending time with Him.
- We show our love toward God through our actions.
- Our faith and actions are interdependent.
- God works through us when we truly love Him.
The word “love” is also thrown around a lot in the world, but most don’t know true love because they don’t know the God of the Bible. All other types of love that are promoted are some type of “false copy.”
I was thinking about my favorite Beatles song, “All You Need is Love”, but then I told Witness 1, “Yes, that is true, but the Beatles weren’t promoting God’s love in that song.”
They were trying to have love without God (as far as I know) and that’s the type of “love” that is promoted today in the world. I still like the song, but I'm sure we all know about the occult music agenda by now.
Love promoted in this world is the love of Satan. It isn’t true love. Satan’s love is just hate in disguise because it leads people to hell. It feels like love, but it is inherently empty.
So, most are confused. If you are confused about love, go back to the beginning of the steps. Spend time with God. Read His word. Start there, and then the rest will progress.
Another thing the Beatles got wrong is when they said, “It’s easy!” No, I don’t really agree with that, and here’s why.
Love is Sacrifice
God is Love. Jesus is God. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. Love is Sacrifice.
Again, the term love is thrown around so much in our world, it has, in many ways, lost meaning. “I love this song!” or “I love that shirt!” You see, that isn’t the same type of love Jesus is talking about.
So, let’s go back to the Bible.
I decided to take Corinthians and its famous passage on love and see what it said for the meaning of love:
Word: agaph
Pronounce: ag-ah'-pay
Strongs Number: G26
Orig: from 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast:--(feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love. G25
Use: TDNT-1:21,5 Noun Feminine
Heb Strong: H160
1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence
2) love feasts
I have written about agape love before and this is not the type of love you have for a song or a delicious meal. This is a brotherly love that goes beyond just friendship. This is divine love.
God’s love for us is sacrificial through His son Jesus Christ. The truest form of divine love in this world is to sacrifice for one another. In fact, the Bible says that one of the greatest forms of love is dying for a friend - and then Jesus says, "You are my friends if you do what I command."
When you think about the purest forms of love, they almost always require some form of sacrifice, whether it be giving your money, time, food, friendship, talents, or something else.
Because I love Witness 1, I sacrifice for him often, and he does for me, too. We give up things for each other, but it makes our relationship stronger.
God wants us to sacrifice for Him and others, too - our time, our money, our resources, even ourselves at times.
This isn’t easy, as the Beatles claimed. This can actually be quite difficult, even when it comes to tiny things. Do you have a dollar to spare? Will you give that last piece of your favorite dessert to your partner? Will you go to that event that you don’t really want to go to for that friend you love? Will you get off your phone to listen to your children or wife or husband? Will you do that little thing for someone?
Not all sacrifices are HUGE, but they always mean something HUGE to the other person. It may not be a big deal to get off your phone when your partner is around, but that may mean something big to them.
Now, Jesus’s sacrifice is the ultimate sacrifice, and therefore, the act of perfect love.
While we can never be exactly like Jesus in this lifetime, we can follow His commands.
A Note On Gifts
God has given you a gift. Yes, you! Every single person reading this has a gift of some sort. You may have to ask God what your gift is, or it may take time to reveal.
Not all gifts are talents. Some reading have talents like art, music, etc., but some gifts are simple like encouraging others or listening.
I don't know what your gifts are, but I know some of mine. One of gifts is writing.
Now would God be happy with me if I didn't share my gift with the world in a way that honors Him? What if I was writing about Satanic topics? Would He feel I utilized my gift well?
Another gift I have is building up others. I love to make people feel motivated and happy. Would God be happy with me if I sat there denigrating others?
Witness 1 has a gift of music, and we make music together. He writes songs and I sing. We will share some of our music with you all soon. Would He be happy if our songs didn't glorify Him?
A lot of you use your gifts, but you aren't doing it for God. Now, we have to work. We have things we have to do, but the more you can align your gift with your purpose for God, the more you can do for Him.
For example, since my gift is writing, I started this whole blog so I could constantly be writing. Do you see that I have literally found a way to be working for God all the time?
You can share your gift with us! Share your artwork. Share your songs. Share your writings. Share your testimony. Share something! If it honors God, we can post it for you!
I don't understand what everyone is so afraid of - you can do so anonymously.
Perhaps you are afraid of criticism. I say, "WHO CARES WHAT SATANISTS SAY?" I don't. They can make fun of me 24/7, and they probably do.
So, if you ever feel compelled to share, we would love to share your gift with the world.
Conclusion
Do you really love God with all of your heart? That is something people easily claim they do, but I am starting to think many are putting up a façade - their hearts are far from Him.
Look, I am not here to judge. That is not my purpose. Only God is the judge.
Further, I am judging myself by what I write. I realize that I will be judged by every word I write and the standard I hold others to. I would not be writing any of this if I wasn’t putting myself to the test.
However, I will say this: The more I focus on following Jesus’s commandments and living a holy life, the more I realize how much more time for God I have!
When I am not spending all of my time immersed in sin or regretting my sins, I can actually put forth energy and time for God, get to know Him, and grow in my love for Him.
Before, in my sin, I spent a lot of time and energy on those sins. They drained me.
Now, in my new life, I see how much more time I have for God and how I want to spend every moment with Him! I now understand Heaven a bit more because the closer I grow to God, the more I feel in the presence of Heaven.
So, remember, too, sin holds us back. I also want to remind people that I am not a legalist. I will likely never write a list of Dos and Don’ts on this site. Rather, always reflect - is there a sin holding you back that needs to get out of your life NOW?
Remember, idolization is a sin, and anything can be an idol. Though God may not mention video games as a sin, maybe it is a problem for you. Though God may not mention marijuana as as sin, maybe that is a problem for you. These are just examples.
The point is - sin could be holding you back from getting to know God. When I look back at my life of sin, I didn’t know God, and therefore, I couldn’t fully understand how to love Him.
Now, for a final thought, I mentioned that I believe many Christians today are just Satanists in disguise. They have turned God into some type of magical genie to grant wishes, and they don’t know Him as they claim.
Satan has invaded many churches in these end times. God has left MANY churches, and an evil spirit has infiltrated many congregations.
This is a spirit of so-called love that is nothing more than Satan’s twisted view of what love is, which honestly, I think is just self-love.
Yes, to wrap this up, the god people are worshipping is themselves, which is really Satan's goal!
He wants people so focused on themselves, so in love with themselves, that in reality, they are just Satanists in disguise. Self-worship is a form of Satanism, and it is promoted all around the world.
Now, look, I'm not saying you can't love yourself, but you should humble yourself, and never worship yourself.
Well, I will end with a verse. It is one I post a lot, but it so powerful. Please deeply consider it when start your day:
Matthew 25:35 - 40
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
God bless you all in Jesus's name,
- Witness 2