How Much Do You Love Jesus? Series

Psalm 5: 1 – 10

How Much Do You Love Jesus?

1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. 6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You. 11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. 12 For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Things are never the way you would want them to be. If you like someone, you like to talk with him or her as often as you can. You like to spend your valuable time with them, do you not? It seems that we wind up spending the most time being with and talking with people we do not like. What a world?

Interacting with Christians is no different. In some churches they try to guilt you into giving or serving in some ministry. I have even had some come up to me and ask, ‘How much do you love Jesus?’ If I asked you this question, what would be your response? Our Great Master and King Is not in need of our money, nor does He need us to serve Him in some compactly. He loves us and He wants to have a personal relationship with us. He wants to spend time and talk with us. So, how do we accomplish this with Him? We succeed by praying and reading His Word.

If we did our own inventory and analyzed our prayer and personal bible time, we should be ashamed. This is a self test. How much time do you spend with the One Whom you proclaim that you love and appreciate? How much time do you watch television? Now compare the two! Pretty bad, huh? I am convicted how about you? So, now is the time to renew our love and devotion Who gave His life for us. Are you with me?

This might seem strange to hear, but the first thing we need to understand is how to pray. Think of these possibilities;

1. We wake up and say hello to God and ask Him to bless our day. At night we tell Him thanks for his help.

2. We come together in prayer and seek Him as the Great ‘Santa’. We bring Him our daily grocery list of needs and wants.

3. We chant the same words

4. You enter into His Presence with praise and thanksgiving.

Does the last one seem out of place? Am I getting through to anyone with these remarks?

Some of you may be wondering what I mean by the term ‘chanting the same words’. How about the ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ for example? Are the verses in chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke, the Lord ’s Prayer? - No, not at all. You see like us the disciples went to the Lord and asked Him how to pray. Look at what it says, “5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours’ is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”