TEXT: Rom 8:35“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?”

INTRODUCTION

The first of the great commandments according to our Lord Jesus  Christ in Matthew 22:37-40 is to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind. The second is like unto it, to love our neighbours  like ourselves. In these, we find the summary of all the Ten Commandments given to Moses in Exodus 20. The Lord God commanded the nation Israel to love Him as a bond and evidence of their relationship to God Deut 6:5; 10:12; Jos 22:5.

The objective of this message therefore is to assess your relationship with God at this crucial time. Is your love to God still intact?

The word “maintain” in this message is “to keep”, preserve, uphold, declare, affirm or assert your love in Christ at this period of global disaster even when children of God are locked down at home.

We are obliged to love God because He first loved us by sending His only begotten son, Jesus Christ to the world to die for us, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life John 3:16; 1 John 34:16.  This Jesus Christ also love the mankind by laying down His life for us 1 John 3:1. If He so loved us so much like this, we are bound to love Him unconditionally. ( Refer to our Appendix Hymn Number 7).   

HOW TO SHOW OUR LOVE FOR THE LORD

By loving and obeying His word John 14:2; 2 John 6; 1 John 5:3.

By worshipping Him

By reverencing Him Phil 2:9-11

By seeking Him Ps 63:14.

By praying to Him Ps 18:1,39.

Loving one another Matt 25:40; 1 John 4:20-21.

By serving Him John 10:27; Eph 6:7.

By fearing Him Joshua 24:14.

Living sacrificial life Rom 12:1-2; Matt 10:38; Phil 3:7-8.

Honouring God than man or other gods Acts 5:29; Exod 20:3-5.

Giving support for His work Prov 3:9.

Seek heavenly things more than the earthly Matt 6:20-21; Col 3:2.

THE EXTENT OF OUR LOVING GOD

We should love Him to the extent that nothing should separate or sever us from Him according to Paul’s affirmation in Rom 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?”.

He asserted his standing for the love of Christ in Rom 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”

Are you persuaded? Are you convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come can separate you from God’s love? Until your love to God has reached this peak you are not maintaining your love for God and Christ.

THE BLESSING

The blessing of loving God to this extent is found in Rom 8:37. We shall be more than conquerors. Only those who love God to the point of death can be overcomers in this world and beyond. The blessing of loving God is all inclusive and cannot be quantified.

CONCLUSION

At this period of worldly trials, at this time of faith-shaking periods. God is expecting you and I to renew our love for Him. This is the secret of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and Our assurance of reigning with Him.

Dear readers, no matter your level or status in the Church, relocate your first love to God Rev 2:4-5. Seek where you have shifted your love for Christ and your service in the Church of God on the guise of any excuse at all and repent, so that you will eat the fruit of life prepared for the overcomers that love God at the end Rev 2:7“He that hath ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God”. 

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