Set Your Love upon God
By Laurence Torr
27th October 2014
All through the scripture we can see that God wants us to keep Him first and love Him with all our hearts soul minds and strength, that we from our own free will decision make God the first love of lives and because we have made God our first love, we will do what the Father instructs us to do, and there is great benefit to us when we love God and keep Him first in our lives and the top priory of our lives.
Psalms 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
King David here encourages us to love God and why we should love God, he points out the benefits. 1, Jehovah, preseveth the faithful the word preseveth means to protect to guard, maintain, when we love Jehovah, He will protect and provide for us as we are faithful to love Him and keep Him first by living the way He has called us to live. God plentifully rewards the proud doer. see being faithful and doer of what God want us to do is the key, we need to be faithful doers of what God is asking us to do, and how to live.
Psalms 91:14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
Psalms 91:15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
Psalms 91:16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation
As I have taught before this Psalm is a prophecy primary concerning Jesus Christ, but we can also claim this as we are in Christ. We can see here and in the life of Jesus Christ while he was living this earth, that Jesus set His love upon the Father, He is our ultimate example of how to love God and Keep Him first. God says by way of King David here, Because He set His love upon me,
Number 1, I (Jehovah) will deliver Him,
Number 2, I will set him on high,
Number 3, Answer Him,
Number 4, Be with Him and Deliver Him,
Number 5 , Honor Him
Number 6, with long life I will Satisfy Him.
(The word satisfy means to have plenty of, be full, filled to satisfaction)
See God will do this for us also as we set our love upon Him. God wants us to enjoy this life, that we are living, whatever comes up in our lives we can be sure knowing God will deliver us
He will set us on high by making us the head and not the tail, God will answer us when we call upon Him. He will be with us to deliver us, we know God will never leave nor forsake us, (Hebrews 13:5) God will Honor us, as we draw near to God he draws near to us, (James 4:8) and He will bless us with long life (3John2) and Satisfy us (Philppians 4:19)
Luke 10:25 – 28 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Verse 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
Verse 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Verse 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
Many reading this know what the Scriptures say to us, but we must be diligent to check that we are doing what we know that God is showing us by the Scriptures, it not enough to just to know but what we know needs to be mixed with the doing of it then we will see great benefits that are promised to us, which God our Father wants us to have.
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy
works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble.
James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
I will give you another example from the Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command
thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
Here we see not only are we to listen (hearken diligently) but also to observe and to do. This
word observe means properly to hedge about, that is guard, generally to protect, to be aware,
take heed (to self) preserve, regard, reserve, watch.
I also notice that with the instruction that God gives, there is always great benefit when we
follow His directive to us,
Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Proverbs 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Proverbs 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the
table of thine heart:
Proverbs 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Proverbs 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Deuteronomy 28:2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou
shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deuteronomy 28:3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Deuteronomy 28:4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deuteronomy 28:5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu teronomy28:6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be
when thou goest out.
Deuteronomy28:7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be
smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven
ways.
Deuteronomy 28:8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses,
and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the
LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deuteronomy 28:9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath
sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his
ways.
Deuteronomy 28:10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of
the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deuteronomy28:11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy
body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the
LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deuteronomy28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give
the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt
lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
Deuteronomy28:13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt
be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of
the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Deuteronomy28:14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command
thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
So here we see when we are diligent to observe to the point of doing what God is showing us today we reap great benefits from God when we set our love upon Him and do what He is showing us to do.
James 1:18 -25 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath:
James 1:20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive
with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
James 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass:
James 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what
manner of man he was.
James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he
being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
When we look at the life of King David we see that he also set his love upon God, God called David a man after God own heart, what a wonderful compliment God paid to King David and we know that God honoured and prospered David, in comparison to King Saul, who was not a man after God’s own heart. we knew through the seed of King David came the promise seed our wonderful Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Acts 13:16-23 16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.
18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
23 Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
David was a man after God’s own heart He wanted what the Father wanted and he done what the father asked of Him to do, we know King Saul lost rule as King because he did not listen to God and through fear of the people, he done his own thing. we cannot afford to do what others tell us, unless they are telling us what God wants, but better than that God wants us to be men and women after His own heart to find out what it is that He wants us to do and have to live, and we can know because God has given us His word the scriptures, this is our basement and rule of faith and practise, and God is also leading us by His spirit and wroking in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure, inspiring what to do and how to act and how to live and move and have our being.
We can see from Psalms 119, how David loved the word of the Lord, he says in
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
what a fantastic statement we can see by this statement of David that he observed to do by hiding the word in his heart so that he did not miss the mark. The whole of Psalms 119 show us importance to the word of God, God’s statues, His testimonies, His Judgement, His commandments and precepts and so on, take a look yourself at the whole of
Psalms 119:1- 176, there are 176 verse in this Psalm referring to the word of God, Gods statues, commandments and judgements, and testimonies and precepts.
How did Jesus Christ Set His love upon God?
John 8:28-29 28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
Jesus always done the things that pleased God, and spoke the things the Father had taught him.
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Jesus never sought his own will to do his own thing what he thought was right, but he sought the will of the father, He sought Gods direction.
John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work.
Jesus focus was to do the will of Him (God) that sent him and finish his work.
John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Jesus glorified the Father by keeping God first, speaking the Words that the father told him to speak and finishing the work, God gave Him to do.
God was able to reconcile men and women back to God through the obedient of His son Jesus Christ who set His love upon God by follow exactly what the Father showed to Him, and He spoke what the Father showed Him to speak,
Matthew 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and,
lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,
and lighting upon him:
Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The Father was well pleased with His beloved son, Jesus had set his love upon the father to always do those things that pleased God. Jesus Christ was tempted in all things like as we are yet without missing the mark Hebrews 4:15 He passed everything that was asked of Him to do.
Philppians 2:5-13 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Jesus Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross. He humbled himself because he had set his love upon God, He became obedient because he set his love upon God, He always did the things that please God because he set his love upon God, he always spoke what the father put into his heart because he set his love upon, he finished his work because he set his love upon God, he endured the pain and suffering and humiliation because he set his love upon God, he humbled himself because he set his love upon God.
We also know that God our father is faithful and true concerning his promise.
Psalms 91:14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set
him on high, because he hath known my name.
Psalms 91:15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I
will deliver him, and honour him.
Psalms 91:16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
We know from the word of God, that God delivered his son and honoured him and seated
him on his right hand, and given him a name which is above every name. and all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head of the body of Christ, which is his body, the
fullness of him that fills all in all Ephesians 1:22-23
We can see by some of these Scriptures what it means to set our love upon God. if we follow
these wonderful examples from God’s written word, and lives of those like King David and
Jesus Christ being our ultimate example, we will walk mightily on this earth with the Father
being shinning lights in this world walking in the love and power of God, showing the
goodness of God to others through our walk before God and men. God will able to
accomplish great things by us because we seek to do his will and speak the things he wants us
to declare.
Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.
A good place to start is to recognise that you are a new creation in Christ you have the new
man of Christ in you the hope of glory. Now we are born again we are to walk in the new man
nature of Christ in You. Which is to walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death?
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life.
Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be
also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Romans 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Romans 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no
more dominion over him.
Romans6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God.
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God wants us to walk in the newness of life, in the new man, the old man has been crucified
with Christ, God wants us to reckon our old man the person we were before we became born
again and with all its faults, God wants us to reckon it dead and to live and walk in our new man nature.
2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he (Christ) died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
So to set our love upon God is to seek His will and word to us to know who we are now in Christ, we are born again and to begin to live these truths, confess this truths, to be witness of the truth and declare His word and Christ to the World. Let God be your first love and top priority, not with a head knowledge but in our practise. being doers of the word not hearers only, many people think because they know the scriptures that is enough, well it is not enough just to know bible verses, God wants us to take His truth to our hearts apply them in our daily living, prove the word of God in our own lives and reach out to others with His love.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Let us be those living sacrifices holy acceptable unto God in our living and confession and service to God and Man, this is our reasonable service based upon God mercies to us. and we do this by keeping Gods word in our hearts and mind and living out these truths in our lives.
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Much love
Laurence xx
About Author
Yea and amen …. And if at times it gets tough remember our “light” ( try to think of whatever “it” is as LIGHT) affliction is but for a MOMENT. In the BIG PICTURE we have already won. When we continue to look at THAT hard times are easier!!! Thank you Laur!! 💝💝💝 Ann
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beautiful teaching Laur! Ugandan believers are listening to them also…the Word over the World.
Besos from Africa!