Are holy mandates called Goddates? No, maybe not, but they warrant that God level of importance, so mandates does not seem convicting enough! These are EDICTS from GOD!! He is clear. He is not wishy-washy. He is right, and we are not unless we are following His lead. Getting Jesus to take the wheel is not giving up, it is giving in! When we give up, we don’t want to proceed. When we give in, we admit, we need Him!
We have the everlasting Word as the Eternal Soul’s Playbook. Even in heaven, we will continue to learn about His dominion and grace. Tell THAT to your non-believing friends!
Biblical Instructions
7 Holy Mandates
1. GLorify God
What does it mean to glorify God? To weave Him into every thread of our lives. Not just the fabric but each and every fiber of every thread, that makes up that fabric that transforms into artistic expression in some form or other. We are created in His image. Like Him, we are creative beings. When we fill ourselves with Him, we blossom into our Holy Spirit selves. This is where the glorification of God becomes like breathing. He is in every breath. He is every step. Every heartbeat. We are His and once we surrender, He will complete us.
To glorify God is to thank Him for every blessing and see ALL the blessings. Repent every unholy thought, word or deed. Rip ourselves up as He did for us when we are not good in His grace and thank Him for letting us try again. Live on our knees, clinging to the hem. All of our laughs are from Him. All of our joy and love is from Him. He shines on us and makes us whole. Our devotion is glory to our Maker. Everything we do should be in honor and of glory to Him.
To glorify God is also to pronounce His glory to others, especially the lost. We are to exalt His name and testify as to His worthiness and holiness. We are to make Him known to every soul! We are to help Him shepherd His peoples to Him!
1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Isaiah 43:7
everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
Revelation 4:11
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.
2. Love and Obey God
Most of us would agree that loving God is easier than obeying Him. The trust and obey part is a bit harder to accomplish. Loving God the way He loves us is almost impossible. For Christians, we disconnect love from God at all. God is LOVE and He makes that very clear.
Why does an atheist not feel love from God? Does it stem from not having enough foundational love to feel safe? Is there spiritual warfare at play? Why don’t we all get God? It is not Him not choosing, it’s us. In order to open spiritual exploration and God ideas, we have to start with LOVE. That is the bottom line. They’ll know we are Christians by our love. It don’t get louder than that!
Being His means obeying and trusting. Seeking His face, His will and His ways are clear cut paths to worshipping Him, glorifying Him and staying in His light. Trusting His will and ways are better than ours is freedom. Let go of the worry cuz He carries the weary. Obedience is a blessing.
Matthew 22:37
Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
John 14:15
If you love me, keep my commands.
3. Worship God
Worship is Glorify’s quiet cousin. Yes, the quiet one! Worship is something we do intimately with God. Even the loudest worship songs are done for and with an audience of believers so they can worship and glorify Him with explosive passion.
We worship God in prayer, serving, singing, tithing, digesting the word, being obedient, giving thanks, repenting. So many flavors of worship. Worship is a posture and an attitude. It’s a soul state of reverence and generosity. We are to live in worship to glorify His name!
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Psalms 95:6
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe
4. Reflect His Image
Reflecting His image is such a magnanimous order! He is so holy and we are so broken! But, He modeled our lives in Jesus and showed us how good a human CAN be, so we need to constantly strive to do better.
He created us in His image and then wants us to be like Him! He made His presence evident but did not force us to choose Him. But He chose US! To reflect His image, we MUST choose Him! Tell that to your friends! He gives us free will because He wants us to choose Him. Once we choose Him, we must sanctify. We must let our old selves die and be reborn with His spirit. If we do not, we will not prosper. Our spirit will wither.
He does NOT give up on us. We must be like Him. We must not give up on ourselves or all others. We all must be saved by Him! He is our shepherd. Once we become His, we become shepherds too. Now go out there! Herd the sheep and reflect His image!
Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female, he created them.
Ephesians 4:24
and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Colossians 3:10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
5. Steward His Creation
God has entrusted us to tend to His kingdom here on earth. Yes, this is His kingdom. He holds dominion over all of creation. How great is man preserving its own life force, this precious earth? Are we good stewards?
We must treat time, space, energy and the earth as precious. Holy and precious. All that we expend should be in honor and with respect to His authority. We must mind our ways and live to sustain a healthy planet. Mankind is God’s earth tender. We are to treat everything living thing (flora and fauna) with His grace.
John 3:16
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Psalms 8:6-8
You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
6. Love and Serve Others
We need to live with God goggles on. See people the way He sees them, serve people the way He serves us, shine light on people they way He shines light on us.
Loving someone is spreading His light. Serving someone is showing His love. If we all lived with the lens of His truth, we would shed the world of evil. Sadly, evil is not easily extracted, but staying focused on Him can be simple and a lighter burden than not doing so. Fill your whole self with the Holy Spirit, there will be no room left for the enemy.
Love the way He loves. Serve the way He serves. When you cannot see His ways, bury your head in the Good Book. His wisdom will rise and root you further in Him.
Matthew 22:39b
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 25:35, 40
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…
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.’
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
7. Seek God and Eternal Life
Seek Him and everything else will fall into place. We are created by a spirit. We embody a spirit. We have the free will to chose our destiny. Do we want a life void of holiness and transformational love? Do we want our loved ones to live in this dark void?
Why the God ways? Gratitude is prayers already answered, repentance is required for the forgiveness of sins. Death to self is freedom. His ways are always better than our ways. His grace is abundant. Not to mention, He offers eternal life. So there’s that too!
The here and now is the test. The choice is before us and we are to chose. A God led life with a never ending playbook of divine instructions, or wondering and wandering for the rest of this life not having any idea why we are here. Let’s help our lost sheep figure it out.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Acts 17:27
God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
Romans 2:7
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
