Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
The Divine Paradox: How Love and Obedience Create True Freedom
What happens when your feelings and God's commands seem to pull you in opposite directions?
The wild horses of our emotions—sometimes beautiful, sometimes destructive—need a steady rider to guide them. Without this guidance, we make decisions we later regret, especially when hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. That's why Jesus' words in John 13-17 offer such profound wisdom: "If you love me, obey my commands."
This seemingly simple statement reveals a profound truth about authentic spirituality. Love and obedience aren't opposing forces but natural companions. When we genuinely love someone, our actions align with what matters to them—not from obligation but from relationship. God's commands to love Him and our neighbors become not burdens but opportunities to express our transformed hearts.
I learned this lesson through my four-year-old son and a hostile neighbor. Despite my careful attempts at friendship, this woman across the street responded only with contempt. Then my young son, innocent and unaware of adult complexities, simply walked over and started a conversation. His childlike approach melted her defenses instantly. Sometimes the most profound spiritual truths are demonstrated through the simplest actions.
The beautiful paradox is that while we don't base our decisions solely on feelings, our obedience ultimately transforms our emotional landscape. As we live aligned with God's commands, empowered by His Spirit rather than our limited abilities, our feelings begin to follow. We experience the joy, peace and love that come not from chasing emotions but from walking in divine truth.
Have you experienced this transformation? How might your relationships change if you approached difficult people with childlike simplicity rather than sophisticated strategies? Join us in exploring how love and obedience create the framework for a truly fulfilling spiritual journey.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
if I were to live my life by my feelings alone, sometimes it would be absolutely incredible, because my feelings are so they're rich. I can have a feeling of love, joy, peace. They'd be some of the best feelings that I know of, and when that happens it's really enjoyable to live that out. However, feelings alone are not a dependable guide for a person's life. It's kind of like having horses and a carriage, and if the horses don't have a bridle and a rider on the carriage, periodically they can go all over the place, like my feelings, because my feelings, even though sometimes they are incredible, there are other times where they're not. They're feelings and I feel angry, upset, depressed, confused, and those feelings. To base one's life on those feelings, feelings, is really not a wise thing. In fact, there's an acronym called HALT, h-a-l-t, and if you're hungry, angry, lonely or tired, your feelings are really affected by that and it's not wise to make choices, major choices, in life when you're feeling hungry, angry, lonely or tired. It's time to halt, time to stop and really find a basis for making decisions, and I have found the best basis for me, making decisions in my life is literally the Word of God, specifically the written Word of God, the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, made up in what's known as the Bible, old and New Testament made up in what's known as the Bible, and we've said it several times on this podcast and I'll say it again that, unapologetically, we base this whole podcast on the foundation of the Scriptures, that the Scriptures are the written Word of God, and the anchor point that I've been finding myself looking at again in the New Testament is found in the book of John, the gospel of John, john, chapters 13 through 17. John, john, chapters 13 through 17. It's known as the upper room discourse or the red letter portion of the Bible. If you have a Bible that has the words of Jesus in red. These chapters contain the most read letters throughout the New Testament, because it's really a time where Jesus is bearing his heart to his disciples just prior to his crucifixion, just prior to his crucifixion, and the things that he's pouring out of his heart. I mean it's almost unbelievable, but we actually have a written record of what he said, the very words of Jesus, the Son of God, god the Son speaking. Words of Jesus, the Son of God, god the Son speaking, and we have a record of it. I mean, if there's any foundation for you to build your life on, it's on the rock, and Jesus is the rock and his word that comes from him is solid as that rock. And so there's a statement that Jesus makes while he's talking to his disciples and he said if you love me, obey my commands. Interesting Love and obedience, they wouldn't necessarily be two things that I would put together, but Jesus pairs them up and when you really look at it, it's so powerful Because love is the basis within which God does everything.
Speaker 1:John, in writing this portion of the scriptures down, also wrote a few of the letters, and in one of his letters he said Beloved, let us love one another, for love is God. God is love. And some say well, you know that means that love is God. No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean the love of God is God, but not everything that's called love is love.
Speaker 1:Right, in our talking about love, we have a variety of different slants on it. You know you can love a type of food that you eat, you can love to go somewhere. There's a variety of shades of love. You can love a friend or you can love your spouse a different level of it, right. And so love, in our language, is not God, but God is love, perfect love and perfect love interestingly enough, also perfect love casts out all fear.
Speaker 1:Fear, being afraid of life's situations and love don't coexist. It's like you can only really think about one thing, focus on one thing at a time. About one thing. Focus on one thing at a time. Well, you either have fear or you can have love. The love of God and perfect love casts out all fear. That's so powerful. But Jesus said if you love me, then obey my commands or obey my teachings, obey what comes from my heart, from my mouth. And that's exactly right, because love is demonstrated best through action and our genuine love for Jesus is expressed through actions. If we love God, then our life will reflect that love by aligning with his instructions. I mean, it only makes sense.
Speaker 1:My wife doesn't go around commanding me to do things, but she'll say, dave, would you do this? And because it's in her heart, I do it, because I love her. I don't always feel like doing it right, that whole thing of feelings, but when I do feel like that man, that's like bonus man. But when we put action to our love, something happens, because Jesus gives certain commands that are not necessarily easy, and one of those commands is loving your neighbor as yourself. Now, on the surface that sounds like yeah, right, exactly. But man, people are people and neighbors are people and people do people things. And sometimes the things that people do, myself included, irritate, we irritate one another.
Speaker 1:And Jesus commands us or, better yet, the full Godhead, god, the Father, son, holy Spirit, god commands us to love our neighbor. And there's another command to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Right, there's two commands. There's two commands, and the reason that they are commands is because they're not negotiable and sometimes they're absolutely hard, and I've even found it sometimes hard. I'm being very, very, very honest. I found it hard to swallow some of the things that God says and to love him. Because of that, I've had to work some things through with him, but I found that God has very broad shoulders and he loves honesty because it's a relationship. I'm not a robot. I have a mind, I have a will, I have emotions, and so there are things that sometimes I got to wrestle with right, we all do, and love and commands and obedience sometimes it's a deal. And the neighbor thing. Back to that, the neighbor thing.
Speaker 1:Sometimes our neighbor can be an enemy. I had one one time and I was a pastor in Minneapolis, minnesota, and I had a neighbor who absolutely despised me and my family, reasons being I don't know. I think it was a result of her woundedness actually, but she was like an enemy. And man, I'm commanded to love my neighbor and to love my enemies. And so how do I do this man? I tried waving at her, happened to be a female, tried waving at her. Nothing. She'd see me come out of the house, she'd go in the house or she would fire insults our way. I'm not an enemy, I'm not talking about being persecuted physically but, man, it was hard living in that type of close community environment, living in that type of close community environment.
Speaker 1:And you know what really broke into the whole enemy thing? It was my youngest son. He was about four years old. He innocently walked over. They lived right across the street from us. He walked over and he started having a conversation with this lady and you know what it melted her heart. He demonstrated love, in a way that it disarmed her and I learned something about that.
Speaker 1:I learned that it's not always, you know, putting together a big gift package and giving it to somebody, but sometimes it's the simplicity and childlike demonstration of love that can break into the situation and thus we live out the if you love me, obey my commands. It's focusing on loving God and our neighbor. The commands that Jesus refers to often involve loving God with all of our heart, as I said, and our soul, our mind, and loving our neighbor as ourself, and it brings joy to God. When we do this and then, as we do that, interesting enough, our feelings are affected because our feelings are based upon what we believe. Some people can look at a snake and they can say, ah, terrible, because they believe things about it. Another person can look at the snake and say that's so beautiful. Look at the different way that the colors shine on the snake when it goes through the shadow and the sun hits it. They see beauty in it Because they believe something about the snake. Well, when we experience something different because we obey God, our belief system can be impacted and we start feeling things that are different.
Speaker 1:We don't operate by our feelings, but nonetheless, our feelings are affected because we are a feeling, people and feelings are important. Some people downplay feelings and I think that's unfortunate. I think also it's unfortunate some people elevate feelings too high. But feelings are important. I love having feelings. I'm a feeling person and so I have to be careful that I'm not ruled by my feelings. But also I also need to be careful that people don't put it down or put me down because I have feelings and then I kind of take offense at that. Need to be careful that people don't put it down or put me down because I have feelings and then I kind of take offense at that.
Speaker 1:Also, obedience is not a burdensome duty but a natural response that stems from a heartfelt love for Christ. It's not about earning our salvation through good works, but demonstrating our transformed heart and a desire to please the one who loved us first. May I say that's so important. He sought me out. I didn't go looking for him. He came looking for me. He loved me first. He loved me into the kingdom of God. I got loved in Holy Spirit, loved me into a relationship with Jesus. Jesus loved me into a relationship with the Father. He loved me into the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:So love first comes from him and there's a transformation that comes into our lives and the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life that reflects the love for Christ and to obey his commands. See, we don't just have to do it on our own power. We're empowered to do this, to live this out, because some of it is absolutely beyond us, and I want to live that type of life. I've said it before I want to do things that are doomed to failure unless God is in them. I want them to be beyond me. I know what I can do and I know what we can do as people, and some of these things are really good, but in comparison to what God can do and what he does, they pale in comparison. They pale in comparison, and I want to live like Jesus, walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, be in a place where the kingdom of God is demonstrated not just in word but in power, the power of God, and it comes through love.
Speaker 1:Love is the driving force of God's power, not just brute force and bravado. It's love. His love conquers, his love never fails, his love is the creative power of creation and love. This is meant to be a lovely planet demonstrating God's love the colors, the textures, the smell. Love Jesus said this is my command. Love, jesus said this is my command that you love one another. Wow, and again. Sometimes that's not a problem at all, and other times, we all know it, it's a challenge, and that's why it's so good to know that we are empowered. We have a divine life within us that can do divine things. God's love can love God's way and his spirit. Holy Spirit, is in us.
Speaker 1:If we believe that Jesus is who he said and says he is, if we place our faith and trust in Jesus in the work that he did not in the works that we have tried, but in the work that he accomplished. Not in the works that we have tried, but in the work that he accomplished on our behalf Things that we couldn't do, like breaking the barrier of sin and death, overcoming that. Only a perfect man could do that and then a perfect sacrifice would be acceptable on our behalf, and that is Jesus Christ on our behalf. And that is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Begotten, not made and not made up. He came from God and God comes from God. It's like man comes from man. God comes from God, and placing our belief in him causes us to experience what's known as covenant, and covenant means what's mine is yours, what's yours is mine A divine exchange, a life, taking the sin and death life and nailing it to the cross and imparting to us his divine life and nature, which empowers us to love like he loves.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, let's pray. Father, I thank you, I thank you, I thank you. I thank you for sending us your son, jesus. Thank you for coming, living, dying. Your resurrection, your ascension. Your soon coming again. Thank you for resurrection, your ascension, your soon coming again. Thank you for doing what you've done and then not leaving us as orphans, but you've sent us one, just like you. Holy Spirit, thank you for being here in the name of Jesus. We receive you in all that you do and we look to grow in our response to you so we can become more and more like Jesus and function for the glory of the Father. And we stand here, just like Jesus and we say amen, amen, amen, in his name, amen, all right, alright, folks, I love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire, at gmailcom, or type in lifearoundthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime. God bless you. Adios amigos.