A devotional study by bestselling novelist and devotional writer Michael Phillips, identifying 120 commands of Jesus from the gospels.
Jesus often introduces the subject of obedience with the tiny but eternally significant word "If". He recognizes that there are always two paths—obedience and disobedience. He commands obedience. But many will not obey. This obedience is a natural outgrowth of love:
-If you love me you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)-He who has my commands and keeps them, he it is who loves me. (John 14:21)-If a man loves me, he will keep my word. (John 14:23)-You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Jesus is well aware of the games people play with spiritual things. He wants none to mistake what it means to be his followe. Many will claim to love him. Many will pretend to love him. Many will talk about loving him. Many will analyze what it means to love him. However, a Christian is distinguished and defined by one—and only one—thing: Obedience.
Obedience to the Commands of Jesus is a daily, moment-by-moment choice. We make it over and over. We are continually making it. It is a progressive and ongoing choice that defines what it means to love Jesus and be his follower.
Most of us want to know God more intimately. But are we willing to boldly face the challenge of what that means? Are we truly willing to pray a prayer that may be dangerous in ways we cannot anticipate? Are we willing to ask God to make us like Jesus?Author Michael Phillips shares from his own life how he has learned to take up that challenge. Then he examines key decisions in the life of Jesus Christ that illuminate what it means for each of us to be conformed to the image of God’s son—to love like Jesus, think like him, pray like him, and trust the Father like him.If status-quo spirituality is for you, do not read this book. It is a dangerous book—dangerous to the flesh—for the journey toward Christlikeness may be painful and costly. Yet that journey leads to the ultimate purpose God intends for all his children: conformity to the image of his son.