What Does the Lord Require? – Part 3

Michael continues:

In a fallen world where people call evil good and good evil, the devil will take the truth of the Word of God and twist it to his purpose. The Bible says, For the thief (the devil) comes not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy. However, Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  

What does the Lord require of thee? What are God’s requirements? Men and women think that success is tied to performance. God has the authority to claim that which He requires. For it is He that has made us, created procreation, and not we ourselves. Before we can approach a holy God, the requirement is that we come to Him with a broken and a repentant heart. The Bible says that because of sin in our lives, “For in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.” We have to repent and accept Christ as Savior and Lord. To approach the throne of God, we must forsake our pride. If God has to break our hearts in order to approach him, then thank him for breaking our hearts knowing that forgiveness, salvation and restoration of relationship is there.

There are three things that God requires of us in order to approach Him. The first is to do justly. To justify is to “make right”. Apart from Jesus Christ there is no justification, because only He died for our sins. The Bible says, “For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.” To do justly is to live in the righteousness of Christ.  

God’s second requirement is to love mercy. The nature of God himself is loving kindness and tender mercy. The love of God is the motive behind the actions to activate the Spirit of God in Christ in us. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but believing faith that worketh in love.

The third and final requirement is to walk humbly with thy God. Humility means to forsake my own pride. My prayer is not to conform God’s will with my will, but to conform my will with His will and my heart with His heart. When we deliberately keep our hearts in proximity with our Lord Jesus Christ, walking in the light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The abundant life is to walk humbly with thy God.

To return to the Lord, we as individuals, and as nations, must forsake our pride, humble ourselves, pray, and turn from our wicked ways. Look to the ways of God. Then when we approach our Lord with a broken heart of humility and meekness, we will hear from heaven and God will hear our prayer and heal our land, that we might walk in fellowship with our Father and with our Lord Jesus Christ in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? That we may live our lives to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael