GLORIFY THE MOST HOLY NAME

¹¹ Now on His way to Jerusalem, Y’shua traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.¹² As He was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Y’shua, Master, have pity on us!” ¹⁴ When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Y’shua’s feet and thanked Him—and he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Y’shua asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” LUKE 17

Has God blessed you financially? Is God taking care of your worries? Are you blessed with a hearty meal or a safe trip? with a pleasant weather? with a sound sleep? Are you blessed with merriment? with inner joy and gladness? with serenity? Are you blessed with a miracle? with healing? with enlightenment? with empowerment? Testify to God’s wonderful works!

Tell your neighbors about it. Edify them. Chances are your testimony would reverberate to reinforce wavering faiths.    

⁸ Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord. 2 TIMOTHY 1

God-worshipers can’t help it. When joy and gladness are overflowing and feasting in the heart, spontaneous praise springs forth.

⁷ For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid. 2 TIMOTHY 1 tev

Use your power of the spoken word to express gratefulness to the source of your blessings.

⁴ Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted. ³ Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let it be known to all the world. ISAIAH 12

Y’shua asked His disciples, “Do you know of a poor man who had been invited to eat at the king’s palace?” John answered, “Rabbi, I had eaten bread at the palace. I used to sell fish to Herod’s family. One day while he was feasting, I brought him a fine fish and he made me recline and feast with him.”

Y’shua said, “Tell us, John, how you behaved during the feast. Did you seek the seat of honor? Did you ask for the most delicate food? Did you speak when not asked to? Did you account yourself more worthy than the others at the table?” John answered, “Rabbi, no! The truth is, I did not dare lift my eyes, seeing myself a poor ill-clad fisherman seated with the king and his officials. When the king handed me a little piece of meat, I felt greatly honored that, had he been of our Law, I would have gladly served him the rest of my life!”

Y’shua said, “John, you ate at Herod’s table so that you might be our holy example on humility.” Then He turned to the disciples and said, “I tell you, your Father in heaven is the King of kings; and each of you has received from His hand more than a little piece of meat.” (Gospel of Barnabas, chapter 131)

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Y’shua the Messiah, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in the Messiah. ⁴ For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵ He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Y’shua the Messiah, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. EPHESIANS 1

⁹ You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 PETER 2

Say: “For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:8-9). 

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. PSALM 103 kjv

⁹ Hallowed be Your name. MATTHEW 6

⁹ May Your holy name be honored. MATTHEW 6 tev

Testify not to reassure and assuage God’s ego or insecurity, for God has no ego and no insecurity. Testify for love of neighbor.

One strategy of the demonic forces to win men over is to trap them in predicaments, make them suffer and feel hopeless; then they come and project themselves as the solution provider. You would not want anyone to fall for it, would you? Not especially your loved ones. So testify to the truth: that God is the real Solution Provider. Save everyone from being deceived.

³ Be aware that Adonai is God; it is He who made us; and we are His; His people, the flock in His pasture.  PSALM 100 cjb  

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. ¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. PSALM 145

Use your power of the spoken word to glorify the most holy name. Give honor and respect to whom it is due (Romans 13:7).

¹⁵ Therefore in the East give glory to the Lord, exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Isra’el, in the islands of the seas. ISAIAH 25

One of the Seventy-Two came home from mission work and said excitedly, “Rabbi, we healed so many people! We drove out demons!” Hearing this, Y’shua replied, “God forgive you, brother, for you have sinned in saying ‘We healed.’ It was your Father in heaven who did the healing and who drove out the demons. Let us not appropriate to ourselves the glory that belongs to God. In every righteous work testify that God made it possible and in every wicked work confess that you have sinned. Should the axe and not its master boast at having cut down the trees in the forest? Slaves deserve no glory for doing their master’s will. Alas to men who extol themselves, not God.” (cf. Gospel of Barnabas)

¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” LUKE 17

Bless God with all your strength. Say: “Lord, all that we have accomplished You have done for us” (Isaiah 26:12).

¹⁸ Be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹ Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Y’shua the Messiah. EPHESIANS 5

¹ Come, let us praise the Lord! Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us! ² Let us come before Him, with thanksgiving and sing joyful songs of praise. ³ For the Lord is a mighty God, a mighty King over all the gods. PSALM 95

² Sing to Him, sing praise to Him, tell of all His wonderful acts. ³ Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. ⁴ Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. PSALM 105

David was a king, with a stature greater than any of us, yet he leapt and danced before God with great rejoicing and with “all his might” (2 Samuels 6:14).

³⁰ Exert all your strength when you exalt Him, do not grow tired—you will never come to the end.  ECCLESIASTICUS 43

¹ Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. PSALM 47 

³ Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet; praise Him with the harp and lyre; ⁴ praise Him with tambourine and dancing. PSALM 150 

Bless God all the time.

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. PSALM 34 amp

¹⁵ Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name. HEBREWS 13

GOD AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS, NOT GOOD WORKS

You may not see Him doing it but as we do something… as we contemplate on doing something… as we open our mouths to say something… God is beside us looking at our hearts. “God is looking for a heart of worship, a heart of servitude,” says Our Daily Bread. “At the heart of worship should be worship from the heart.”

⁷ The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 SAMUEL 16 nlt

³ The Lord tests the heart. PROVERBS 17 

² …Motives are weighed by the Lord. PROVERBS 16

What matters to God is not what we do but why we do it. It’s not what we say but why we say it. It’s not the act He’s after, but our intention or motive for the act (Proverbs 21:2, 20:27). And what motive is pleasing to God?

¹⁴ Most of all, let love guide your life. COLOSSIANS 3 tlb

¹⁴ Do everything in love. 1 CORINTHIANS 16

LOVE distinguishes righteousness from goodness. What is the difference between the two? Righteousness is good thought, good work or good word propelled by love. Goodness is good thought, good work or good word NOT propelled by love.

Throughout the Scripture, God calls for righteousness—not really for goodness. Righteousness is what makes a child of God, what sets him apart from the rest of humanity.

³⁴ Awake to righteousness. 1 CORINTHIANS 15 nkjv

⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. MATTHEW 5

¹¹ [Be] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Y’shua the Messiah—to the glory and praise of God. PHILIPPIANS 1

¹² Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. HOSEA 10 nlt

Lucifer is capable of doing goodness but not righteousness. When he does something good, his motive cannot be LOVE. For there is neither love of God nor love of man in him. He lost it even before the creation of man. The motive behind his good works is selfishness. Our good works if not propelled by LOVE may be no different to the good works of Lucifer.

¹⁰ In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither is he that loveth not his brother. 1 JOHN 3 kjv

It has been made known what fate awaits those who do good works but not for LOVE.

²² Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!” MATTHEW 7

The papal bull Cantate Domino claims that only Roman Catholics would enter the kingdom of God. The Iglesia ni Kristo claims that only its church members would. Sad to say, corporate affiliation will not carry anyone to the kingdom; only righteousness will.  

⁸ [The Lord] will judge the world in righteousness. PSALM 9

¹¹ God is a righteous judge. PSALM 7

The popular belief is that doing good works and refraining from doing evil are enough to get us to the kingdom. Sad to say, that is a satanic teaching. To those who live by this understanding, the Lord would say:

⁴² I know you. I know that you do not have love of God in your hearts. JOHN 5

When we fall in love, we learn the things that please our loved one and do them. We court his or her pleasure and company, and do it with joy and gladness, even with long-suffering if needed. If this is how we profess love for a fellow mortal, how should we profess love for the Immortal One?

⁵ The Lord loves righteousness. PSALM 33

⁷ For the Lord is righteous. PSALM 11

Good works not motivated by LOVE make God unhappy; it does not please Him. King Amaziah did what he thought was pleasing in God’s sight but God was not pleased. Why?

² He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, but not wholeheartedly. 2 CHRONICLES 25 cjb

A person may be gifted by the Spirit of God, but if its use is not motivated by LOVE, then such use is not appreciated in heaven. It was this point that St. Paul wanted to emphasize when he wrote:

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 CORINTHIANS 13

Listen to the advice of King David to his son:

⁹ And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. 1 CHRONICLES 28 

LOVE should be preeminent in our every deed. In the Gospel of the Hebrews, Y’shua said to His disciples, “And never be joyful except when you look on your brother with LOVE."

¹³ Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy [LOVE], not sacrifice. MATTHEW 9

The teacher of the Law in Mark 12:28 remarked:

³² Well said, teacher. You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but Him. ³³ To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. ³⁴ When Y’shua saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” MARK 12

Lucifer removed the LOVE Commandment from the Ten-C. Why? Because if we are without it, the purpose for which we are created is defeated. The LOVE Commandment is the sun around which all the other commandments revolve. It tells us to do everything in LOVE. The other commandments tell us how.

⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments [love of God and love of neighbor]. MATTHEW 22

³¹ There is no other commandment greater than these. MARK 12

⁹ The commandments Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not covet, and whatever other commandment there may be are summed up in this one rule: Love your neighbor as yourself. ¹⁰ Love is the fulfillment of the Law. ROMANS 13 

Observance of the commandments must be motivated by LOVE. Having said that, none of these motives is acceptable to God:

§  To observe for the sake of obeying. Such observance is mechanical and lifeless.

§  To observe so as not to fall under the judgment and wrath of God. Such observance is motivated by fear. It is debased, a behavior fit only for animals.

§  To observe in order to be blessed with healing or prosperity or some other favor. Such observance is motivated by materialism and selfishness, which is most ungodly.

§  To observe so as to yield to peer or social pressure.

A Messianic group attends Sabbath services and does tithing because their lady employer requires them to. Stop tithing and from attending church if your motive in doing them is not love of God. Why? Because any act or sacrifice that is not meant for God is meant for somebody else. It does not please God. There is no spiritual gain whatsoever for you.

Tithing and attending church fellowships are called for religious acts. But religiosity with love of God missing in it is not righteousness at all but rather insipid and worthless do-nothing in God’s sight.

We check the fuel of our car before driving. We check our wallet before leaving the house. We must also make a habit of checking our motive before we do or say anything.

²³ Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. PROVERBS 4 nlt

Also check the righteousness of every one who poses as a God-worshiper, especially as a man of God. Many Christian churches and individuals have been duped because they did not check the posers for their righteousness. If LOVE is not the focal point of the poser’s words and actions, if there is inconsistency between them, then he is a pretender. Beware, for he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

¹ Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. 1 JOHN 4

¹⁶ By [their] fruits you shall recognize [them]. MATTHEW 7

³⁰ He who is not with Me is against Me. MATTHEW 12

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