For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer. Hebrews 4:12-13.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Why do you do the things you do?
I don’t just look at your outer appearance, I look at the heart. And I discern the thoughts and motives of your heart. And your motive behind your actions is what determines your reward.
Consider your ways, your days, your years—why are you doing what you are doing? And what are you thinking? What is the motive behind your actions?
When Jesus was asked what were the most important of the commandments, Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31. Jesus kept all the commandments perfectly, so you know that these were the motivation behind what He did. I was with Jesus and He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil. He came to undo the works of the devil.
These are what should be your motivation for all you do. Loving Me and loving others. But My servant Paul summed it up for you, you are living for the praise of My glory. Ephesians 1:14. That is your motivation. Peter had the same perspective, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9.
How do you live for the praise of My glory? Jesus told you. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16.
Jesus is the Light of the world. When you receive Him as Lord, He lights your lamp with fresh oil. “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the innermost parts.” I am searching the motives of your heart. When I searched the motives of the heart of Belshazzar, I told him, he had been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Daniel 5:27.
Your life is for the praise of My glory when your life gives Me glory. Jesus prayed to Me, “Father, glorify your Name!” John 12:28. But right before He prayed that, He told you, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me, and where I am there My servant will be also, if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:26. Jesus came to seek out and save the lost. He gave Me glory by completing the work I gave Him to do. John 17:4. He said, “I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work you have given Me to do.” And I tell you, “For you are My workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so you would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. I have prepared a beautiful life of good deeds for you in advance in Christ Jesus, and I am working in you to will and to do, you have only to work it out.
John the Baptist explained that he must decrease and I must increase in his life. Paul said that he no longer lived but he lived by faith in Jesus who loved him and gave Himself for him.
I am conforming you to the image of My Son so look at what He does and do likewise. Imitate Christ.
Look at how He prayed, for it is in prayer that the praise of My glory begins. You will first notice that He knew Me. No one knows the Father but the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. The prayers of one who knows Me are very different than the one who does not. As Jesus stood outside the tomb off Lazarus, He did not beg, plead, give Me convincing arguments of why I should do what He wanted done, no, He merely stated, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Out came the man who had died, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” John 11:42-44. Jesus came to undo the works of the devil.
He called Me “Father,” and He taught you to do the same. He called you friends because He had made clear to you what He was about, My affairs. And He had always been about them, He said the same at 12 years old when they found Him teaching the elders in the temple. What are you about? Is it seeking to promote the Kingdom? Or is it about you only?
You are to keep your lamp lit and burning ready. Aaron had to trim the wicks on the lamps on the golden lampstand every morning and evening and pour in fresh oil. Otherwise the wicks wandered and did not line up to shed their light towards the center lamp, the Servant lamp. Jesus, the true Light that enlightens every man. Your light should shine on Him so your works give glory to Me, your Father. The glory of a Father lies in his children. The glory of a king lies in his subjects. And My glory upon the earth lies in you.
What is the motive behind the actions you did today? Was it purposed or just habit? Was your heart filled with love or with bitterness as you served another? Were you listening to know what I was asking you to do today? Did you spend any time with Me?
Motives. My servant Paul found all else rubbish but to know Me. Do you feel like that? And he wrote, “If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. So if all means nothing if not done with a motive of love, what is love that sanctifies your actions? Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Faith, hope and love, but the greatest is love. I am love. And that should be the motive behind all you do: Me.
I love you and that is the motive behind all I do, My love for you.