I love being bilingual . . . I can do Thanksgiving in two languages . . . Canadian and American . . . gotta’ love it. Sleep in a bit . . . move around a little slower in the morning . . . linger a little longer over the Word and the One from whom all blessings flow. How good is our God? Really good! Amen? Not just in the easy times . . . but in the not so easy, as well . . . He is always good . . . always faithful . . . and this morning He gave me a command to obey which is a delight and a joy . . .

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.   (Jude 20, 21 ESV)

“Keep yourselves in the love of God” . . . how’s that for a command to obey? Who’s in?

Guard . . . take care of . . . attend to carefully . . . your position enveloped in the agape of Theos ! Ok, I will! . . . how?

It’s right there . . . build . . . pray . . . wait.

I keep myself in the love of God when I’m attending to building up my most holy faith. How do I do that? Feed on His word, saint. It is the word of the life . . . it is the food of the faithful . . . it is the living, inspired, Word of God. To be be built up in the things of God requires feeding on the food of God. Consistently being in the Word keeps things fresh . . . keeps things real . . . and, my experience has been, keeps things growing. The Book is a dynamic, living Book. Not that it changes . . . not that is means something different today than yesterday . . . but that it contains the mind of God. And if “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9) . . . then why would it be surprising that we cannot tap the depths of His revealed Word in this lifetime (or because the next) . . . why would we not expect that as long as we continue feeding and drinking on the Word that the Word will satisfy and that we will be built up in our most holy faith?

Secondly, in order to keep myself in the love of God, I am to be praying in the Holy Spirit. Mine is to, by His grace, cultivate ears to hear the voice the Spirit . . . and to walk in the Spirit . . . that my prayers might be orchestrated by the Spirit. The God of heaven living in me through His Spirit would have my heart tuned to the things of heaven . . . and His ways on earth . . . such that when I pray, I’m not the one leading the dance, but instead following the lead of the Spirit infused within me . . . that when I pray, I pray according to His will . . . that when I pray, I desire His glory alone.

So . . .I build up my faith through the Father’s abiding Word . . . I engage with heaven as I pray in the Spirit’s enabling power . . . and lastly, according to Jude, I anticipate the ultimate outpouring of mercy as I wait for the Son’s imminent return. Jesus is coming soon. As I get older that I may know His coming through “the valley” or might witness it as He comes in “the sky” doesn’t really matter . . . it’s getting closer. That’s the “home run” for me . . . to know in a raised, immortal body the full experience of the eternal life I know possess by faith. To be translated from this corrupted foreshadow of all the Creator desires for His creation and be delivered in a place, and before a Person, that will be my delight for eternity. How does not anticipating the prize not keep us in the love of God?

Keep yourselves in the love of God! Keep building up your faith through My blessed Word . . . keep yourself aligned to who you are in Christ as you pray in My Holy Spirit . . . keep your eye focused on the hope before you when you will behold My blessed Son! Yes, LORD . . . and again, Yes!!!

Don’t you love being in the love of God?