Divine Jealousy: Cultivating Exclusive Love for God

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God desires it and our spirit in our heart, we have no place for anyone or anything other than him. This is what it means to seek the kingdom of God first. A lot of people think when Jesus said you must seek the kingdom of God first, it means doing missionary work or going preaching or something like that. We always think in terms of activity. [00:03:39]

What he desires is my spirit, and if in my spirit I do not give him exclusive total authority and place in my life, I'm not a good bride and close to being a harlot, however much I may do for the Lord, however much I may serve him, even if I go for 10,000 meetings, he's not interested. [00:05:25]

The New Covenant emphasizes internal devotion over external achievements. Our victory over sin and spiritual gifts are secondary to our love for Christ. The true mark of a believer is their internal devotion to Jesus. This is the essence of being the Bride of Christ, where our spirit is reserved for Him alone. [00:06:22]

Paul uses that word jealousy again, the same word that God is just for our spirit. Paul uses it in 2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 2. He's writing to the Corinthians. They were believers. In fact, they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. They were speaking in tongues. They had so many gifts. [00:10:06]

A true servant of God, the reason why he preaches God's Word to God's people is for no other reason but ultimately and primarily that one day he might present those people whom he has ministered to to the Lord Jesus and say, Lord, here is a virgin who never fooled around with others, no harlotry here. [00:11:14]

I want a church where every single person will love you fervently, but there is no question in their mind that Christ is the one they love with all their heart, and the voice of parents and the voice of wife and children has no influence on them. Christ is Lord, and they have heard Christ. [00:12:01]

The Holy Spirit has come to the earth to find a bride for Christ, and if I am in faith with the Holy Spirit, I believe my primary passion would be not to be a good preacher, not at all. My primary passion will be to find a bride for my Savior. [00:16:41]

I want to ask each of you listening to me right now, please be honest and tell yourself, ask yourself, is there anything on earth or anyone on earth who takes precedence over Christ in your life? Does your job ever take precedence? I'm not talking about the number of hours you spend. [00:21:19]

God's ultimate purpose in this universe is described in that words: Christ must have first place in everything, and we'll discover that when we get into eternity and he's standing. You read in the book of Revelation that they all sing worthy is the lamb. He alone is worthy. [00:24:28]

I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, pursue this, and the way to do it is, I believe, as I've often said, there are two things that have helped me to increase in my love for Jesus Christ. One is the well-known verse in 1 John 4, which says we love him because he first loved us. [00:31:30]

The main reason many people do not love Christ wholeheartedly is because they have not understood how much he loved them, and one day when Christ comes back and we stand before him, the thing that he overwhelms us is when you see how much he loved us and said, Wow. [00:33:52]

Let's satisfy God's heart. He jealously desires our spirit. He jealously desires our heart, and let's give him a whole heart completely. Then there'll be no place in a case from today onwards. Lord, help us. You really need the part of the Holy Spirit for this. [00:37:58]

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