Jesus said, I have overcome the world.
Let’s unpack that somewhat. I say somewhat because when Jesus says something, it’s always huge, so many parts to it, it means a lot of things all at once. Some things might be obvious to some and not to others, it’s always really big when Jesus says anything. It reminds you of other scriptures you know, other things in His word He has done, how He has worked with other people in The Bible, of situations in your own life. Perhaps you have seen Him work out situations in other people’s lives. Whatever He says means a lot of different things and a lot of similar things.

Maybe it’s because God’s word is alive…

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 WEB

First Jesus told us we might have peace.
We ‘might’ have it because it takes effort on our part to believe.
We can trust God in all things He has said and done.
That is our work.
To believe.
To believe on Him who He hath sent.

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God,
that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. John 6:29

Why do we have tribulation in the world?
It seems that is part of our life on Earth. It comes with the territory.
We are strangers here.
We do not quite fit in and our core is deeply rooted in the Heavenly realm.
We are waging war against the flesh to keep our mind on the Spirit.
That also is part of living on Earth.

Jesus said, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
It is up to us to find this in every difficult situation that we encounter.
Somehow, Jesus is there to help us overcome it.
That means, He has the answer, the remedy, the way to solve the problem.
We have to get the mind of Christ in us somehow,
cast down those vain imaginations,
and find what He is doing or how He is overcoming
or how He has already overcome whatever we are facing.

Living on Earth means we will encounter various battles.
Some could be because of some breach in our armor,
other times, it just is because it happens to be.
Daniel did nothing wrong when he got thrown into the lions’ den.
Elijah did nothing wrong when Jezebel was trying to kill him.
Keeping in close communion with Christ, staying at the foot of His throne, carrying that cross and denying ourselves is expected of us.
We want to make sure we are in His perfect will,
especially when we encounter trials.
So, checking with God is always a good thing to do.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:6

…even in the midst of trials.

With animals, things can happen.
Another cow once came for a visit but he was not my neighbor’s cow.
He just stood there, nearby wanting to get into see the other cows.
Maybe because he was a bull.
He had other motives.
He refused to leave and his owner had to come and take him home.

This morning, we had a short freezing rain storm.
There was thick freezing rain all over the windshield and the house and the road.
It was all over everything.
I had to go to work anyway.
So, I got to my cow neighbor’s pasture and there was a baby laying on its side.
It couldn’t get up. The mom was licking it and its legs were floundering.
The freezing rain was still drizzling and the baby was struggling.
I did see the baby stand, but I called the owner anyway.

He was glad I did because the baby had gotten a chill
and he had to warm her with a heater.
She was born just moments before I saw her.
All turned out well and the baby was sleeping on dry hay
when he checked on her later.

My neighbor does not know Jesus.
He has his thoughts of who He is, but Jesus is not important to him.
We have talked about the gospel before and I cannot say he rejected Jesus,
but he does have his own thoughts and is not quite open to different ones.

This reminded me to pray for him.
Here he is living his only life, a decent life, a good life,
that God is out there somewhere,
and my neighbor thinks he does not mean much to God.
He’s just a man, doing his best,
being kind and doing the right thing most of the time.
That is really what many people think of their lives.
They just believe it is enough to be good and honest
and work hard and be nice and help others.
Most people do not understand their need for a savior.

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things! Romans 10:15

Who sends the preachers? Who prospers our way in preaching the gospel?
None other than the Holy Spirit.
We can’t quite understand how or why He does,
but we know we need Him to go before us,
to prepare the way, to bless our efforts.
We know the Holy Spirit is the One who leads us and guides us and opens doors.
We must pray for our own efforts in the Lord, otherwise,
we might continue to have our words fall on rocky soil and deaf ears.
What if I had prayed more for my neighbor?
What if his heart had been prepared by the Lord when I had talked to him?
The results might’ve been different.

Let us be reminded to pray for all of those people we have in our life.
Not to leave one of them out and ask only for our own needs
or only those we love and care about.
God cares about each and every human more than we can comprehend.
If we pray that God prepares the way and blesses our efforts
and helps us to plant seeds that will cling to the soil, flourish, grow and bear fruit, our neighbors will have a better chance to receive the gospel.

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 1 Corinthians 3:6

Watch and Pray
Remember what matters
When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the Earth?
Do not forget like the Israelites did
Let faith be found in you
Belief along with the knowing that He will perform His word

Do not look back
Keep your hand on the plough
Remember Lot’s wife
Treasure nothing on this Earth
Our home is Heaven, more real than what we see
The natural elements rot and decay
Heaven is spiritual and is not made of dust

Read His word
Pray for His will
Keep your heart pure
Let Him wash you with His word
Concentrate on what He has accomplished in His word
Both the miracles and the every day, less obvious deeds
Jesus walks among us and is always there
He’s there for the asking, He’s there to keep us in check
He disciplines us as we need because He loves us

Never walk without Him,
thinking you can show Him how great you are
That will surely cause a fall
Stay humble, knowing He is on the horizon
and He will return just like He promised

Scriptural References:

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:62

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13

And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me,
to give every man according as his work shall be.
Revelation 22:12

I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Luke 18:8

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 3:19

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,
and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Deuteronomy 6:7-8

And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God,
who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
Judges 8:34

They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
Psalm 106:21

Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke 17:32

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.
John 13:8

For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
Hebrews 12:6

For all those things hath Mine hand made,
and all those things have been, saith the Lord:
but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at My word. Isaiah 66:2

Many warnings to follow. These are not all the warnings in His word.
He has many more. These are just a glimpse.
Take heart how resisting God can impede your walk with Christ.

There are some severe consequences that come with resisting God.
Resisting God can and does mean a lot of things.
We learn how important it is to love the truth in 2 Thessalonians 2:
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. v 10
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie: v 11
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness. v 12
First we see we must love the truth.
How does anyone receive a love for the truth?
Is that a choice? Is it humility? Is it taking Jesus at face value?
Accepting that Jesus is who He says He is
and that He did what God’s word says He did for all mankind.
That Jesus is the Risen Savior who advocates for us to God the Father.
If we refuse to love the truth of His word,
God Himself shall send a strong delusion.
Who wants God to send a strong delusion to you?
The end result?
That they will be damned because they had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Pleasure in unrighteousness can bring damnation.
Resisting God and insisting on our own way can lead us down a dark path.
God is always wanting people to repent. He is looking for repentance.
Jesus is always looking for those who want to follow Him whole-heartedly.

With these people, we see they cannot grasp the truth
and that their lusts lead them astray from God and His righteousness:
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses,
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:5-7

We cannot play with fire.
Touch not the unclean thing.
Make your choice.
Making a choice not to love the truth is also a choice.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind,
to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:28
God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Let’s look before this to find out why.
Why would God give them over to a reprobate mind?
It all seems to go back to the title, Resisting God.
Who changed the truth of God into a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1:25
Choosing their own way.
Not loving the truth, not submitting to God’s ways, not fearing the Lord.
Putting themselves above the word of God, they went their own way.

Sensitivity and humility before the Holy Spirit is imperative.
We can’t truly worship God without loving the truth.
But the hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. John 4:23
You want God to seek you?
God desires us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
No fakeness. No our way.
Putting aside our pride and our foolish ways of thinking,
in fear and humility, letting God be God and relishing in that fact.

Elon Musk has it rough.
Here he is always getting tongue-lashed by those who do not like what he does.
The attacks are non-stop.
Some say Elon Musk is the Antichrist.
Others say his 13th son is.
They hate him for loving Trump.
They hate him for this and for that.
He owns X and allows people on there to use the platform for free.
He gets no thanks from some of them
and there are many who treat him as a punching bag of sorts,
saying what they will without any respect.

I will say Elon Musk is instrumental in the setting up of the Beast System
and he should be watched very carefully with much discernment.
But this writing is not exactly about Elon Musk.
Mr. Musk’s comment reminded me of Our God, our Living God.
Mr. Musk said that here he owns X and a lot of people lambast him constantly.
The very people he has given a way to speak freely and they give him no thanks.

Imagine for a moment how God might feel on a much grander scale.
Greater than a free speech platform, He made humans and gave them
life and breath and even the ability to speak.
God made Heaven and Earth, the sea and the dry land
and all the stars in the sky and all the constellations
and the sun and the moon
and the depths of the ocean and the highest of mountains
and every creature that roams the hills.
For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. 1 Corinthians 10:26

For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:
And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Colossians 1:16-17
God made those things for His pleasure and for ours.

The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s:
but the earth hath He given to the children of men. Psalm 115::16
That does not mean we own the Earth.
God allows us to dwell here and do as we will.
Jesus is the ultimate Lord of all.
And, yet, most people spurn Him or ignore Him, or both.
Very few follow Jesus.
Here they are living and breathing because God gave them life
and they do not pay Him any mind whatsoever.

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God,
the earth also, with all that therein is. Deuteronomy 10:14

In fact, some of these earth-dwellers mock God and His Son
and refuse to give Him any appreciation for all He has done
and it gets much worse from there.
Some fight against Jesus and His people,
they tear apart His word and choose to follow other gods.
They say what they will without any fear or retribution, for now.
They refuse to follow His ways, they refuse to learn about Him.
They go about God’s green earth doing their own thing,
going their own way, making their own rules.
Furthermore, Elon Musk only hears what he hears.
Our God knows every single thought and intention of every single human.
Talk about ungratefulness.
What a slap in the face…until Jesus returns.

While that scripture tends to be considering the things of God’s Holy Spirit,
God wants us to give freely whatever we have been given from Him.
Even if we have worked for what you have,
if God prompts you about something, let it go.
Whatever we have been given, let us give.
Give, and it shall be given unto you;
good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,
shall men give into your bosom.
For with the same measure that ye mete
withal it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38

It is not loving the world and the things in it.
It is trusting the Lord that you can be generous with what He has given you.
If it is to the poor, the Lord will repay you.
When we see a directive with consequences like that written:
Give and it shall be given unto you,
It is a spiritual law. Give and you shall receive.
Maybe not the exact thing you gave, but something you need or even want.
Along the same lines as you sow what you reap.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly;
and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6

Remember the rich, young ruler?
He did all things well except he couldn’t part with his money and possessions.
I wonder if he made it.
Jesus never let us know.
Imagine holding material possessions
in a place higher than the honor of following The Messiah?
Have we ever done that?
Jesus did however say, if we love anything or anyone more than Him,
we are not worthy of Him.

He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me:
and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.
Matthew 10:37-38

Taking up our cross is representative of all the things of this world,
choosing the narrow road, that is not so easy to walk on,
and keeping Jesus and the Kingdom of God as the focus.

Do your best to give freely.
Do your best to hold things loosely.
It helps you to lose the importance of the thing or the person,
the idol, or whatever He is asking of you to set aside or leave behind.
Maybe it’s your time?
Maybe it’s your energy?
Maybe it’s your convenience?
Whatever it is, if you feel that nudge to give, give.

When you have a feast, do not invite those who can invite you back.
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luke 14:13

Give your love and your mercy, give your forgiveness,
give of the things that are difficult for you to give.
Jesus will reward you if you give as unto Him.
He will bless you and the funny thing is,
the more you give, the more you want to give
and the less important anything other than Jesus becomes to you.
You realize that you are walking in His shadow,
giving as unto Him and sharing as unto Him.
It becomes a God act, not a human act.

Partial List here and there are many more:

Fear God (Matthew 10:28)
Obey (1 Samuel 15:22)
Love the Truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
Be Holy (Leviticus 20:7)
Treat everyone like you would treat Jesus (Matthew 25:40)
Follow His Commandments (John 14:15)
Be humble and contrite and tremble at His word (Isaiah 66:2)
Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9)
Honor your father and your mother (Ephesians 6:2)
Love God (Matthew 22:37)
Love your neighbor (Matthew 22:39)
Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)
Love like Jesus loves (John 13:34)
Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44)
Bless those who persecute you (Matthew 12:14)
Give to the poor (Proverbs 21:13)
Care for the widows (1 Timothy 5:3)
Care for the orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18)
Love not the world (1 John 2:15)
Keep yourself unspotted from the world (James 1:27)
Touch nothing unclean (Isaiah 52:11)
Sing a new song to Jesus (Psalm 96:1)
Glorify God, shine your light, show your good works (Matthew 5:16)
Preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)
Follow the Way (John 14:6)
Take up your cross daily and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23)
Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
Put to death the desires of the flesh (Colossians 3:5)
Keep your hands clean and your heart pure (Psalm 24:4)
Don’t hide your sin (Proverbs 28:13)
Watch and pray (Matthew 26:41)
Look for Jesus’ return (Revelation 1:7)

So, this morning, I had not taken care of it with the Lord.
I knew He wasn’t happy and He reminded me again of the incident.
And how He wasn’t happy I shared something that did not help anything.

I said, but I’m not sorry.
Help me to be sorry, to feel what You feel, to care about how it affects You.
I don’t feel that.

When I was learning to love the truth, I used to pray this a lot:
‘Lord, help me to see things the way You see them.
I don’t think it’s wrong or it makes no sense to me why it matters.’
He was faithful to teach me.
His ways are much higher than our ways.
I also learned to just do what I’m supposed to do,
even if I don’t understand or if I don’t agree, because God knows best.
Sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn’t.

This morning, there was an elephant in the room.
I couldn’t ignore it.
God was not pleased with what I had done.
I knew it.

So, when I said, I don’t feel sorry,
He reminded me of that feeling of grieving His Holy Spirit
in the midst of my story I was telling to the person who didn’t need to know.
My act of sharing harmful information did not please Him.

I thought about Noah.
Remember when Noah was drunk
and he was naked and uncovered in his bed?
His son Ham first saw him and went to tell his brothers.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,
and told his two brethren without. Genesis 9:22
The other two sons, instead of looking at their father’s nakedness,
covered him without looking.
And Shem and Japheth took a garment,
and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward,
and covered the nakedness of their father;
and their faces were backward,
and they saw not their father’s nakedness. Genesis 9:23

While this person is not my relative, not even someone I care much for,
I did not show God’s love.
There are many lessons in this small, little incident.
I know better.
I blew it.
I am a terrible person sometimes.
None of that self-loathing is important to God.
God wants us to love in the easy circumstances and in the hard ones.
Jesus said, what ye have done to the least of these, ye have done unto Me.
Gulp.
That would not be nice to hear on the day of Judgment.
Good thing I’m taking care of it with God now.
But I want to do it right not just because of that,
but for many reasons that I already know.
I was not loving my fellow human.
I was grieving the Holy Spirit.
I was gossiping.
I might have even caused strife.
I exposed someone else’s sin to another.
Love covers a multitude of sin.
There’s a long list and probably more things I’m not thinking of at the moment.

This is what I said to God, Lord, I am sorry for not being sorry.
Help me to be sorry.
I had to start there.
It has been a process.
I couldn’t just ignore what I had done.
It happened.
I don’t want things not clean and washed between me and God.
I want my sins cleansed and when I fail, I know I can trust Him to forgive me. That’s what He does.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

When I couldn’t understand, I wanted to understand.
I wanted to realize how God saw things and to understand how I had hurt Him.
And. maybe how I had tempted the other person to think or feel negative feelings which she didn’t need to do.
All yucky stuff.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Lots of lessons in this instance.
Remembering our walk here needs to be in love, in God’s love, not our own.
Jesus is ever merciful.
He expects us to draw on His strength when we are weak
and to resist the devil.
He wants us to bring our failings and sins before Him
so that He can cleanse us and so we can be close to Him.
I could go on and on, but the point has been made.

A Prayer:
Jesus, help us to be sorry when we are not sorry so we can be more like You.

Scriptural References:

And the King shall answer and say unto them,
Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren,
ye have done it unto Me.
Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not:
sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not.
Then shall they also answer Him, saying,
Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?
Then shall He answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these,
ye did it not to Me.
Matthew 25:40-45

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30

He doesn’t hurt anyone.
He is kind and fair and as good a person as he can be.
What is my responsibility as his friend?
What is my role?
What shall I say?

I have asked the Lord what to say.
What I received back is: Pray for him.
I do not do that as often as I should.
He is a distant friend. We live about 2 hours away from each other.
Sometimes years go by without in-person contact.
We text or call here and there.
He maintains his life and he does what he does.

I talked to him yesterday, so he is fresh in my mind.
His sin doesn’t bother me in a personal sense.
I am a watchman on the wall and I have been given a stark warning.
This is one of my posts in the Kingdom of God.
We all have a responsibility to warn others about Eternity
and what awaits those who refuse Christ.
This task I have known from a young age.
God expects me to warn the people when I see the sword coming.

That warning is found in Ezekiel in chapters 3 and 33:
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel:
therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from Me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die;
and thou givest him not warning,
nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life;
the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness,
nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity;
but thou hast delivered thy soul. Ezekiel 3:17-19
AND
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them,
When I bring the sword upon a land,
if the people of the land take a man of their coasts,
and set him for their watchman:
If when he seeth the sword come upon the land,
he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning;
if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning;
his blood shall be upon him.
But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet,
and the people be not warned; if the sword come,
and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. Ezekiel 33:2-7
(see both chapters as there are more consequences and warnings)

There is also another way to look at it.
That is that Jesus did what He saw the Father do
and said what He heard the Father say.
I have not heard the Father say anything or seen Him do anything except for:
Pray for him.
I am not afraid.
Speaking the truth can sometimes cause people to want to stay away from you.
If the Holy Spirit hasn’t gone before me,
whatever I say is not going to be as fruitful.
Making excuses can be a human way to think of it.
While I am a Watchman, my warnings still need to be led by the Spirit.
He may or may not receive the warnings.
The prayer for him is not in vain.
Maybe I need to fast. I definitely need to pray more.

I have another friend who is not a Christian.
I dreamt she went to Hell and she said,
“You knew about this place and didn’t tell me? I thought I was your friend.”
I was able to tell her the dream.
She still refers that to that day as the day that I cared about her.
God did that as I was listening closely.
She is still not a Christian, but she knew I cared and meant well.

With this friend, I will keep praying and waiting
and be ready to act when the time is right,
when God opens the door and we can revisit that conversation
that got nowhere years ago.
I will try to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit,
to remember to pray and whatever else He may show me to do.
Maybe I’ll show my friend this writing or maybe he’ll read it on his own.
God has His ways. We have ours.
If our ways are not linked with His ways,
we need to pray for that to be.

Scriptural References:

Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself,
but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5:19

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in Me, he doeth the works.
John 14:10

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25

Yea doubtless, and I count all things 
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, Philippians 3:8

Some do not understand that playing the part is not what God wants.
He does not want actors in this great thing we call life.
He wants genuine worship, not the kind that can be mimicked or copied.
He wants our hearts seeking after Him in spirit and in truth, in fulness.
He also wants to have a real relationship with each one of us, not a fake one.

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and repenteth Him of the evil. Joel 2:13

God has purpose in everything He does.
If we are not just as genuine, just as purposeful in our efforts toward Jesus,
we are not treasuring His Kingdom
and putting Him at the forefront of our existence.
If we do not put Jesus first, we are not worthy of Him.

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.
Matthew 10:38

Washing the outside of the cup is not helping the inside.
And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed,
to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
that thou mayest live. Deuteronomy 30:6
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart,
and be no more stiffnecked. Deuteronomy 10:16

When we follow Jesus, it is a serious matter,
the most serious matter we have ever agreed to.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62
Remember Lot’s wife. Luke 17:32
He wants our all, everything we are and everything we have to give.
Acting holy is not where it’s at. Jesus is where it’s at.