Working for the LORD~!

God's love cannot be earned.
We don't have to earn it.
People get confused when they sin, or maybe if they are unbelievers and they think- because of sin, that God doesn't love them. But according to the Bible, God loves us all, the good and the bad, the righteous and the unrighteous. He loves us when we are good, and He doesn't take His love from us, when we sin and mess up.
There have been times when I have said to the Lord, " you must not really love me; you won't give me what I want. If you loved me, you would give me what I want, and what I need".
God loved me, and He loves me. I didn't see (perceive with understanding) that Just because God loves me, doesn't mean he's going to give me anything and everything I want, think I need or demand from Him. He is much smarter than that.
I have realized, we can't earn God's love, because He already loves us. BUT, we CAN earn His favor, and we CAN actually earn Blessings.
We earn His Favor and His blessings by a few principals and ordinances established BY God Himself, and the Bible guides us in how to do this.
And, it's real easy.. the concepts are, anyways ;)

1. Obedience
When we obey the commandments God has given us, He tells us He will bless us. When we obey Him, he is pleased and he therefore blesses us, because He wants to reward us. If and when we disobey him, he does sometimes punish us- and even though He doesn't reach down from heaven and give us a spiritual spanking (and sometimes he actually might, sin in and of itself is a form of punishment of it's own. And disobedience is sin. Anything we do that is not in accordance to God's Will, is disobedience and if we are not obeying His Voice (His Word, His commandments), then we are in essence living in rebellion, and not under God's protective covering. (Deuteronomy 28, Matthew 5 )

2. Faithfulness
When we put our Faith into God, that is actually a form of obedience. It is us, taking our thoughts (our hearts and minds) and AGREEING with what God has already said. When we agree with God, we are giving Him that authority and lordship - His proper place in our LIVES- and when we put our faith into His- AWESOME things happen! Many times people can look around too much- look at other people's lives and see how happy they are and we can easily lose sight of what the LORD is doing in our own life, and then we start to doubt or begin to compare and complain about what we don't have or what we're going through- But everyone has trials and everyone has tests. When we re-focus on the Lord and look to Him, the Author and Finisher of our FAITH, and hold fast to His Faith (He has faith y'all- I would say HE is Faith), when we do this, nothing is impossible and nothing can stop God from pouring out His Blessings on us! (Psalm 18:25, Matthew 17:14-22, 24:36-51, 9:1-7)

3. Righteousness
My definition of Righteousness, is obeying what God says is right. Because many people go around and think, I was good to that person, or I did a good thing when I paid the change that person was short of at the store counter, or I was nice when that person was mean, etc etc, but, I believe God's Righteousness goes deeper than that. Those little things are good, and valuable, but, there is a transformation in the heart that occurs when we compare our ways to God's ways, and truly UNDERSTAND the differences, and why they exist. And when we obey God's righteousness, and because His righteousness is based on HIS TRUTH, our obedience therefore is to glorify HIS Cause, His Truth, HIS Ways, HIS Heart, HIS Words, not our own. Some people also get caught up in thinking it's all about them (when they do what God tells them to do), and God does want us to be happy and He wants us to be blessed, but obeying God glorifies HIM, not us, because We didn't come up with all this stuff, HE did. It's His Truth, HE IS the Truth! He deserves the honor, He deserves the Glory, HE deserves the praise~! HE is WORTHY of it all! He is God, we are just His servants, His ministers, His messengers (angels <3). He honors us, for the Word says He honors those who Honor Him, yet there must be order because without Him, there would be none of this... you see. (Mark 10:18, Psalm 18:30)

4. Patience
I know patience is a virtue and it is a Fruit of the Spirit, but I feel the need to mention it as a vital attribute to "earning" hence receiving God's Favor and Blessing, because the Bible tells us, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD will deliver Him from them all. Sometimes we have to wait. Sometimes we have to go though things, and it isn't always a "test", sometimes the natural process of circumstances in life create situations where we just have to wait on God to bless us. Like a farmer yielding His crops. He knows they will come up, He knows what He planted and He knows he did a good job, he knows his reward is coming. He just has to wait! As it is with us... we do what He tells us, We have faith (with hope and with works and without works) and we have His righteous truth in our hearts and minds, and eventually, as we wait patiently, God will begin to produce the Blessings and Rewards His Children have earned. (Matthew 13:31&32)

Favor means we resemble Him.... We remind Him of Himself... HE loves it when we do ;)
That's another message in itself, ;) for another time!!
Be Blessed!