Every day since Moses wrote it, observant Jews have prayed the "Shema Yisrael." Translated, it means "hear Israel," but the meaning is literally "Hear and Obey." In full, it is(Deuteronomy 6:4-9):
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
Have you ever considered how many times "Hear" or a version of it occurs throughout the Bible? How often did God say through the prophets "but you did not listen?" Did you ever stop to wonder why not merely hearing, but obeying is so important to God? Obedience is the love language of God. Kings and Priests were made or broken by how their heart was either for God or for themselves. Why should we be any different? Jesus Himself said "if you love me, you will keep my commandments." Church, it's not enough to love our spouses/significant others (If you're dating). One of our vows is literally to Honor and Obey. In Ephesians 5, Paul outlines a Godly family life, and obeying and submitting is HUGE in that capacity...what is more, Paul equates this mystery by saying it speaks of God and the Church! We need to take this seriously. We need to stand upon the Word of God, and do as He says.
What are you not giving over and submitting to God? In what ways are you not Hearing and Obeying?
John 14:15-21 English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,[a] to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[b] in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Footnotes:
John 14:16 Or Advocate, or Counselor; also 14:26; 15:26; 16:7
John 14:17 Some manuscripts and is
