Precepts of God

[newbeliever02072005]

Has anyone ever complied a list of all the precepts of God? If so, can someone point me in the right direction to finding this list? I am very interested in knowing what is expected of me by God so I can strive to be a better christian.

Thank you so much for your help!

God Bless!!!!

 

[dholbrook]

The precepts/commandments of God were not given for us to follow. Rather, they were given to show us that we are sinners and in desperate need of Him.

The way to become a better christian is to accept that "all our righteousness is as filthy rags" to Him; That there is nothing we can ever do to be righteous in His sight except be covered by the blood of Jesus.

Accept this free gift and you will be the best christian possible.

 

[vinc]

I agree with and appreciate dholbrook's reply.

You have to prepare this list in your heart after reading the entire Bible. God Himself will speak to you as you read the Bible and you will know how to live a pleasing life in His sight. You will find a lot of commandments throughout the New Testament which we ought to follow as Christians and its really challenging. You will find the Psalms comforting and the Proverbs will make you wise. Spend as much time as possible reading, pondering and understanding your Bible and it will help you in the long run. Know more of God's ways through the Bible and you will do excellently. Always recheck from time to time whether you have interpreted some verses in the Bible correctly or not. Put the Spiritual Truths into practice and you will reap the spiritual benefits of them.

 

[Rafael]

Has anyone ever complied a list of all the precepts of God? If so, can someone point me in the right direction to finding this list? I am very interested in knowing what is expected of me by God so I can strive to be a better christian.

Thank you so much for your help!

God Bless!!!!

However many days you have in life is the number of precepts and learning experiences you will have. We get to choose each day whether to walk after the flesh or in the desire of the Spirit He gives us as a comforter, that leads us into all truth. We learn from each day of life's experience and gain knowledge and wisdom from life. When we bow our knees to God's Spirit, we receive of Him those precepts of wisdom that only come when we seek to follow after Him and His ways in scripture and in life.
Each story in the Bible gives us examples of how people lived and learned from God in the past. We are told to learn to not make the same mistakes as the Israelites, but be like the heroes of faith. So we are to put our knowledge and faith into action and deeds, practicing obedience to God.
Study the Bible, seeking God with all your heart and efforts, and He will reveal to you His will for your life.

2Ti 2:15 Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.

I JOHN 4:7-13 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and KNOWS God. Whoever does not love does not KNOW God, because God is love.

I JOHN 3:16-19 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS and TRUTH. This then is how we KNOW that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.

Jeremiah 22:16 He defended the cause of the POOR & NEEDY, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to KNOW me! declares the Lord.

Proverbs 31:8-9 Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitue. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Ezekial 33: 30 ¶ "Son of man, your people are whispering behind your back. They talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors, saying, ‘Come on, let’s have some fun! Let’s go hear the prophet tell us what the LORD is saying!’
31 So they come pretending to be sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them. They express love with their mouths, but their hearts seek only after money.
32 You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t do it!

Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

EPHESIANS 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to DO GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

[Radagast]

Love God and love your neighbour. Thinking through those two rules is the basis for everything else.

-- Radagast

 

[newbeliever02072005]

Ok, I agree we have to love God and our neighbors. I just read about that this week in Mark 12: 28-34 Vs 30 Says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." To love with all your mind....would mean empowering your mind with the knowledge of the bible. Does it not say in the bible somewhere what makes God happy and not? If we know what laws he set forth then we could strive to avoid making those mistakes. Being aware is what will give me the strength to keep loving Him?

newbeliever

 

[Tavita]

Has anyone ever complied a list of all the precepts of God? If so, can someone point me in the right direction to finding this list? I am very interested in knowing what is expected of me by God so I can strive to be a better christian.

Thank you so much for your help!

God Bless!!!!

If you would like to know what makes God happy and how He thinks we ought to live our lives, then study the Beatitudes in Matthew chapters 5,6 & 7. It's as though Jesus is giving a summary of God's teachings from the Old Testament and showing how we can apply them to our hearts (attitudes ~ be-attitudes). You should be able to find some good teaching/study books on the Beatitudes in your christian book shop. Study what Jesus says in the gospels too, as everything He teaches comes from the Old Testament precepts and commandments anyway. I've also found in the last couple of chapters of most of the epistles, Paul gives some good advice on how to live, which is taken from the OT.

 

[Radagast]

Paul has good stuff on applying the general "love your neighbour" rule to specific examples:

loving husband/wife: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church... Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Eph 5:22-25)

loving husband/wife: The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. (1 Cor 7:3)

loving weaker Christians: Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. (1 Cor 8:9-13)

loving children: Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Col 3:21)

loving your boss: Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. (Eph 6:5)

loving your employees: And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. (Eph 6:9)

loving your employees: Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. (Col 4:1)

loving people at Church: What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two–or at the most three–should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. (1 Cor 14:26-28)

loving poor Christians: Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (1 Cor 16:1-2)

loving everybody: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13:4-7)

Paul says a lot about loving God too.

-- Radagast

 

[Sketcher]

Ok, I agree we have to love God and our neighbors. I just read about that this week in Mark 12: 28-34 Vs 30 Says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." To love with all your mind....would mean empowering your mind with the knowledge of the bible. Does it not say in the bible somewhere what makes God happy and not? If we know what laws he set forth then we could strive to avoid making those mistakes. Being aware is what will give me the strength to keep loving Him?

Yes, but you need to be able to discern which laws still apply to us today and which do not. Unless you're Jewish, many of them, such as the kosher diet, what not to wear, and cerimonial cleanliness/uncleanliness are not required of us anymore (Acts 15:28-29). You really need to read the New Testament as a whole to get an overview of what God wants for His people under the New Covenant. Then, with all that in place, you could go to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy for the rest of the laws - but again, many of them no longer apply, and it's easy to get caught up in them because they are in no particular order. There are 613 laws in the Old Testament that needed to be followed, and we only have to follow a much-simplified and reduced version of of those laws.

"The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." - Romans 13:8-10

"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell." - Acts 15:28-29

And of course, you know Mark 12:29-31:

"The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Loving God would of course mean worshipping no other gods or having any idols.

Some other passages you'd be interested in:
Colossians 3:5-15
Ephesians 5 and 6
1 Corinthians 7 (marraige related)
1 Timothy 2:9-10 (how Godly women are to present themselves)
Romans 13:1-7 (how we should treat the government)

and there are many more - too many to list. Read the New Testament, front to back. You'll pick up so much when you study each passage as a whole, in context with the rest of the letter.

 

[Paul_Wright_luvr]

Christianity isn't a list of rules and regulations to follow