How Can You Love God With All Of Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength?

I learned something today, something I’ve been asking God to show me for probably the last 15 years or so almost every day. That is, how to love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. (Luke 10:27) I never realized how entwined the two of them are.

Today I just happened to click on a link at Ann Voscamp’s blog, A Holy Experience, under favorite posts.  I don’t believe for a moment it was a coincidence I clicked that particular post. The title of it was The One Command That Could Resurrect the Church, Our Hurting Places and The Sisterhood of Women. I had tears streaming down my face as I read this beautiful article on the body of Christ. I finally grasped what Jesus was saying in His greatest commandment.

When Jesus says we are to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength it has always left me with questions. How Lord? Please show me, I would beg sometimes during my prayer time.

After reading this post I understand how much better. When He says to love him with all of my strength, it means to expend my energy showing His love to others. It may mean holding my tongue instead saying something harmful, taking the stress off of someone by cleaning their house or taking a meal to someone who’s down and out. All of this takes strength. We need to do what we can to keep our bodies strong for the tasks God has for us.

When He says to love Him with all of my heart, it means opening myself up to feeling the pain of others. It’s so easy to turn away when faced with the horrors of this world, asking myself what’s the point in caring too much? After all, how can one person make a difference? But God calls us to do something anyway.  Ask Him what He wants to break your heart for today.

When He says to love Him with all of my mind, He’s asking me to keep my thoughts on the things that please Him. Not selfishness, pride or how to get ahead in my career. Our thoughts should be focused on Him and His will for us. Just as Philippians 4:8 says, Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things. When we keep our mind on righteous things, we are exemplifying the mind of Christ.

The next one is the most difficult. I had to look up the original meaning of the word soul in Strong’s Concordance. I was disappointed at the definition; life. I couldn’t really get my mind around that as it pertains to this scripture, so I looked it up in the Bible. The passage I kept being led to was the one about the rich, young ruler. The young man asked Jesus how to be saved. Jesus asked him if he’d followed all of the commands and the man said he had. Then Jesus told him to go and sell all of his possessions and he would be saved. This caused the rich man to turn and walk away. He couldn’t give that much to follow Christ.

As I prayed over this scripture, asking God to clarify, He gave me the answer. The only thing that lasts eternally is my soul and the eternal things I'm devoted to in my lifetime. If I devote it to anything other than God and His righteous works, I’m not loving Him with all of my soul. That one seems to be the hardest of all. What I value and invest in must line up with what God values and invests in if I’m to love Him with all of my soul. Everything else will be burned away.

And the last one is to love my neighbor as myself. It hit me a few years ago that if I don’t love myself, how in the world could I love others? Our culture is so counter-intuitive, saying we should focus only on ourselves one moment and then berating us the next because we don’t have the perfect body, aren’t smart enough or make enough money to matter. We must love ourselves in a way that shows we find our identity in Christ, not our dress size, before we can love others well.

On this Easter weekend, I hope we will take the time to contemplate the beauty of Christ's love for us in dying a sinner's death. In light of that, the greatest commandment doesn't seem as difficult.

How is God revealing Himself to you lately?

I encourage you to click on the link below to visit Ann Voscamps blog. I believe it will give everyone who reads it great insight into the reason God calls us His Body.

A Holy Experience

What Difference Does It Make?

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ~ Psalm 73:26

As my husband and I were watching the mini-series, The Bible, the other night, something hit me right between the eyes.

It was the scene where Jesus went into the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days. He was exhausted to the point of falling down in the desert when Satan appeared to him. With hardly enough strength to rise, he stood up to Satan with the words of scripture when tempted with the proposition of turning stones into bread, testing God’s protection  and taking control as ruler of the world. In his weakened state, he still had enough wits about him to quote scripture. The Word of God was his lifeline in standing up to Satan’s schemes.

As I looked at the actor portraying Jesus in his humanness, I realized I’d never thought of Jesus being depleted like a man would be during such a trial. To see Jesus lying on the desert floor utterly depleted reminded me of, well … me.

I’ve recently been struggling through a season of discouragement. Nothing I’ve been working on lately is showing signs of bearing any fruit, especially my writing. I had almost come to the conclusion that all of the time, effort and money I’ve invested in this venture are worthless. Then I saw that scene.

What if Jesus had given up and given in? What if he’d said to Satan, “You know what, you’re right. This is too hard! I’m tired and hungry and I would love to turn those stones into bread and eat them. And as far as becoming the ruler over all of the earth, I think I shouldn’t have to wait for that. I deserve to enjoy the glory of being king right now, after enduring the suffering of these last 40 days.”

It’s hard to remember sometimes that Jesus was fully God and fully man. I think many times we believe he was able to pull out the God card when things got too tough in his human state. But that is a lie straight from the pit of Hell. He conquered the hard things in spite of his humanness. Wow! If Jesus had given up at that point we wouldn’t have the freedom of salvation we enjoy today. We would still be utterly lost in our sins. Satan knew how important it was to keep Jesus from fulfilling his purpose. He knew God promised the Son of Man would crush his head. Satan’s work would be so much easier if he could destroy Jesus before he even got started.

So, when I sat down to write this blog, I decided there must be some reason Satan has been working overtime discouraging my spirit. What if God wants me to influence someone for Him today? What would happen if I threw it all out the window and said, “You know what, Satan? You’re right. This is too hard. I give up. Nobody will ever know the difference anyway.”

Maybe I personally won’t know the difference, but someone else will.

I remember reading a devotional by Beth Moore years ago where she said we have no idea what kind of battle may be going on in the heavens right now. There may be some huge battle being fought and God is asking us to stand up and join in.  We may think it’s no big deal if we just shrug our shoulders, say it’s too hard and give up. But God could be asking us to do His calling because our victory in this could make a huge difference in the Kingdom of God.

In Touch magazine states in one of their devotionals, “He didn’t make an error in choosing you for the task, but you will make a huge mistake if you refuse to do it.”

That’s powerful. I want to be considered faithful on that day I’m standing before my Lord and Savior. So I’m putting my armor back on and determining this battle is worth the effort. If you've been struggling with a spirit of discouragement, I’m trusting God will take these words and encourage you to get back on the battlefield.

Do you feel as if Satan is attacking you concerning a specific task you know God’s called you to do? Please share your struggle with me.

The Perfect Place

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. ~ Isaiah 32:18

I’m dreaming of a beach vacation….

I don’t know about you, but this cold weather is starting to get to me. I’m ready for flip-flops, shorts and walking out the door without having to find a coat to match the temperature and outfit of the day.

So I’ve started looking at beach houses, trying to find one that fits everyone’s schedules, beach preference, bedrooms and budgets that doesn’t look like something decorated in the disco era. I feel like I’m looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. I can’t believe how many beach houses are booked all summer already and it’s only the beginning of March!

But, unfortunately, there’s one particular house that isn’t available this year. One that is loved dearly by our family for the special memories acquired there. A wonderful house we’ve managed to stay most summers for the last 15 years. It suits our families perfectly. This home has a beautiful spirit about it that keeps drawing us back each year.

A doctor and his wife, who’ve traveled extensively on medical mission trips, were the dear owners of this multi-dimensional house. I’ve never met them, but their fingerprints, photos and souvenirs from exotic travels are scattered all over. Every bedroom is themed after a particular country; England, Africa, India. The den has a large beautiful hatch from a ship engraved with a Bible verse hanging over the fireplace. There’s a long picnic table outside the kitchen on the screen porch where we’ve had many good meals and sweet fellowship. There are also hammocks swinging on either side of the porch, usually occupied by a body exhausted, but happy, after a day in the sun.

It’s not a fancy house. You can tell it has been lived in and loved well. But there is such a peace there. Life’s worries just fall away and you only consider the nature and loved ones around you. It’s almost magical in some respects. But the atmosphere isn’t achieved through magic. I believe this house has been prayed over and made as welcoming as possible by the owners. There are subtle signs of their Christian faith everywhere, from the books that line their shelves to the framed photos the good doctor himself took of God’s beauty observed all around him. I believe the Holy Spirit is the secret ingredient to the wonder of this place of solace.

You may think I’m exaggerating, but if you’ve stayed there, I know you’d agree with me.

On our last visit, we discovered the doctor had recently passed away and the house had been sold. We found a newly published book authored by him containing many of his beautiful photographs. The last page, however, contained a letter from his sweet wife explaining the book was published after his death. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see it, but what a special gift he left behind for others to enjoy.

I believe this couple endeavored to show God’s hospitality in their vacation home. I pray others will feel the same spirit of hospitality as they enter my home, whether through words, actions or items sprinkled about. I would cringe at the thought of anyone giving my house the white glove treatment, but hopefully I’ll always open the door to share God’s love, food and fellowship. How wonderful it is to be blessed with homes we can invite others to enjoy. And who knows? We may even have the privilege of entertaining angels.

As we were deciding our vacation plans for this summer, my daughter immediately piped up saying she wants to go back to the beach house. She explained to her boyfriend the significance of this special place. “Many of my best childhood memories were made there,” she said, with dancing eyes.

Looking back, I agree. We have experienced so many wonderful times in that summer oasis. I hope God will allow us many more in the future, whether it be there, or some other special place with Christian hospitality.

But as for right now, I’ve got to get back to searching for that illusive beach house …

Is there a special place in your life that brings you peace and rest? I would love to hear about it.