With All Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength

Chapter 1 Commitment 

The first thing we need to talk about is commitment, I am going to tell you right up front that loving God with all your heart is not even remotely possible without a total commitment on your part.

Look at it this way, if you have one arm around the dear Lord Jesus and the other arm around your favorite sin, It doesn’t work, don’t you know that He is a jealous God? His love for you is very intense, He holds out to us all of His love, He is wholly devoted to us. The bible calls us (the Church) His bride and He is our bridegroom, and just like a bridegroom in this world he expects his bride to be faithful to him, to love him wholeheartedly to not even look at another man in a desirous way.

Here are some scriptures:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jn.3:16

Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Ex.34:14

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. De.4:24

This is what the Lord Almighty says, “ I am very jealous for Zion, I am burning with jealousy, for her.” Ze.8:2

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Sol.8:6

For the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. De.6:15

Guys, think about it this way, you don’t won’t anyone messing with your girlfriend or your wife do you? Of course not, you are jealous for her love. And ladies it is he same way with your husband or boyfriend, you don’t want anyone cutting in on your love. It is the same way with God but even more intense, His jealousy is called a consuming fire in Hebrews 12:29 so yeah it is intense so we need to be careful, you don’t want to mess with God. 

Having said that do you think it is still worth it? I think so because His love for us is so great, so intense, so absolutely perfect, so wonderful, it truly is the holy grail of our Christian walk. So firstly count the cost, make sure of your commitment, now is not the time for a maybe or for a yes than a no for a while then a yes again for a while. No. Do not mess around, this is serious business. full commitment is required, hold nothing back, like Paul you must say, “ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I I’ve by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Back when I was younger I had a house framing crew, sometimes when we had a really heavy wall to pick up I would say to my men, “ Are you ready to die?” And then we would bend down and grunt and lift up the wall. Nobody died, nobody was going to die, I was just letting them know that it was going to be hard. So I am telling you now, in a spiritual sense you are going to have to die to your fleshly desires and let Christ live His life through you.

“Is this all gonna be worth it?” You might ask, well what is having the love of God shed abroad in you heart worth to you? You say, “ I think I already have the love of God in my heart.” Well, if you have accepted Christ into your heart then that is true, at least somewhat. What I mean is that yes it is the same Christ that we all have but the question is are you experiencing His love? Are you fellowshipping with Him daily? Is it enough? Do you want more?

If the answer is “I’m good” then this book is probably not for you and if you paid anything for it, thanks for the coin.

And for the rest of you, get ready for the adventure of a lifetime, indeed you only have one life to Iive in this world so the opportunity only presents itself once. For it is appointed unto man once to live and after death, judgment. This is the hill to die on. God’s love is waiting for us.