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Love God
with all your heart
Jesus said to him, “‘you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is
like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
(Matthew 22:37 – 40)
Loving God with your whole heart is the key to
everything in life; because your relationship with God affects
everything and everyone in your life. It is impossible to love God too
much; however it is easy to fall short of loving Him with your whole
heart. In a moment of honesty with myself and the Lord I asked “Lord,
how can I love you more”?
Instantly the Lord responded “be thankful”. In one
moment, with those two words, came several scriptures to my mind and
concepts that I had not thought of before. I also understood for the
first time that anything, whether past or present, that we are not thankful about is a part of our heart that does not love God. In that
same moment I also understood why this is true. Deep down inside our
spirit we know that God is in control of the universe. If we have had
painful experiences which we are not thankful for then we are unhappy
and not thankful to God for them, consciously or unconsciously.
You may not even know that you are blaming God; you
may think that you are blaming Satan or you may be blaming other people.
However, in reality you are blaming God also because you know that He is
in control. God allowed the experience to happen to you. God could have
prevented it and you know it. Each painful experience which you are
unthankful for is a dark spot in your heart that does not love God.
Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor
were thankful, but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)
We are commanded to love God with our whole heart.
That is because it is possible to love God with only a part of your
heart. Only when you are thankful to God with your whole heart do you
really love Him with your whole heart. That means you must be thankful
for everything in your life, past and present. Thankfulness is a gauge
that measures your heart condition; it reveals anything which is
blocking your love for God. Thankfulness to God is an indication of a
heart that has right standing before God. Out of a thankful heart flow
expressions of love to God, including praise, worship, and obedience.
This is a good question to ask your self, “is there anything that I am
not thankful to God for”?
See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone,
but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice
always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.
(1stThessalonians 5:15 – 19) Being unthankful causes you to quench
the Holy Spirit because it is unforgiveness. The word “quench” means to
put the fire out. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love. When you quench
the Spirit you quench love.
God says in everything give thanks for this is His
will for you in Christ Jesus. Right now you may be saying I can’t be
thankful for the terrible tragedy or wrong that happened to me. You may
even be in a current situation that is very painful. But your choice in
every situation is to either be angry with God or thankful. Maybe you
think that you love God but you also admit that you are angry at people
who have hurt you. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his
brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1stJohn 4:20) If
you will decide to be thankful to God for the situation, recognizing
that it is God’s will for you, then the hate and anger will be replaced
by love, even for the people who have hurt you. Love always brings
revelation, allowing you to see things and people in God’s light.
Why has God allowed you to experience painful
situations? It is for your good, He wants you to be an overcomer. The
Lord is teaching you to trust Him and love Him in every situation with
all your heart so that you will be more than a conqueror through Him.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
If you are having a difficult time being thankful for a situation and
you are thinking I do not see any way that good can come out of this it
may be that you are preventing the good from being revealed.
Remember that the promise in Romans 8:28 is
conditional, for those who love God. If there is a part of your heart
that is unthankful and therefore does not love God you may be preventing
the Lord from being able to make the situation “work together for good”.
When you become thankful then that part of your heart loves God and the
Lord can now make the tragedy into a testimony. As long as you hold on
to the pain, being unthankful, it can not work out for good because you
do not love God with that part of your heart.
You will not see the good until you become thankful.
You must trust Him and say Lord I thank you for this situation because I
know that you allowed it for my good, according to your word. When you
become thankful you will experience the love, peace, and joy of God’s
presence. That is because we enter into God’s presence through
thanksgiving. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His
courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord
is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all
generations. (Psalms 100:4-5)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and
know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And
lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23–24) The Hebrew word
for wicked, in this passage, means idol and it also means pain and
sorrow. Any situation that has caused great pain and sorrow can become
an idol in your heart if you choose to be unthankful for it. Until a
person can trust God enough to become thankful for those situations they
are in bondage to them and they do not love God with that part of their
heart. Sometimes tragic events become such an important part of a
person’s life that it becomes a part of their identity such is the case
with victim mentality. This happens when a person sees themselves as
just a victim instead of being an overcomer. But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1stCorinthians
15:57).
Unthankfulness is not the cause of a heart problem
rather it is a symptom of a root problem. A root problem may be
unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, jealousy and any other spiritual
condition that opens a door for Satan and closes a door to God. The root
problem will need to be put to death first before a person can become
thankful. If a root problem has become a part of your life you will need
to go through a “dieing to yourself process”. Recognize that you are not
a victim and that everything that happens to you is a part of your life
to help make you into the person God wants you to be.
The law of sowing and reaping tells us that what cost
the most receives the greatest reward. When you decide to be thankful to
God for a very difficult situation in your life you will be taking a big
step in denying yourself; because you will be giving up what has become
a big part of your life. You will be sacrificing your pride and humbling
yourself before God. This allows God’s grace to flow into you and cover
the whole painful situation. It will be a big step in your spiritual
growth in the Lord, causing you to love Him and trust Him more.
You may not be thankful for something that you did
which caused suffering for you or others. However, you can be thankful
for the lessons you learned. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for
the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the
peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
(Hebrews 12:10) You can also be thankful to the Lord for the way He
is going to work it out for good. Often we do not see the good that God
has planned. However, every time we go through a suffering situation
with a thankful heart we grow in our love and faith in God.
We must realize that when we go through difficult
situations it is not because God does not love us, but rather because He
does love us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day
long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am
persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor
any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35 – 39)
In the passage above the word “conquerors” is the same
root word used for “over-comer” in Jesus’ messages to the churches in the
book of Revelation, chapters 2 & 3. We overcome by the blood Jesus
shed for us, the word of our testimony, and by loving God more than our
own life. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word
of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death;
(Revelation 12:11). When you become thankful for your suffering it
is turned into a testimony. It is also a way of denying yourself and
giving up your life for Jesus. It proves that you love Him more than
your own life. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires
to follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24 – 25) This is why,
“For His sake we are killed all day long”.
Job was a wealthy blessed man but in one day he lost
all he owned and all ten of his children were killed. This was Job’s
reaction. Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he
fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my
mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the
Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job
did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20 - 22)
Then it got even worse for Job. God allowed him to go
through a very difficult time of physical pain and suffering. After
it was all over Job said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the
ear, But now my eye sees You. (Job 42:5) When you decide to be
thankful to God, even for the suffering, then the love in your heart for
God will increase and so will your revelation of knowing Him. Afterward
God blessed Job with more than He had before.
Paul and Silas were beaten by a large mob of people
and then whipped with many stripes. Afterward they were thrown into
prison and the jailer put them in stocks. They were in terrible
conditions, suffering from their painful wounds, and their hands and
feet were locked in a very uncomfortable position. But at midnight
Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners
were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that
the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. (Acts 16:25 – 26)
That night the jailer and his family were saved. The
next morning Paul and Silas were let go. When you thank and praise God
in your suffering your love for God allows Him to make the situation
work together for good, for you and for other people also.
Right now ask the Lord how you can experience more
love for Him. Ask Him to reveal anything in your life that you are not
thankful for, anything that is blocking your hearts’ flow of Love to
Him.
… Be filled with the Spirit. Speak
to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make
music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father
for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18b –
20)
In everything give thanks; for this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1stThessalonians 5:18)
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