Loving God

Loving God

Matthew 22:37

And He said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Jesus is telling us here that we are to love God completely with every part, every fiber of our being. If we love Him in that way, He will fill and color our thoughts, our desires, our appetites, affections and purposes.

The way we think and know things will have Him at the center. If we love God that totally, that love will govern our every thought and action in moral living, reflecting His excellence. It will flow out to others. We will love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus calls us to love and obey Him. Everything else stems from that.

In and of ourselves, we are incapable of that kind of God-love, unless He resides in us. No amount of effort on our part will grow that kind of love. He is the only source for it—but we have to ask.

Lord Jesus, of myself, I don’t have the capacity
to love as You instruct.
I ask You for Your love that I may love
You and others with that conquering love
You demonstrated to us
when You walked on earth.

As a side note, I’ve published a new 366 day devotional book entitled Looking Deeper. It’s available in paperback and e-reader.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:13
 
(Jesus said) “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

When I read that scripture for the first time my first reaction was, “I’ve spent my whole life in church. Why have I never heard that scripture?”

I decided to stop right then and there and ask for the Holy Spirit. My life was never the same since. The Bible no longer was a history book. It became my prayer book. Jesus was no longer a person of history. He became my best friend. The Holy Spirit was no longer some vague theological concept. He became my constant companion and teacher.

The things I read about in my Bible became first-hand experience in my life. I saw people healed, saved, made whole. Jesus changed me from the inside out. My goals and interests changed. I became a new person in Christ. All this from one tiny prayer. Are you willing to pray that prayer?

Father God, I pray for Your gift
of the Holy Spirit.
Fill me.
Make me new.
I receive Your gift with gratitude.

As a side note, I’ve published a new 366 day devotional book entitled Looking Deeper. It’s available in paperback and e-reader.

Heaven

Philippians 1:23

But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
 
Do you ever feel like Paul? Torn between heaven and earth? Each time a friend or relative dies, I feel heaven’s pull even greater.

I hate good-bys. In heaven we will never have to say that word again. When we’re in Jesus’ presence, He will wipe away every tear (Revelation 7:17). We will be able to see Him face to face—forever.

We will be free of all immoral persons, murderers, and liars (Revelation 22:15). We will be in the presence of those who have overcome (Revelation 21:7). All who will be there will love and honor the one true God. We have no inkling of the abundance God has planned for us I Corinthians 2:9).

Lord God, my eyes ache to see You face-to-face.
My heart yearns to be with You one-on-one.
My ears long to hear angel choirs praise You in the highest.
Oh, Lord! Hasten that day!

As a side note, I’ve published a new 366 day devotional book entitled Looking Deeper. It’s available in paperback and e-reader.

Seeking God

Colossians 3:1
If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

When we receive Christ, we have been delivered from mortal death. We have a new life dedicated to God. We have a new purpose, a new agenda. We are to seek the things above, not the temporal things of earth. That word “seeking” means “to seek by thinking, meditating, reasoning.” Our mind is to “inquire to, strive after, aim at, and crave.”

Some religions tell us to “empty our minds and become part of the cosmic force.” This scripture directs us to seek God through His living word (the Bible) and prayer.

He is not some nebulous cosmic force out there somewhere. He is the Son of God who is present and alive and came to earth in order to have a vibrant, intimate relationship with us as individuals.

He sits at the right hand of God in the place of honor and authority given Him by God. We need to seek Him while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6).

Lord Jesus, cause my heart to seek after You
as a thirsty deer searches for water.
Open Your word to me
so I might know You as I am known.

As a side note, I’ve published a new 366 day devotional book entitled Looking Deeper. It’s available in paperback and e-reader.

Understanding Hidden Things

 

I Corinthians 2:14

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

A man that has not received Christ cannot take in the hidden things of the Spirit of God. To him, for God to have sent His own sinless Son to take the death we deserved in order to give us life, makes no sense. 

It all seems like a pile of gibberish and double-talk. He has no ability to perceive the things of the Holy Spirit because he doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ in him. Only the Holy Spirit can bring that understanding.

After we have walked in the Spirit for a long time, we tend to forget what it was like to walk in the limitations of our own mind. Sometimes we lose patience with those who are still on that dark path. Only God can remind us of that dark time.

Lord Jesus, help us to recall what it was like
to walk through life in the shadows without Your illumination,
ever searching, ever seeking, never finding,
until that glorious day You found us,
and set our feet on Your light path.

As a side note, I’ve published a new 366 day devotional book entitled Looking Deeper. It’s available in paperback and e-reader. Check it out here for paperback and here for eReader version