Love God With Your Whole Heart!
By Joan Buchanan
This morning in my prayer time, the Lord led me to Psalms 119. The word whole heart came up often in my studies today.
This morning in my prayer time, the Lord led me to Psalms 119. The word whole heart came up often in my studies today.
As I spent time in meditation, I truly wonder how many of us follow and worship God with our whole heart.
Mark 12:33; "And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." This verse tells us that above all we must put God first and in doing that we will find that deep whole heart relationship that God expects from us.
The Psalmist tells us that as we seek God with our whole heart we will keep His commands and walk in His ways. There would be no shame in following the Lord. Praise would be a way of life, we would have stability, His word we would hide in our hearts, and our lips would declare the glory of the Lord everywhere God leads us. All of this and more is in Psalm 119. I hope you will study these verses.
"Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statues, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of your commandments. For I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, And not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, (O Lord how we need to heed these words.) And revive me in your way. Establish your word to your servant, who is devoted to fearing you. (This kind of Fear means to love, respect and reverence Him). Turn away my reproach which I dread, for your judgments are good, Behold, I long for your precepts; Revive me in your righteousness." Psalm 119:33-40
Can we honestly pray that prayer and mean it with our whole heart. There is a price to pay when we commit to His Ways. Holiness is required. Holiness is not a dress code or a creed, it is to walk uprightly before the Lord; it is a result of the righteousness of God in us as we yield to His Holy Spirit. Then we can partake of His holiness. There will be a hunger for those things that are pure and upright and a passion to talk to God and heed His instructions. Let me say that dress codes will change; talk will be clean and pure. We will no longer go to the same places we use to go; movies that we formally watched with no conviction will become an old lifestyle that we no longer embrace. The Lord will deliver us from old habits and show us how to live the Spirit filled life.
When the Holy Spirit comes into our life He makes all things new. I have to say, in my heart, I question one who says they are born again and there is no change. I know Christians grow gradual and in stages, some faster than others, but we do grow if we have committed our lives to Christ. Are you a fruit bearing Christian? Where is the standard of holiness? I want to shout, “Will the real children of God please stand up!"
We live a standard of Holiness because we love and honor God, not because we are told what to do. Our devotion is to please Him and show to a lost world God’s people live a life set apart because He has changed us. God truly changes us from the inside out when we commit to what he asks of us. Paul called it a, "a labor of love." There is a difference in attitude when one is living for Christ out of love for their God. Worship becomes more that a church service or singing a few hymns. Worship is a moment by moment lifestyle. Give up; you can't make it without the Holy Spirit working through you.
Psalm 24:4 states, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart."
Above all our desire must be to know Him and communicate with Him. Are you like this? If not, why not? What thing or things have come between you and your God? Do you really know Him, or do you just know about Him, mostly from what you have heard? A preacher, teacher, layperson, family, friend or church member cannot give you what you must pursue for yourself!! Run to Him, His arms are open and waiting for you today. Like the passage in Psalms 24 “ascend into the hill of the Lord.”
We should honor, reverence, respect, and be obedient to His Word; it is not just a few passages in the Bible that we call our statement of Faith. In all that we do we must seek to please the Lord God with our whole heart.
I pray you spent time with God today, if you did not, hopefully tomorrow. Get on your knees and make things right. The time is short and to delay could be too late.
Remember, God does not want a share of your life--He wants whole ownership. Give Him your whole heart.
"Will the road you are on take you to my house?"-------------------GOD
'Those who kneel before God can stand before anyone."
In Christ