7-12-10
Dear TC-HOP Family,
God created us to love Him in four spheres of our life which includes our heart (affections), soul (identity), mind (thoughts) and strength (resources) because He loves us this way. Over the next few weeks I would like to write about loving God by looking at the first commandment, from a teaching I have received.
Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment.” (Mk.12:30, Mt.22:37-38) Jesus did not call it the first option, but the first command. Jesus makes it clear that cultivating love for Him is the first emphasis of the Holy Spirit. God has everything, yet He is searching for something that He still wants first. It is love He is after. He is after our heart. The mystery of our life is found in this truth.
He will supernaturally empower us to love Him. It takes God to love God. The anointing to receive God’s love and to love Him in return is the greatest gift the Spirit imparts to us. “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 5:5)
We must love God on His terms, according to how He defines love. Jesus wants us to love Him in a way that gives Him full leadership over our lives. We must define love on God’s terms, not by our humanistic culture that seeks love without obedience to God’s Word. There are many definitions of love, liberty and freedom in our culture that are not Biblical. Jesus defined loving God as being deeply rooted in a spirit of obedience. There is no such thing as loving God without seeking to obey His Word. “If you love Me, keep my commandments…He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me… If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word.” (Jn. 14:15-23)
The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) defines love on God’s terms, and calls us to live out the eight beatitudes as we pursue hundredfold obedience. We measure our spiritual maturity by how much of the Sermon on the Mount we walk out in daily life. We measure our ministry impact by the extent to which those we minister to live out these values, not by the number of people who receive our ministry.
Cultivating love for God has the greatest impact on God’s heart and our heart. Anyone who loves Jesus will love others much more. It is the greatest calling. Some who seek to know God’s will for their life focus on knowing what they are supposed to do instead of what they are supposed to become. When we speak of wanting the greatest calling, it shouldn’t be the size of our ministry, but the size of our heart. The greatest grace we can receive is the anointing to feel God’s love and express it. This brings the greatest freedom and the greatest reward.
As we seek the Lord this week let us make it the first priority of our heart to cultivate our love for God. Come join us as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.
Blessings,
Gary