Tuesday, January 4, 2011

With all my heart

Deuteronomy 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jump ahead to the New Testament where the apostle Paul writes God knows how often I pray for you, day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about His Son. Romans 1:9

Deuteronomy 11 starts with an admonishment to obey God, and with good reason!  They had witnessed the power and mighty acts of God!  They had front row seats to the awesome power of God!  This should result in them serving God with all their heart

Romans 1:9 says he serves God with all his heart by spreading the good news of the Gospel

What about us?  Though we were not there to witness what they saw, we all have witnessed the mighty power of God in our lives in one way or another- in fact I venture to say that we have seen this several times!
Based on that, I ask myself am I serving God with all my heart?  My life is one big story of mighty acts of God, yet I can easily slump back into lukewarm service if I am not careful.

What about us when it comes to spreading the Gospel-  The apostle Paul related serving God with all his heart to spreading the Gospel.  See, the two go hand in hand.  When I serve God with all my heart, telling others about salvation will be an automatic thing. 

What does "with all your heart" mean- This is what the Lord shared with me on May 27th, 2007, please let me tell you.

When I love God with all my heart, then I will love  His ways, His works, His wisdom and His war.  Let's look at each one separately to get a better idea of what I am saying

I will walk in His ways-I will want His ways to become my ways.  I will find myself asking "what would Jesus do?"  I will yield to the Holy Spirit and allow myself to be placed on the potter's wheel to be made into something that resembles Christ so that I may glorify Him while I journey through this earth.

I will love His works- His works are people.  He created us.  I will find myself loving others, desiring to help others, forgiving others and showing the compassion of Jesus Christ.

I will seek His wisdom- I will find myself seeking advice from the Lord and His Word.  I will allow it to be the lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.  I will obey His Word and meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1)  It won't be just head knowledge in me, but rather a heart knowledge. A heart knowledge means I will live it out, not just leave it in my head.

I will be willing to boldy enter into the spiritual battle between darkness and light- Most people know the song "Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before"  You see, as believers, we are engaged in an invisible yet obvious war against the prince of the power of the air, satan himself!  He is out to destroy anything that has to do with God.  Guess what, that means he is out to destroy us, for we belong to God.  We must be prepared to enter in to battle.  Understand the battle will go on whether you're ready or not.  It will go on until the return of the Lord and the final binding of Satan once for all.  So, the question is not "if" there is a war, but rather are you braced for it?  Dressed in the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6.  We are not just fighting this spiritual battle for ourselves but also for those around us and those who will come after us.  It is a war for the souls of the lost, as we witness and try to snatch them out of the fire.  We will find ourselves interceding on the behalf of someone else, or witnessing to those people God places in our paths. The minute we become a Christian we receive our marching orders and enter into the war.This is not a war of hating and condeming others who are blinded by the darkness, rather it is loving them and taking every opportunity to share the love of Christ with this world.  It is a tough battle and I believe with all my heart it is about to get even tougher.  But the greatest thing is, do not fear!  As the song says:  "With the cross of Jesus  going on before.  Jesus is there, the Captain of our army and He has yet to lose a war. (click on the tab "Psalm 18" on homepage)

In 2011, why not serve the Lord with all your heart!  He will help you, take a moment right now to ask for that help you need that you may come to the end of 2011 saying "I served God with all my heart"

If you do not know the Lord please click on the page that asks if you have a personal relationship with God