Deuteronomy 6:4-"The Lord is our God, the Lord alone, and we must love Him with all our heart, all our soul and our strength.
The Lord has to take precedence over all, over everything else in my life.
The Lord is my God, the Lord ALONE. God knows who He is- He knows that He is supreme over any other god. I must understand who He is. It is important that I understand and acknowledge that He alone is my Lord. I can say that I love Him but if I don't put Him first then I am only fooling myself.
What does it mean to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and strength?
It means I must give God first place in
1.) My time- God must be priority over recreation, relaxation, being with my friends. I must start each day with the Lord. I should feel no shame in inviting Him into my activities. If I am turning on the TV before I take time with the Lord then I am not giving Him first place with my time
2.) My thoughts- My thought life is not as secret as I may think. What I spend time thinking about will sooner or later reveal itself in my actions and my speech. That is why we are to wear the helmet of salvation as laid out in Ephesians 6. Satan's primary work begins in our minds. He places thoughts there, they lay as bait as he waits to see if we will chomp on it! When I have a thought that does not come from God I must renounce it immediately. Sometimes Satan plants a thought and we claim it as our own and fall into self condemnation. This is exactly what he wants us to do. When we are walking with the Lord and we are surprised with a bad thought that just came out of no where- renounce it, rebuke satan and move on. At the same time, we must do what we can to guard our thought life. We do this by what we watch on TV what we listen to from the lips of others, what books we read, etc. If I am watching the wrong stuff on TV then I have only myself to blame when an evil thought enters my mind. God has given us great advice to guard our mind, it is found in Phillipians 4:8-9 "Finally brethern, whatsoewver things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue if there be any praise, think on these things
3.) My talent-God desires to go to work with you in the morning and glorify Himself through your life on the job. Invite Him into that area and allow Him to use you to reach out to the lost or wandering soul you work with day after day. I must also put Him first in my talents by serving the Lord in the areas where He has gifted me. To whom much is given, much is required. As a child of the King we have been given so so much!
4.) My treasure- God demands the tithe. The first 10% of my income must be God's. There have been times when I have been scared to tithe. Money was tight and if I gave that 10% it would really leave me with very little til next paycheck. Yet, I am always reminded by God that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine. I would be a fool to hold back from the One who has immediate access to every resource in this world. We must surrender to God what is already His. We are just stewards of it for a short while as we journey on this earth
5.) Lastly, my tomorrow- I must put God first in my plans- Which really means that I let Him do the planning. I should not come to God asking Him to bless what I have planned out for my life. I must seek Him out and then allow Him to plan my life, all my tomorrows. When God moved me out to California, I didn't understand the timing. I had always wanted to live out here, as a little girl I would say one day I would live here. I loved the mountains and the ocean. Yet, the timing of this move caught me off guard. I had just gone through some major medical problems and surgery. Not even 4 months out, still being monitored health wise, God tells me to move to California. I was excited about the opportunity but didn't understand the timing. I just started packing and moving and trusting God's timing. Within 2 weeks or so of being here, I met my wonderful husband. I would have never guessed what God had in store for me out here. I am so glad I made the move.
In 2011, let's just give it all to God, our time, our thoughts, our talents our treasure and our tomorrows. Though we may not see it immediately, it will prove to be the best thing we've ever done. To God be the glory
