LOVE THE LORD WHOLEHEARTEDLY

Loving God wholeheartedly is the secret of a successful and victorious Christian life. When we gain insight into the know-how or practical knowledge of how to love God, we'll be guided by His Spirit to do so properly and to walk in His perfect will at all times. Then our lives will continually bring Him glory, honour and praise.

Reference: Mark 12:30 New International Version (NIV) "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

To love the Lord wholeheartedly, we need to demonstrate it through four channels or band of frequencies. The first is "with all your heart"; the second, "with all your soul"; third, "with all your mind", and fourth, "with all your strength." This is because the "heart, soul, mind and strength" cover every aspect of our personalities, being, and thoughts, and everything which influences our feelings, beliefs, desires, and intentions.

This is why we also pray through those channels, while communicating with God. If for instance, your mind is not stayed or well focused on God while praying, then it's likely you're imagining and entertaining many irrelevant thoughts and ideas, which can interfere with the centre of your attention and concentration. When the point at which your prayer transaction or process is directed, is being manipulated or distracted, you'll lose the focus in your mind, soul, heart and even your strength will be demotivated.

Why must we love God wholeheartedly? Its because He is loving and goodness personalised. God is extremely good. There is no evil in Him. His grace, truth and mercies are not designed to condemn you, they are meant to motivate you and to teach you what it means to love Him with everything in you. This is why God isn't waiting to see you slip or make a mistake so He can release a thunder from heaven and wipe you out of the earth. He is full of loving-kindness. No wonder the Psalmist said in Psalm 63:3-4 (NKJV), 'Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.'

1 John 4:19 (NKJV) says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Because of His unconditional love, God revealed Himself to humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus also called God His heavenly Father, unveiling Him to us as a loving Father and restoring our relationship with God permanently (1 John 4:10). Now, since any further traffic between us and God will always be our fault, not His, the need for us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength is paramount. By loving God through these channels, our relationship with God will be taken to a whole new level, which is a level of intimacy.

The best way to stay in love with God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength is through constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10). As you do this often, God's love will take over your life and saturate your entire being, such that you'll yield all your spiritual and natural senses to Him. When all of these channels of response are completely yielded to His Spirit, you'll naturally respond to or serve Him in Spirit and in truth, walk worthy of Him, and please Him in all things. His righteousness will become your daily pursuit, passion and pleasure, and you'll start experiencing true fulfilment in life.

Scripture Reading - Deuteronomy 6:5; Joshua 23:11; Matthew 22:37; Ephesians 6:7-8; Colossians 3:23.

Guided Prayer: Blessed be unto God whose Word is true and eternal. Thank you for showing me my responsibility as it pertains to loving you wholeheartedly. Today and always, I'm vitalized, quickened and energized by the Spirit to serve you in spirit and in truth, and to live in higher plane of life where I reign in righteousness through Christ, in Jesus' Name, Amen!