LOVING GOD MORE
(week 36/10)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Matthew 22:37-38 ESV: And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (38) This is the great and first commandment.
Here the Lord Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart (will), soul (emotions) and mind.
Now, we certainly love God with some of our will, mind and emotions, but most of us do not love God yet with all our will, mind, emotions and strength as God desires: hence this article.
Why must we love God with all our soul: mind, will and emotions and body?
If we do not love God with all our soul and body, then, we will be loving the world: the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life, with some of our soul and body and this will give Satan place or landing site in our souls and bodies for him to gain entrance into our lives.
1 John 2:15-16 AMP: do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]–these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].
This is what happened to David: though, David loved God with his will and was willing to do all of the will of God (Act. 13:22); he also loved the lust of sex with women and so Satan used this foothold to gain entrance into his life when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.
This is good lesson for all of us to make sure we love God with all our souls and bodies and not just our wills alone.
The more we love God with our souls and bodies, the less we will love the world and when we love God with all our souls and bodies then like the Lord Jesus, Satan will have no foothold in us:
John 14:30 AMP: I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming; and he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]
How then do we love God more?
By filling our souls and bodies with the Word and life of God diligently on a daily basis.
Psalms 119:1-4 KJV: ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. (2) Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. (3) They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. (4) Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
We must understand that the state of souls and bodies is dynamic: the soul can be good in the morning and bad in the afternoon of the same day.
Luke 11:33-36 NIV: No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. (34) Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. (35) See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. (36) Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”
The eye here is symbolic of the will, mind and emotions:
Ephesians 1:18 NIV: I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
So, we must keep our hearts: (souls) with all diligence daily so that we love God with all our hearts so not allowing the love of the world to prevail in our souls.
Proverbs 4:23 MKJV: Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
We do this by practicing the following as a daily habit:
(1) Pray for humility (Phil. 2:8);
(2) Pray for the 7 spirits of God (Is. 11:2) including the spirit of wisdom and revelation;
(3) Pray for the life of God through promises in the Word (2 Pet. 1:4);
(4) Pray with all kinds of prayer in the Spirit including travail (Eph. 6:18, Col 4:12 and Gal. 4:19);
(5) Washing of feet (Jn. 13.14, 34) at least 4 times daily (Dt. 6:7, Mk. 13:35, 2 Sam. 6:13);
(6) Balanced bible reading and study (2 Tim. 2.15, 3. 15-16);
(7) Frequent (once every hour Mt. 24:42) asking the Lord for mercy (1 Cor. 7:25) to triumph in all things (2 Cor. 2:14) and praying in tongues to commune with God (1 Cor. 14:18) especially during afflictions and temptations (Rm. 12:12, Jam. 1:2-4).
As we practice this diligently, we will push out of souls love for worldly icons sports, business celebrities; worldly movies, entertainments and pleasures and replace them with godly ones. What you spend most of your time watching, reading and listening to: music, books, movies etc; will determine what your heart loves more: what is godly or what is worldly.
So, give more time to God’s Word, prayer and godly literature, movies, entertainments and pleasures:
Job 36:11 MKJV: If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in blessedness, and their years in pleasures.
1 Timothy 6:17 NIV: Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
