The Spirit of YAH is upon me; because YAH hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of YAH, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of YAH, that he might be glorified. - Isaiah 61

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Love the Lord, Thy God




Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 




Matthew 22:36-40
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


In the dictionary, the word LOVE is in the verb (action) format means:
1. To hold dear, cherish
2. To feel affection

The word LOVE has become such a loose word. We use the word for so many things, “I love chocolate”, “I love my car”, “I love ice cream” and so on. Yet, these words have no depth in comparison to the true meaning of LOVE.


There are three types of LOVE:
1. Eros = known as the erotic, based on physical traits. This type of love is very shallow, based upon the flesh.
2. Philos = based upon friendship
3. Agape = Unconditional love (spiritual). The type of love where you are willing to lay down your life for another. A sacrificial kind of love.


The agape love is sacrificial type of love. A perfect example is found in John 3:16.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


God demonstrated to us the agape love that He has for us and the love we are to have for Him and for others.

Another illustration of sacrificial love for us to have toward God is found in Genesis 22:1, 2

Genesis 22:1, 2
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.


Genesis 22:9-12

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 

And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.


A man gives a woman flowers and we think that is an expression of love. Or a woman makes a man a hearty meal and we think that is an expression of love. But true love comes when one has to give of himself/herself for another and make a sacrifice.

We have come to an era where love has grown very cold in our hearts. We are so quick to dispose of one another if they don’t meet our needs. If a person doesn’t benefit us in any way, then we have nothing to do with them. So many people have become self-absorbed and are unwilling to go out of their way to meet a need.

Today, the church is experiencing a Spiritual decay. We have turned our backs on God to pursue interests of the flesh, pleasures of life.  The love and lust of the world has entered into the churches today and we lost our love for God.


1 John 3:16-18
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.


2 Timothy 3:1-5
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.


Matthew 15:7-9
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.


Many people today have lost a reverence toward God.


Revelations 2:1-5 (A message to Ephesus)
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.


So many people reject the Ten Commandments and say that it is outdated or no longer a commandment of God. That is not true.

1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.


What I have learned about true love is that you treat another person with a great deal of care. You treat the other person’s heart the same way you would treat a precious heirloom. You treat that person in a very delicate way, doing your best not to wound the other person or cause pain. We have treated God as a butler, a servant to us rather than treating Him with a great deal admiration for all He has done for us. Our love for God has grown cold and now is the time to ask God to fan the flame.

Perhaps, you put your children above God; your grown children that you spend a great deal of time worrying about, rather than spending time with God. Or perhaps, you have concerns about the condition of your marriage. Put God first above all else and He will take care of the rest.

Worship God in Spirit and in truth, return to the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of all wisdom and make Him your first priority as each new day dawns and you will experience the many blessings from Heaven that comes with great peace & joy.


John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.


Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.


As we grow to love the Lord our God, we would be careful not to offend God and make Him angry and grieve the Holy Spirit. What I find to be troubling in this world today is that we are so careful not to offend man, yet we do things that offend God. Don’t we have things backwards? We ought to be more concerned about what God thinks about what we do or say. Let get our priorities back in order and become more mindful of not offending God by living according to His Commandments.

2 comments:

  1. i love your blog! thought i was alone out there

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I was a child I memorized John 3:16 with some words added to it, that I recently discovered are not in the verse.
    After the words "begotten son" I would add "To die for us." That surprised me greatly to discover those words are not in there.
    I went back and read that verse in context and am thinking on it. It doesn't mean what I was told. It means a great deal more. I think if we are going to teach our children to memorize scripture,it should be within the whole context.
    I have seen 4 year old children recite the WHOLE Sh'ma
    Deut 6:4-25.so they can do it.
    G-d created children with brains that are like sponges...they can remember more than we give them credit for.If you add motions to it, all the better...the brain synapses fire a lot better when they make connections between two points...the doing and...the saying.
    What are your thoughts on this premise?
    Teresa at tllc2003@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete