Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
LOVE X 2
Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets are summed up in two commands. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself!
Photo from BibleInspirations.com
Our first priority is to love God!
Jesus equated our love for God with keeping His commandments! Loving God is living in a way to please Him! The main reason for the success that Jesus enjoyed was due to His focus! "I only do what pleases the Father". This is true worship! Living to please the Father!
Our number one focus must be living to please Him! This is how we show our love to Him, by keeping His commands! By submitting our will to His! Like our example (Jesus), "not my will but thine".
1st John says we cannot claim to love God and still walk in sin. Our love for God requires we live a life separate and Holy. Our love for God requires we forsake all others for Him! Our love for God requires that we are finished with loving this world! Our love for God will not allow us to habitually do anything that displeases Him! Our love for God requires we keep His commands! Our love for God will not let us do anything that would strain our relationship with Him! Like Jesus, we live to do the will of the Father.
2nd we love our neighbor as ourself!
Christ Esteem not self esteem.
This is not the self love doctrine of the world that has crept into the doctrines of the church! Many say Jesus is teaching we must first love ourselves so then we can love others! It is just the opposite of that! It is denying ourselves so others can have something! It is esteeming others above ourselves! It is laying down our own life for others!
Even for people we never met before!
It is this love for God and others that motivates us to fulfill the Great Commission! We give up our time, money, even our prayer life becomes time requisitioning from heaven's storehouse for others instead of concentrating our prayers on ourselves.
Jesus said, "No greater love than to lay down our life for someone else! We are most like God when we bless someone that cannot or will not bless us in return!
The prayer life of the true follower of Christ Jesus is centered on personal holiness! "Through these great and precious promises, taking on His Divine nature.". "That Christ would be formed in us". "That we would walk worthy of His calling". "That we would be Holy as He is Holy".
Secondly our prayer life will be centered around others. Appropriating heaven for others! Praying that others will be more blessed than you! Fasting, praying and giving of our time and resource for a lost and dying world! This is what God expects of each and every true follower of Jesus!
“Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men!”
My thoughts today from the Philippines!
God bless!
Daddy William
