The Bible tells us in Matthew 22 37-38 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment God is not after a robotic obedience He's not calling you into religious performance He's calling you into relationship And at the very core of that relationship is love And that love is loving God with everything you are And loving others as he loves you Loving God not just on the surface not just in our words but with everything we are our heart our soul and our mind But loving God fully consistently and deeply is not always easy It may sound simple but it takes effort Life pulls us in so many directions We get busy distracted worn down Our minds race with responsibilities Our hearts drift toward other things And before we know it God has been pushed into the background We stopped prioritizing him So what does it actually look like to love God with all your heart soul and mind it means putting him first Not just when life gets hard Not just on Sunday mornings but every day in every decision in every quiet moment It means waking up and saying "God you come first today above my schedule above my goals above everything else It means inviting him into your day and not trying to manage life on your own terms When you truly love someone you don't forget about them until it's convenient You think of them often You make space for them You care about what matters to them You honor them And that's the kind of love God longs for from us because he knows our lives are fullest when he is at the center Loving God is a decision you make again and again to surrender to seek him and to stay close This kind of love takes intention It takes time Just like any relationship it grows when you invest in it That means carving out time to pray Not rushed prayers you squeeze in but real conversations where you bring your whole heart to him It means opening your Bible not out of guilt but out of hunger to hear his voice to understand his heart And it means sitting in the quiet and simply being with him letting him fill the spaces you normally rush past Matthew 6:33 says "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." But often we flip the order We chase success security relationships comfort and only afterward do we squeeze God in if there's time left But loving God means reordering our lives So he's not just one more thing on the list He is the list Everything else flows from him So ask yourself am l putting God first in my day do l start with him or is he an afterthought do I run to him when I feel overwhelmed or do I try to handle it myself do I care more about pleasing him or pleasing people loving God with all your heart means obeying him even when it's uncomfortable even when it costs something Even when it challenges your preferences or pride In John 14:15 Jesus says "If you love me you will keep my commandments." That means we can't separate love from obedience True love shows up in how we live It shows up when we forgive someone who doesn't deserve it It shows up when we choose purity over glorified compromise It shows up when we speak truth in love even if it's unpopular It shows up when we serve instead of seek status When we choose kindness over winning an argument When we give generously even when it stretches us But here's the beautiful part When you love God like this your life begins to change from the inside out You experience a joy that doesn't depend on circumstances You find peace even when life feels uncertain You feel a closeness to God that fills the emptiness you didn't even know was there This is what love does It brings you home And yes you're human You will stumble You'll have days where your love grows cold where other things feel more urgent or more exciting You'll feel the tug of old habits selfish tendencies and spiritual fatigue But don't be discouraged God doesn't expect perfection He wants your heart Galatians 2:20 reminds us " I have been crucified with Christ It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me You're not doing this alone Jesus lives in you through his spirit and he gives you the strength to walk this out to keep loving to keep choosing him even when it's hard So if you've drifted if your priorities have gotten off track if you feel like you've been loving a lot of other things more than God don't run from him run back to him He's not angry He's not disappointed He's waiting It's not too late He's still calling your name And when you respond to that call when you come back to your first love you remember again why you were created Not just to know about God but to know him to love him and to be loved by him fully That's the kind of love that will carry you through every season And that's the kind of love that changes everything Now let's take a moment to pray together
Dear Jesus thank you for loving me with everything you had You left the glory of heaven You stepped into our broken world You wrapped yourself in human flesh and walked among us You endured rejection suffering and death All so l could be rescued so l could be forgiven So l could live That kind of love is too big for me to fully understand It humbles me because l know I could never earn it I could never repay it It's a love that sees every flaw every weakness every moment I've failed and still chooses me again and again You gave your life so l could have mine And when | sit with that truth how could I not love you in return you've given me everything Hope mercy forgiveness a future and a place in your family So today I want to give you my whole life my dreams my fears my time my heart Still I confess it's not always easy My love for you doesn't always look the way I want it to l get distracted by things that don't really matter I run after comfort l chase after affirmation I fill my calendar my thoughts my hands with everything but you And sometimes I try to live life like l can handle it on my own l push forward without stopping to ask "Jesus are you leading this forgive me Lord Forgive me for the times I've forgotten who you are For the days l've left you on the sidelines for the moments I've turned to everything else first I don't want to live like that anymore Help me to love you with all my heart Not just on the days when I feel close to you not just when everything is going right but even in the ordinary and difficult moments Help me to choose you when my heart feels dry When I feel distracted or when I'm tempted to seek comfort elsewhere when l open my eyes each morning before l even reach for my phone or begin thinking about all the things I need to do Let my first thought be of you Let my heart be stirred with gratitude that I get another day to walk with you In the middle of the day when the noise of the world is loud and my mind is full and tired draw me back into your quiet presence Remind me to pause to breathe and to remember that I'm not alone At night when my body is weary and my thoughts race faster than l can catch them give me peace Wrap me in your presence and quiet my soul so I can find rest in you Help me to love you with all my mind Teach me to guard my thoughts and take them captive especially the ones that try to pull me into fear discouragement or lies Let my mind be a dwelling place for truth for thoughts that are noble pure excellent and praiseworthy just like your word says in Philippians 4 When anxious thoughts come in like waves help me to anchor my mind in the promises of scripture Let your word be my meditation the steady stream that shapes my thinking and renews my perspective And when my thoughts wander or spiral gently lead me back to truth over and over again Help me to love you with all my soul With the deepest part of who l am with every longing every ache every question Help me bring those places to you instead of hiding them or pretending to be okay Help me to love you with all my strength with my body my energy my time my voice my actions Let the way I live speak louder than my words Let every step I take reflect that you are not just someone l believe in but someone l follow When I serve let it be out of love for you When l speak let my words reflect your kindness When I face hard things give me the strength to keep going Let my love for you show up in the way I treat others the way I handle pressure the way I respond to conflict Let everything in me be an offerng to you Holy Spirit search me lf there's anything in me that's taking up space you should fill Anything I've placed on the throne of my heart instead of you please take it away I give you permission to rearrange my priorities To remove anything that's pulling me away to simplify my life until what matters most is what matters most Create in me a new rhythm a new mindset a new way of living that begins and ends with you Teach me to pray as a conversation with the one who loves me most Teach me to sit in stillness and listen To be comfortable in the quiet and trust that you're speaking even when l don't hear you right away Help me open my Bible out of hunger Let it come alive to me Let me see you in every word Jesus Let my relationship with you be real Let it be deep Let it be alive I don't want shallow faith I don't want a relationship that only shows up when I'm in crisis I want you to be my daily portion my daily joy Please don't let me treat you like an obligation Help me to desire you again to delight in you to long for you Restore to me the joy of your presence And Lord if l ever start drifting if I ever lose my way or lose sight of you pull me back Pull me back quickly Don't let me get comfortable with distance Don't let me stay numb Wake up my heart Shake off the apathy Breathe life into the dry places Shape me Jesus Shape my habits Shape my attitude Shape my priorities Shape my heart to reflect yours Make me someone who loves you not just with my mouth but with my life Because there's nothing truly nothing in this world that compares to you Nothing satisfies the way you do Nothing heals like you do Nothing lasts like you do You are more than worthy You are more than enough You are everything Thank you for never giving up on me for loving me even on the days when I forgot to love you in return For chasing me down with grace for covering me with mercy for calling me yours So today Jesus I give you my heart again Be the center of my life Be the center of my heart and let my love for you grow deeper every day In your beautiful and powerful name l pray amen
If this prayer has touched your heart please say amen as a sign of faith l pray that every blessing in this prayer is now upon you in the name of Jesus And if you need a special prayer feel free to let us know in the comments We would be honored to pray for you May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always
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