Do you love the Lord like this?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
(Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV))

I love how God’s Word can say something different each time you read it. Perhaps I should say that differently. I love how God’s Word can speak to you in a different way each time you read it. To clarify, there is a difference between saying something different and having something speak to you differently. Is it God’s Word or is it our hearts and our ability to understand that is different?

Two days ago I read this passage and quickly moved on to Deuteronomy 6:6. Two days ago, that passage caught my attention. Today, I feel the need to be reminded, and to remind, how we are to love God.

Does the Lord have all your heart?

Your heart is what keeps you alive in the physical world. It is representative of the moment. Does God have you in this very moment?

Does the Lord have all your soul?

Your soul is the eternal. It is what will continue after the physical is gone. It represents your long term love for God. Does God have you for eternity?

Does the Lord have all your strength?

Your strength represents your abilities, even though they are very little when you consider all that God can do. Giving God all your strength means that you are giving everything you are to His Will. You surrender and rely on His strength. Do you fully rely on God?

I honestly do not know how many times that I have read this passage, but today, the Lord spoke to me in a way that opened my eyes, my heart and my mind to the depth of the love that we should feel toward Him. Without Him, we are nothing. Everything that we do should lift up His name. Everything we do should show the love that we have for our Lord, our God!

Do you love the Lord like this?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Is God warning you about sin?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
(Genesis 4:6-7 (NIV))

Could God use these words if He had a conversation with you?

If only Cain had heeded these words and taken a different direction.

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
(Genesis 4:8 (NIV))

I take this as proof that God truly does know what is in our hearts. He knew what Cain had within him. He even warned Cain to change his course and to not let his anger turn to sin. I also take this passage to reaffirm the fact that God loves everyone and desires for no one to perish. He reached out to Cain before he killed his brother in an effort to turn him away from sin. It was up to Cain to respond. It was his choice. He chose to ignore God and we all know what happened as the consequences of this action.

If God speaks to you in this manner, take heed of what He has to say, for it is being said out of love. Perhaps we should remember another passage before we think that God is not speaking to us.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

God is calling out to us in much the same way that He called out to Cain, for we, too, are sinners prone to anger. Sin is crouching at our door. Have you mastered it?

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What have you read today?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

He must always keep this copy of the law with him and read it daily as long as he lives.
(Deuteronomy 17:19 (NLT))

We have been told to keep God’s Word in our hearts and in our lives since the beginning of creation. God’s Word has been classified into several different categories, one of which is the Law. The Law tells us how we are to live. We are to read it daily for we live our lives daily. We need the guidance that the Law provides to us.

Some people believe that because Jesus came to die for our sins, we are free from the Law. They believe that the grace and mercy that He brought keeps us from needing to live be the righteous statutes that it conveys. They feel that they can do whatever they want because they are forgiven; that they are covered by the Blood of the Lamb.

Jesus, Himself, put this belief to a very sound resolution.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
(Matthew 5:17 (NIV))

Just because God’s Word may come from what we call the Old Testament does not mean that it is to be ignored because Jesus saved us from the Law. He did save us from the Law, but He did not save us to blatantly ignore the Law. We are to keep God’s commands because Jesus kept His commands. Jesus fulfilled every single one of them. We, as believers, are destined to be matured into the very image of Jesus. If He fulfilled them, then we should also.

What have you read today?

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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