What are the things that you love? Off the top of my head, I love chocolate, Taco Bell, my kids, God, and my husband (order does not indicate the amount of love) Do we really love those things with all of our hearts though? Do you ever honestly evaluate the list of things you love? How do those things fit with the command to, “Love God with all your heart?” We will unpack that today together.
What Does It Mean To Love God With All Your Heart?
If I were to evaluate all the things I say I love I would have to adjust my adjectives. Can I say I really love coffee or just enjoy it? LOL, I miss coffee in my life as I had to give it up… so maybe there was a love there?
What about Chocolate? Can a person love chocolate? As I try to justify that myself I am forced to ask a harder question.
We have to work hard to redefine love because of the way culture shifts words. Our big question today is, “What does it mean to love God with your whole heart?” To understand the command to love God with all your heart you must define love to start!
We will also try to answer your most pressing questions:
- What Bible verse says Love God with all your heart?
- What does it mean to love the Lord with all your soul?
- How do we love the Lord with all Your heart?
- What does it mean to love the Lord with all your heart soul and mind?
Love God (the Lord) With All Your Heart Meaning
So, what is love?
The Urban Dictionary defines love as “nature’s way of tricking people into reproducing”.
As funny as that is, our culture has diluted the meaning of love to primal emotional attraction. It is critical that we understand the original author’s intent and the interpretation of the audience when we look at the Bible – which talks a lot about love!
Love The Lord With All Your Heart Scripture
What Bible verse says Love God with all your heart? My favorite How to love God with all your heart Bible verse is the account in Matthew 22.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 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.’ This is the great and foremost commandment” (Matthew 22:36-38 NASB)
This was the first commandment! The greatest commandment listed in both the Old Testament and the New Testament is to love the Lord thy God. He even breaks that down by specifying that you are to love God as the (King James Version) says, “With all thy heart, all thy soul (your whole soul), all thy strength, and all thy mind (your whole mind).” This is great love!
To the original audience, love was more than emotion, it was a conscious choice made in the will.
Love is a choice we make every single day. This choice is an action that may have come from feelings, but also through thoughts and intentions.
The original love the Lord with all your heart meaning was completely different from our cultural understanding. That is one reason I think we mess this up so often. God’s love is something we have to get right!
How To Love God With ALL Your Heart
What does it mean to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind? To love God we must make a choice!
Yes, love is a choice, an action we walk out – every day.
Loving God has to be my first priority. I have to choose to love God when things are good or bad. I choose to make God my first priority every day. For this to be a choice, I have to make a plan for it, or the other- more physically present- things in my life will take over that priority.
I really love Jesus Christ, but there are 7 steps I use to love God with all my heart:
- Make a choice
- Make a plan
- Train your family
- Set a good example
- Make a plan B
- Have resources
- Grace
Related Post: 40 Simple Reasons To Trust in God Today & Always
Do you know why there are so many love God with all your heart Bible verses? Because it is hard and we all struggle! Because we have a very real enemy who loves to keep us from this goal. Click To Tweet1. Make A Choice
How do you love the Lord with all your heart? I have to make a conscious choice in my will to put God first every day – to love God with all my heart. Why? Because we understand the love of God and all the good things that come when we walk in a relationship with Christ Jesus.
For me that means time with Him is prioritized:
- Prayer
- Gratitude
- Bible Study
Prayer comes first no matter what. I start the day by talking to God before my feet hit the ground.
Next, I choose gratitude rather than to-do lists. I start the day by giving thanks for the day, my family, our home, and anything else I can think of.
Then comes Bible study. Not only do I want to talk to God, but I long to hear His voice to start my day. Now, morning is not my best time of day, but I try to spend time in God’s Word before I allow any other thing to speak into my life. Even if it’s just a few minutes of reading a Psalm or Proverb, God’s voice is the first voice I want in my ear.
2. Make A Plan For What Distracts You
We need a. plan because there will always be an endless supply of distractions. Fulfilling the most important commandment for the Christian life is important as God’s people. His steadfast love makes it all worth it!
What distracts you from your daily time with God?
- Can’t wake up
- Try going to bed a bit earlier.
- Maybe morning is not a good time for God and you, just pick a time and make it a habit!
- To-do list
- There will always be more to do! If you start thinking through the next thing, just write it down and get back to your time with God. It will wait for you.
- Family
- People can be hard to train to respect your time with God so we will talk about that at length.
Distractions are a normal part of life. I am blessed with several little people who crowd into my morning with their needs and demands. It took some persistence and consistency to convince them to respect my choice to give God the first parts of my day, but it has been worth the battle.
3. Train Your Family
Did you know Jesus was actually quoting another Love the Lord with all your heart verse in Matthew? There are actually several Love God with all your heart verses! It is that important!!!!! It is the key to being able to love thy neighbour as yourself with the love of Christ that lives in us… that covenant love God talks about!
In the love the Lord with all your heart Deuteronomy verse we see that the command to not only love God this way, but to teach our children to love God this way.
““Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NASB)
4. Set A Good Example
When we are saved, we inherit eternal life and experience the perfect love of God. Then through the power of the Holy Spirit, we live out the second commandment; loving others. That is an agape love kind of love that sets a good example to others to live out the whole law of God.
The hardest place to set a good example is in our home, especially with our children who see every flaw! When we set a good example for our children they will grow up knowing how to be a disciple and love God with all their heart. Whether or not they live like it is another story, but we must give them an example worth following.
“Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.” (Proverbs 22:6 NASB)
Related Post: Add Prayer and Fasting for Marriage Blessing
5. Make A Plan B
So think of your plan for yourself as plan A. You go to bed 30 minutes earlier so you wake up well-rested. You have a notebook to put your to-do list on and put aside until you are done. Then, you have a plan B in case the kids wake up before you are done.
It has taken several years to teach my kids what to do if they wake up before I am finished with my quiet time. But, I stick to it so consistently, that I overheard one of them telling some of her friends about how our mornings go! WIN!!!!!!!!!! This is my plan B for when my kids are awake earlier than I like.
- Have a snack ready if they wake before I am finished.
- They have a spot to sit quietly and have their own quiet time with supplies that match their age and interest.
- I have resolved to not pay them any attention unless there is a real emergency.
- If they forget and begin talking to me I start talking to God out loud and they get the hint.
5. Have Resources Ready
Honestly, there are days I am not on my game. I don’t know where to read or what to say to God. Do you ever feel that way? Anxiety is a topic that I wrestle with and so I’ve pulled 40 passages that address this topic into a FREE 40-day reading and journaling guide just in case you are like me and need resources.
7. Grace
Finally, I give myself grace. We are all human, and just like you, I get off track at times. I get sick and out of the habit of getting up and talking to God. Things in life get hard and I struggle with my relationship with Him. Now, when I get off track and realize it has happened, I just get right back to it (no guilt or condemnation allowed)!
Related Post: Knowing God as a Loving Father
I Can’t Love God With All My Heart On My Own
Okay, let’s be honest, all of that sounds wonderful and idealistic, right? But as I began this journey, nearly 20 years ago I had more bad days than good days.
Truly, I love God with all my heart! Let me say it again, I love the Lord with all my heart!!!!!!! But I couldn’t get this right.
Why was it so hard to give God my time?
Why was it so hard to choose God every day?
A Real Battle
Do you know why there are so many “Love God with all your heart Bible verses?” Because it is hard and we all struggle! Because we have a very real enemy who loves to keep us from this goal. And He is seasoned and good at his job. No compliment intended!!!!! He is forever cycling through these strategies.
- Distraction
- Discouragement
- Doubt
There is a battle raging to try and keep us from loving God with all our hearts… but it is possible!
Determination
For me, breaking the cycle required a different D word; determination. I want to love God. I wanted to show Him my love. So I determined to keep getting back up.
Grace was at the bottom of my list of how to love Jesus with all your heart, but it really should be first.
You will fail to love God with all your heart. You will sin and oversleep and get distracted. Discouragement will come. Doubt will come. Period. We can’t do it perfectly. But His grace is the key we need.
Every single time you mess up, get back up. Confess the mess to Him. Repent. Then get right back to doing the things He said to do.
A heart surrendered to God, determined to love Him, will succeed! Love Jesus with all your heart through the grace He gave you to do it!
Will You Love God With All Your Heart Today?
To love God with all your heart is to choose Him every day. I love God with all my heart, but it’s tough to get into the discipline of showing Him that love. Today we saw 7 ways how to love Jesus with all your heart.
- Make a choice
- Make a plan
- Train your family
- Set a good example
- Make a plan B
- Have resources
- Grace
Which area can you make a change in today to begin to love the Lord God with all your heart kjv?
Want to go deeper into the meaning of Matthew 22:36-38:
- 10 Ways to Love the Lord With All Your Mind
- Love the Lord with all your strength
- What is Loving God With All Your Soul?
in HIM,
Tiffany of Hope Joy in Christ inspires Christian Women to grow in faith, live out Biblical Marriage Principles and raise Godly Children. Join the Wives Only Facebook Group here or keep up with her through Pinterest.
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