LOVE THE LORD

LOVE THE LORD

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength”
(Deuteronomy 6:4-6 NKJV).

This passage of Scripture describes the greatest commandment and responsibility contained in the scriptures. It also contains the greatest blessing for Christians. When we begin to actively and passionately love the Lord, we are launched into another realm of freedom and liberty. Many Christians are bound with rules, programs, and rituals. These rituals come in Protestant and Catholic forms. They come in Evangelical and Pentecostal forms. Only when we learn to love the Lord with our spirit, soul, and our strength can we step out of religious bondage into the glorious liberty of Christ.
First, we must love the Lord with our heart and our spirit. Man is created in the image of God. We are not animals but spirit beings. Because we are spirits, we can fellowship with God who is also spirit. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Revival causes people to become aware of the spiritual realm. We become aware of the angels, who are spirit beings, but most of all we are becoming aware of the awesome Holy Spirit. He is pouring Himself out on the earth, and we are learning how to tap into His presence.
Recently, the Lord explained this to me through an illustration. He reminded me of a radio, that can potentially receive many signals. But in order to benefit from the many possible selections, you must turn the dial of the radio to pick up the different frequencies. If your radio dial was stuck, you would have to settle for listening to that one station, permanently. The Lord told me that for years I had not tuned in my spirit to the proper frequency. He had been broadcasting His anointing, but I was tuned in to the wrong frequency. Once you have been born again by the Holy Spirit, your spirit comes alive. It is then when we begin to learn to receive more and more of the Holy Ghost by tuning in to the proper channel. What frequency have you been stuck on? Have you been hearing and doing the same things over and over again? If so; spontaneity, joy, and real excitement may be a distant memory. That can all change when you begin to stir up that well deep down in your belly. How can you do that? By beginning to love The Lord in an active way.
So what does it mean to love the Lord with all of my heart? It means pursuing His presence and worshiping Him with other tongues and with my understanding. It means opening my heart up to this new intimacy. It means pursuing fellowship with the Father of spirits, the wonderful Holy Spirit.