Devotionals

Your Love For God

Matthew 22:37-40
ESV

37 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. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

When We Love God

1) We want to spend time with Him

No one has to force you to be with someone you enjoy the company of. In fact, you'll go out of your way just to be with the person for a few minutes. The presence of someone you love, value and appreciate is a presence you will value.

When we love God, we will desire to be with Him. To remain in His presence. When our love for God starts to fade when our heart becomes cold and we begin to backslide. Our desire to be in God's presence and to spend time with Him begins to fade but as God adds that's fire back, that love and zeal to spend time with Him comes easily.

When we love God, we long for prayer. You can't spend a day without praying. You pray all the time because communicating with God means so much to you. You involve God in everything and talk about everything. You desire to hear God and to feel His presence.

2) You'll desire to obey

If you love you will obey (John 14:15). These two go hand in hand. In Deuteronomy, Moses tells the Israelites the same thing.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13
ESV
Circumcise Your Heart
12 "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Deuteronomy 11:1
ESV

Love and Serve the Lord
1 "You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

When you're filled with love for God obedience will come easier. When you love God, you'll begin to not like what displeases Him. When you love someone, you won't do things to purposely hurt them and push them further from then. You'll want to stay in their presence and not let anything pull you two away.

Sin pushes God away. Sin is like the wall between you and God. When you love someone you don't want them to be separated from you and you separated from them. When we love God, we will begin to despise sin. You will start to hate and change certain things. Suddenly things that once give you joy give you greater sorrow. When lying came easy before, now you can't stand to even lie. When you used to love sin, now sin because a stench to you. You feel off, you can't stand it like before and it bothers you.

When you're beginning to backslide and your love for God becomes cold, you'll make excuses for sin. You'll tolerate it. You begin to prioritise other things above God. It doesn't bother you like before when you miss your prayer time or if you haven't read the Bible. You're focused on other things and the world consumes your thoughts.

3) To Serve, honour and glory Him.

You'll want to serve God and be used by Him. When you're filled with fire and love for God, you'll want to share the Gospel. You want others to grow. You want to serve with your gifts and talents. You'll want to know your calling. You want to know your purpose. You want to be all God has called you to be and do all He has called you to do. In that place of love, you want to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

When you're beginning to backslide and your love for God becomes cold. That zeal to go to church, go to Christian events, gather, speak about God and serve God begins to fade. It feels like a burden, a chore and difficult to connect and do those things like before.

4) To want to know who He is and learn about Him

You'll desire to grow and mature
You'll want to constantly grow in your faith. You love the word of God and can't get enough. You desire to listen to the word of God being preached. You love having Godly conversations. You purposely seek to learn more about God, you want to grow in your faith and improve. You desire or have Jesus more in your life and to be more like Jesus every day.

You'll listen vídeos that edify you because you want to understand what God says. When you love someone, you want to know what they love, what they hate, what makes them happy and what gives them sorrow. You desire to understand what are their hobbies, what are their interests etc

When you're filled with the love for God, you'll want to know what pleases Him, what is His word, what are His promises, and how He moves, think and behave. When you love someone, you care about what they think and feel towards you. As you grow in love for God, you desire to know what He thinks about you. What is His will, plan and direction for your life?

With all these examples I want you to examine yourself. Is your love and zeal for God growing cold or is it hot? There is no in-between, you're either hot or cold (Revelation 3:16). Wherever you see yourself in the spectrum, I want you to ask yourself what is stopping you from being hot.

Is it that something else has taken your attention? Is there an idol in your heart? Is there something you're prioritising above God? Is there something you're loving above God?

You might also make an excuse for being busy but no matter how busy you're, if you love someone, you'll go out of your way to speak to them. I once told someone that whenever I'm busy, I can be brushing my teeth but playing a sermon. I can be sweeping the floors but worshipping with worship music plugged in and I can be studying but every 30 minutes make 5 minutes to communion with my Father.

Why would someone do this?

Because we love God and because we love God we value His presence in our lives. If you see that you're not prioritising or loving God like before, I want you today to ask God to fill you with living for Him again. To bring back that zeal and passion for him

Matthew 24:12
NkJV
12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

-Etty