Love the Lord with All of Who We Are

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30)

We are to love the Lord our God with

All of our 

Heart

Soul

Mind

Strength

Heart is the seat of our affections

To love God with all of our 

Tenderness

Fondness

Longing

Passion

Desire

Soul is the core of who we are

The attributes that make us unique

It is the most vulnerable part of us

It is the deepest aspects of us

Mind encompasses our

Perspectives

Paradigm

Mindset

Thoughts

Volition

Priorities

Strength is the physical actions we take

The outward behaviors others see

Dictated by our mind

Informed by our soul

Generated from our heart

To love God with all of our

Heart

Soul

Mind

Strength

Is to love God

Exclusively

Having Him as our deepest love

Our top priority

With all of who we are

With the depth of who we are

With all of our vulnerabilities

No holds barred

Filling our minds with His truths

Believing only in Him

Relying only on Him

Taking off our old self and its practices

Getting rid of the old wine skins

Procuring new wine skins

Putting on our new self 

Which is being renewed in the image of its Creator

How are you loving God today

Through the expressions of your 

Heart

Soul

Mind

and Strength

Faith Produces Hope

Faith and hope are intricately connected

One’s hope needs to be anchored in someone or something

Or our hope is just magical thinking

When our faith is in the Author of life

The Sovereign God

Who holds all things in His hands

Who holds us in His palms

We have hope

The more we grow in our faith

In our Living God

Who holds our 

Yesterdays

Today

Tomorrow

Forever

In His all powerful

All loving

Hands

We have hope

Not because we wish it

Not because we desire or want it

But because of Him

For He is GOD

The Almighty

The All Knowing

The Always Present 

The Always Loving One

For we know Whom we believe

That He is faithful even when we are faithless

For He is unable to lie

Nor give us false hopes

Nor spout false promises

We know He is able to

Deliver His promises

In spite our circumstances

Trials

Temptations

Testing

Even our doubts

and faithlessness

Or hopelessness

For He is God not a human

That He should lie

Not a human being

That He should change His mind

For when He speaks

There is power

Dunamis Power

Power that of a dynamite

For His word is 

Dynamic

Active

Living

As He is a

Living

Active 

All Powerful God

Because of Whom God is

We have faith

Faith in Him

Faith in His word

We have hope

Hope that does not disappoint

Because the love God has been poured out within our hearts

Through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us

We have hope

Want to grow in hope?

Grow in the knowledge of God 

Grow in the knowledge of His love

Grow in faith

Our hope will grow

Stand

“11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then…” (Ephesians 6:11-14a).

Taking our stand is

Setting ourselves to win

Against the devil’s schemes

The battle we face are not against flesh and blood

The battle we are in 

Is spiritual 

In spiritual battles

We put on the full armor of God

Our armor is spiritual

Our stance is firm

Firmly rooted in 

Christ

In what He has accomplished for us on the cross

Being able to stand our ground is

Taking a position

Putting our stake in the ground

To declare 

Who we are

To Whom we belong

With Whom we stand

Against whom we stand

To stand after having done everything is

Remaining standing 

To fully claim what was accomplished

And keep guard our position

To stay vigilant and alert

To stand and to watch

To protect

To own

Our victory

Stand firm then

With the accoutrements 

Necessary for this spiritual battle

The belt of truth buckled

The breastplate of righteousness in place

Feet fitted with readiness to share the Gospel

The shield of faith with which we extinguish fiery darts

The helmet of salvation to protect our minds and thoughts

The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God enabling us to take offensive stances

And after everything

Stand

"Stand" by Newsboys

Exchange of Only Son for Many Sons

(John 3:16)

For God so loved the world

That He gave His

ONE and ONLY Son

In order to gain 

Many heirs

Many daughters and sons

The sacrifice of His

ONLY SON

In order to gain

All of US

Imagine you only have one child

But because of your love for 

Orphans in need of a family

You willingly

SACRIFICE

As in

To give your 

One and only son

To die

A cruel death

In 

Order

To 

Gain

Many

In 

Order 

To 

Adopt

Many

As 

Your children

Your heirs

We know God loves us

Afterall He created us

And formed us inside our mother’s womb

He sees each of us as His

Masterpiece

His Beloved

In whom He is well pleased

Even before one day came into being

In our lives here on earth

But to gain us as 

His

Adopted 

Daughters and sons

God had to

Sacrifice 

His Only Son

Jesus

In order to 

Gain us

What price

What huge sacrifice

At such 

TREMENDOUS

Price

God was willing

His Only Son Jesus was willing

The Holy Spirit was willing

To make this 

Sacrifice

In 

Order 

To 

Gain 

YOU

And me

"O The Blood" (Kari Jobe)

Availability Not Ability

When we make ourselves available

God shows up and He performs the miracle

The 5,000 and the 4,000 needed food

For they had followed Jesus and listened to His teaching

They were hungry

They were in remote places with no food

No access to buy any food

Jesus asked how much food was around

Five loaves and two fish for the 5,000

Seven loaves and a few small fish for the 4,000

The disciples passed out the bread and the fish to the crowd

They participated in distributing the food to the hungry

The disciples did not perform the miracle of multiplying the food

They made themselves available to be

Conduits 

of God’s miracle

Jesus was the One Who performed the miracle

Elijah went to the widow and asked her to 

First bake him bread 

From the handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug 

Enough to make one loaf as her and her son’s last meal

Then they will wait for death from starvation

When the widow used the flour and the olive oil to bake the bread

God enabled the flour and the oil to not run out

So the widow

Her son

and Elijah

Were able to have bread to eat 

Every day

God shows up when we participate

In His miracle

God is the Miracle Maker

We get to be the conduits of 

His miracle

His work

When Jesus broke the bread and the fish

If the disciples decided not to pass out the bread and the fish

The people would not have gotten fed

The widow could have not followed Elijah’s directions

She and her son would indeed have their last meal

And died of starvation after

But because they were 

Available

Willing

Obedient

The disciples got to reap 

The widow got to benefit from 

Being

Witnesses

Participants

Beneficiaries

Of

God’s miracles

The Holy Spirit is perpetually at work

His Living River is constantly flowing

When we choose to jump into 

The Living River of the Holy Spirit

Its currents carry us

We get to

Experience God’s work in the world

God’s miracles of 

Healing

Saving

Rescuing

Setting people free

Providing

Comforting

And loving His people

We become privileged

Witnesses

Participants

Beneficiaries

of God’s work

His miraculous work

Through us

Although He does not need us

For God will accomplish His work regardless

But out of His love

God invites us to be participants

of His work

So we can be blessed

For taking part in

His miracles

Jump in

Get in on the action

So we can be active participants of

God’s work of miracles and 

Be blessed

Today

Filling Our Minds with Truth

When a container is filled to the brim

There is no room left for anything else

Our mind is always looking for something to fill it with

Fill it with truth and we live with Shalom

Fill it with anything else we live with struggles

When we FILL our mind with God’s truth

There will be no room left for

Doubts

Fears

Anxieties

Worries

Lies

Obsessions

Compulsions

Addictions

God’s truth says:

 

God calls us His Beloved daughters and sons

We are precious to Him and He is well pleased with us

He calls us His friends

We are God’s unique Image Bearers

He knows our every thought even before one crosses our minds

He knew our every day before one came into existence

He saw our unformed bodies before the foundation of the world was set

He knit us together in our mothers’ wombs

He attends to us and knows the number of hairs on our heads

He bottles our tears for us

God has us in the palms of His hands

He promises to be with us and never forsake us

The Resurrected Christ has gone before us to prepare a room for us in heaven

The Victorious Christ is always interceding for us at the right hand of God

We are more than conquerors through Christ Who strengthens us

Greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world

When we draw near to God He will draw near to us

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

Trouble

Hardships

Persecution

Famine

Nakedness

Danger

Sword

Neither death nor life

Neither angels nor demons

Neither present nor future nor any powers

Neither height nor depth

Nor anything else in creation

Will be able to separate us from the love of God

Christ is

True

Noble

Right

Pure

Lovely

Admirable

Excellent

Praiseworthy

When we think on these truths

Fill our minds with these truths

There will be no room left for lies and struggles

Because our minds are FULL of

Truth

God’s truth

Reality

God’s reality

The battle of our lives starts with 

The battle of our minds

Fill our minds with God’s reality and truth

Our reality will come into alignment with God’s reality 

Our lives transformed

Our Worth

Psalm 139

Who are we?

How do we view ourselves?

How do we know our worth?

What makes up our self-worth?

These are questions we might ponder

If we are to be judged by our performances

Our values and worth can go up and down from day to day

But

How does God view us?

After all, He is our Maker

He saw our unformed body even before one day came into being

He hems us in behind and before

He lays His hands upon us

God knows our

Every thought

Every word

Every move

He is familiar with all our ways

For He knows us thoroughly

All the days ordained for us were written in His book

Even before one day came into being

This God

Our Creator

The Lover or our soul

Who knows us completely

Finds us worthy 

Of His love

Of His loving care

Of His creation

He calls us His Masterpiece

Our worth comes from Him imbuing us with worth

It is about the Creator and His worth

It is about the Creator and Him giving us worth

It is the Father Who wants a relationship with us

He then went about to form us in our mother’s womb

He hands us over into our mother’s arms

He raises us through our earthly parents

He is present in every moment of our lives

Constantly

Watching

Caring

Attending

Through the good and bad times

Through our times of joys and sorrows

God the Creator

God the Maker

God the Father

God the Lover of our soul

God and His Presence

His companionship even when we are unaware

HE LOVES US

We are unique reflections of Himself 

It is because of His love for us that 

We

Are

Counted

As

WORTHY

Worthy of His Son’s death on the cross

In order to redeem us

So that

We might find our worth 

In God

Through Christ

Experienced through the Holy Spirit

Do we see it?

Do we sense it?

Do we feel it?

Do we believe it?

It is God 

And all about God

That we get to have worth

We are worthy

Because 

God 

Gives us 

Our Worth