November 29 Devotion - You shall love The Lord - Part 4 - with all your mind

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment

وتحب الرب الهك من كل قلبك ومن كل نفسك ومن كل فكرك ومن كل قدرتك هذه هي الوصية الاولى

Mark 12:30

In the last three devotions we covered how to:

‘love God with all your heart’ and

‘love God with all your soul’ and

‘love God with all your strength’.

Today let’s discover how to ‘love God with all your mind.’

I often wondered: what does it really mean to love God with all of my mind?

In order for me to love God with all my mind, I need to fill my mind with God’s Word. When I agree with God it awakens love in me, and my love for God is continually refueled when my mind encounters truth over and over again. When I use my mind to remember His qualities, and His love for me, I am putting love in my mind’s memory bank.

Since I treasure my relationship with the Lord, my thoughts and memory reflect that.

In order to bring my life (ship) in from the storm, the rudder of my ship (my thoughts and memory) needs to be my love for God with all my mind.

How do I do that? God teaches me that:

“I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”

اجعل نواميسي في قلوبهم واكتبها في اذهانهم

Hebrews 10:16

 So my love for God with all my mind will be demonstrated by my thoughts and memories of God in my life and the rudder of my ship is controlled by every Word that God has written in my mind.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I thank you for writing Your laws in my mind. Lord, help me and teach me to fill my mind with Your Word and to be in agreement with it. Lord, awaken love in me, and continually refuel my love for You. Help me to use my mind to remember Your qualities, and Your love for me, and to store love for You in my mind’s memory bank. Abba Father, thank You that Your deep steadfast love for me endures forever. Thank You Father for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. God I praise You, revere You, worship You, I stand in awe of You, I lift You up on high, and glorify Your Holy Name. To Him who is able to keep me from stumbling and to present me before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

November 28 Devotion - You shall love The Lord - Part 3 - with all your strength

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment

وتحب الرب الهك من كل قلبك ومن كل نفسك ومن كل فكرك ومن كل قدرتك هذه هي الوصية الاولى

Mark 12:30

I often wondered: what does it really mean to love God with all of my strength and what does the word ‘love’ in this context really mean?

I believe ‘love’ here means a reverent adoration toward God which is intense and steadfast, with passion and enduring loyalty.

In order for me to love God with all my strength, I need to reverently and passionately put all the gifts He has given me under His service. The gifts He has given me that I would put under His services include but are not limited to my abilities, resources, time, and energy. When I serve God it awakens love in me, and my love for God is continually refueled when I feel that I am pleasing Him. Since I treasure my relationship with the Lord, my actions reflect that.

In order to bring my life (ship) in from the storm, the rudder of my ship (my actions, deeds) needs to be my love for God with all my strength.

How do I do that? God teaches me that:

‘If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me;’

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

أَيُّهَا الأَوْلادُ الصِّغَارُ، لَا يَجِبُ أَنْ تَكُونَ مَحَبَّتُنَا مُجَرَّدَ ادِّعَاءَ بِالْكَلامِ وَاللِّسَانِ، بَلْ تَكُونَ مَحَبَّةً عَمَلِيَّةً حَقَّةً.

1 John 3:18

 So my love for God with all my strength will be demonstrated by my actions and deeds in serving God and the rudder of my ship is controlled by following Jesus.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, please help me and teach me to love and serve You with all my strength in the way that pleases You. Lord, awaken love in me, and continually refuel my love for You. Help me to put under Your service all the gifts You have given me; with passion and enduring loyalty. Jesus I want to follow You and love You in deed and in truth.

God I praise You, glorify You and lift You up on high. I thank You God for your abundant blessings and for Your deep, everlasting and inseparable love. In the name of the King of kings and Lord of lords, in the Holy Name of Jesus I pray. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, to Jesus be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

November 27 Devotion - You shall love The Lord - Part 2 - with all your soul

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment

وتحب الرب الهك من كل قلبك ومن كل نفسك ومن كل فكرك ومن كل قدرتك هذه هي الوصية الاولى

Mark 12:30

I often wondered how can I love Jesus with all of my soul? Do you know what the definition of your soul is? I researched it and came to the conclusion that the soul is the place where we make our decisions and choices that ultimately decide our behaviour.

If we treasure our relationship with the Lord our choices and behaviour will reflect that.

In order to bring my life (ship) in from the storm, the rudder (my choices and behaviour ) needs to be my love for God with all my soul. How do I do that? Jesus teaches me that:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

ان كنتم تحبونني فاحفظوا وصاياي .

John 14:15

So my love for God with all my soul will be demonstrated by my choice and behaviour in keeping His commandments in my life and the rudder of my ship is controlled by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, help me and teach me to make the right decisions and choices. Strengthen me Lord to keep Your commandments and to love You with all my soul by living in a way that pleases you and is based on Your Word O’Lord. God I praise You, glorify You and lift You up on high. Thank You Father God for loving me with a deep and everlasting love, thank You for Your abundant blessings and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and encouragement and the good  hope of salvation by His grace, comfort and encourage and strengthen my heart in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

 Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

26 Devotion - You shall love The Lord - Part 1 - with all your heart

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment

      فَأَحِبَّ الرَّبَّ إِلهَكَ بِكُلِّ قَلْبِكَ وَبِكُلِّ نَفْسِكَ وَبِكُلِّ فِكْرِكَ وَبِكُلِّ قُوَّتِكَ. هذِهِ هِيَ الْوَصِيَّةُ الأُولَى.                                                                                                                

                                                              Mark 12:30
 

When Jesus laid out the most important commandment for humanity, He started with loving the Lord with ALL of our heart. I often wondered how can I love Jesus with all my heart.

                                                              

The heart symbolizes where we keep our emotions, cares and desires. The rudder of my ship is my cares and desires.

In order to bring my life (ship) in from the storm, the rudder (my cares and desires) needs to be my love for God with all my heart.

How do I do that? Jesus teaches me that:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 فَحَيْثُ يَكُونُ كَنْزُكَ، هُنَاكَ أَيْضاً يَكُونُ قَلْبُك

Matthew 6:21

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can make You my undisputed treasure. Help me to have the discipline of spending time with You daily and give me the gift of treasuring this time and rejoicing to be in Your presence. Lord, I thank you for your abundant blessings and for Your deep, everlasting and inseparable love. I praise You and glorify You. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I pray in His Holy Name. To Him be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein