Love: All of It Depends on This
Around here at Power and Purity, we’ve been doing a deep dive in how to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. We’ve focused on the power that comes when you surrender your life to Jesus and make Him your Lord, Master, and Savior. We’ve learned spiritual disciplines like the power of praise, wonder, prayer, rest, healing, fasting, deliverance, spiritual warfare, and the power of simply spending time with the Lord. These are some of the things that form a foundation for a lifestyle of prayer and walking with Holy Spirit. They are like tools for the journey. But sometimes, we can focus so much on all the things that we lose sight of the big picture. And we lose sight of our why. Which is why I love Jesus’ teaching so much. He simplifies everything, and shows us that all of it depends on this… loving relationship.
When the religious leaders (people who loved laws instead of relationships) tried to trick Jesus, they drilled him, hoping to ensare Jesus in His own words. But what always happened was they were left speechless. This time, trying to trick Jesus, a religious leader asked:
One of them, a lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law], asked Jesus a question, to test Him:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
What I love is that even though his motives were no bueno, Jesus answers with kindness and sincerity and gives us keys to the kingdom.
Jesus answered:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment.
The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’
All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Essentially, He boils it all down to the two most important things (instead of the hundreds of rules and regulations that the religious leaders depended on). Jesus instead says it all depends on this… loving relationship.
Life in the kingdom of God is not a trick pony show. It’s not a jump-through-the-right-hoops existence. It’s a loving relationship, adopted as sons and daughters by the Father God. It’s a loving relationship, welcomed into the fold by brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s a best friend in Jesus. It’s an empowering by Holy Spirit.
When we deep dive into inner healing and deliverance and fasting and prayer and taking our thoughts captive, we getting our hearts right before the Lord and focusing on the greatest commandment… love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And out of this, when we get our heart, soul, and mind sanctified to the Lord, we do have a choice. We can live as isolated just me-and-God type existence. But then we miss the point of why we’re still here on this earth entirely! Out of the overflow of our loving relationship with God, we love others around us. And we show them the love of God so they can enjoy His adoption and deliverance as well.
In fact, the Lord pours out extra blessings on us when we serve and love those around us.
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
So I’ll leave you with one of the most important questions you can answer right now…
- How can you practically love the Lord your God deeper this week?
- And how can you practically love your neighbor as yourself this week?
The greatest of these is love. So if all of it depends on this, it’s worth taking the time to press in to Jesus’ top two. Ask Holy Spirit to guide you and show you. He is full of surprises! May you find courage and joy in your obedience as the Wonderful Counselor shows you how to better love God, those around you, and yourself this week.
Til next time… Toodle-loo, and Peace be with you.
If you want to walk in full forgiveness and the full power of the Holy Spirit, here’s a prayer to ask Jesus to wash you clean and lead you in a new life.
If you decided to give your life to Jesus today, please let us know so we can share in your new joy! And seek out someone in your area who loves Jesus and walks in humility who can help show you the way.
If you have any questions, you can drop in comments below. That’s what I’m here for!
