Love God with your Mind
Love God with your Mind – Agape
Matthew 22:36-37 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
The word love in this context is agape in the Greek. The central meaning to agape is a self-sacrificing love. It is not a human feeling that is emotional, sentimental, etc. It also is unrelated to a brotherly, friendly, or sexual kind of love. It is the essence of God, God is love. Now, this is how it is now reading to me –
..thou shall self-sacrifice all your heart, soul, and mind.
That is how it is speaking to me. A follow-up to: Renewed Mind in Christ and Tactical Spiritual Warfare. Praise God. Lord, give me the words, in Jesus I pray, amen. Deep breath… thank you Lord (Romans 12 just popped into my head). Perfect –
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
See where I’m being led with with this?
Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh (sacrificed) with the affections and lusts.
Romans 6:5-11 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death (sacrificed), we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified (sacrificed) with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead (sacrificed) is freed from sin. Now if we be dead (sacrificed) with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Philippians 2:4-6 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others (self-sacrificing). Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
The Body of Christ, being equal with God, in-Christ. It is Christ in you saint. Let Him have His Body. Sacrificial love, our reasonable service.. Love thy Lord your God. He will then fill you with His Spirit, His mind, His emotions, His strength, etc.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Philippians 2:1-2 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
2 Timothy 1:6-7 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
Finally my brethren –
Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
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Loved the message and the fact you are drawing directly from God’s word. I also loved where you stopped to pray to God about your writing. I am always doing the same but I never thougt to write down my prayers. What a great way to witness about your walk with God! You have inspired me. Thank you and may God bless you from letting God be in Control!
God loves you and me so so much but what i do in return is to sin i don’t want to sin i just want to love god as he loves me but his love and my love will never be the same. i want to put my problems in God hands but i don’t know how to do that. God i want you to help open my mind, hart and my soul i know i am kind and everything that you want your people to do to help the homeless the poor and the sick but if your not there or what if you didn’t put kindness into my hart what if that is my flash i am afraid God as you are my father i know you will help me: i trust you my lord i know that you would not forsake me:
Nyade.. I believe the answer to your petition is in this post, within the scripture. Please msg me if you do not understand and we can discuss. God bless you and yours..
Hi Nyade, this may be of some help to you in regards to the returning to sin:
As I am being tempted I am confessing to God of my temptations. I don’t mean here that I confess my sin in a general way, although that is well. What I mean is that, while I am tempted, I relay it to God. “God, I want to please my flesh in such and such manner…”.
So I am in a running, in the moment commentary on my fleshly desires, confessing them as they come to me, to God. “Lord, she looks good, help me. Lord, I feel anger, Lord this is what the anger feels like… Lord my heart is feeling hardened toward you.” So I am not so much confessing to God what I have done in the past, rather, I am merely confessing to God where my desires are leading me at this present time. I am merely laying myself bare before God concerning my here and now temptations.
Remember, of course, no guilt is allowed during this time of relaying your fleshly desires to God. And of course if there is one particular sin which bothers you greatly, you would focus more on relaying these thoughts to God as they are pressing upon you.
“Lord, please accept this gift from me, this desire to give this fleshly thought to you. Please accept my heart which wants to please you by giving the gift of my temptations to you. Please trade with me my desires for your desires.” The point is not to use the words I present here, but to use the words which are true for you at the moment in which you pray. Express to God how you feel in your temptation, why you are feeling it, what led up to it, this sort of thing. But don’t make it a formula; express to God merely what your soul and spirit want to expose to God. Go usually with the flow of your soul and spirit in your praying rather than a prearranged prayer (except when your spirit delights in that prearranged prayer).
So you are simply meditating on offering your fleshly desires to God, and meditating on how He wants to help you in these areas.
This is something that, if it helps, it is good. If you do not seem to find much relief in this way of confessing to God, remember it may take some time, or there may be other ways to deal with temptations which work better for you. Everyone grows in their own way. And remember God is not impatient with us if our struggle against sin takes years and years. God can not be impatient because He commands us to be patient. God Loves! Mark