With All My Heart

I began a journey in What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst this past Sunday with Melissa Taylor and Proverbs 31 Ministries, not to mention women from all over the world, who want to experience life with God in extraordinary ways. My heart and soul have been stirred and I'm finding new strength for radical obedience! And this is only the first week!! #yestoGod

Our scripture verse for this week is from Deuteronomy 6:5:

You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your strength.

As I studied this scripture this week, I have felt God impress the following during my quiet time with Him:

This verse demonstrates a personal relationship with God that is to be grounded in love and in obedient surrender of the following three areas of a person. The preposition "with" is used to begin detailing each of the three areas in which we use or show our love for God.

This is a love that demands everything about me...

• All my heart: not withholding any area or deep places of the heart; nothing or no one else is to be loved more than my God.
• All my soul: our soul defines who we are and how we live. The Holman Bible Dictionary says "Soul designates the feelings, the wishes, and the will of humans." I am to love God entirely in response to the love He has first shown me by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for me while I was yet a sinner (Romans 5:8).
• All my strength: This would be the outward actions that demonstrate a heart and soul that is surrendered entirely to God. I cannot live like God requires in my own fleshly strength which only seeks its own selfish desires! God knew this and in His mercy He gives believers His Holy Spirit which enables us to live how God calls us to live.

As a daughter of God, I am to demonstrate my love for Him with ALL of my being. I cannot withhold any areas of my life. As I studied this verse this week, I thought of the agape love of God that did not withhold anything from me. Jesus willingly came in the flesh to fulfill all the requirements of the Law that man (I) could not. I think this kind of love (agape) is what God desires of us as well.

Living like this in today's world can be seen as radical! I love what Lysa shared in Chapter 1 concerning radical obedience:

You may be surprised to discover that radical obedience is not really

that radical. It is really biblical obedience - but we've strayed so far

from biblical obedience that it now seems radical. In today's society,

it is radical to obey God's commands, listen to the Holy Spirit's

convictions, and walk in Jesus' character.



and

Saying yes to God isn't about perfect performance, but rather perfect surrender

to the Lord day by day. Your obedience becomes radical the minute desire turns

into real action. Radical obedience is hearing from God, feeling His nudges,

participating in His activity, and experiencing His blessings in ways few people ever do.



So this week I have learned the first step in saying #yestoGod and that step is found in Deuteronomy 6:5...it is the complete and total surrender of my life into the loving hands of my Father. It's a call that beckons me to walk further out onto the water toward Jesus. It's a call to set aside my desire for control and surrender to a biblical obedience that will be seen as radical in the eyes of this world.

It's a call to say #yestoGod!