I feel ridiculous for asking this question

Hi Cucumber,
I've read the entire thread with all the replies. Everyone of them are very good. They are all true in what they have said.
I have found a different way for loving God. That is, to pray to Him every day, all day. You don't have to be on your knees. You could be walking around, doing your job or going to school, or whatever. Pray to Him everyday, all day.
The Catholic Church has some great saints. Everyone of them were also great prayers.
Pray all the time!

jamestheforth
 
One way to love God is to give him the firsts of everything. The tithing concept should not only apply to income, but to every aspect of your life. Give him the first part of your day (time), give him your emotions (worship), etc.
 
Cucumber,

It means to live your life entirely for God. Give up everything for him. Literally everything that is keeping you from living for him.:israel:
 
I struggle

I came to this forum to seek salvation.

i've grown up in church, learned god's word, baptised, and respected God. I spent my college years trying to learn more about god, what is god, who is god, why does god do the things he does.

I've actively searched for God, mostly because I envy the believers.

I envy those who can give themselves to God the way they do, they make it seem so easy, while here I struggle with my faith. I've done everything I can to become a decent man, to respect and honor others as I would honor Jesus if I came face to face with him oneday.

I worked hard at my life, my job, my marriage, my house. I tried to live the ideal life that I thought God intended for me to live. I tried to live that honest, careing life and lead through Jesus's example by forgiving sinners, accepting rainy days, praising god for the sunny ones.

However things changed. over the past 2 years I've lost my father, lost my friend, and now I've lost my wife. It seems the lord is taking away everything that I worked for. I try to keep faith, but it keeps getting tested. I feel as if my faith in god isn't good enough or is a constant uphill climb.

Through all my pain, I began to question god, I began to think that God wants to see me suffer under all this pressure. I used to pride myself at handleing life's challenges mostly because I believed it was a strength that God has given me, but lately its like he is kicking it up a notch. at times I would scream "Lord! you win!, make it stop, stop the pain, stop the chaos, stop feeding me this tragedy! What is it you want? what do you want from me?"

How is it that some people can fall in love with God so easily while here I am having such a hard time trying to connect. Why does it feel that reaching God is such an uphill battle? I know that i'm no saint, and I do battle with sin and temptation on a daily basis it's something I just can't shrug off overnight.

I envy all those christian faces that smile because their hearts are filled with the lord. Their lives are blessed because the lord has uplifted them. I once thought I was a part of that group too, but now I feel cast out because I wasn't good enough.

I want to be able to open my heart to the Lord, but my heart was so hurt and wounded through death, divorce, loss that I question if my faith was ever good enough, that somehow my I wasn't christian enough because I had to struggle to fight off sin and temptation and Christ doesn't come naturally.
 
It's easy to loose track of God when things go bad, if they've always been kinda "perfect". Sometimes I wonder how anyone raised in the church can ever find Salvation, because it's so hard to realize that you NEED it.

Sadly, the opposite is also true. Brothers in Christ born through adversity have a hard time holding on once things start going well. Because they reach out in despair for hope, and once the trials are over, feel empty.

But the Bible doesn't say that we are going to be given perfect lives, or that we are called to happiness and joy. The Scripture doesn't say that God wants us to be happy, and faith is not simply belief, it is reliance on God. True faith is fully relying on God for His plan, and trusting HIS plan over our own desires.

I often wonder if the people I see are truly filled with hope and joy all the time. You never really know what is going on in people's hearts and minds. I know that a lot of my friends firmly believe I've never had a sad moment in my life because I'm always cheerful around them. I'm sure there are some that would give credit to an eternal joy in Christ for that. But the truth is, more often than not, I'm deeply depressed and I doubt myself constantly. Many people know that side of me as well, but I know for a fact, that many of my friends are shocked when they see a glimpse of that side of my personality. Funny how a part of my life that occupies MOST of my thoughts is almost completely invisible to some of those that know me the best.

But Christianity isn't about seeking reward, or being promised a prosperous life. We have been called as servants, and our lives are to be humble before a Holy God. We aren't promised glory and a lack of pain. We are only promised that God will be there with us as we go through them. In the past 3 years, I've lost everything I worked hard for as well, my wife, my kids, my house, my job, and most of my possessions. It's been a hard climb, but if it wasn't for God...then I truly would have lost everything. But I know that I can't allow Satan to take away my relationship with God. Otherwise, I truly would have lost everything.
 
Hey IHeart,

That is an incredible story about GOD telling you to love him with all your heart, soul and mind. I may be able to help you a little bit on this. I think I remember you posting somewhere else that you have children. I do as well. Sometimes I ask my son I say "Who's boy are you?" and he lovingly replies with a smile "Daddy's!!". Now I know he loves me and he knows I love him but to hear that from him warms my heart and makes me feel like superman. GOD knows you love him and you know he loves you. I bet it warms GOD's heart to hear that reaffirmed when he asks you that question, "Do you love me with all your heart, mind and soul?" He wants so much to just hear the word "YES!". Know this too. When you look at your child and feel that unconditional love for them no matter what they do, many more times then that GOD loves each and every one of us. I pray for you IHeart that you can see and feel this love GOD has for you and in return, show it to him!!
 
Saturday night, I was reading the Bible. One of the gospels, don't remember which. One of the verses I specifically remember reading was, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Sunday morning, on my way "home" (I didn't actually go home, you'll see) I was listening to a song on my CD. One of the song's major focuses was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your mind, and with all your strength."

For SOME reason, I can't even tell you why, I out of the blue decided to go to a church I've never been to, instead of going home right away. I NEVER go to places I've never been by myself, and this wasn't even something I'd been contemplating. It just was random, and I went. I got there, turns out I was just in time! (I had let the sun wake me up, and that occurred at 9:30. The service was at 10:30)

The sermon paper they handed me, on the back was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your mind, and with all your strength". Then, I realized the entire sermon was about loving God.

I was blown away!!!

Obviously, God's trying to tell me something.

My question is-HOW DO I DO IT! How do I love God! I want to so bad, more than anything! But I don't understand why the Bible tells us to just love God more than anything else, just like that. Like I can turn love on and off. I don't even know HOW to love God. I know how to love my mom. I see her every day. She gives the best hugs. She is tangible. She's my MOM. I don't, as much as I'd love to, know how to love God. I am at a loss right now. I accepted Him, yes. But this love did not come automatically to me.

Somebody, please explain this to me. And tell me how you came to love the Lord, because I sure can use some answers here.

Thanks =]

I am sure that everyone has already explained what loving God with everything really means. But I'd like to say what it means to me in a hope that the definition will be personal to you.

Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength to me means doing everything in your life like you are doing it for God. Worship? Yep. Work? Yep. Loving others? Yep. Everything.

I am human. That means sometimes I cannot find the ability to love others. Especially if they have faulted me in some way. But I know that if I love God, he'll give me the grace to love others. That is a form of worship to me. The worst ( and most vulnerable for anyone) is when I am in my car or truck alone and someone cuts me off. I am sure that 100% of everyyone here will find themselves developing a negative comment or at least a very off color hand gesture. It's very liberating to just hit the brakes, move out of the way and simply go about your business. That to me is God giving me the grace to love another enough to dismiss their less-than-stellar driving. :D

Loving God often means self sacifice. It means helping out your neighbor when they have to haul something and you have a truck. Even though it's $9.95 a gallon. It means wanting to be lazy in a hammock all afternoon and your buddy calls and asks for a helping hand in clearing a fallen tree, and you get up and do it.

When it comes to my wife and kids, I know as a sin-infected human I cannot give them the love they require and need on my own. But when I place my limited love towards God, he blesses them by showing them an infinite love through me that is absolutely amazing.

So in the end it's Love God with all you got. Then you can show the love of God and love everyone else, either by just being there or offering up help. It's all circular. But in a good way. :D
 
I love God because he gave his only son Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins. Wow, that just blows me away.

For me it started by the feeling of going to Church and to learn more about him. The seed was planted and it grew inside of me. Every day I want to learn more and be a better person and live more like God. We are not even close and sometimes my failures get me down. But it seems God knows that and I feel a spirit lifting me up. Great Post.
 
There is a difference between subjective love and objective love. There was a time (before I was saved) when I felt that I loved God with all I had, but it was subjective love (what I felt). Objectively, I was as far away from God as it is possible to be.

There is a reason why God asks us to love Him with our "heart, soul and strength". Together, these represent the whole three-fold nature of man -spirit, soul and body. (Some places where this occurs in Scripture add the word "mind", which is actually part of our soul. Obviously God understands that our mind is a particularly difficult area to master!)

Our "heart", or spirit, is that part of us that is created for fellowship with God. Before we come to Christ it is non-functional because of sin; when we are born again it is re-activated. Our spirit includes the functions of worship, conscience and revelation. We love God with our spirit (heart) by worshipping Him, and by responding to the direction of His Spirit given either through His Word or directly. This happens as He gives us a revelation of Himself, and of ourselves before Him.

Our soul is the thing that makes us, us. It includes the functions of intellect, emotion and will. We love God with our soul by allowing His Word and His Spirit to transform our thinking. As we learn more about Him, we allow ourselves to respond emotionally to Him. But sometimes we also have to love Him out of our will - we "use our chooser" and determine that, no matter what may be going on in our lives, we will put Him first.

Our "strength" refers to our body - the thing through which everything that happens in our spirit and soul is worked out. Loving God with our strength means that we will actually live the way He wants us to live, acting and speaking as He wants.

All three have to be operating. If we try to love God only with our strength, we will end up in legalism, trying to live the way He wants in our own strength, but with no life or joy associated with it. If we try to love Him only with our soul, we may end up emotionally "in love" with Him, but objectively as far from Him as possible, as I was.

Most of all, our spirit must be activated through the new birth, otherwise we have no chance at all of truly loving Him.

Kingsman, I think this may be the source of your struggle. The Word says, "In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin." (1 John 4:10) Until you have really accepted God's love for you, and the salvation He offers, you cannot love Him. Our salvation is not based on anything we can do, but on what He has already done for us. Our love for Him does not bring about our salvation, but flows from it.

blessings,

Lynn
 
Good evening IHeart,
I just want to add a little something to all the other awesome replies you've had tonight to your precious question.
Is this..."Don't give up, keep trying, Our Lord and Saviour is always there for you no matter what."
You know what I think, I think of Him as my Daddy, to whom I can run to who has a huge lap I that can sink into for a cuddle, cause with Him I can be myself, I can share with Him all my worries, shed my truckload of tears, and know He always cares, always there.
The only time we don't feel Him is, if we have driftered away from Him, not Him moving away from us. For He has said in His Love Letters to us that He'd never leave us nor forsake us.
So IHeart...hang on in there, love grows and it will, believe in yourself too, let go and just let God love you, too
 
I just read about that. In the book it said the problem is with our perception of love. When we think love we think feelings but as NearertoGod just posted 1 Cor 13: 4-8 love is how you react to someone. The feelings come and go just like in a worldly relationship with someone you love. You can feel not very loving towards your kids or husband but still treat them as if you did. I think we're just responsible for the action part.
 
As a new member I am a bit late in adding to this forum. But you know it appears to me that Jesus was being very careful in his reply to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:34. He focuses the two sections of the ten commandments i.e. the duty to God and the duty go Man into one idea. Now we all know that we are not capable of obeying the Law of God and that is why Jesus, who obeyed them completely, had to die for our sins.

The question then arises "can we in our own strength love God with all our hearts souls and minds and our neighbour as ourselves" The answer must be NO. But we now come to the great theological truth that Jesus righteousness has been given to us and our sinfulness rested upon Him, and there "in Christ" we can obey this commandment.

It is a matter of faith. As Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ his love is imputed to us. What a wonderful truth. Though our love may be poor and feeble His great love is ours. Praise His name.
 
In Timothy, God teaches us to "work out our Salvation." Or, serve God because of His free Gift given us.

Tho I know I can never pay back what Christ has done for me, I enthusiastically read and study God's Word, be in prayer to the Father, praise and thank God for Blessings and trials that help me seek Him more and enjoy, not look at any service for God as work or a chore.

In past years, no, I haven't always "loved" everything I did in service for God, but I've never hated it either. I do it the best I can with a joyful heart.

God Bless!!
 
I believe that when you accepted him his love did come automatically, you just haven't realized it. It sounds to me like you already do love God but are just looking for something to make it seem more real. Christian Commando's post seem to sum up my opinion.
 
Saturday night, I was reading the Bible. One of the gospels, don't remember which. One of the verses I specifically remember reading was, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Sunday morning, on my way "home" (I didn't actually go home, you'll see) I was listening to a song on my CD. One of the song's major focuses was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your mind, and with all your strength."

For SOME reason, I can't even tell you why, I out of the blue decided to go to a church I've never been to, instead of going home right away. I NEVER go to places I've never been by myself, and this wasn't even something I'd been contemplating. It just was random, and I went. I got there, turns out I was just in time! (I had let the sun wake me up, and that occurred at 9:30. The service was at 10:30)

The sermon paper they handed me, on the back was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your mind, and with all your strength". Then, I realized the entire sermon was about loving God.

I was blown away!!!

Obviously, God's trying to tell me something.

My question is-HOW DO I DO IT! How do I love God! I want to so bad, more than anything! But I don't understand why the Bible tells us to just love God more than anything else, just like that. Like I can turn love on and off. I don't even know HOW to love God. I know how to love my mom. I see her every day. She gives the best hugs. She is tangible. She's my MOM. I don't, as much as I'd love to, know how to love God. I am at a loss right now. I accepted Him, yes. But this love did not come automatically to me.

Somebody, please explain this to me. And tell me how you came to love the Lord, because I sure can use some answers here.

Thanks =]

Have you been baptised in the Holy Ghost, The reason I ask is becuase the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Romans 5: 5.
This love that the Holy Ghost gives us, is the love of God, When you are filled with the Holy Ghost the love of God burns in your heart, Then you Love God with all your Heart, Soul, mind and strength.
Ephesians 5: 18 tells us to "Be filled with the Spirit", The Greek meaning for, "Be Filled" is, Keep on being filled.
Jude 20-21,says, Build yourself up in your most Holy faith, Praying in the Holy Ghost, Keeping yourself in the LOVE OF GOD.
Because the love of God has been put in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and we should be continuely filled. It stands to reason that as we pray in the Holy Ghost we keep ourselves in the love of God.
 
I know there are alot of people out there, taught that the "Baptism of the Holy Ghost" is seperate from recieving Salvation. The problem is, how can we claim it seperate, when God declares, "be baptised for the remission of sins, and recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost."?

We need to remember, as seen in Acts 10 where Peter was ministering to Gentiles, as they believed, recieved the Holy Ghost and started speaking in tongues. But, why do we think then, only "speaking in tongues" refers to the "baptism of the Holy Spirit"? And they had not been water baptised either as yet.

That is only one of many signs of the "infilling" of the Holy Spirit for a child of God, changed hearts, changes in thier lives, perceptions, attitude, etc. If we already have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us from recieving Salvation, how then can we be "baptised in the Holy Spirit" again, a second time, if already there? We can't.

Christ told the Apostles, on the appointed day, they would recieve the Holy Ghost and power. (Notice tho, the Apostles were not baptised and recieved the Holy Ghost before that either). Well, when each person becomes saved and reborn, they recieve the same thing. But, as Christ clearly showed when here on earth, it depends upon the faith and belief in God each Child has, for how much the Holy Spirit can demonstrate that power thru them.

Jesus went to a settlement or two, where He could do few miracles and more because of thier unbelief. And He declares- "have faith in God to say unto this mountain, be tho removed and be thou cast into the sea..." "and shall not doubt in his heart, but believeth that which he sayeth..." "it shall come to pass".

People can believe enough in God and the Trinity to recieve Salvation and the "Gift of the Holy Spirit." Yet, it can take time to develope the faith and belief in the rest of God Promises, to see those things happen in our lives. It has nothing to do with a "baptism of the Holy Ghost", but our committment to God and living for Him in belief and practice of His Word.

I know some want to believe in a special "baptism" of the Holy spirit seperate from Salvation. Thats fine. But, they are missing out and also misleading other of God's Children in not seeing more of the Holy spirit working thru them, by holding Him back this way.

Rather, because the Holy Spirit is already there in us, lets teach other of God's children to work more at deepening thier relationship, service and focus on God, so the Holy Spirit can be witnessed a whole lot more thru them. Why? If the Holy Spirit is already in us since recieving Salvation, the Power of God by the Holy Spirit is already there, in the Holy Spirit in us too.

Yes, some point out Paul "baptising" a group of people in the Holy spirit. He asked them if had been. hehe, well, they were "believers" in God and the Trinity, but not saved and reborn "Believers". What?

Read in the Gospels about the time Jesus and His Disciples were walking along and came upon this person doing great miracles and more in Jesus' Name and the Disciples wanted to go stop him. Jesus said no. Why?

Why would the disciples want to stop him? Why did Jesus say no? Because, this man had an incredible belief in God and Christ so God did such things for the man, because of this belief and faith. But, when he came to Jesus on thier return trip, Jesus rejected him, telling him to be gone, for He did not know him.

This was a lesson to learn of someone who can have incredible belief and faith in God and Christ, to see great things done by God for them. But, they are still lost to God because of lack of Salvation- (saved by Grace not of works).

And I don't know about the rest of you, but have noticed in my own life, as well as others over the years, where the Holy Spirit can only demonstrate His Power thru God's Children, to the level we allow, by the faith and belief we have in God and His Word.

The old adage- "practice makes perfect" holds true, at least to an extent. The more you spend time reading and studying God's Word, the more it becomes natural to speak it and live it in any situation. The more you study it, the more God, by the Holy spirit reveals to you. The more Its read and more revealed, the stronger our belief, thus faith, grows. The more that grows, the closer we grow to God and more the Holy spirit helps us to live by those Words. On and on.

Have you ever paid close attention to the first few verses of Job 1, where God describes the kind of man he was in God's eyes - (Job 1:1-3,5)? Thats the kind of man for God I want to be. So strong in faith, speech and actions, God had a hedge of protection around him, Satan would not even try to attack him- (1:10).

Even tho God's children such as Abraham, Lot, David, Daniel, Job, Peter and others had shown how falable they were, because of thier sincere committment to God, God Blessed them incredibly. And yet, each one had thier downfalls, trials, temptations and more they fell to.

Thats why God teaches us if we lean more on Him, as the others did, we can become "overcomers" as they had also and be Blessed even more so for it.

Living God's Word is a daily thing. Practices of reading and studying It should be daily things, that we can grow, enough to let the Holy spirit take over guidance of more and more of our lives as we go along.

At work, if all you ever do is something different every day, you learn alot, but never get really good at any of it. But, if you go to work doing the same thing over and ver every day, you come to where you can do it in your sleep. It becomes natural to you, just like living for God too if we do this.

The more we lean on God, the more we will be sure of ourselves because God is leading us more. All the while, the witness projected thru us to the unsaved will also grow and improve, thus drawing them to us to find out what the deal is.

God Bless!!
 
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