You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart,
with all your soul, and
with all your mind.’
Matthew 22:37
All means ALL!
When we pray that the children in our lives would love God wholeheartedly, it means ALL IN. Not half-way, not half-heartedly, and not Sundays only.
When a mama asks her teenager to take out the trash, she doesn’t expect to see the trash sitting by the front door. It must make it all the way to the curb.
When a wife wants a faithful husband, she doesn’t mean 364 days a year – she expects 365 (and some years 366)!
And when God commands us to love Him with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we need to apply the same high standard. ALL IN!
As we pray for the children in our sphere of influence to love God wholeheartedly, we can also ask God to reveal where we ourselves might be holding out.
Here are some questions we can ask as we pray for the children in our lives (and for ourselves):
- Do I have a divided heart? Is there anything I treasure more than God?
- Do I find myself praying without ceasing – having on ongoing conversation with God throughout my day?
- Does God enter my thought life on Tuesday morning or Friday afternoon?
- Do I ask God about what I buy, read, and watch?
- Has Sunday morning worship become an optional activity? Am I finding reasons (I don’t feel like braving the rain, there’s a mountain of dirty laundry, I’m in the middle of a great book and can’t wait to finish it) not to gather with other believers?
- Do I give God the first and best of each day?
- Do I speak up when others speak poorly of my God?
- Do my posts, tweets, and social media comments indict me as a woman of God?
- Do thoughts about God in my mind and heart make their way into my conversations with others?
I hope one or more of these questions convict you as they do me. Perhaps they could even prompt a conversation – with your child, grandchild, nephew or niece, a student in your class or church, or a young person in your neighborhood – about loving God wholeheartedly.
Lord God, I pray this child would put You on the throne of his/her life each day and every day. I pray this would be deliberate, conscious, daily choice. I pray he/she would love You most and best and with a wholehearted devotion.
Our latest Friday devotional video features Laura’s teaching to the ladies’ Bible study, as we jump into the book of Nehemiah! The text opens with bad news concerning problems in Jerusalem. The walls are down. The gates are destroyed. The people are vulnerable and in great danger.
How do you and I respond to problems in our lives or in the lives of those we love? We invite you to read the first chapter of Nehemiah and then listen to this week’s teaching lecture to learn the best response when facing bad news.
Click here for the full video playlist of Laura’s Nehemiah study, if you missed last week’s introductory teaching.
Our Write the WORD bookmark, optional S.O.A.P. study pages, and other free resources can be found on our Downloads page.
If you would like to purchase a Nehemiah study guide and join in the ladies’ Bible study (whether in person or online), please send an email to cross.my.heart@cox.net for more information.
