How to Love God

Jesus 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 When Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, we need to understand that to the ancient Hebrews, the heart referred to the core of one's personal being (see Proverbs 4:23). So to love the Lord with all our hearts means to love Him with all of our personal being.Also, the word Jesus used for "soul" in Matthew 22:37 speaks of emotion. It is the same word Jesus used when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death." So loving God includes our emotions.But then, Scripture tells us that we are to love Him with all of our minds. This word "mind," in the original language, corresponds to that which we would usually call "might." It speaks of energy and strength, but also of intellectual commitment and determination.So you see, to love the Lord includes every part of our lives. We love Him with all of our hearts in the deepest parts of our being. We love Him with all of our souls, with our emotions. But we also love Him with our minds. We love Him with our intellect. We love Him with our ability to reason. We love Him with all of the strength that is in us.Now it seems as though some people love the Lord with all their minds, but they are afraid to express emotion to Him. There are others who love God, but seem to operate on raw emotion. We need to find the balance. God wants us to love Him with every fiber of our being.

Devotion by Greg Laurie

How to Love God

Jesus 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 When Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, we need to understand that to the ancient Hebrews, the heart referred to the core of one's personal being (see Proverbs 4:23). So to love the Lord with all our hearts means to love Him with all of our personal being.Also, the word Jesus used for "soul" in Matthew 22:37 speaks of emotion. It is the same word Jesus used when He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death." So loving God includes our emotions.But then, Scripture tells us that we are to love Him with all of our minds. This word "mind," in the original language, corresponds to that which we would usually call "might." It speaks of energy and strength, but also of intellectual commitment and determination.So you see, to love the Lord includes every part of our lives. We love Him with all of our hearts in the deepest parts of our being. We love Him with all of our souls, with our emotions. But we also love Him with our minds. We love Him with our intellect. We love Him with our ability to reason. We love Him with all of the strength that is in us.Now it seems as though some people love the Lord with all their minds, but they are afraid to express emotion to Him. There are others who love God, but seem to operate on raw emotion. We need to find the balance. God wants us to love Him with every fiber of our being.

Devotion by Greg Laurie

Little Things Matter

"Aren't the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn't I wash in them and be healed?" So Naaman turned and went away in a rage. But his officers tried to reason with him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn't you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, 'Go and wash and be cured!'"2 Kings 5:12-13

In 1962, the Mariner I space probe was scheduled to travel to Venus and provide information to NASA scientists. It never got there, as it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean four minutes after takeoff. An investigation was launched into the cause for the crash and was later traced to the computer program directing the spacecraft. It turned out that somewhere in the program a single minus sign had been left out.
For some people, living out the basics of the Christian faith isn't exciting enough. Too insignificant. Not brave enough. However, the way a follower of Jesus handles small things, both in attitude and execution, determines to a large extent how they will handle larger things.Naaman learned a lesson about this in today's passage. He was a mighty warrior of Aram but had leprosy. After getting permission to visit Elisha the prophet, he planned out in his mind exactly what would happen: Elisha would meet him, wave his hand, and call on God to heal him.
Instead, the prophet sent a messenger to Naaman, who told him to wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman was upset with this cure. He wanted something with a little more fanfare. But his officers called him on his attitude and encouraged him to take Elisha at his word. When Naaman decided to bathe in the Jordan, his small act of obedience cured him of his leprosy.
So take the time to get to know God through consistent prayer. Read about the characters in the Bible and their triumphs and failures. Make the most of the opportunities the Lord presents, no matter how insignificant they may seem. After all, little things do matter.
Leadership Devotional by Tyndale Publishers

Sibling Rivalry

If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. - 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 NLT
I think there may be three big surprises in heaven: One, many of the people we expected to see won't be there. Two, many of the people we never expected to see will be there. And three, we will be there.Remember the story of the prodigal son? He went out, tarnished the family name, consorted with prostitutes, and threw away his fortune. Then one day, he came to his senses and returned home. His father ran to meet him, smothered him with kisses, and threw a big party. It was a great celebration.Meanwhile, the prodigal's older brother was out in the field, heard the commotion, and wanted to know what was going on. He was told that his younger brother had returned home. But instead of rejoicing, he was angry and jealous.This can happen with us. We see God bless someone else in a tangible way, maybe with a promotion at work or another blessing of some kind. Or maybe God puts His hand on a certain individual and begins to use him. In the midst of all this, we might say, "Lord, wait a second. I have faithfully served you all of these years. How is it that this Johnny-come-lately pops up, and you are blessing him? It isn't fair. I am much more godly. I am much more committed. And most of all, I am much more humble."The fact of the matter is that we should rejoice whenever God is being glorified and the gospel is being preached. Devotion by: Greg Laurie

Come Clean

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.James 5:16

When New York's Citicorp tower was completed in 1977, many structural engineers hailed the tower for its technical elegance and singular grace. One year after the building opened, the structural engineer William J. LeMessurier came to a frightening realization. The Citicorp tower was flawed. Without his approval, joints that should have been welded were bolted. Under severe winds that come once every sixteen years to New York. the building would buckle.
LeMessurier weighed his options: Blow the whistle on himself. Suicide. Keep silent.
LeMessurier did what he had to do. He came clean. He confessed the mistake.Plans were drawn up to correct the problem. Work began. And three months later, the building was strong enough to withstand a storm of the severity that hits New York once every seven hundred years.
The repairs cost millions of dollars. Nevertheless, LeMessurier's career and reputation were not destroyed but enhanced. One engineer commended LeMessurier for being a man who had the courage to say, "I've got a problem; I made the problem; let's fix the problem."
You may be at that point where you realize your life is like that flawed building. Although by all appearances you are strong and successful and together, you know you have points of weakness that make you vulnerable to collapse. Sin is corroding the very foundation of your life. What do you do?
You come clean, get help, and get fixed.
Confession is good for the soul. When we hide sin, we hide ourselves from others. Like William J. LeMessurier, when we come clean, we can, as James writes, live together whole and healed.
James is not suggesting merely to confess sin to a preacher or a priest. We confess our sin first to God, but we must confess our sin to those who have been affected by our sin as well. It is also beneficial to confess your sins to a trusted fellow believer who can offer a physical reminder of the grace of forgiveness and encourage you to live rightly.
So, confess your sin. Get it out of your heart. Make it right. And, move on.
Devotion by: Tyndale House Publishers

His Will, Not Mine

He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."
— Matthew 26:39There are some people who teach that we should never pray, "Not my will, but Yours be done," because it supposedly voids what you have just prayed for. What nonsense. If Jesus prayed this, certainly we should follow His example. He gave us the same pattern in the Lord's Prayer when He said, "May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). I never need to be afraid to say, "Lord, Your will be done."Then there are those who say that we should only pray for something once; otherwise, we are demonstrating a lack of faith. Yet Jesus taught His disciples, "Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened" (Luke 11:9). We give up far too easily sometimes.We won't always know the will of God in every situation. Then there are times when we will know the will of God, but we won't like it. Finally, there are times when we will know the will of God, but we don't understand it.I like what the late D. L. Moody said, "Spread out your petition before God, and then say, 'Thy will, not mine, be done.' " Moody concluded, "The sweetest lesson I have learned in God's school is to let the Lord choose for me." Have you found that to be true? We must never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

Devotion by: Greg Laurie

Giving Your Best

They were completely amazed and said again and again, "Everything he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak."Mark 7:37

Leaders pursue excellence. They lead their organizations, their families, their businesses, and, in fact, their very lives striving for their best.
Jesus was committed to excellence. God gave his very best-his Son. And, as the New Testament writer Mark reminds us, God's Son gave his very best-his life. He made the best wine (see John 2:1-11), his fish and bread recipes were delicious (see Matthew 14:13-21), and the limbs he restored were perfect (see Mark 3:1-5). His followers should do no less. Less than our best is inadequate, considering the fact that God has given us his very best.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry." Whatever our role, our position, our organization, or our lot in life, we should strive for the best. The measure of our success should not be attached to our particular career or what we earn but on our character and what we give.
Excellence does not mean being the best but being your best, understanding that variation makes all the difference in the world. Excellence is being better than you were yesterday. Excellence means matching your practice with your potential.
Some people have fame thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them. Excellence is achieved. What will you do to have people say, like they said of Jesus, "Everything he does is wonderful"?
Devotion by: Tyndale Newsletter

Caring Enough to Comfort

by: Greg Laurie Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. - Galatians 6:1 After observing the behavior of some people, you would think they have a verse in their Bible that says, "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, go and tell as many people as possible. And then ultimately go and try to drive that person away." But this is not what Scripture tells us to do.In Matthew 18, Jesus gave us the steps we should take when it appears someone has fallen into sin (and I emphasize the word appears). First, we must know all the facts. When you hear something about someone, instead of talking about it, determine to go to that person and say, "I heard this about you. Is it true?" Hopefully, you can get the issue resolved immediately.But to fail to go to someone when you know a sin is being committed is to actually cause that individual, and the church as a whole, the greatest harm. Scripture says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9 NIV). In most cases, you will find that believers rarely approach a sinning believer or allegedly sinning believer. Instead of seeking to help a person who possibly may have never sinned at all, they end up slandering that individual. This is wrong. If you have ever had this happen to you, then you know how painful it can be.Remember, the devil wants to turn believers against each other. He will attack us from the outside, but many times, when that does not work, he seeks to infiltrate our ranks and divide us.

Don't Give Up

Leadership Devotional from Tyndale House Publishers

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.Hebrews 10:36

Effective leaders accomplish seemingly impossible tasks because they never give up. They never buckle under. Despite mounting criticism, intense opposition, and overwhelming obstacles, they persevere with determined resolve. They refuse to throw in the towel.
Often, the easiest thing would be to quit. Just give up. Forget about one's dream and return to the comfort and convenience of mediocrity. Give in to the words of the critics, give up to the opposition, and give way to the obstacles. Simply tuck tail and run away.
Great power is embodied in persistence. The race is not always won by the fastest, nor the game by the strongest, but rather by the one who keeps on keeping on, who refuses to give up. Consider the postage stamp. Its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. Race car driver Rick Mears said, "To finish first you must first finish."
It is always too soon to quit. One of the most powerful and destructive tools that Satan has in his arsenal is discouragement, the subtle but dangerous compulsion to give up, to quit, saying, "What's the use?"When you are tempted to quit: resist. We must endure in the battle until the evil day is over. We must press on in the face of the temptation to quit. Until the war is over, we must fight to the end. Until the race is finished, we must keep running. Until the wall is built, we must keep stacking bricks. Never give up. Never. The promises of God are always at the end.

To Know His Will

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. - Romans 12:1-2 We find in Romans 12:1-2 what we call a conditional promise. The promise is that you can know what the perfect will of God is for your life. The conditions are that you must present yourself to God and that you must not be conformed to this world. Notice the order. First, you offer yourself as a living sacrifice, and then you will know the will of God. We tend to want to know God's will first and then decide whether we want to give ourselves to it.It reminds me of when my son Jonathan was little. My wife would ask him, "Jonathan, are you hungry?"Often the response was, "What are you cooking?" If it was vegetables, then he was not hungry at that particular moment. But if it was ice cream, then he was starving.In the same way, we will sometimes say, "Lord, what is your will? Before I am going to surrender to it, I would like to know what I am getting myself into." But God may tell you something that you don't want to hear. The question is, are you going to do what He says?It has been said that the condition of an enlightened mind is a surrendered heart. If you want to know the will of God, then you must have a heart that is surrendered. Present yourself to Him. Then accept His will, no matter what. Devotion by: Greg Laurie

Qualified

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.2 Peter 1:3


"Sorry, you just don't have the experience we're looking for.""Sorry, but we're looking for someone with a little more education.""What were some major accomplishments (if any), while being a stay-at-home parent?" "While working at your previous company, did you do any volunteer work at all?"
It can really be tough in the job market. After a few interviews and even more rejection letters, a person can feel completely inadequate. Fortunately, in God's economy, every believer is immediately qualified for Kingdom work. Peter reminds us that the Holy Spirit equips each believer with everything necessary to please our Father. That's great news.
But, even within the earthly church, it's easy to feel inadequate when surrounded by believers with long histories of ministry or the ability to memorize long passages of Scripture. We need to remember that nothing more special than the Holy Spirit is required to serve God effectively. We all have everything necessary to do our jobs within the Kingdom.
Still, Peter doesn't stop with this reassurance. He challenges every believer to add personal disciplines that will build character, mature us, and be used to encourage the church as a whole. He goes on to write, "Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone" (2 Peter 1:5-7).
The pursuit of these virtues is just one way of expressing our thanks and love to the God who rescued us from our complete inadequacy. Having the Holy Spirit with us at all times, we can depend on him to guide us through the stresses that are used to hone these virtues. All that is asked of us is that we continue on and not give up.
Being fully equipped by the Holy Spirit, let's heed his guidance and pursue spiritual maturity. May we ever strive to become all that God has called us to be, and may he ever grant us the ability to serve him faithfully.

True Disciples

"These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." - Acts 17:6 The Christian life is more than just saying a prayer or walking down an aisle and getting "fire insurance," as it were. The Christian life is meant to be dynamic. It is meant to be exciting. It is meant to have a radical effect on the way that you live and your outlook on life, because Jesus Christ not only wants to be your Savior. He wants to be your Lord. Not only does he want to be your friend, but He also wants to be your God.But I'm afraid that many today are living a substandard Christian experience. That term is really an oxymoron in many ways, because if it is a Christian experience, then it shouldn't be substandard. In a sense, that isn't even a technically correct term.You really can't be a substandard Christian. Yet there are many who are failing to receive all that God has for them. How did a handful of ordinary people living in the first century turn their world, as they knew it, upside down? They did it without television, without radio, without megachurches, and without all the resources that we think are so important today in reaching the goal of world evangelism.How is it that they were able to do it? I think you could sum it up in one word: disciple. They were disciples of Jesus Christ-not fair weather followers, but true disciples. They weren't living an anemic, watered-down, ineffective version of the Christian life. They were living the Christian life as it was meant to be lived-as Christ Himself offered it and as the early disciples apprehended it. If we want to impact our culture today, then we, too, must be disciples.
Today's Devotion by: Pastor Greg Laurie

Rising Above

You intended to harm me,
but God intended
it all for good.Genesis 50:20

Everyone faces adversity from time to time. A person is fired from his or her job. Bills are due, but there's no money to pay them with. A beloved family member dies. How we handle these situations can say a lot about our faith in the Lord.
In the case of Joseph, his problems began the moment he fell for his brothers' "we've got a really neat pit to show you" trick. They sold him as a slave to Ishmaelites passing through the area in an attempt to rid themselves of "the dreamer" (see Genesis 37:19). Eventually, Joseph was able to gain a good standing with Potiphar and was placed in charge of his house. But later, Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph and falsely accused him of adultery. Joseph ended up in prison
as a result.
Joseph had plenty of opportunities to cry out about the injustice he was facing. He had chances to complain about the treatment he had received from his brothers. He could have become bitter when the king's cupbearer was released from prison and forgot about him. These actions and attitudes would have reduced Joseph to hopelessness.Instead, Joseph allowed himself to be used by God to interpret Pharaoh's dream. Pharaoh removed him from prison and placed him in charge of Egypt, where he organized a plan to store grain before the famine occurred. Finally, Joseph was reunited with his brothers. What was intended for bad was used by God for good.Obstacles have the ability to take us out of contention, but we also have the opportunity to rise above them. We can cry, complain, and live in misery because of our struggles. Or we can react like Joseph-allowing God, in his timing, to bring something good out of our circumstances. Are you allowing God to help you land on your feet?

Now Playing

" And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8

The human brain is an amazing component of our bodies. With it, we are able to sense, to recognize, to understand, and to remember countless things. Our brains keep track of countless important details (like heartbeats) that keep us alive. All without conscious decisions on our part. Even with the most advanced products of scientific research, we have not been able to rival what has been given to us by God with the gift of life.One thing we must be careful about is the type of material we give our brains access to. Since the brain is like a sponge, it retains all the information it receives. A few years ago, Denny Gunderson, former president of Youth With A Mission, asked an interesting question: Would you feel comfortable if your thoughts were to be shown on a movie screen for all to see?What we think about can have a very strong impact on the way we handle a situation or view a series of events. Thoughts lead to actions. And, if left unchecked, these can turn into negative character traits rather quickly.The Lord wants our minds to be pure and useful for the tasks he has planned for us. It is difficult to serve effectively when a person is considering thoughts of revenge, envy, or other wickedness. Paul understood this and challenged the Philippian church to think about things that were honorable, true, lovely, admirable, and worthy of praise. This way, their actions would match their thoughts.Would you feel comfortable if your thoughts were shown on a movie screen for all to see? It's not too late to allow God to perform some "editing" so our thinking is in line with his. The question is whether you are willing to let him do it. Can you take the list from Philippians 4 and note three or four items for each of those traits?Devotional by: Tyndale New Living Translation