Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." – Mathew 22:37-40 (NKJV)

How does one love God? We struggle sometimes to love ourselves and other people that we can see. How can we love God with all our heart, our soul and our mind? I know most of us have read the above scripture quite a couple of times. But how many of us really think about what God asks of us? To appropriately love God, we have to know Him first. How can we love someone we do not know?

If we are ever going to love God well, we ought to know Him and understand who He is to us. This is something that every believer should commit to for themselves. Loving God is entirely dependent on the kind of relationship we have with Him.

Knowing God

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – John 17:3 (NKJV)

It is important that we know God. Of all the things that Jesus could have prayed for, He chose to pray that we know God. And this is something that each one of us should commit to in our personal walk with Jesus Christ.

He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel. – Psalm 103:7 (NKJV)

Two kinds of relationships exist here; one that is based on gifts and one based on real knowledge. And in the end we see that it is better to really know who God is. This helps us to understand how to love Him.

Finding Intimacy with God

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." – John 4:23-24 (NKJV)

In my little time on Earth, I have come to understand a few things about men and women. This is something we all might know and it's not a criticism but an observation on the differences between the male and female species.

I have three sisters and a mother. And my extended family also seems to have more ladies than men. What I discovered is that ladies need communication. It's a need. Ladies want someone that will communicate with clarity. They desire that men should communicate and clearly have conversations. The challenge is not the need. The challenge is that men, myself included, don't understand how important that is. For most guys, there's little to no communication amongst us mostly because of how we were raised or due to conformity to societal norms of what a man should be like. So when a lady wants a man to communicate, the man doesn't know what to do which creates a problem. Remember, it's not just a want, it is a desire.

God also has certain things that He desires. It's important that we understand what He needs. Sometimes we wonder, what could God possibly need from us? We see from the scripture above that God seeks true worshippers to worship Him. It seems to be the consistent even through the scriptures.

Neglecting this can take away from the relationship that we could have with God. And notice, God doesn't force anyone to worship Him, He rather seeks. And the bible says, "true worshippers." Each time I read such phrases or parts of my bible, it gets me thinking. If they were so many true worshippers, would God be in search? So this also tells us that perhaps, there are not so many people who know that God seeks their worship.

Worshipping God

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: "You are worthy, a]">[]O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they b]">[]exist and were created." - Revelation 4:8-11 (NKJV)

God requires our worship. Is there a reason to worship God? Yes! The greatness of God cannot be measured. Who He is. What He does for us. We can only learn to worship God when we know Him intimately. There are certain things that cannot happen until we know God intimately. I'll give an example. In a marriage relationship, sex is an intimate activity. It's not so much about the activity, but more of giving yourself to that person without shame and without regret. I mean, there should a great level of trust if you are even going to see someone naked.

That's why God respects marriage as an institution. And that's how come when someone has an affair it can be such a traumatic experience. It's not just that there was cheating involved, but the fact that something that is holy and intimate was given away to someone else.

In our covenant relationship with God, there are many things we will never know until we are intimate with Him. And that's the kind of intimacy that only God deserves. In worship, we allow ourselves to just love God and worship Him with who we are and see Him for who He truly is.

Abiding in God's Word

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. – Joshua 1:8 (NKJV)

This is one of the most read scriptures. And yet, we still might not do what the word of God instructs us. The word of God is based on principles. A principle is an idea or rule that explains how something works. What does this mean? It means, if we violate the principle, then it won't work. Principles only work as long as we obey.

Let's think about the principle of seedtime and harvest time. Now, I have some little experience in agriculture. My dear mother loves gardens. She had a whole lot of plants and vegetables in our backyard. She had such a beautiful garden. The only problem was that I had no idea that I was the one required to water it.

In those moments of watering and planting, I learned something really fascinating. My mother would plant seeds. There would be such tiny seeds. She planted them in the soil. Had them watered. She ensured that the seeds had enough sunlight, had good aeration and of course, she ensured that she planted them on good soil. After a couple of weeks or a few months, we would see growth. Growth occurred in direct proportion to how much we watered and took care of the garden, and after a few months, my mom would have a harvest of healthy green vegetables.

The bible encourages us to study the word of God. And not only to study, but also to meditate on the word. And after meditating, to obey the word of God. Only after doing all of that, can we now experience prosperity and have good success. But as long as we violate the principles of the word of God, we cannot expect what God promises. I have learned that growth in Christ is dependent on us. My mom's garden wasn't going to produce vegetables automatically. I watered that garden! We ought to abide in God's word if we are going to see the manifestation of God's life in us. But as long we disobey and neglect God's word, our lives will remain the same. And creating a poor relationship with God.

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." – John 14:21 (NKJV)

Jesus sums it up in one verse. It's not enough knowing the word of God. We have to obey it. And when we do, it means that we love God. I know sometimes we like to make excuses. Remember we wanted to know how to love God. And God's standards are right in the scripture above. If we study His word and obey it, then it's a reflection of our love for Him.

Prayer

Father, we thank you. Lord, we glorify you for who you are. Father, teach us how to love you appropriately and how to abide in your word. Teach us to know your ways. To understand your words. To live in the truth of your word. We submit every unyielded vessel of our members to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen

Note : Hi Readers. Thank you for spending time reading. May God bless you so much. I am sorry again for delaying with my update. But, you must know that this is the last chapter of this book. I do hope it helped in whatever way. And, I am grateful to you for your support. Thank you. And, until the next book.