Whirlwind

Love God with everything you have -

-by obeying His commandments.

-by loving your fellow man.

-by worshipping only Him (not money, not American Idol, or the such)

-by speaking with Him regularly on a daily basis (He loves hearing from you)

-by hearing from Him - reading His word and applying what you learn to your own life.

-by doing good to your fellow man - what you've done for the least of your fellow man, you've done for Him.

-by being a servant - men like to build themselves up, become higher than others; but the greatest among us is our servant. Even the Son of God came to us as a servant.

-by never judging - leave that one up to God Himself.

-by thinking...whose the person you love most in this world? Your husband? Wife? Best friend? Mom? Dad? Baby sister? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? And then think and pound it into your heart, even as much as you love these people, love God even more.

-by never taking credit for the good things in our lives; got a promotion? Never feel proud of it, never feel boastful...God has given you the good things, so He deserves the credit.

-by never tempting Him: "God, I really need this...if you just do this one thing for me, I promise that I'll ___________ "

-by never worshipping anything or anyone other than God. He's a jealous God.

-by honoring your parents.

-by never taking His name in vain.

-by fearing Him. When we fear Someone as much as we fear God, then we're afraid of displeasing Him.

Sounds like He spoke a wonderful message to you. You know, not many people can recognize when God is speaking to them...but you seemed to nail it!

You're very blessed, you know?

Thanks for sharing that story - it was uplifting.

Judy W

AmericanAngel

ihearlarrythecucumber...i cofess i am an idiot! sorry Theo!

__________________
When we agree, together we can!

IHeartLarrytheCucumber

Wow, thank you all for your answers!!!!

I guess it does come down to faith. I mean I would love any person if they saved my life, why wouldn't I love Jesus for saving my life?

I'm going to be reading the Bible like crazy.

Thanks everyone.

PS-AmericanAngel you're not an idiot!!

__________________

AmericanAngel

PS-AmericanAngel you're not an idiot!!


Thanks.
Bro Theo, yer not mad at me r u?

__________________
When we agree, together we can!

Theophilus

Nope Why should I be????? Ain't like I ain't ever written to the wrong one
Besides I learned something about Bible Gateway I didn't know.


Respectfuly
HIS
Cliff

AmericanAngel

Yeah!!!!!

__________________
When we agree, together we can!

epistemaniac

hey there!!

it seems to me that at least part of the difficulty you are having, especially when you said something about turning love on and off like a switch.... is to not think that the love that God requires of us is really all that concerned about personal subjective feelings... feelings like you have for your mom, your father, any brothers or sisters you may have, or a close friend, etc etc.... you love all these people, and that evokes an subjective emotional response we call "love", and while you will of course experience this emotional response when you love God, when you think of all that He has done for you etc, but it is important to remember that loving God (and others for that matter) is so much more than merely that feeling we get when we feel close to someone.... so if you don't think of this as a command to conjure up emotions of some kind on a constant steady basis, the pressure you are wrongly putting on yourself should dissipate. When you love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you are loving God while you are simply living out your life.... you love him with all your heart, soul mind and strength when you do the dishes, mow the lawn, shovel snow, read your bible, cook food, share time with friends and family, sing hymns of praise in church or out, when you read a commentary on a given book of the bible, try to understand Greek verb usage, read a book on systematic theology or on any given subject or doctrine covered in the bible, you can love God even if you are reading fiction providing of course that there is nothing inherently ungodly about the book, but you can love God when you brush your teeth, etc etc etc..... because the bible says to glorify God in all that you do...

1Co 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

a little phrase that has helped me in this regard is this:

Coram Deo which means "before the face of God", that is to say, we live out our entire lives before the face of God... Martin Luther, when he used this phrase, was trying to dispel the idea that we can compartmentalize our lives... that this part of our life is "sacred", here we go to church, we pray, we sing hymns, we do bible studies, etc..... and then there is the "secular", here we go to work, we go to school, we buy and sell, we engage in business transactions, etc etc. Luther said that it is totally wrong for us to split our lives up like this, we might say today that this is a bit schizophrenic!! Its like having a multiple personality disorder..... in the end though, its simply just wrong... its unscriptural... Luther wanted farmers to remember that when they walked behind their plows, they were Coram Deo, when the seamstress sewed, she was Coram Deo, that every job we do in our lives, no matter if it seems meaningless to us, no matter how boring it may seem to us, the job can take on eternal significance if we do that job Coram Deo.... the world viewed in that way can make street sweeping a beautiful thing!!!! so I commend the phrase to you in hopes that by keeping this simple phrase in the forefront of your mind, the life changing, deep and challenging meaning behind it will help you to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

blessings,
Ken

Theophilus

A few things to concider.
Relationships with family and freinds are unstable. The reason being that as individuals we are inconsistant. one moment happy the next not so much, weak forgetful, stubburn, learning. Two bodies in movement and transition.
My wife and i have been married for 38 years and I love my her dearly. But there are moments when I look at her a see a stranger or someone I literaly despize. There are times when we can finish each others thoughts and sentances and other times when we are strangers. Times when we are going tward each other ,times when we are going away from each other,times when we butt heads, times when one is coming and the other going. Times when we can't get close enough and times when we are simply way too close. Times when we want what we have and times when we don't. The thing is we don't always feel the same way every day.
But like the Willy Nelson song says.
"But, you are always on my mind. . . You are always on my mind.
"
Thats the essence of Love. Love is when the other person is always on ones mind.

IHeartLarrytheCucumber,

Jesus is on your mind. It shows in your post. In your concern for that relationship.

Granted Jesus is not visable as are those we have with us today. But jesus is a couple of things they are not.
For instance he is everywhere.
A new born baby's smile, the tears shed over a loved one, all of creation that is about us. A mother,s hug, a fathers dicipline,a brother's or sister's kindnss. The rebuke when we deserve it The kind word that touches the heart. The exact right word spoken at the precise moment it's needed. Every little thing that is good is Jesus showing Himself. He is visible in a million ways every day.
And Jesus /God the father. . . is consistant The same yesterday today ,tomorrow, and always. So when you feel distant, it's not that he has moved from you but you from Him. He's not going to be here one day, there the next. Never going to turn his back on you ,never going in a nother direction.
Unlike people Jesus is not a moving target. He's not going to dodge you when your angry or shun you when your bad, or push you away when you need him. His mind is never going to be some place else. He never wants anything less than the best for you. He knows every hair on your head ,He know's how good you can be and exactly how bad you've been and he loves you anyway.

In our relationship with our heavenly father it is always us that has moved. that has placed or let distance grow between us. We are always on His mind, so all we realy have to work at is moving ourselves tward him. ,keeping him "Always on our mind"


Sincerely His
Cliff

Boanerges

God is love- stick with love !