Christ In Me (2)

Living Every Day to Love God with All Your Heart and Soul

When I was thinking through this question: “In everyday life, what needs to be guiding us? What is the framework?”

Two commands found in Mark come to the forefront.

Mark 12:28–31 ESV

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Today we will be looking at loving God with your heart and soul.

So what does this look like practically?

What does it look like to live every day, to love God, enjoy God, exalt God with all your heart and soul?

Love God with Your Heart and Soul through Daily Prayer

I believe that to answer this question, scripture would call us to pray.

This is where Scripture calls us to daily prayer.

Psalm 63:1–8 ESV

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

And Jesus teaches His followers to pray. You get down to Matthew 6:5-15

Why Do We Pray Every Day?

So why do we pray every day? I want to give you three reasons. One, we pray daily to express the depth of our daily need for God. 

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

So our conviction every day in prayer is we can do nothing without Christ. Jesus told us this in

John 15:5 ESV

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

So don’t miss this.

Prayer is the intersection between our complete inadequacy to live out the Christian life on our own and God’s complete adequacy to give us all we need as His children so we might live in and through Him like we talked about.

And in this sense there is no activity in the life of a Christian that doesn’t require a prayerful attitude, a prayerful dependence on God to do that which we can’t do ourselves.

This is just like we talked about in the daily struggle between the flesh and the spirit, because sin still remains in us.

We’re prone not to love God with all our heart and soul, mind and strength.

We’re prone not to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We need God’s grace, God’s power and God’s provision for everything we do, every single day.

So this in a sense is not just a call to daily prayer, but it’s a call to continual moment-by-moment prayerful dependence on God.

This means we even need His grace to pray.

So our confession every day in prayer is, “Lord, teach me to pray.” Which is exactly what the disciples do in 

Luke 11:1 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Explore the Mystery of Daily Intimacy With God

Second, we pray to explore the mystery of daily intimacy with God. Did you hear what Jesus said in Matthew 6:7-8

Matthew 6:7–8 ESV

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

So God is not up in heaven with a note pad writing down your requests, saying, “Man, I never even thought about that. It’s a good one.”

No, He already knows what you need.

Now that causes some people to wonder, “Well, what’s the point then?”

And as soon as you ask that question, you are now on the verge of an incredible breakthrough in prayer.

Because the heart of prayer is what happens when you’re in a room alone with the Father in heaven, and you realize there’s intimacy to be found with Him.

That’s why I put Exodus 33:7–11 in your notes, because listen to this:

Exodus 33:7–11 ESV

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Can you imagine that?

Like, you’re sitting in your tent, hanging out, playing cards or whatever you do in tents in that day,

and all of a sudden, Moses starts walking.

And word gets around, “He’s going to the tent of meeting.”

So you come out in front of your tent and you stand there.

And everybody in Israel is standing at the front of their tent,

and they’re watching in silent awe as they see a man go into a tent,

a cloud come down and cover it,

and everybody is in silent worshipful awe because there is a man who’s meeting with God.

Now you’ve realized

based on what we’ve talked about,

the foundation we’ve laid

that we don’t have to sit around and wait for some person to walk to a tent.

You and I have this privilege on a moment-by-moment, day-by-day basis.

We don’t have to go to a tent. You are the tent.

You’re the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You have this opportunity every single moment.

What a joy to have intimate communion with God any time, all the time.

I implore you to draw near to God and experience intimacy with God.

This is what I want to remind you:

The most important thing in your life is not your job,

it’s not your finances,

it’s not your family,

it’s not your boyfriend,

it’s not your girlfriend,

it’s not your potential husband or wife,

it’s not your school,

and it’s not your football team for sure.

The most important thing in the world is your personal relationship with God.

So set aside a time, go to a place, find a room, close the door, and pray.

This one practice will totally revolutionize your life.

Not just revolutionize your prayer life;

it will revolutionize your life.

Set aside a time, you go to a place, and you receive your reward.

Jesus is saying, “The Father has so much for you. If you want to experience all He has for you, then this is how you should pray.”

We pray to explore the mystery of intimacy with God.

Experience the Power of Being Used By God Daily

And we pray to experience the power of daily being used by God. So the Bible is just replete with promises from God in prayer, because God has ordained prayer as a means by which we participate with Him in His purposes in the world. As we pray, God acts. Now, it’s not that we’re changing God’s mind or changing God’s plans. I don’t want to change God’s mind or God’s plans. How ridiculous would it be for me or you, with our finite knowledge and finite wisdom, to say to an infinite God with unfathomable wisdom, “Here’s what I think is best. Why don’t you conform your will to mine?”

No, we trust God. And as we do, we pour out our hearts to Him. Lets Look at two more scriptures Psalm 50:15 and John 14:13

Psalm 50:15 ESV

15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

John 14:13 ESV

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

So here’s the design of prayer. We ask for help in our lives to live according to the purpose for which He’s created us. And when we ask, we get the help and God gets the glory.

Just Prayer is Useless

In and of itself, prayer as an exercise is useless.

There’s all kinds of people in the world who pray.

Muslims pray.

Hindus pray.

Buddhists pray.

Animists of all kinds pray.

They pray.

Even Congress prays.

Big deal. 

First Kings 18 is an example of people praying to Baal.

We won’t go into reading it, but I encourage you to look it up on your own.

The lesson’s clear: When you pray to a god who’s not there, don’t expect an answer.

So our goal is not just to be a people of prayer.

What matters most is the object of our prayer, right?

So the power of prayer in that sense is in and of itself useless.

But the power of people who connect with Almighty God is unstoppable.

James 5:16–18 ESV

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

So my aim in calling us to prayer is not just to call us to set aside a few minutes or an hour or more to pray.

My aim is to see that as children of God

we have the privilege of connecting with the Creator of the universe,

that we can do nothing without Him,

that we’ve been invited to experience intimacy with Him

and to join with what He’s doing in the world.

God has all Authority

God has the Supply

We Have full Access

So Go to Him with Boldness