How can I love the Lord...

f753789

The first commandment is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" Bottom line: consecrate ourselves entirely for God, and to achieve that there must be an open relationship with him. <-- How can that be achieved? What is a description of an ideal relationship with God?

How can I love the Lord with all my heart?
How can I love the Lord with all my soul?
How can I love the Lord with all my mind?
How can I love the Lord with all my strength?

This can basically be summarized in one word: Faith. How can one increase their faith so much so that I can love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I want to show my love to God more through my actions and a sincere relationship.

Please keep my weakness in your prayers
-sister in Christ

Amoussa01

One can start by prayer. Our God is a personal being and for us to have a relationship with Him, we must be speaking with Him of course. No one is perfect, but we are called to be! That is why God has such a high standard for us, even though He knows we will have shortcomings.

+ To love God will all your heart is to not love anyone more than you love Him
+ To love God with all your soul is to have Him be your source of joy and fulfillment
+ To love God with all your mind is to constantly think about Him and praise Him!
+ To love God with all your strength is to devote yourself entirely to Him

The more you get to know God, the more love you will have for Him and everything else just seems empty. So try to focus on building a relationship with Him. It might seem impossible to be able to do all of this but...

"...all things are possible with God." Mark 10:27

I also recommend you read "God and you: Person to Person" by Anthony M. Coniaris

God bless and pray for me
-brother in Christ

f753789

Thanks for your reply. If you can elaborate further and go a bit more in depth, that would be great! I appreciate your help. :)

Anybody else is welcome.

Please keep my weakness in your prayers
-sister in Christ

joeg

I'm afraid I'm a bit off topic, and so not all of these are relevant: http://www.orthodox.net/gleanings/love.html

However, one did catch my eye:

"On one occasion, a certain excellent man, who feared God in his life and works, and who was living in the world, went to Abba Poemen. Some of the brethren, who were also with the old man, were asking him questions, wishing to hear a word from him.
Then Abba Poemen said to the man who was in the world, "Speak a word to the brethren," but he begged him saying, "Forgive me, father, but I came to learn." And the old man pressed him to speak and, as the force of his urging increased, he said, "I am a man living in the world, and I sell vegetables, and because I do not know how to speak from a book, listen ye to a parable.

"There was a certain man who had three friends, and he said to the first, 'Since I desire to see the Emperor come with me,' and the friend said unto him, 'I will come with thee half the way.' And the man said to the second friend, 'Come, go with me to the Emperor's presence,' and the friend said to him, 'I will come with thee as far as his palace, but I cannot go with thee inside.'

"And the man said the same unto his third friend, who answered and said, 'I will come with thee, and I will go inside the palace with thee, and I will even stand up before the Emperor and speak on thy behalf.'"

Then the brethren questioned him, wishing to learn from him the meaning of the riddle, and he answered and said unto them, "The first friend is abstinence, which leadeth as far as one half of the way. The second friend is purity and holiness, which lead to heaven. And the third friend is loving-kindness, which establishes a man before God and speaketh on his behalf with great boldness."" - E. A. Wallis Budge, "The Paradise of the Holy Fathers, vol. II," (Seattle, St. Nectarios Press, 1984), p. 102

It does not explain how to love God but was an interesting aside on the benefits of love

pray for me

joe

Hezekiel

I think,this link offers some good answers;

How should we love God?  Fear of God leads to His love - Love for people and for good leads to love for God