Draw Near- Increased Intimacy With God soul.pages

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Draw Near:

Increased Intimacy With God

Love the Lord your God with all Your Soul Matthew 22:37

What are some practical ways that I can love God with all of our soul?

Defining “Soul”

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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…”

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Jesus is actually quoting the Old Testament from Deuteronomy 6:5.

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In this passage, the Hebrew word for “soul” comes from a word that means “to breath or to be breathed upon.” (Strong’s Concordance)

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The word is first used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed into a mound of dirt shaped like a man and he became “a living soul.”

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“Soul” carries these three definition or concepts: breath/breathing; life/vitality; animal/creature appetites or desires. (Strong’s Concordance)

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Let’s use these three definitions of the soul to explore practical ways that we can love God with all of our soul.

1. Love God with all Your Breath •

“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4

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“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!” Psalm 150:6

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The word “praise” in this verse means, “to shine clearly, to glorify.” (Strong’s)

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God desires for us to live a breath by breath relationship with Him. He breathes life into us and we breathe out His praise and the breath of our lives should glorify Him and shine brightly for His purposes.

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The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Could this mean that God desires an endless series of “breath” prayers about every aspect of life with Him?

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What if we stopped taking every breath for granted? What if we no longer saw our breaths as our own possessions? What if we saw each breath as a gift and an investment from God that we could use to love Him and for His glory?

2. Love God with All Your Life

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“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14b

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“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ,” Philippians 3:7-8

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This brief life on earth is just a warm up for eternity. But how we love and serve God during this vanishing mist determines our eternity, and affects the eternity of many others.

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What will be the sum of our years? Careers? Houses? Toys? Championships? 401(k)’s? Positions of prestige? Trophy horns on the wall? The American dream?

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Today is a gift that we never get back, and so is tomorrow. Let’s use them for something that matters - to genuinely know Jesus and to make Him known.

3. Love God with all Your Physical Appetites

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Romans 13:11-14, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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Another Hebrew definition of the “soul” is the physical aspect of being a living creature or animal - our natural physical appetites.

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These natural appetites, or desires, include: eating, drinking, and sexual drive.

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These may be common physical aspects of our daily lives, but God is greatly interested in how we steward these desires everyday.

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In fact, these common physical desires are some of the most meaningful ways we can express our genuine love for Him, by honoring Him with them.

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Do we love God with the way we eat and drink? Do we love God with our sexual desires? Is our worship limited to beautiful words on Sunday, or do we worship Him with all the “regular” parts of life on Monday through Saturday?