There is so much to gain and understand from the simple teaching from Jesus that we call, The Great Command.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 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.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

I am continually brought back to the first statement of this command in loving God with all our hearts.  The seventh chapter of Mark is all about the heart of man, which returns back to the purpose of man’s existence in worshiping God.  John’s Revelation shows us a glimpse of heaven and in this snapshot we only see worship taking place.  In the first chapter we see John falling on his face in worship.  In chapter four we see these creatures that do nothing but worship singing “holy, holy, holy…” and also the twenty-four elders falling down before our God in worship.  Heaven is all about worship.  When we pray heaven to earth (as Jesus commanded in the Lord’s prayer) we are calling down a spirit of us worshiping our Holy God; resulting in us loving God with all our hearts.

All too often we get caught up in other topics and concerns just like those in Mark 7.  Tradition seems to take priority, whether the tradition is from old or a new tradition trying to be established.  Thus resulting in the prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled again, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.  But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mark 7:6-7, NASB).  Worship isn’t just the music in our churches, but this continues to remain a hot topic for some reason? We don’t need hymns in our churches!  We don’t need new choruses, contemporary music, or a worship leader building an emotional response in music in our churches!  We need a people with a pure heart desperate to worship our Almighty God whether there is music or not!

This is actually summed up nicely in Mark chapter 7 with the Syrophoenician woman.  She came to Jesus begging Him to heal her daughter of a demonic spirit.  Jesus’ response was, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27, NASB).  How rude!  Jesus called this woman a “dog.”  If this happened today the response of the woman would be something like, “how dare you call me a dog.”  We believe that we are entitled to everything and when we believe we are treated unfairly then it should be made right.  We would accuse Jesus of committing a “hate crime” and seek to have Him punished, but that didn’t happen here.  Instead, this Syrophoenician woman humbled herself and said, “yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28, NASB).  This melted Jesus’ heart and He had compassion on her; He saw her humility and pureness of heart in a posture of worship, and her daughter was healed.  This woman was actually living out the teachings of Jesus to perfection; she approached Jesus in complete humility and worship (she fell at His feet in verse 25) and she persisted in the humility requesting His mercy (bread at midnight from Luke 11:5-13).

Are you catching everything that is happening here?  Jesus didn’t just call the woman a “dog” but was calling all gentiles “dogs” compared to the children (Jews).  It was not the appropriate time for the gentiles to receive the blessings, but this one gentile woman came representing all us gentiles.  She could’ve responded in pride, but there was a response in humility.  She could’ve responded in a manner of entitlement, but instead she responded by humbly seeking mercy from the One who gives mercy.  This humility in worship resulted in Jesus taking action when He wasn’t planning to, and the request was answered by Jesus extending grace.

We are called to be humble worshipers of our Holy God and not men and women who honor God by our speaking while in church (and occasionally out of church depending on who we are talking to).  The honoring of God with our lips as prophesied from Isaiah comes down to a spirit of pride, a spirit of entitlement.  Our political environment has invaded our churches and we have a political spirit driving a spirit of pride, and thus causing us to have a “dead” church prohibiting true worship.  One who has pride cannot truly worship God.  We must have humility like the Syrophoenician woman in order to worship God.  Neither you nor I deserve anything from God, and it is only by His grace that we may receive His mercy.  Therefore, humble yourself before Him in the pureness of worship and adoration.  Cry out for His mercy on your church that the spirit of entitlement and pride may be broken off and removed; that your church may be the beautiful bride it is called to be.  Loving God with all our hearts is a life-style called a life of worship.

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love.

Jesus’ teaching on the Great Command has led me to many different understandings.  In this writing I will attempt to explain a struggle to living out this passage from a different angle; an angle that will shed some light into the importance of an area of ministry that is often misunderstood, healing or what is often called deliverance ministries.  The passage from Mark reads:

“One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’  Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD YOUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 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.” And the second is this, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”  There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:28-31, NASB).

Through this passage the Lord has led me to understand that our being as a person has four distinct aspects that all function together; heart (spirit), soul (emotion), mind (thought), and strength (flesh).  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and King, we receive Him into our heart; into our spirit.  This is the first act of the grace of God in us receiving the forgiveness of sins in inheriting eternal life.  As the Holy Spirit continues to draw us to Him through our life of prayer, we are led to the second act of grace commonly called sanctification.  This is where we don’t just accept Jesus into our hearts, but we surrender our hearts to Jesus and are baptized by the Holy Spirit.  Our will starts to become aligned with the will of God.  For some this happens at the same time as the first act of grace, but for most of us there is some time between these two acts of grace.

This is the process of loving God with all our hearts, with all our spirit.  Though there is the crisis moment when we choose to give God our hearts desire, we then have to learn how to live it out.  We have to continually choose to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of desires that are not completely pure to the will of God, which is done by the focus of our soul, mind and flesh on the presence of Jesus himself; living a life of prayer, a life of worship.

If you can note where the focus has been so far in this writing, you will see that everything has been pointing back to the heart, or to the spirit.  When we yield our heart completely to Jesus, it is then that we can receive the fullness of knowing that the power of death has no power over us; when the devil no longer has power over our spirit.  However, there are still three other aspects of our being where there still may be permissible access (footholds) of the enemy.

To pick out just one example, you may ask how a devout Christian individual can struggle with fear or anxiety?  Most commonly, a perception was formed somewhere in their life, whether it was from a situation they lived through or learned from a person of trust, that unbeknownst to them granted access of the enemy to fear.  The occurrence may be able to be logically explained and understood, but deep in the subconscious of the mind is that foothold the enemy has and he just remains there quietly keeping the person in a state of bondage.  This individual has a sense of peace knowing they have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, but they don’t know there is a complete and fulfilling peace yet for them to experience.

The examples could go on and on and on of access areas that we in the church have given to the enemy without us even knowing it.  The enemy desires to keep in the darkness and stay hidden in really great people who are protected in their spirit, but yet bound (whether a little or a lot) from complete and true freedom of the other three aspects of who we are.  This has resulted in a powerless believer; no matter how much they know, understand, and can reason from the word of God.  Though they themselves are safe from destruction, they are not making any advances against the ruler of darkness; not just powerless in the church, but even powerless in their own family.

So why do I write this now?  Well, I guess I am ready to see the people of God living to the full potential of kicking the enemy’s butt out of their own family and living in complete joy, peace, and abundant love.  As much as I just want to write and speak about our Almighty God alone, we must also have wisdom and understanding of the enemy of the cross.  We need to live out John 10:10; having a complete understanding of the first half of the verse and putting into practice the second half.

Therefore, if you have not had the opportunity to attend a healing session yet, I cannot encourage you enough to ask your local pastor if they are familiar with leading you through a healing (deliverance) session.  If they are not completely familiar (as not all really good ministers are – we all have different gifts), then ask them to refer you to a respected deliverance minister.  Please do not get stuck on the “scary” terminology of “deliverance” as to me the best way to describe deliverance ministry is to say “the ministry of love.”  This is a prayer “session” of letting our Amazing God love on you and letting Him prepare you to live your life in a new love.  It is the perception of many that a “deliverance session” is for those who are full of demons or are living in complete sin, but that is the really small percentage.  Often it is the little thing that we are unaware of that is keeping us from God’s complete peace, and we just need a little direction and help from one of God’s shepherds.  This area of ministry is meant for Christian men and women who are living a good life in Christ, who wants more of Him and desires to live out The Great Command.

If you are not having luck locating such a minister, contact me and I will do the best I can to find one in your area.  My desire is for the Holy Spirit to draw you into a new freedom, one you didn’t even know existed, so you may live the Faith-Full life you desire to live in order to live the life of love.

P.S.:  It is the enemy now telling you that this is not for you!

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, in the fullness of His love.