“Love the Lord with all your heart”
Loving the Lord with all my heart was such a theme in 2024. I even started writing a rap about wholeheartedness, but I was unable to finish it, which showed me…the message wasn’t finished IN ME yet.
But as I sat listening for Him to tell me the theme for 2025, I could hear Him say “You will finish the rap.” Jesus and I have written songs and raps together since around 2006. The raps articulate seasons. They are a reflection of my heart in words set to a beat.
Jesus saying loving God with all your heart is a part of the greatest commandment found in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27. It is also in Deuteronomy 6:5.
I heard Him say “I circumcise the heart.” This came from Romans 2:29 “No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.”
My heart has already been changed by His Spirit. And yet Jesus answered a question about the most important commandment by STARTING with “You shall love the Lord with all your heart…”
So since it’s a command, there is always a choice.
God also highlighted, the name used for Him in this verse is Lord. To truly make Jesus Lord means He is leader of EVERYTHING. If I combine that with the Romans verse of circumcision of the heart, “a true circumcision is not merely obeying…it is an actual change of heart.” The fruit of a changed heart is you SEEK praise from God….period.
Coming off of 2024, I could see from reading the book of Acts over and over that I could be way bolder. Paul especially is such an example of this to me. Paul even disregarded a prophet warning Him about going to Jerusalem. Paul’s goal was to please Jesus and live for Him and His message….period.
Loving Jesus with my whole heart has one main meaning for me that very few know about. There is a place deep in my heart that Jesus wants me to learn how to love Him with. I just don’t know how….yet.
I had constructed a cement vault around this area of my heart for so long after I gave my life to Jesus. He has taken a jackhammer to that space and spoke truth into my life. Yet, it’s hard for me to let the wall stay down and my go to reaction is to pour concrete again.
There was a song in 2024 that said “it stays in the fight, never quits, never hides, never runs…” so in 2025 I wanna let Jesus do His full work in my heart and just be wall-less in this one area…letting my heart learn to love Jesus in it…
I feel like when I got saved I understood 1% of what it looked like to give Jesus my life. Yet we say “Jesus came into my heart” and “I gave my life to Him.”
Then eventually, Jesus probably got 50% of my heart, in all reality, because we grow up in Him. He starts to take over our whole life…step by step. We trust Him with our future, our family, our schedules, our money and He slowly becomes Lord in our life.
And I’m not sure what percentage I am at currently with me loving Him with my WHOLE heart, but we are on a journey. Not sure what He’ll ask of in 2025. But I pray I will have dove’s eyes all year long that seek one thing…His praise…His ways…and His gaze.
My mom and I have done the same Bible reading together for years. Last year, we read Acts on repeat and I asked her to pray with me for what we should do this year. She said “Romans” is what she sensed. Once God gave me the theme for 2025 and said He is the One who circumcises hearts, I looked up where the verse was and it was Romans!
So Romans it is for 2025 and any other portion of Scripture I read in 2025 will be through the lens of me asking God how I can love Him more with all my heart.
There is something about starting a year that gives me almost butterflies in my stomach of expectancy that I have NO IDEA what script He is about to write. I have what I think is the general outline of 2025 in my view of school leading Fire and Fragrance and then Word by Heart on Location, but I have NO CLUE the beat, the lines and the song He will create.
All I care about is that every part of my heart is all in…loving my Lord.
You Will Go To Every Nation 
This is good!!  Good meditation.I’m going to save it to re-read several times. It’s true.  When we’re born again, we are BORN again –helpless infants who need everything given to us because we have nothing in ourselves to rescue ourselves from death.  Walking with the Holy Spirit is a process, not a package.  And isn’t it wonderful to see how far we come in our relationship with Him?!  Yes, we are being changed and that’s exciting — but we are also seeing HIM more and more, KNOWING God more and more, being more intimate with Him, feeling His presence more and knowing His unending love for us.  I recently heard an interview with a man who said that he has seen angels and demons all of his life, since he was a little child.  The demons used to terrify him and paralyze him physically and his parents couldn’t do anything about it.  But as he walked with God, he learned that they had no power over him.  As he described their activities in the world, he said that the angels and demons are moving all around each other all the time.  I usually ignore this kind of testimony because how can you prove what he is claiming?  But I heard something I’ve always sensed:  When we are griping about something , when we gossip or make fun of something (this can sneak up on me subtly), when we entertain anything unholy, we are allowing demons space.  When we are seeking God, ministering to someone, doing what God is asking us to do, His Spirit comes alongside us and in us and uses us.  This happens every minute of our lives.  As we give God everything in detail, He embodies it and it becomes power.He is looking for the opportunities to use us as clean vessels filled with nothing but Him. But it’s a battle to get to that place sometimes.  Distractions can be so subtle.  I want to recognize them better and dismiss them.
Pam
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