Michelle Pitman

I have been pondering the words found in the Great Commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” I have known these words, spoken these words and read these words, spoken by Jesus in response to the Pharisee who was trying to tempt Him by asking the question, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” However, recently I questioned and pondered if I can truly say that my life is reflective of these words.  Do I love the Lord my God with ALL my heart, will ALL my soul and with ALL my mind?  Are we capable of such a love?

I must share these words found in Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the whole bible.

All of the law is fulfilled in one word, and that is LOVE.  Nothing in religion is done right, that is not done there first.  Love is the leading affection which gives law, and gives ground, to the rest and therefore that, as the main fort, is to be first secured for God.  We are a creature cut out of love; thus therefore is the law written in the heart that it is a law of love.  Love is the rest and satisfaction of the soul.

The love of God is the first and great commandment of all.  God being good infinitely, originally, and eternally, is to be loved in the first place, and nothing loved beside him, but what is loved for him.  Love is the first and great thing that God demands from us, and therefore the first and great thing that we should devote to him.

Jesus says, “love the Lord YOUR God”.  So how can we love “OUR” God as ours.  The first commandment is, You shall have no other gods before me. Loving the Lord YOUR God requires that we have HIM for our GOD and that we have no others gods in our lives.

Matthew Henry goes on to say, To love God as ours is to love him because he is ours, with obedience to him, and dependency on him.  We must love God as reconciled to us, and made ours by covenant; that is the foundation of this, Thy God.

Have you pondered this thought that God is OURS?

So if God is OURS, how do we LOVE Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind?  We must understand how we love with each of these parts of us; heart, soul and mind.  Matthew Henry compares the Heart to the will or the vital, the soul to affections or sensitive, and the mind to understanding or intellectual.

He goes on to say, Our love of God must be sincere love, and not in word and tongue only, as theirs is who say they love him, but their hearts are not with him.  It must be a strong love, we must love him in the most intense degree; as we must praise him, so we must love him, with all that is within us.  Is must be a singular and superlative love, we must love him more than anything else; this way the stream of our affections must entirely run.  The heart must be united to love God, in opposition to a divided heart.  All our love is too little to bestow upon him, and therefore all the powers of the soul must engaged for him, and carried toward him.  This is the first and greatest commandment; for obedience to this is the spring of obedience to all the rest; which is then only acceptable, when it flows from love.

We must stop on our journey with the Lord and ponder this verse and examine our heart, soul and mind.  We must understand this commandment not only intellectually but also with our will and affections.  We cannot be effective in our walk with God if we are not being effective at obeying and living out this commandment and loving God the way he calls us to.  We are created in the image of  God and man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Our journey with him must be about striving to perfect loving him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.

I desire and crave to love God this way.  I have had to stop in my journey to ponder and pray about what keeps me from doing this.  I am excited to share more of my journey with you in what God is doing in my life to allow me to accomplish this.

I have been watching an incredible movie, Furious Love, that talks about the spiritual darkness and war that takes place on this earth.  I have come face to face with this darkness in my own life as I have battled the lies of the enemy and his attacks to disarm me.  I see the hand of the enemy in the lives of the teen moms and children that we serve and even in the lives of my own children.

Satan is real and he has been real since the beginning of time.  We must realize that the battle we face is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

We are living in a world where Satan is taking lives captive in this war.  As Christians we must recognize evil for what it is and begin arming ourselves for battle.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:13-20

We are so quick to judge the sinner for their choices instead of feeling compassion for them and seeing the spiritual battle they are facing.  We judge the  young girl who is sexually active instead of recognizing that it is because she grew up without a father to show her love and protect her so satan fed her mind with lies that she could find love through sex.  Or the young girl who sexually abuses another child because she was sexually abused.  We want to keep her at a distance instead of speaking God’s truth into her life.  Or the homeless man who believed the lies that led him to drink and his drinking put him on the streets.  Or the homosexual who believed the lies that satan spoke to him about his masculinity.  We look at these people and judge them by their actions. However, their actions do not define them.  They are defined by their heavenly creator, GOD.  God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

As Christians we must be willing to go to battle for God’s people. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor…proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Luke 4:18,19

We are called to be like Christ so why do we look so much like the world?  When Jesus looked at the Samaritan women He did not condemn her for her actions but explained truth in love.  When He met the adulterous women He did not condemn her for her actions but spoke truth to her in love. So how do we respond to the sinner?  Do we gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:25

Christ didn’t get into a debate with the Samaritan women or the adulterous woman about their behavior.  Instead He patiently and courteosly spoke God’s truth to them in a kind and gentle way.  We must take time to listen to people and to treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve.  We must look beyond the action to see the person God created them to be.  We must stop judging and being so willing to discard those whom Satan is ravishing war upon.

And we must remember that we all have VICTORY in the power of JESUS!

My Facebook post last week read, “God never forgets me and cares so much about me. I am so unworthy of such love from the Creator of the universe.”  I get so frustrated with myself when I find my self living independent from God.  That happened to me last week as I felt overwhelmed and unable to continue down the path God had lead me on.  What I love about God is that He loved me through this and allowed me to see it was because I was living independent from Him.  He could have waited for me to realize it on my own but He loves me so much that He was willing to show me and to carry me back to the path. 

Serving God is not about working together with Him as a team.  It’s about allowing Him to lead and being obedient to follow Him. 

John 1:3 says, Through him all things were made;  without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 

I questioned everything I was doing last week because I felt the weight of it all on me and realized that I am incapable of doing this.  I, Michelle Pitman, cannot fulfill all the demands of ministry but God can. 

My husband and I were talking this morning about how the disciples were face to face with Jesus and over and over again they were blinded to His greatness.  They witnessed him turn water into wine, heal the lame, feed the 5,000 and when they saw Him walk on water they were still terrified.  How could they have seen all these miracles and not accept that Jesus could walk on water? My life is so much like this.  I have seen the hand of God in powerful ways firsthand yet I still am like the disciples in that boat terrified.  We must live lives that are expectant of God to do amazing things. 

My purpose is to be so focused on God and knowing Him more so that when I face storms in life I can rest in knowing that my life is in the hand of the Creator of the Universe.  It is there that I can wait in expectation for God to act and to see Him in powerful ways.

We must find ourselves every day before God as Isaiah did.  Seeing God in His greatness and seeing ourselves as sinners. 

I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another: 

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Matthew 22:37 says Jesus replied:“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.

I have been wrestling these past few weeks with the trying to understand what God is calling me to do.  I have attempted to walk in obedience to Him in all things but have found myself confused as to how I am to be managing my time and handling all that is on my plate.  In my moment of despair and feeling overwhelmed I was thinking, “who can I call to get advice from on what I am supposed to be doing?”.  With peace in my heart I was reminded that the only one who can give me advice on what my call is to the Lord is God. 

So how do we know what God’s will is for our life?  How do we obey Him? 

Obedience is being submissive to the restraint on command of authority:  willing to obey.  It means being submissive and willing to obey.  Willing means to obey with joy.  The Lord has brought me to a place in my life where I am willing to submit and obey with joy.  Once you have experienced and marveled in being in God’s will there is no place you would rather be.  I crave to feel and experience those moments. 

But how do you know where the Lord is leading or understand what He may be trying to tell you?  We must seek God for our advice.  You would not ask a plumber how to do your taxes.  An apprentice works under someone who is a master at their trade who can train them and teach them to become an expert at their craft or skill.  We must be an apprentice under God and choose God as our Master. 

God wants us to obey Him wholeheartedly by giving ourselves fully to Him.  And as Matthew 22:37 says we must “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind. 

I am finding myself with the desire to obey God and the willingness to serve Him wholeheartedly but am I seeking to be an apprentice and to seek the wisdom of the only one who knows?  My efforts to obey God are whole hearted but my efforts to know God can be described as half-hearted.  God wants to give us the power to obey him with all our heart. 

I have learned that it really doesn’t matter how active we may be in our religious activities or doing what we think is glorifying God.  What matters is how obedient we are to Him.  To knowing Him, to loving Him with all our heart, soul and mind. Being in the place where we crave Him, where we can’t imagine not being in His holy presence. 

James 4:8 says Come near to God and he will come near to you.  The footnotes of my bible answer the question of How can we come near to God?  James says there are five ways:

1. Submit to God.  Yield to his authority and will, commit your life to him and his control, and be willing to follow him. 
2. Resist the devil.  Don’t allow Satan to entice and tempt you. 
3. Wash your hands…and purify your hearts.  Lead a pure life.  Desire to experience God’s purity.
4. Grieve and mourn and wail in sincere sorrow for your sins. 
5. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 

We must recognize that our worth comes from God alone.  We must seek His guidance and not our own. 

Seek to know God more through opening up His word.  Crave to be in His presence. 

I have found myself 60 lbs over weight, out of shape and physically neglected.  How did I get here?  This morning I have been looking up scriptures on the body and here is what I found.

Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will withdraw my favor;  I will not look on you with pity or spare you. Ezekiel 5:11

Footnote:  It was a serious sin to defile the temple, God’s sanctuary by worshiping idols and practicing evil within its very walls.  In the New Testament, we learn that God now makes his home within those who are his.  Our bodies are God’s temple.  We defile God’s temple today by allowing gossiping, bitterness, love of money, lying or any other wrong actions or attitudes to be a part of our lives.  By asking the Holy Spirit’s help, we can keep from defiling his temple, our bodies.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.  3 John 1:2

Footnote:  John was concerned for Gaius’s physical and spiritual well-being.  This was the opposite of the popular heresy that taught the separation of spirit and matter and despised the physical side of life.  Today, many people still fall into this way of thinking.  This non-Christian attitude logically leads to one of two responses:  neglect of the body and physical health, or indulgence of the body’s sinful desires.  God is concerned for both your body and your soul.  As a responsible Christian, you should neither neglect nor indulge yourself, but care for your physical needs and discipline your body so that you are at your best for God’s service.

“Everything is permissible for me”-but not everything is beneficial.  ”Everything is permissible for me”-but I will not be mastered by anything.  ”Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.”-but God will destroy them both.  The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. 1 Corinthians 6:12,13

Footnote:  Freedom is a mark of the Christian faith-freedome from sin and guilt, and freedom to use and enjoy anything that comes from God.  But Christians should not abuse this freedom and hurt themselves or others.  Drinking too much leads to alcoholism, gluttony leads to obesity.  Be careful that what Gods has allowed you to enjoy doesn’t grow into a bad habit that controls you.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20

What did Paul mean when he said that our bodies belong to God?  Many people say they have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies.  Although they think that this is freedom, they are really enslaved to their own desires.  When we become Christians, the Holy Spirit fills and lives in us.  Therefore, we no longer own our bodies.  ”Bought at a price” refers to slaves purchased at auction.  Christ’s death freed us from sin, but also obligates us to his service.  If you live in a building owned by someone else, you try not to violate the building’s rules.  Because your body belongs to God, you must not violate his standards for living.

So here is what I conclude.  God cares not only about my Spiritual well-being but also my physical.  It is also clear that we are not to be mastered by anything.  So taking care of ourselves physically cannot become an obsession.  With anything it must be done in balance.

So where do I go from here?  I need to have balance in my life both Spiritually and physically without allowing myself to become too focused on the physical.

Well my journey begins.  I will keep you updated on my progress as I seek to honor the Lord with my entire life.

Can you imagine witnessing Jesus feed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish? Can you imagine witnessing Him walking on water and calming the storm?Can you imagine being able to touch His clothes and being healed?  Can you imagine witnessing Jesus bring a little girl back to life just by speaking two words, “Talitha koum!”?

Can you imagine witnessing all of these things but then being focused on legalistic issue as the pharisees were?

Jesus responds to the Pharisees by quoting the words of Isaiah, ” ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hears are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’  You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”

The disciples after witnessing all the miracles Jesus performed still did not have the faith to believe that Jesus was the Son of God.  They should not have been surprised to see Jesus walk on water.

The Pharisees should not have wasted their time worrying about legalistic issues but they should have been focused on honoring God with their hearts.

What would your response to Jesus have been?  What IS your response to Jesus?  Jesus is alive!

As I pondered the fruit of our labor in regards to investing in the lives of teen moms and dads I realized we were expecting too much from them.  We expected them to give their lives to Christ and to start living perfect lives that looked like ours.  My life didn’t look like it does today when I was 18, in fact it looked nothing like it. 

I was reading in Matthew today and I came accross the verse, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 5:48  Well we all know that we can’t be perfect while living here on this earth because we are sinners and accepting Christ doesn’t change that fact.  What I beleive Jesus is saying here is that we need to strive to be perfect and to be more like Christ in every aspect of our lives.  My notes in my bible refer to the following areas:  In character, In holiness, In maturity, and In love.  In character we can strive to be as much like Christ as possible.  That should be the standard we set for ourselves.  In holiness we should be devoted to God’s desires rather than our own.  In love we should seek to love others as God loves us.  But the note that really impacted me today is the In maturity.  We can’t and don’t achieve Christlike character and holy living all at once, rather it something that we grow toward.  They used the analogy that we expect different behavior from a baby, a child, a teenager and an adult so God expects different behavior from us, depending on our stage of spiritual development. 

This isn’t an excuse to sin.  We can’t say, “Well, I’m not to that level of maturity yet to resist this sin”, but we do need to show grace to those who are new to the faith just like our Father showed grace to us.  It is easy to forget where we came from.

Praise God that one day we will attain perfection. 

Notes from the Life Application Study Bible NIV by Zondervan

I was recently convicted that I had not been giving God all that He deserves.  I give to Him out of wealth and I respond to the call of the needy when it’s convieient for me or I do it with a grumbling heart.

I had to ask myself what was my measuring stick for serving God.  Is it the world or it is God’s word?   

I have been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  In Chapter 5 of his book titled serving leftovers to a holy God he says,

God wants our best, deserves our best, and demands our best.   Leftovers are not merely inadequate; from God’s point of view ( and lest we forget, His is the only one who matters), they’re evil.  Let’s stop calling it a “busy schedule” or “bills” or “forgetfulness.”  It’s called evil. 

Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants?  Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life?  Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?

Lord I have said yes to questions similar to this for many years now but I know that I have not given you all you deserve.  Let my yes to these questions be reflective in everything and in every way in my life.  Amen

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest?  I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.’

Jesus is of course referring to his spiritual nourishment.  We are nourished by what we take in (God’s word, prayer and attending church) AND by what we give out in serving God.  We are called to do both.  We have to take in to be equipped to give out and what good would it be to take in and not give out? 

 Jesus says, ‘Open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for harvest.’

Lord, open my eyes that I might see the opportunities you place before me.  Amen