I get, Lord,

that I need to love You with my everything

 

heart

soul

mind

strength

 

and I find myself pausing at the strength part

 

because it’s an interesting word to use

and I ask You to help me grasp what that means…

 

…what it has meant to me

in my life

 

Loving You with all my strength

brings to mind

times of feeling weak

and life was dim

but I trusted

and I loved

beyond reason

because I was loving You with the strength

that I had

 

You were my strength

 

My body felt weak

but I loved You with my trust

and You would remind me

that Your grace is always sufficient for me

 

And I think about times

when I felt so confident

and strong

but I was easily pulled down

because my eyes were on self

and not on You

 

Love of self

focus on self-preserving

focus on self-promoting

weak

 

Not loving God with all my strength

 

Seemingly strong on the outside

but compromised on the inside

 

And so I know that

no matter my weakness

my suffering

my conditions

my surroundings

 

I can love You with all my strength

because it is the power

that You give that’s important

 

Everything I can love You with

first came from You

 

Which is all the more reason

to love You

with all of it.

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,

all your soul,

all your mind,

and all your strength.

– Mark 12:30 (NCV)

 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

– 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (NIV)

 

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

– 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (MSG)

 

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

– 1 John 4:7,8 (NLT)

 

Photo by Nicole Stewart