Love the Lord with all your soul

In Genesis 1:26; Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

God is Spirit so He created man in His image. We are spirit first and foremost before soul and body. The express image of God.

In Genesis 2:7; And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Adam did not have a soul until God formed him out of the dust and breathed into him the breath of life. Then man became a living soul. That became the template for creation after Adam. The dust became the container (body) for the Spirit and soul.

The soul of a person is the repository of their emotions, their intellect and their will. Your mood at any time is influenced by your emotions which is also influenced by your five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch). So how happy or sad you feel is influenced by the complexities of the various gates to your soul. Yes your read right, I said gates, your emotions (and all it encompasses) your will, your intellect and all that it encompasses are gates to your soul. The body and the soul relate very well that sometimes their union is inseparable. That is how God has designed us.

In Psalm 103 David said “Bless the Lord Oh my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy Name…”

So you see, loving the Lord with all your soul requires every facet of your soul which includes all your will, all your emotions and all your intellect. True love consumes and so love must transcend your will, your emotions and intellect. The will is one thing God gave to His creation that has often worked against Him. If the Lord had not given creation a will, we would still be in the garden of Eden, fulfilling the original mandate God had given, Lucifer would still be in heaven singing praises to God, all the fallen angels would be at post fulfilling their purpose. But not so, God gave all of creation a will so He can tell apart those that love Him truly.

To will to love God is not child’s play. Your will is a great force that influences your decisions, actions and ultimately your destiny. Great achievers have one thing in common, the will to succeed. Any one who has succeeded in climbing Mount Everest must have had some strong will. People who pursue the Love of God have one thing in common, they will to bless the Lord at all times and will to continually maintain His praises in their mouths. It will take will power to seek God and even dare to make Him the object of your affection. Lovers of God are conscious about what enters or leaves the gates of their soul. They are conscious of what they listen to, what they say, what they eat and what influences them. Psalm 1 calls these people blessed!

Psalm 1:1; Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

All these things point to influencers of the soul. And so by being conscious of these you position yourself to be in compliance and obedience to the Lord. A Christian bought by the precious precious blood of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit of God cannot be like the world. Your resolve always is to be pleasing to the Lord. To please God requires you stay away from all that displeases Him.

The soul and the spirit are powerful influences in the life of every person. God is Spirit and so loving him requires us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. There is this inner conflict between the soul and the spirit. The evidence of this is our outlook as Christians.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh—and these are contrary the one to the other—so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (of sin that appeals to the flesh) Galatians 5:16-18

Our yearnings and desires often comes from our soul. In the case where our spirit is not in charge of our being our body and soul will drive and lead us. We need to master the soul and body in order for the human spirit to lead. God relates to us through our human spirit. This He created in His image and likeness. So in order to please God as the object of our love, our soul must be directed and inspired by our spirit where we can command our soul to bless the Lord.

At another opportunity we will look at duality and how it affects our love for God. Loving God requires loving Him with all your soul.

Shalom!

Pastor Ron Chiarelli