When Jesus was asked what the great commandment in the law was, He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
Loving God and His people is all that our Father requires of us. How well we are doing according to heaven’s perspective and how great we are in the kingdom of God are all hinged on this one thing – loving God and people. The Lord once told Rick Joyner, “You are known all over the world for many things, but none of them is love”. That goes to show how important love is to God.
Since I know all this – that love is the principal thing – I have, for years, yearned to live a life truly filled with love for God and man. Unfortunately, I have so far been a total failure in this pursuit. I marvel and get embarrassed when I see people who got saved just yesterday walking in love more than me who is 21 years old in salvation. I have friends who make me wonder how we are friends considering how great their love is for people yet the reverse is true for my case. I wonder why I cannot be like the great Kenneth E. Hagin who, before he passed away, seemed to have mastered the love walk. Maybe God should have given options for people like me. But what would they be? He is love and nothing else; therefore, there could never be options for those born of Him but to love.
It follows therefore that those who are like me, desiring to love God and man but never really attaining that goal, must pray for God to help them love. We should constantly pray something like this: “Father, I acknowledge that loving you and my neighbor are the greatest commandments, but I cannot obey them on my own even though I really desire to. Therefore, please help me to love.” Carol Busingye has told us more than once how she prayed and even fasted in order to love people. In case you have attained some success in loving, you too can grow more and more. Your prayer can go something like: “Father, I want to love you more. Give me the grace to do so.” I do not see God giving a ‘no’ to such prayers. Actually, since love is the greatest, such prayers could be the thing that more than anything else catches heaven’s attention and pleases God to the uttermost.
God bless you.