Mike Bickle and Brondon - Loving Jesus: The First Commandment Established in First Place

 PURE HEART MARCH ONLINE SOLEMN ASSEMBLY OF PRAYER

WELCOMED SPECIAL GUEST MIKE BICKLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER TO OUR ZOOM UPPER ROOM

Mike Bickle directs the International House of Prayer, a missions organization based on 24/7 prayer with worship. Mike is also the founder of International House of Prayer University—which includes full-time schools of ministry, music, and media—and is the author of several books.

Loving Jesus: The First Commandment Established in First Place

1. The call to love God with all of our heart. Jesus’ statement in Matthew 22:37-38 is one of the most significant statements in Scripture. It is God's mission statement for the human race and thus, the most reliable measurement of success at the judgment seat of Christ. It has many implications—it reveals God’s personality, our value, how we function, our destiny, and how we view and value others (since God loves them deeply).

³⁷“‘You shall love the Lord…with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and great commandment.” (Mt. 22:37-38)

The first commandment does not start with us, but with God who loves us with all His heart and in the same intensity that He loves in the fellowship of the Trinity. This is a most dynamic truth for which we to say, “Thank You” and to ask the Spirit to reveal more of God's love for me and to impart more love for God in me. To “abide in love”— is to continually realign our heart to it.

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” (Jn. 15:9)

Jesus prayed that the Father's love would be imparted to us (Jn. 17:26). The grace to receive God’s love and love Him in response is the greatest gift that the Spirit imparts (Rom. 5:5).

²⁶“…that the love with which You [the Father] loved Me may be in them…” (Jn. 17:26)

God first exhorted Israel, through Moses, to love Him with all their heart (Deut. 6:5), and later Moses prophesied Israel would love God with all their heart in the end times (Deut. 30:1-6). In Matthew 22:37, Jesus’ statement about loving God was both an exhortation and a

⁵You shall love the Lord…with all your heart…and with all your strength. (Deut. 6:5)

⁶The Lord…will circumcise your heart…to love the Lord…with all your heart. (Deut. 30:6)

Jesus defined loving God as being rooted in a spirit of obedience (Jn. 14:15-21). We are to love God on God’s terms. To “keep His commands” includes setting our heart to diligently obey and pursue Jesus and not to quit in our divine assignments, even in times of delay and difficulty.

¹⁵“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (Jn. 14:15)

In Matthew 22:38, Jesus elaborated on Moses’ exhortation, adding two words—first and great. Here, He defined loving God as being “the primary” response that God wants from His people. The only thing He does not have—is something He will not take by force—our voluntary love.

First: The Spirit’s first priority and emphasis in the Church is for God’s people to grow in their love for God. However, our natural tendency is to focus first on gaining more blessing on our circumstances—more money, honor, comfort, influence, etc. Without understanding that God is first committed to helping us grow in love, we can be confused about His leadership in our life.

Great: It has the greatest impact on God’s heart and our heart, and it is the greatest calling.

¹⁹…whoever does and teaches them [commands], he shall be called great in the kingdom… (Mt. 5:19)

Loving God with all our heart

We are called to engage our heart with Jesus with enthusiasm in pursuing and obeying Him. Some search for Bible verses or definitions of grace to validate giving less of themselves and their lives to Jesus. Others are dutiful in serving Him without engaging their heart with Him.

We set our love on God by determining that our primary dream (goal and definition of success) of our life is to walk out the first commandment by grace. Our secondary dreams and definitions of success are related to our family, friends, vocation, ministry etc.—they flow from loving God.

¹⁴“Because he has set his love [heart] upon Me, therefore I will deliver him.” (Ps. 91:14)

David set his heart to love God (Ps. 18:1). One of the most important decisions in our life is when we intentionally determine that our primary dream is to walk out the first commandment.

¹I will love You, O Lord, my strength. (Ps. 18:1)

• Loving God with all our mind
  1. We express love for God with our mind by putting things in our mind that inspire love for God instead things that diminish our capacity to love Him.
  2. What we do with our mind affects our ability to receive and express love. We show love for God by taking time to fill our mind with His Word and refusing to feed our mind on lust (Job 31:1).

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes; why should I look upon a young woman?” (Job 31:1)

Loving God with all our strength (Mk. 12:30)

We express love for God in the way we use our strengths and natural resources (time, money, energy, talents, words, influence). We tend to use our strength first to increase our honor, comfort, influence, etc. God takes pleasure in the small things that His people do when they invest their strength in ways that express love for Him and help others to love Him (Heb. 6:10).

We love God with our strength as we do the things that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7): serving, giving (6:1-4, 19-21), praying (6:5-13), blessing, forgiving (5:44; 6:14), etc.

1. Loving God with all our soul
   1. We express love for God with our soul as we exert the emotional energy to realign our heart to base our identity on our relationship with God instead of on accomplishments, recognition, etc.
   2. Our identity is determined by how we define our success and value and how we see ourselves.
   3. Our primary success and identity is found in being ones whom God loves and who love God, confessing, “I am loved by God and I am a lover of God; therefore, I am successful.”
   4. When our identity is rooted in what we achieve and who applauds us, then we are more likely to burn out and to live in an “emotional storm” (by being too preoccupied with self). Therefore,
      we must often realign our thinking to agree with His love, truth, and investment in our lives.

DURING PURE HEART MARCH WE PRAYED TO RECEIVE:

A PURE HEART TO SEE GOD (Matt 5:8)

1. practical, spiritual and biblical ways to recognize, overcome and resist the stoney heart

2. how to deal with the 12 Dimensions of the heart of man

3. studying the book and learning how to enter into the 12 Dimensions of the Heart of God, focusing this month with THE PURE HEART 

Click Here to purchase Solemn Assembly Book: The 12 Dimensions of the Heart of God