Greatest Commandment Archives - Cheri Strange, She Yearns, Christian Speaker & Author

7 Ways to Fall in Love with God

8 March 2021

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Podcasts

7 Ways to Fall in Love with God

by Cheri Strange, Ph.D.

Welcome to the Stirring Faith Podcast

I’m really glad you stopped by. This week we are starting a new series: Truths Jesus Taught.

via GIPHY

7 Ways to Fall in Love with God, Episode #405

Each episode will take a closer look at what Jesus actually taught and what it means for you and me in our day-to-day lives. The perfect place to begin is with a big one. What did Jesus believe was the most important commandment in terms of following God? When asked, he responded with loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. But honestly, sometimes we are not exactly clear on how that plays out in daily life or even where to begin. How do we fall in love with God? It’s not rocket science, but there are some things we can learn and do. There is no reason to stand far off when the expectation is that we come near. Scroll down to join us today for 7 Ways to Fall in Love with God.

Join us on the podcast, but did you know there is more? We have created some resources for you to utilize in your own study time, to come along beside you while we are in this series.

Truths Jesus Taught Reading Plan

Get the FREEBIE HERE — to go along with this series. In it, you will find the Truths Jesus Taught 30-Day Reading Plan, a Scripture Writing schedule, and a Journal to download. Just provide your email. (And if you have already joined the She Yearns Community, you can find it on the Facebook page just for the community.)

And While you are on this page — Don’t forget about The Show Notes.

Just fill out the form and you will begin receiving the latest notes straight in your inbox. Generally, these make it to your inbox by the end of the week AFTER the airing of the episode.

How Awesome is Show Notes?

If you are already a subscriber to the She Yearns Community, you can receive a link to a pdf. But this is different. By signing up here, you will ONLY RECEIVE Show Notes for the podcast. There is nothing to download unless there is some sort of bonus offered.

You can also use this resource to take with you to coffee with a friend or sit with a small group and talk about the topic together. It’s a quick low prep to no prep way to have a deeper discussion about relevant Gospel-centered topics that matter to your everyday lives. So don’t wait! Sign up today. If you enjoyed today’s episode, 7 Ways to Fall in Love with God, Joy in the Hard Things is a really applicable episode for what we are experiencing right now. You can find it here if you are interested.

Listen Now: 7 Ways to Fall in Love with God

You can now check out the latest episodes from iTunes, GooglePlay, Stitcher, iHeartRADIO, or BuzzSprout. Just click on the links below! As always, you can scroll down and listen right here!

Become a Subscriber

And if you have not already become a subscriber to the podcast, allow me to invite you to become one for the She Yearns Podcast by going to any of the providers and signing up for the RSS feed to have it automatically updated to your device! It’s basically ONE CLICK! And it doesn’t use any extra memory and really makes life easier.

If you enjoy this episode, 7 Ways to Fall in Love with God, or find it helpful, please leave a comment or review in your hosting provider service. We cannot do it without you! The only way the word goes out further is with your help. Please share it as you feel the leading.

Click the image to listen to the previous series, beginning with Episode #401.

Thank you for listening,

Day 10: He Waits for You

16 July 2015

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Life Principles for Living Out the Greatest Commandment

Bible Readings for Day 10: He Waits for You–Psalm 27:8; 42:1; Nehemiah 1:1-10; 2:1-5; Acts 9:1-8.

The King waits for you. He holds His plans for you in His hands. He tenderly speaks to you, but He will not push you out of complacency. Your God, the lover of your soul, waits for you to want Him.

We will not find our souls panting feverishly for anything other than ourselves in a rushed fifteen-minute “quiet time,” in a frantic completion of our group studies, or in a prayer life consisting of our own concerns and the concerns of the ones we cherish. The glorious enlightenment experienced by those whose souls pant for God (the kind that illuminated the very face of Moses) resulted from the discovery that God does not have to conform to our fractured understandings resulting from our limited engagement.

In the movie Galaxy Quest, Tim Allen plays an actor in a TV series mimicking our Star Trek. Allen portrays a character similar to Captain Kirk. The movie opens with Allen and his co-stars attending a Galaxy Quest convention crowded with people dressed in costumes associated with the series. Allen meets an attendee in space garb who asks for his help. Allen misinterprets the request as a public-speaking gig and agrees to go. He finds himself in outer space on a spaceship identical to the one he pretends to navigate, fighting alien enemies. When he returns to earth, he hysterically reports to his undaunted crew, “It’s real! It’s all real!”

At some point in time, those whose souls panted feverishly after God came to this conclusion: He’s really real! And there is nothing on this planet that can compare to the thrill of Him! Their lives began to take on a dimension I can only describe as spiritually derived passion.

The signature of those who leave lives of complacency in exchange for the lives God dreams them to live is passion. Intensity, fervent devotion, and inexplicable joy, even amid adversity, exude from a passionate follower of Christ.

Both Nehemiah and Paul accomplished greatness for the kingdom. Their compulsion came from within. One simply possessed an acute awareness of God and His promises for His people. The other experienced a face-to-face encounter with Jesus. Both allowed God to change the direction of their lives, putting aside previous dreams to pursue something bigger than themselves.

Spiritual encounters with Jesus continue to have the same effect on people today.

Let’s not keep Him waiting to be wanted.

Cheri

He Waits for You from Cheri Strange on Vimeo.

Click here to download this FREE printable!

*Click here to start the reading plan on YouVersion*

Day 9: Dream Big Expectant Dreams

15 July 2015

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Life Principles for Living Out the Greatest Commandment

Bible Readings for Day 9: Dream Big Expectant Dreams–Genesis 18:14; Amos 7:14-15; Matthew 14:15-16; Mark 9:22-23; Ephesians 2:10.

Along this journey of seeking what it looks like to love God with my entire mind, there is one lesson I need continuously drilled into my hard head. As you read through the lesson today, please know that both the subject and the pointed presentation are directed at myself before anyone else. I need it this way. I wonder if you need it this way too.

Stop thinking so small! Stop talking yourself out of believing that God can accomplish the miraculous using your life. Take back the promises and methods of God you have rejected because you thought they couldn’t possibly be meant for you. Take them back by letting go!

God does not call us to small thinking. Small thinking results from a lack of exposure to the Word and a lack of ownership of the Word. Today, let the Word of God speak possibility and limitlessness over you. Maybe you have never given God the opportunity to dream with your life. Maybe you are afraid to take that next step for fear you will be disappointed. Maybe you feel insignificant, convinced small is just your size. Leave it behind. Small thinking limits who we become and what we are able to accomplish in the Lord.

The enemy knows this. He is constantly filling our minds with thoughts and ideas contrary to the Word, and even though they are opposed to the Word of God, these thoughts can make sense to me. They confine possibilities to what I can see. They confirm my own beliefs about my weaknesses. They keep me from loving the Lord with all my mind and restrain me from taking that next step of faith.

Sweet friend, it’s time for you and me to let go of small thinking. God calls His people to tasks and opportunities greater than we can imagine. Ponder the possible ramifications found in your reading today on your own life.

There is work to be done. Someone with just your personality, with your gifting, in your situation is exactly who God needs to accomplish His will (Ephesians 2:10). Anything He asks you to do is important, purposeful, and significant.

Cheri

Dream Big Expectant Dreams from Cheri Strange on Vimeo.

Click here to download this FREE printable!

*Click here to start the reading plan on YouVersion*

Day 7: Faithfulness in the Small Things

15 July 2015

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Life Principles for Living Out the Greatest Commandment

Bible Readings for Day 7: Faithfulness in the Small Things–Exodus 13:17-18; John 12:49-50; 14:15; 30-31; 15:9-10; Philippians 2:5-8.

If we were to take our cues from Scripture, focusing on the relationship between the Father and the Son, we could make the case that God receives love through obedience.

Succinctly stated, “Christ emptied himself in order to be filled up with obedience.” (ref. 15)

I can think of several other things I would like to be filled up with rather than obedience. (At the moment, M&M’sÒ would be at the top of my list.) Herein lies my problem. As Philippians describes, Jesus understood best how to love God with all His heart. He knew His purpose and fulfilled it completely. I struggle with this combination.

Our willingness to do what God desires is a crucial element to loving God with all our hearts. This call can be found in most books of the Bible. Many individuals failed to heed the call. Most chose their own way. But if we want to become passionate followers of Jesus, obedience is imperative.

Is Jesus a broken record on this topic, or does He simply understand my yearnings for M&M’s over obedience? Why the frequent parallel between love and obedience? How will my obedience enable my relationship with the Lord to flourish?

My efforts to shed light on my own ponderings brought me to Exodus 13:17-18.

What if the process is entirely the point? Suppose God is more concerned with the journey marked out for each of us than the final destination? If this is accurate, He would want the relationship to be marked by learning to Love Him in response to His love to us. But (and this is where my candy bowl overpowers me) we are not like Him. Instead, we are impatient to arrive at perfection. We are not satisfied with baby steps and scenic routes. We don’t want to wait to grow and learn. We have no interest in serving our desert time and taking the long road. Like the Israelites, we want to be in our promised lands or back in Egypt. No, the prospect of the process being the point is not appealing.

He could make us godly through our pillows overnight. That route would indeed be shorter. But that is not His style. Instead, He woos us through a dynamic, growing relationship all the days of our lives.

Cheri

Faithfulness in the Small Things from Cheri Strange on Vimeo.

Click here to download this 6×4 FREE printable!

*Click here to start the reading plan on YouVersion*

Day 4: Sin Hinders Love

15 July 2015

Cheri Strange

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Categories: Life Principles for Living Out the Greatest Commandment

Bible Readings for Day 4: Sin Hinders Love — Luke 7:36-50; 1 John 1:8-9

If God draws us to a relationship that loves Him wholeheartedly and supplies what we need to do it, then why don’t we do it? What keeps us content in our tiny puddles of mediocrity convinced that living life to the full and the business of loving God wholeheartedly is for the few?

For many of us, our largest hindrance is sin. It could involve an unhealthy relationship, a critical spirit (with a mouth to match), destructive and addictive habits, or something more serious. Maybe it’s simply how we choose to react to a situation that drives us to sin. Of course, all of us fall into sin from time to time (1 John 1:8).

Sometimes we do more than fall into sin—we run to it with reckless abandon. Other times we find ourselves engulfed by it, uncertain how it happened.

Committing the sinful act is only part of what makes sin our greatest hindrance to loving God completely. What we do with our sin and what we do as a result of it can also contribute to lives that settle for less than we should. If we want to protect ourselves from halfhearted pursuit and small aspiration, we must confess our sins before the Lord.

The promise of forgiveness is all encompassing and without limitations. There is no way we can fail one too many times or surpass His willingness to wipe away our ugliness. If we confess our sin, regardless of what it is, God will forgive us. If you confess yours, you can rest assured. You will be forgiven.

Cheri