WELCOME BACK CHOSEN FAMILY! Thank you so much for digging in with us another week on this CHOSEN journey!!! 

The past two weeks we have focused on areas of love that may seem somewhat obvious: loving others and loving yourself. But what about loving GOD himself? Do you truly love God? Do you even like Him? These are the questions that convict us this week and compel us forward into searching the WORD for answers...just for you!

Y'all can find this week's recording on our Chosen Girl app, or click here to stream our podcast directly from our site, or subscribe to our podcast here on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Play. 

• Specifically Verse 27:  He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
• This verse even goes back as far as the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament!

How do we love God with all of our heart?

• DESIRE: God wants us to desire what He desires: Him using us and us being our true selves because of it.
• Are you willing to lay down your own desires at the feet of Jesus, and trust Him enough that it isn't a true loss? It's a true GAIN. 
• Realize that no-one will pursue you like God will!
• Do we choose and trust His way over ours? 

How do we love God with all of our soul?

• Psalm 62:1 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
• Who is my driving force in life? 
• Think of the "soul sisters," and friends in your life. The ones who restore you. The ones who KNOW you and your heart. The kindred spirits in your life. Is Jesus that for you? Get to KNOW HIM!
• Yoke your soul with God! How do we do this? Get to know the nature of God by talking with Him, listening to Him, reading about Him, worshipping Him and thanking Him. 

How do we love God with all of our strength?

• Love HARD, love STRONG: persistent, considerate, honest, true, deep, rooted, grounded, transparent, has history, ALL IN...can we describe our love for God like this?
• Strong love takes work, time, and experiences.
• God WANTS to have strong relationship with you!
• Jesus died so that we can have a strong relationship with Him.
• Exodus 15:2a
• We don't need our own strength. Its ALL about God's strength through us!

How do we love God with all of our MIND?

• You can't change your past, and you can't change your current situation, but you can change your MIND. 
• It's easy to choose to love God when all is good. The feeling is there. What about during the bad times? We have to go by what we KNOW rather than what we FEEL. 
• Exodus 15:2b

Joshua 22:5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

What is our motivation? 

• We love because He first loved US. 1 John 4:9
• While we were yet sinners CHRIST DIED FOR US. Romans 5:8
• But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—Ephesians 2:4-5