My Heart. . .Soul. . . Mind. . . Strength
Mark 12:30
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Heart. . .
This is the first of the first. . .My heart beats for you alone. My life's blood is taken in and set out by my heart. In first aid, it is this beating heart and the life giving blood that are the first priority. The heart distributes breath. . .to all my members. . .Without my heart I do not live. I am to love you with all of my emotions. My passion, my feelings are not to be led away to someone or something else. I am to be yours alone in all my feelings, all my emotions. The seat of this, the core of me is my heart. My life is to be a never ending love affair with you my jealous God. To love another in any way in competition with my love for you is to be an oath breaker, an adulterer.
Soul. . .
Your breath gave me my living soul. You took that which was already created of the dust of the ground, You formed my body of that humble dirt and gave me a part of yourself. . . your essential breath flowed into me, now making my eternal soul. Without breath to distribute the blood has no purpose. Without breath to distribute the beating of the heart is of no avail. . . This breath of Yours, this soul of mine, is my most precious gift from you. I must value this beyond any of my other possessions. It must remain all Yours and totally devoted to You. My soul, Your breath must flow free and pure and unobstructed within me. I must value my soul and guard it against any attempts to enslave it with hungers of the flesh. . . appetites falsely promising fulfillment. . . lies of the dark one meant to capture that which is my most holy and precious gift from You. . .
Mind. . .
My most wonderful mind is from you, it is of you. It is created in a minimal and pale reflection of Your unchartable depths. My mind is what sets me apart from the animals of the earth. It is my greatest advantage and my greatest vulnerability. It was through our minds that the dark one first struck. Through its follies, I am fully able to create my own gods within the domain of my mind, though without power in any sense of being able to save, these do indeed have the power to destroy. My thoughts. . . my logic. . . my pride. . . my ego are all filters which can prevent me from being able to see or recognize You. My minds creations can become a death maze for me. Whenever my vision of You dims, I must clear the obstruction and restore my the clarity of my vision. Of all the organs of my body, my mind is the most sensitive to any interruption of breath or blood. If it is ever distanced from heart or soul the mind begins to suffer irreversible damage almost immediately. . . memories are lost, fine function is impaired and certain death will follow if the interruption continues. . .My mind must remain focused and of single purpose and fully connected to the heart and soul. . .
Strength. . .
My physical body. . . weaker than the elephant. . .slower than the cheetah. . . less agile than the dolphin. . .far less graceful and not at all capable of anything approaching the fascinating aerial dance of the tiny hummingbird. . .Fed by the blood, sustained by the breath, controlled by the mind. . .is still, for all it lacks, beyond the entire animal kingdom in its capacity of commit acts ranging from those of greatly sensitive tenderness and beauty to the perversely unspeakable bloody horrors of evil and darkness that we commit against ourselves. We have been made, in the higher sense, of the image of God and in the lower sense, of the image of an animal. Within our heads, at the very base of our brain is found the medulla, the same structure as is found in the brain of a crocodile. It is the part of the brain that controls our base functions: breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, swallowing, vomiting, defecation. . .many of our base desires originate here. It is through the medulla that the flesh speaks. It is very very similar to the brain of the cold cold reptiles. The desires of this primitive animal brain structure are a basic part of us. Our flesh expresses itself through the medulla. . .its hungers. . . its passions scarcely recognized of dim knowledge, waiting for a chance and erupting in a time of weak control, unbidden. . .silent. . .unseen. . .waiting. . .waiting. . .waiting within us. . . wanting. . . hungering to be in control. . . to have its way. . . The desires of this animal structure are to be battled and subdued, never allowed to rule within us. The strength that I am given through this marvelously designed body must be totally committed to the glory of God. The strength that I have must not be given over to any hunger or passion other than God. I must love you with all that I have, all my strength devoted to You, never allowing anything to eclipse Your brilliance in my life.
Heart. . .Soul. . .Mind. . .Strength
These are the four points of my compass. . .
These are the four corners of my world. . .
This is me. . .
I dedicate myself to you. . .
I dedicate my all to you. . .
I pray always. . .
Let Him reign in me. . .
I love you my God. . .
Dave Stokely
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Heart. . .
This is the first of the first. . .My heart beats for you alone. My life's blood is taken in and set out by my heart. In first aid, it is this beating heart and the life giving blood that are the first priority. The heart distributes breath. . .to all my members. . .Without my heart I do not live. I am to love you with all of my emotions. My passion, my feelings are not to be led away to someone or something else. I am to be yours alone in all my feelings, all my emotions. The seat of this, the core of me is my heart. My life is to be a never ending love affair with you my jealous God. To love another in any way in competition with my love for you is to be an oath breaker, an adulterer.
Soul. . .
Your breath gave me my living soul. You took that which was already created of the dust of the ground, You formed my body of that humble dirt and gave me a part of yourself. . . your essential breath flowed into me, now making my eternal soul. Without breath to distribute the blood has no purpose. Without breath to distribute the beating of the heart is of no avail. . . This breath of Yours, this soul of mine, is my most precious gift from you. I must value this beyond any of my other possessions. It must remain all Yours and totally devoted to You. My soul, Your breath must flow free and pure and unobstructed within me. I must value my soul and guard it against any attempts to enslave it with hungers of the flesh. . . appetites falsely promising fulfillment. . . lies of the dark one meant to capture that which is my most holy and precious gift from You. . .
Mind. . .
My most wonderful mind is from you, it is of you. It is created in a minimal and pale reflection of Your unchartable depths. My mind is what sets me apart from the animals of the earth. It is my greatest advantage and my greatest vulnerability. It was through our minds that the dark one first struck. Through its follies, I am fully able to create my own gods within the domain of my mind, though without power in any sense of being able to save, these do indeed have the power to destroy. My thoughts. . . my logic. . . my pride. . . my ego are all filters which can prevent me from being able to see or recognize You. My minds creations can become a death maze for me. Whenever my vision of You dims, I must clear the obstruction and restore my the clarity of my vision. Of all the organs of my body, my mind is the most sensitive to any interruption of breath or blood. If it is ever distanced from heart or soul the mind begins to suffer irreversible damage almost immediately. . . memories are lost, fine function is impaired and certain death will follow if the interruption continues. . .My mind must remain focused and of single purpose and fully connected to the heart and soul. . .
Strength. . .
My physical body. . . weaker than the elephant. . .slower than the cheetah. . . less agile than the dolphin. . .far less graceful and not at all capable of anything approaching the fascinating aerial dance of the tiny hummingbird. . .Fed by the blood, sustained by the breath, controlled by the mind. . .is still, for all it lacks, beyond the entire animal kingdom in its capacity of commit acts ranging from those of greatly sensitive tenderness and beauty to the perversely unspeakable bloody horrors of evil and darkness that we commit against ourselves. We have been made, in the higher sense, of the image of God and in the lower sense, of the image of an animal. Within our heads, at the very base of our brain is found the medulla, the same structure as is found in the brain of a crocodile. It is the part of the brain that controls our base functions: breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, swallowing, vomiting, defecation. . .many of our base desires originate here. It is through the medulla that the flesh speaks. It is very very similar to the brain of the cold cold reptiles. The desires of this primitive animal brain structure are a basic part of us. Our flesh expresses itself through the medulla. . .its hungers. . . its passions scarcely recognized of dim knowledge, waiting for a chance and erupting in a time of weak control, unbidden. . .silent. . .unseen. . .waiting. . .waiting. . .waiting within us. . . wanting. . . hungering to be in control. . . to have its way. . . The desires of this animal structure are to be battled and subdued, never allowed to rule within us. The strength that I am given through this marvelously designed body must be totally committed to the glory of God. The strength that I have must not be given over to any hunger or passion other than God. I must love you with all that I have, all my strength devoted to You, never allowing anything to eclipse Your brilliance in my life.
Heart. . .Soul. . .Mind. . .Strength
These are the four points of my compass. . .
These are the four corners of my world. . .
This is me. . .
I dedicate myself to you. . .
I dedicate my all to you. . .
I pray always. . .
Let Him reign in me. . .
I love you my God. . .
Dave Stokely
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