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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, and thank you for listening to your

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Speaker 1: Daily Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one vers each

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Speaker 1: day to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jessica Venrukel, and after this short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, we'll dive into today's Bible verse. Deuteronomy

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Speaker 1: chapter six, verse five. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five is

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Speaker 1: today's Bible verse, and it says, love the Lord your

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Speaker 1: God with all your heart, and with all your soul,

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Speaker 1: and with all your strength. I remember a season of

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Speaker 1: life where I would have fallen to bed exhausted, and

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Speaker 1: wake up the next day hardly rested. The day would

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Speaker 1: start a round of conversations, decisions, debates, patience, kindness, and energy.

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Speaker 1: I didn't feel I had. My body felt tired, but

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Speaker 1: my thoughts were like a blender. My heart felt paper thin.

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Speaker 1: I would hear this verse, love the Lord your God

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Speaker 1: with all your heart and with all your soul, and

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Speaker 1: with all your strength, and I would wonder, how with

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Speaker 1: what strength I'm too tired to read more than a

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Speaker 1: verse or two in my Bible? Or what heart it

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Speaker 1: feels too full or too empty or too numb. Deuteronomy,

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Speaker 1: chapter six, verse five isn't about portraying endless energy, dialed

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Speaker 1: in focus, or even the strongest heart. It's about taking

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Speaker 1: to God what's left. It's bringing our tired prayers in

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Speaker 1: our thin trust. It's sitting in his presence with empty

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Speaker 1: hands and simply bringing ourselves to him. God doesn't ask

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Speaker 1: for strength we don't have. He invites us to begin

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Speaker 1: where we are, loving him from the genuine places in

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Speaker 1: our lives. God seeks fellowship with his people. He is

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Speaker 1: our God. He wants to be personally invested in your

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Speaker 1: life in a healthy relationship. We see those as two

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Speaker 1: way streets. It's both parties investing into strengthening the friendship.

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Speaker 1: To love the Lord your God means we've made a

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Speaker 1: personal commitment to knowing him and living for him. In

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Speaker 1: this way, then we can respond to him with gratitude, love,

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Speaker 1: and loyalty so that we come to know him and

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Speaker 1: enjoy him. With this in mind, we see that God's

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Speaker 1: invitation goes deeper than our offerings. It's an invitation to

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Speaker 1: relationship to take this a step further. Jesus himself emphasizes

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Speaker 1: the importance of this love in the New Testament. In

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Speaker 1: Matthew chapter twenty two, verse forty. Jesus quotes today's verse

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Speaker 1: and describes it as the first great commandment, to love God,

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Speaker 1: to give him access to our hearts in our minds,

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Speaker 1: to determine to follow him when we are strong and

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Speaker 1: when we are weak. Living for God is possible when

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Speaker 1: it springs from faith in and love for God. When

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Speaker 1: we give God all our heart and all our understanding

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Speaker 1: and all our strength. He sees that as better than

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Speaker 1: offerings or sacrifices. Our love for God is the gas

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Speaker 1: pedal propelling us forward in following Him to deepen our understanding. Today,

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Speaker 1: let's explore the original Hebrew words used in this verse.

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Speaker 1: The root word for love is to breathe, after and

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Speaker 1: to desire. There's a passage in the Psalms where it

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Speaker 1: refers to our soul panting for God like a deer

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Speaker 1: pants for water. We begin with longing for him and

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Speaker 1: then bringing our heart and soul into loving God. To

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Speaker 1: truly grasp the richness of this commandment, it helps to

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Speaker 1: look at the language in which it was first given.

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Speaker 1: You see, the heart of a man or woman is

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Speaker 1: deff find as the mind, will and emotions. It's that

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Speaker 1: place where we think, feel, and decide what steps to take.

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Speaker 1: Loving God with all our minds means we think about

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Speaker 1: him during the day, We invite him into our emotions

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Speaker 1: and ask for his guidance on what to do next.

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Speaker 1: The soul is the center of who we are. It

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Speaker 1: comprises our character and decides the course of our life.

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Speaker 1: It leads us to answer the question of will we

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Speaker 1: follow God's ways or pursue what's right in our eyes.

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Speaker 1: Building on this foundation, we can explore what it means

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Speaker 1: to love God with every part of our being. In addition,

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Speaker 1: the words chosen for strength or might in various translations

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Speaker 1: further reveal the depth of what's being asked of us.

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Speaker 1: In Hebrew, this word means force, exceedingly, abundantly, or vehemently.

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Speaker 1: While we think of strength in terms of how strong

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Speaker 1: we are when faced with a difficult task or circumstance dance,

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Speaker 1: it's really telling us to vehemently choose to love God

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Speaker 1: no matter what we face. And because God's love for

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Speaker 1: us is so complete, he invites us into that same

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Speaker 1: wholehearted devotion he gave his life for so we could

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Speaker 1: have life, and in return we give God a complete

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Speaker 1: love to him. This means we give him all our

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Speaker 1: heart's soul and strength. Knowing that everything else will follow.

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Speaker 1: We give God our time, money, and effort. But without

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Speaker 1: love is it a true offering. You see, true friendship

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Speaker 1: with God comes from loving him wholeheartedly, and so the

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Speaker 1: call remains simple yet profound. God asks for our heart today,

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Speaker 1: and when we do, our desire is for him, and

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Speaker 1: our delight is in him, and our dependence is on

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Speaker 1: him and his strength. We don't have to have it

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Speaker 1: all time together before we give all our heart to him. Instead,

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Speaker 1: he calls us to come with what little strength we have,

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Speaker 1: and he fills us up with devotion to him. This

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Speaker 1: understanding then shapes how we approach our relationship with God

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Speaker 1: each day. Sometime today, pause and think about him and

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Speaker 1: how much he loves you. Ultimately, God desires our whole heart,

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Speaker 1: and when we come to him with what we have,

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Speaker 1: he meets us with his strength and love. Let's pray,

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Speaker 1: Holy God, thank you that you love us with an

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Speaker 1: everlasting love, that you are our God, that you are

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Speaker 1: a personal and intimately invested in our lives. So Lord,

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Speaker 1: we come to you and our weakness. Lord, with what

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Speaker 1: little strength we have. Lord, We're going to determine today

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Speaker 1: to love you with all our heart, all our soul,

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Speaker 1: and all our mind in Jesus Ame Amen mhm