Promise 43 from Deuteronomy 11:13-15

Deut. 11:13-15 - "'It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.'"

"The grass is always greener on the other side." Is that because on the other side the people love God more and obey His commands? Maybe! When I think about growing up in the church, I don't recall too many sermons on "really loving God." I remember many about the importance of giving our lives to Him, serving Him, being obedient to Him and then all the negative consequences if we don't. We learn about church disciplines such as reading our Bible in a year, going to Bible studies, taking communion and being Baptized, but what about the "love your God with all you heart and soul" part? Our semi-conservative evangelical camp has put the "love your God with all your heart and soul" into the "charismatic" or "Pentecostal" camp. If someone in the first camp expresses their love and passion for Jesus during worship by hollering out the name of Jesus or clapping while singing about praising Him, then you can almost hear the thoughts of those others around the room, "Oh my, she's gone Pentecostal!" If there is only freedom to express my love and passion for my Jesus (as I am commanded, I might add) in the Pentecostal or charismatic camp, then I will gladly pull up stakes and move toward the other camp. We are commanded to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart and soul. Just raising hands and whooping out the name of Jesus during worship doesn't even cut it. Expressing our love for God needs to be within our life-style, in our conversations, how we respond to situations at work, when the kids spill a glas of milk, when we are cut off or flipped off by someone. When we express our love for God in everyday life, then the raising of hands and whooping out "JESUS!" during worship will just automatically flow out and it doesn't matter where you are, if you are sitting in a monastery or in your conservative camp, it will just flow out from deep within and no one can stop it. Then, the blessings of contentment and satisfaction will flow out of His delight!