4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
19 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. 12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
“O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart.” Anselm
“He who with his whole heart draws near to God must of necessity be proved by temptation and trial.” Albert the Great
“The spirit of devotion removes religion from being a thin veneer and puts it into our souls. With devotion in our soul, religion stops merely doing a work and becomes a heart, beating with the pulsations of vigorous and radiant life. Dear Lord God, through a spirit of devotion I can bring glory to Your name. Please grant me a heart beating with vigor for You. Amen.” E.M. Bounds
“Prayer must be incessant and should not lack desire, spirit, or action. The knees may not always be bent, but the spirit is always in the act and communication of prayer. The spirit of prayer should sweetly rule and adjust all times and occasions. Our activities and work should be performed in the same spirit that makes our devotion and our prayer time sacred. Blessed is the person of God who thus understand prayer, at any point, at any time. A full current of prayer is seen flowing from him.” E.M. Bounds
“No one has ever lost out by excessive devotion to Christ.” H. A. Ironside
“True repentance means we love God more than we love our sin. When He sees this type of devotion, He opens up His arms and welcomes us with His unending grace.” Michael Youssef
“Spiritual work is taxing work. We sometimes become lax in our praying, and do not realize the peril until the damage has been done. Hasty devotions make weak faith, feeble convictions, and questionable piety. To be little with God is to be little for God. To cut the praying short makes the whole Christian character short, miserable and careless.” E.M. Bounds
“In God’s perfect economy, when we walk in faithful obedience to His commands, we will discover that we NEVER out give Him. What meager sacrifice on behalf of His children we perhaps make reaps a sure harvest even though it be extraordinarily hard. We live our lives for an audience of One to please Him not men.” BHY
“Our cries to the Lord — are what give us communion with the Lord. It’s the dire distress that drives us into the deep devotion. It’s when all fails, His love never fails — and this is why we are a people who can always give thanks.” Ann Voskamp
“We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true they may not be smooth paths – they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the ‘city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.’ ‘All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant.’ Let’s put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, His purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy.....His dear love will make us far more blessed than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“We're pilgrims on the journey - Of the narrow road - And those who've gone before us line the way - Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary - Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace - Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses - Let us run the race not only for the prize - But as those who've gone before us - Let us leave to those behind us - The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives - After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone - And our children sift through all we've left behind - May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover - Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find - Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful - May the fire of our devotion light their way - May the footprints that we leave - Lead them to believe - And the lives we live inspire them to obey - Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.” Steve Green