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The heart of God is for you to rise above the average into the place where you are superabundantly supplied. To bring this increase fully, you must create the kind of environment and atmosphere that will bring the blessing of God.

Deuteronomy 11:13, 14 vividly pictures how you can bring the rain of God's blessing onto the seed you have sown. Once that rain comes, the seed will flourish. "And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil." Notice the instructions: obey, love, and serve with your heart and your soul.

In looking at our love for God, we realize that the only way we really love Him is to realize His love for us. First John 4:10 says, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." His love for you is completely unconditional and without qualification. He loves you regardless of your commitment, your performance, or your actions. He loves you whether or not you ever love Him.

For the person who has never experienced God's love, that kind of love is incomprehensible. Natural human love is so different. We love those who love us, while God loves without needing any response. But He expects His love to create a response. He has faith in His love and the response it will bring from those who receive it.

Love is a choice, not a feeling. When you choose love, you will continue to love, even when the feelings are not there. If you have lost the feelings, the covenant remains. If by faith you will honor the covenant, you can press through the hard times and find that the feelings will return. This love is at the heart of covenant living. You can honor the covenant-love relationship with people, even when you do not feel love. You have entered into a greater kind of love, the love of God. You are able to maintain a strong covenant life, regardless of others' actions or even their attacks.

God is love, and you have been born of love. You must now choose to be ruled by love and give honor to the law of this Kingdom, the royal law of love. The love life brings the rain of God's blessing and keeps you filled with the vision and hope of overcoming anything, because "love never fails" (1 Cor. 13:8). In Deuteronomy 11:13, God shows us another condition to create the atmosphere for rain: you must also "serve him with all your heart."

When Jesus became the Lord of your life, you became spiritually alive in your innermost being. Serving Him is more than just going through the right motions; now it can be a true spiritual service that flows freely from your heart and is pleasing to the Lord.

You can learn to follow the leadership of the Spirit that is within your own heart. God has made you able to hear the voice of what Peter calls "the hidden person of the heart" (1 Peter 3:4). When you serve God with your entire heart, you are following His lead and His Word with a sincerity and commitment that will not be tossed by difficulties or attacks. You have decided to follow God, even though others try to talk you out of it. You have learned to guard your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."

Within your heart is the reservoir of the blessing and virtue of God. Second Peter 1:3 says He has given you "all things that pertain to life and godliness." These forces of life flow out of your heart like a river, when you release your faith and walk in the Word of God.

Jesus said in John 7:38, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." He described the life of God in your heart as a river. You must tap into the resources of the Holy Spirit that He has placed within your inner man and begin to draw them out like water flowing. There are waters of healing, abundance, and freedom deposited within your heart. You can draw those waters out.

There are waters of wisdom, counsel, understanding, and discernment that you can learn to trust as you pursue God's will. There are waters of love, joy, and peace that will rule you and direct your steps. You can become sure and steadfast by learning to serve God from your heart. You will be pleasing to Him as you serve Him with the sincerity and loyalty of undivided motives.

In Mark 4, Jesus taught that the Word of God sown into different kinds of ground would produce different results. One He called seed sown among thorns. This is ground that is overcrowded. The overcrowded heart has many things growing. There are divided loyalties and divided desires. Though the ground has been fruitful, weeds, and other unwanted plants can grow up and make the ground less and less productive.

Jesus' caution to us is very important. An overcrowded heart may be bearing some fruit, but it is well below its potential, because too many things have been allowed to enter. The service that brings the rain is service with your whole heart. As you focus your desires upon God and His will for you, He can bring you into a place of still waters and green grass, a place of tranquil provision.

The last part of Deuteronomy 11:13 says, "And serve Him with all your soul." The soul is the mind, will, and emotions. It is vital that your thoughts and purposes are in harmony with the desires of your heart.

One of the most important things you can do as a believer is to make the determined effort to renew your mind to begin to think the thoughts of God. How do you think God's thoughts? By ordering your thoughts to agree with His Word. Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

The transformation of your life continues as you bring your thoughts into harmony with God's Word. Meditation in the Word is one of the ways to bring your thinking into line. You can let the Word change you from the inside out. Feed on God's thoughts until they are so much a part of you that they become your own thoughts. The more you establish change within, the more the Spirit of God has access to move in you and through you. He is totally committed to your success. Your commitment to obey, love, and serve Him will make that success real.

Source: The Power To Increase by Dennis Burke.
Excerpt permission granted by Dennis Burke Publications

Author Biography

Dennis Burke, Ph.D.
Web site: Dennis Burke Ministries
 
Since 1979, Dennis Burke has led multitudes of believers into the biblical principles of faith, healing, love, prosperity, and righteousness. Through the Insights: the Way to a New Life magazine, books, eBooks, CDs, and mp3 resources, Dennis has brought revelation knowledge on the truths of God's Word. He has taught Christians everywhere to know God more deeply and overcome the challenges life brings through faith in God's Word.
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