Really as the Master said these two commandments sum up all of the Law and also give us the boundaries for our life.  Usually about five or six days into any time of fasting and prayer, your body begins to go through certain changes. Your routine has changed and if you are fasting food or adjusting what you are taking in your body may not be used to it.  Certain things that we take for granted like chewing seem to suddenly come to the forefront.  Your body has been very used to living with sugars and sweets and does not easily adjust to going without. But that really is part of the beauty of a time of spiritual fasting and prayer. It is a constant reminder as to what the goal of the fast is.  Not to see if we can do it, but to take steps even difficult steps at times to knowing and loving God more and more. If Jesus said that it is the greatest commandment than we are to fully love him without any hesitation and holding nothing back.  When you are in love with someone, you just want to spend time with them, you have no desire to be anywhere else doing anything else, and it is almost like you are living for love.  That really is what Jesus is saying, Love God because He is your life, Love God because He is what will sustain you more than food more than fortune more than passing fame. As we are setting aside time to meet with the God who loves and is in fact Love, we can enter into a deeper love relationship with the Lord and by doing so actually please Him. With all my heart, soul, and mind, from the very depths of who we are we say to the living God have you way in me, we say I love you.  All the these that God wants us to do can be summed up in four words.  Love God, Love People.   If we love the Lord with all of our heart and minds and life there is no doubt that we will love others who are also loved by God.  So on this fifth day of the fasting remember that when we are seeking the face of God and surrendering other things that at times can get in the way. Please don't forget to do it for Love.

On a Personal Note:  I wanted to thank you for your prayers yesterday for my sister in law Mardy Regal.  Things did not go as we had hoped.  The Doctors tell us that the cancer has spread to other parts of her abdomen and the prognosis is not a good one.  We are trusting God for the days ahead.  Please pray for Mardy and her family for great comfort and peace that Jesus brings even in the midst of suffering. And that God will be the source on which they all lean.  Also please pray for my wife Dee as she of course is grieving and hurting over the news and praying about others who will be greatly affected.  We appreciate your prayers during this time.  There are things we will not understand until we see Jesus, and this will be one of them. However we are asking the Lord to give us the daily provision for each day.  Thanks again for your prayers.

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