How To Love God

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

Mark 12:30

Isn’t it amazing that God’s first commandment to mankind is for us to love him? He is God, the almighty one, the all-powerful God and all he asks of us is for us to love him. God asking for our love first above all else, shows how much he loves us and wants a relationship with us.

He doesn’t just want us to serve him. He didn’t ask for our reverence first, neither did he ask us to worship him first. But instead, the first thing he asked of us, was for us to love him. God loved us first and all he asks of us is to love him too. Because the thing about loving someone is that, when you love someone, it is easier to do what the person wants.

When you love God, it’s easier to put your trust in him and believe in him alone. As the bible says, you can’t claim to love God and not love others, so loving God means, you’ll be more compassionate towards others. So really, it all begins with loving God.

I know we will all want to love God more than we do. But how can you love God? How can you fall in love with Him? How can you love God more? Below we will discuss 7 things that will help you love God more and develop a deeper relationship with Him.

How to love God

1. Get to know Him

In the beginning, was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.

John 1:1

You can’t love someone if you don’t really know them. To be able to love God with all your heart, all your soul, mind and strength, you have to know Him.

To know more about Him, you have to read the Bible. The Bible is God’s book to us. It contains all there is to know about Him. So if you want to get to know God, then you have to start with your Bible.

2. Communicate with God (Pray)

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1 John 5:14

Communication is a very important part of any relationship. So if you want to love God and you want to have a great relationship with Him, then you have to pray.

Pray always. Pray whenever. Pray wherever. Talk to God and when you talk to Him, remember to listen to Him too. It’s a communication, that means when you talk, He listens and then He replies, so you have to listen to Him too.

There are so many ways through which God replies to us. It can be a dream, it can be something you see or something you hear, or something that suddenly is on your mind. You just have to listen and you will know when it is God speaking to you.

3. Visit Him

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

If you want to love God more, then visit His house of worship more. Make it a habit to visit the Lord every Sunday. Get involved in daily church activities. Sundays aren’t the only days to go to church. A lot of churches have church activities throughout the course of the week. Be a part of those activities. Whether it’s attending prayer meetings, volunteering for community outreach, or even coordinating custom shirts for your church, engaging in these activities deepens your connection with both the community and your faith.

Life can get a lot busy, I know. But if you want to love God, you will make Him a priority in your life, and you will make time for Him. If you truly love someone, you will always make sure you make time for them even on your busiest day. So to be able to love God, put Him first.

4. Obey Him

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22

If you read the Bible, you will see that God have some commandments for us to follow. So obey His word. Do what God wants you to do. That is how you show you love Him.

If you love someone, you want to do what they like. You don’t want to do something they don’t like because you don’t want to offend them and you don’t want them to be sad. All you care about is their happiness. And so, you do what they want.

So to love God, you must obey Him. Do what He wants. Let His word be your guide and let your words and actions honour Him.

5. Exalt Him

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord
Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:6

Sing praises and worship the Lord. Exalt His name. The more you do this, you will start to feel how much you really love Him. Think of Him when you sing these songs. Listen to praises and worship songs and think of God and all that He keeps doing for you as you listen.

6. Show others that you love them

And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Matthew 25:40

The best way to show you love God is through how you treat and relate with others. In Matthew chapter 25: 31-46, Jesus gives a parable. That parable talks about being kind and compassionate towards others. Because whatever you do for others, you do it for God.

So if you are not kind and compassionate towards others, it means you are not being kind and compassionate to God. So to love God means to be kind and compassionate towards others.

7. Tell others about Him

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

2 Timothy 4:2

Now that you’ve done all these and you know God even better, it is time to tell others about Him. Tell your friends about God, tell your family about God. Tell them about who He is and what He keeps doing for you. Just as you would tell them about someone you are in love with and how great you think they are.

Prayer to love God more

Dear God,
I pray that you grant me the grace to be able to love you more
Help me to love you above all things
Help me to desire you more above money and wealth
Let me be able to give you my all with no distractions

I want my heart to seek you first
Put in my heart the desire to obey your commandments
Fill my mind with thoughts of you and let my actions reflect how much I love you.
Help me to meditate on your words so that I may know you and love you in return.
Teach me to love you God, because it is in you that I can have abundant life.
In Jesus name, I pray,
Amen