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You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being].

When we love God with all that we are, everything else falls into proper perspective and balance. To love God is to follow His ways and to embrace His character. Deuteronomy 6 is a reminder of who God is, all He has done, and the amazing opportunity we have to respond to Him with love.

What does it mean to love God with all your heart?

The answer is perfectly simple, and simply perfect. Jesus Christ taught: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” ( John 14:15) To love God with all of our hearts, we use our time, energy, talents and resources to keep His commandments.

We choose with our mind; we decide to love Him. To “love the Lord thy God with all thy mind” is done when our thoughts dwell on Him; and His holiness, and goodness, and love, and mercy, and beauty.

Loving the Lord with all our “soul” means loving the Lord on good days and on bad days and on all days in between. It means having an eternal love affair with Him because of his extravagant love for us! Loving God with all our life is not a wishy-washy love. It is not controlled by feelings.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Moses tells them again about their God. He proclaims Yahweh's uniqueness—their covenant God is the only one of any gods you might care to name who is truly God. He's one, he's indivisible. He is unlike any other.

What is Deuteronomy 6: 4 -5 called?

The Shema gets its name from the first Hebrew word of the prayer—”hear” or “listen”, a translation of the Hebrew word shma. The Shma prayer is one of the most famous prayers in the Bible. It was a daily prayer for ancient Israelites. We first find this prayer in the book of Deuteronomy.

The opening line, “Hear, O Israel,” does not simply mean to let sound waves enter your ears. Here, the word shma means to allow the words to sink in, provide understanding, and generate a response—it’s about action. In Hebrew, hearing and doing are the same thing.

This prayer is about listening to and loving God. But the prayer continues, “you shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” In other words, the people are to love God with all of their beings. Their knowledge, their existence, everything that they are is to love God with action, obedience, and covenant faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 6 Prays for God's Word to Be Proclaimed

God, don't let us hide this word in our heart and then keep it there. Lord help us to hide this word in our heart and then proclaim it. And then share it with others. So put your word on our hearts and then help us to teach your word.