Loving Jesus More Than Anything

Written by Kenneth W. Hagin

"So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, 'Lovest thou more than these?' He saith unto him, 'Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee...'" (John 21:15). 

This incident between Jesus and Peter occurred right before Jesus ascended to Heaven to sit down at the right hand of God the Father. This was Jesus' last recorded dialogue with Peter who would later become a leader of the Early Church. 

There is a strong message contained in Jesus' dialogue with Peter. Each one of us can benefit from asking ourselves the same question that Jesus asked Peter: "...lovest thou me more than these?" 

What did Jesus mean when He said "more than these"? He could have meant, "Peter, do you love Me more than you love your friends, your family, or the other disciples?" Or Jesus could have meant, "Do you love Me more than you love these boats, these fishing nets, and this profession and lifestyle?" 

You see, Peter had gone back to fishing for fish rather than for men. He and the other disciples had been out all night fishing, and they hadn't caught anything. So Jesus could have meant, "Do you love Me enough to give up all this so you can follow Me and preach the gospel?" 

"Lovest thou Me?" That's a very searching question, friend. I want to ask you the same question. Do you love Jesus? I'm sure you would immediately answer, "Oh, yes, of course I love Jesus!" 

But when you ask yourself that question, then ask yourself, "What are the 'more than these' in my life?" The secret of service to the Lord Jesus Christ lies in the answer to the question, "Do you love Jesus more than anything else in the world?" 

No matter how much you know, how much you do, how much you talk, or how much you work to show that you have a great belief in God - if you don't love Jesus with all your heart, all your works don't count for a thing. 

I believe if we really love Jesus, we will follow Him with all of our heart. If we really love Jesus, we will want to be like Him. And if we want to be like Him, that will change the way we think, speak, and act. It will change what we do and where we go. 

If we love Jesus, then we must remember that Jesus is the One who told us, "Follow Me." We can't follow our own opinions, plans, and desires and still faithfully follow Jesus. 

It's our responsibility as believers to follow Jesus wherever He may lead us. If we love Jesus, we will say to Him, "Jesus, I'll go wherever You want me to go. I'll say whatever You want me to say. And I'll do whatever You want me to do." 

If Jesus Christ Himself looked you in the eyes and asked you, "Lovest thou Me more than these?" what would be your answer? Do you love Jesus more than anything else in the world? Jesus gave His life because of His great love for you. Can you do any less than love Him "more than these"?

Desperate Prayer

Written by Leonard Ravenhill

God makes all His best people in loneliness. Do you know what the secret of praying is? Praying in secret. "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door..." (Matt. 6:6). You can't show off when the door's shut and nobody's there. You can't display your gifts. You can impress others, but you can't impress God.

I Samuel 1:1-15 gives an account of the yearly trip Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, made to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. During this time, Hannah had been distressed that she was not able to bear a son for her husband. This passage of Scripture gives quite a descriptive account of her time in prayer concerning the barrenness of her womb. It says that Hannah wept. More than this, she wept until she was sore. She poured out her soul before the Lord. Her heart was grieving; she was bitter of soul, provoked, and of a sorrowful spirit.

Now that's a pretty good list of afflictions - sorrow, hardship, and everything else that came upon this woman. But the key to the whole situation is that she was a praying woman. In verse 20 it says that she reaped her reward. "And it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, 'Because I have asked him of the Lord.'"

Now I say very often - and people don't like it - that God doesn't answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer! Your prayer life denotes how much you depend on your own ability, and how much you really believe in your heart when you sing, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling...." The more self- confidence you have, the less you pray. The less self-confidence you have, the more you have to pray.

What does the Scripture say? It says that God takes the lowly, the things that are not. Paul says in I Corinthians 1:28 that God takes the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. We need a bunch of "are nots" today.