As I wrapped working at Lifeway Women’s Leadership Forum, I kept thinking about the theme verse from the conference, which was Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” How do I do this well in terms of loving God with everything that I am? How often do we as ministry leaders plan for those who are in our ministry, but rarely think of how we are doing in terms of growing in our love for God in our own hearts, souls, minds, and strengths? I was challenged to think not only about making plans for others but also about being intentional in my own growth and walk with the Lord in these four areas.
As you think of 2025, I would like to challenge you to take time to look for growth in all four of these areas. Perhaps you can take a quarterly approach and focus on one of these areas of growth, or each week of the month you could focus on one aspect of loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
In my counseling with ministry leaders, I often start with the question, “How is your heart?” Often, it is scary for ministry leaders to talk about how they are doing emotionally. Their hearts may be so focused on something else that they do not give space for loving God. Our relationships are built through our “heart-to-heart” talks. If we want to go deep in a relationship with God, we need to work on our hearts.
What can we do? First, ask yourself, How is my heart? Be honest with yourself. Second, take inventory of what it is that your heart is focusing on most or what is it your heart is treasuring (Matt. 6:21) Third, pray and ask God what changes need to take place in order for you to be able to love God more with your heart. In May of 2025, Lifeway Women has a new Bible study coming out called Daring Joy by Nicole Zasowski. It is about six women in the Bible who teach us about the power of celebration when it feels risky, complicated, and even impossible. This is a great way to look at how the women’s hearts were shifted to focus on God when it is so easy to set our hearts on earth.
Along with loving God with all your heart is loving God with all your soul—which is inclusive of the heart but encompasses even more. It is about aligning your interest, your passions, your emotions, your choices, your thoughts, and the core of who you are to God. You start to see that each of these areas of loving God overlaps with one another. How do you love God with all your soul?
I think part of that is by having an “I am all in” attitude. I think of a relationship you have with a friend. Some are like your “bosom” friends or “soul” sisters. They are committed to you no matter what. That takes time. You could probably think of the many hours of phone conversations you have had or the coffees you have drunk. Likewise, spend some time to develop that type of deep relationship with God. I know I often have to catch up with my best friend and have a two-hour phone conversation at least once a month. Go have a coffee or tea with God and spend an hour or two with Him at least once a month and share with Him some of those passions and how you are feeling about all the different areas of your life. Lay some things down at His feet as you start the new year.
Next, we look to loving God with all our minds. Of course, we renew our minds by studying His Word. Many of us are “studying His Word” to teach a Bible study, Sunday School class, or lead a small group. But the focus then is on teaching others and not so much as enrichment for us. Some of us grew up doing Awana where memorizing Scripture was a big component of our daily lives. Somewhere along the line, we lost sight of the need to infiltrate our minds with God’s Word on a daily basis in the midst of our busy lives. If you have not done so lately, get back into studying God’s Word for your nourishment. I use daily devotional reading like Journey Magazine which is written by women for women. Perhaps go even deeper into memorizing Scripture by using the Dwell on These Things Bible study.
How do we love God with all our strength? At Lifeway’s Women’s Leadership Forum, Jen Wilkin approached this area focused on the body by saying, “You only have one body. It’s not yours. You’re supposed to steward it, not act like you own it. Christ has no body on earth except yours.” She went on to say that we need to use our bodies for the kingdom of God. So for 2025, how are we stewarding this body of ours? I would encourage you to not only take care of your heart, soul, and mind but also your physical body as well so that you can do great things for God. Plan into your schedule those things that will help you physically at least once a week.
Are we putting in place those things to safeguard the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of who we are? I encourage you to look deeply into how to love God holistically and focus on the whole self this coming year. Lisa Whittle has a new Bible study coming out in July of 2025 called Body and Soul that will focus on a biblical look at the whole person God created you to be. As you plan for 2025, take time to reflect on what changes God is convicting you of that need to take place. Take the time to ask those questions about how you are doing in these four areas of truly loving God.
ABOUT ALICIA WONG
Alicia Wong serves as the women’s ministry specialist for Lifeway Women and as an associate professor of Women’s Ministry at Gateway Seminary in Ontario, CA. She has served as a missionary with IMB and NAMB and has been teaching in seminaries and local churches on the topics of Missions and Ministry to Women for over twenty-five years. She is a graduate of Gateway Seminary (M.A. in Intercultural Studies and Christian Counseling) and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. and Ed.D.). Her desire is to see women be firmly rooted in biblical truth, built up in Christ, and established in their faith in order that they may share the good news with others to the ends of the earth.
