I cant list guidelines for how to practically increase in the Love of God without confessing & repenting how

much I've not

lived up to the Greatest Commandment. But here are a few things I do trust are from God and that HAVE been means to
move me towards loving Him more:

1.) Want to Love God more and acknowledge that you dont love him as you ought to. My first real prayers were
confessions to God that I didn't love him and asking Him to put it in me to want to love Him. He answered those. "If you
feel not that you love Him, do you feel that you would fain love Him, & that you love to love Him? If you do so, it is a sign
that you do love Him." (Richard Baxter)

2.) Imagine the truth, by faith: that God is near, and think about the verses that show how near He is to you, how He
surrounds you and is in you. "In Him we live and move and have our being", "Where can I go from your presence", "I am
with you always". It's much easier to love God if we think of Him as near. Remember consciously that God is REAL, not
something you made up, and sustains every atom in existence, including you and your consciousness, and that it would be
more rational to say that God is real than that you or I are.

3.) Love other Christians for Jesus' sake, not because of any other commonality they have with you, except that they are
Christians; ESPECIALLY Christians that actively love and seek God and that you see Jesus' life in most strongly, and by faith
think constantly "Wherever two or more of you gather in my name, I am there in your midst" & think about 1 John 4:7-12

4.) Choose songs that express your real thoughts towards God and that in the past have moved you to real feelings of
gratitude and love towards God and sing them over and over again. For me one of the main ones is "Knowing You/All I
Once Held Dear"

5.) Recognize behaviors that express love for the world and the things of the world-system and reject them (hobbies,
habits, entertainments, relationships); and meditate on the two possible lives, the one that passes away, and the one that
abides forever. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the worldthe desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of lifeis not from the Father
but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides
forever."

6.) Remember the C.S. Lewis quote "The real problem of the Christian life comes from where people do not look for it. It
comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals.
And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; listening to that other Voice, taking in that other
point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day...We can only do it for
moments at first; but from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system; because now we are
letting Him work at the right part of us." -For me this meant rolling off the bed onto my knees as soon as I wake up and
starting with the Lord's prayer and Jesus' command "If anyone would come after me..."

7.) Remember and meditate on Scriptures that show how God loves you and wills your Good, like Romans 8:28 or Galatians
2:20, and think about their implications for everyday life. In my better moments I thank God for my food and think about
how many things could have happened that would have prevented me from having a meal or a place to sleep, and how God
specifically willed that I should have food or sleep or whatever, and then think about how even in the evil things, God is
working for your good, not just the general good. And thank God for orchestrating things in such a way that your sins are
forgiven and you will be raised from the dead and you have your daily bread.

8.) Do something just because Jesus commanded it. "If you love Me, you will obey my commands" - ESPECIALLY giving
money! "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Pray in secret, fast in secret, give in secret. Remember
Christians that are suffering for their faith (thru http://www.prisoneralert.com/ is a good start) and do what you can to
connect yourself to them and help them.

9.) Remember that God wants you to Love Him in that way and is with you to help you in every attempt, that it makes Him
happy that you are trying.