The main part of the service of Hashem and the completion of the service is dependent on the level of the thoughts of the person and how much they are attached to Hashem, as well as the intention of the heart with fear, love, happiness and much humility. The evil inclination sits close to the entrance of the heart and tries to empty our hearts to indulge in time-wasting activities and thoughts, and even while performing the actual service of Hashem our hearts become dark with alien thoughts and evil contemplations, to the extent that our service is not a complete service. A man who fears Hashem will strengthen himself to focus his mind only on the service of Hashem, even for a short period of time, to fear and love the honored and awesome G-d and to cleave to Him, to serve him with one’s entire heart, a complete service, and he will fight against his evil inclination like a seasoned warrior in the same way as any Jewish man would fight to avoid transgressing fundamental prohibitions such as stealing and murdering, for Hashem will judge everyone for everything. One’s reward will also grow for this service, for in direct proportion to the magnitude of the pain is the magnitude of the reward. About this it is said that “A person is born for hard labor!”, for one needs much hard work and tremendous effort to think pure and holy thoughts.
