I John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. (NAS)
We know that God is love and that He loves us. He sent His Son because He loves us so much. But those words of love are just that – words – if we don’t allow them to sink deep into our hearts. We must open up our hearts and allow the King of Glory to enter in. He desires to have an intimate relationship with each one of us and desires for us to rest in His love and to be so secure in His love that we do not fear the things of this world. He desires us to draw away from the demands of our lives and meet Him in the secret place. In worship and prayer and quiet meditation, He will reveal Himself to us. But we must make ourselves available to Him. In Song of Solomon, He repeatedly calls to His beloved to arise and come away with Him. He calls her to come with Him to the clefts of the rock, to the secret place where He might hear her voice. In Chapter 5 He comes to her while she is sleeping. She hears His voice, she hears Him knocking but she is tired. She has prepared herself for bed and so she delays coming to Him. When she finally arouses herself, it is too late. He has gone. Isaiah 55:6 (NAS) tells us to Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. We must not let the complacency of our flesh prevent us from seeking Him. We must come away with Him and allow this precious love that He has for us to become so real that we are as the maiden in Song of Solomon who declares to be so in love that she is lovesick. She is so in love that she delights to sit with Him and His Presence is so sweet to her. We must arouse ourselves from sleep and set our affection upon Him.
One morning when I called to my Beloved and desired to sense His Presence in a special way He spoke these words to me.
I am aware. I always know when you draw near. Nothing escapes My notice. Every little cry from your heart is always heard by Me. I miss you when you are preoccupied with other things. Your love is as important to Me as the most famous saint that ever lived. Although you find that hard to believe, you must remember that with Me love is not earned – love-just-is. As it is on earth in human relationships, it is not so in heaven. My manner of love is quite different from human love. My love stems from a Creator’s viewpoint and all that I have created is good. It is the enemy who tries to destroy and distort what I created in order to make it unlovable. That is why My Son came to break the enemy’s power, so My people may be free to receive My Love. Your attention and affection is not lost on Me as it is on humans. I cherish every expression, every moment. Do not ever forget that although I am the God of this universe, I am also the God of the individual. I love you always, God.
So be encouraged to press in and learn what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon you and allow Him to make His love so real to you that you are lovesick.
About Me
- Marie J
- Who am I? I am a wife, mother and grandmother. I have been saved since the age of 10. I have taught Bible study for over 10 years; led prayer meetings since the early 1980's. My prayer focus is the Body of Christ and the Nations. I have a passion for the Word of God and for people to learn how to study the Bible and become more Christ-like.
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Locked inside her cocoon of lies and self loathing she could only hear the negative. It was like a recording of everything wrong she had said or done that day. Every night this was her world, she sat in her familiar wooden rocking chair that creaked with each tilt. She would rock and replay all the events of the day. She was careful to repeat whole conversations over and over again; beating herself up with each line of the conversation. She was sure she said it wrong; she had made the other person hate her. She missed another opportunity to please someone, how could anyone ever like her now? Hours she would spend thinking, analyzing and recounting the day’s events. It was a bad habit she knew but it was one she could not free herself from. It was her way of reminding herself that she was unlovable, she did not deserve love and was incapable of receiving it. It was how she kept herself locked in. When she made a mistake she used this as a reminder of why God did not really love her. It was why her own children did not love her, why her best friend didn’t love her and why any man could never love her. She was just unlovable.
It was a thick sticky cobweb at first, which turned to cotton, the kind mixed with polyester that was hot and scratchy. She had tried to pull away from it but it wrapped tighter around her; eventually filling her mind and soon everything became like static. When she would try to sort things out it was fuzzy and her mind would move so slowly she could not make sense of it. Eventually, it seeped into her veins and became like sand filling every crevice of her heart. It was heavy, sticky, scratchy, suffocating. It became a tomb of self doubt and deprecation. It was her shame and she deserved it, it brought comfort when she was rejected or hurt. It was her reminder that she deserved what happened in life.
It held her at arm’s length from God, from her Savior! It lied to her late at night and would sometimes wake her up just to remind her that she was nothing.
Moving to the bathroom mirror, she stared at her despondent face. The anxiety showed in the deep lines on her face, the circles under her eyes, and the frown lines framing her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an index card that had been neatly tucked into the corner of the mirror. In bright crimson crayon, what appeared to be a child’s handwriting was the scripture: I John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.
The tears streamed down her tired face and pooled at her chin, begging her to wake up inside. How could she have been so blind? She was so worried about pleasing Him that she never saw that he had already given to her. It had become a game, where she was always chasing the ball. She became so engrossed in chasing and trying that she did not realize the game was over, it ended, and He was her victor.
She reread the index card, carefully caressing the card in her hand. She studied her daughter’s handwriting, she knew it so well. The way she curled the tails of her g’s and the slant of her t’s. She read “has bestowed upon us” over and over. There were no conditions, no if, and more importantly no but. He just gave it to us and that was it! Why had she been so stubborn? Why had she insisted upon self loathing? Why had she allowed it to come this far?
She rested on the floor with her knees tucked under her chin and for the first time in a long time she bowed her head and prayed. She began to pour her heart out like oil at His feet; all the hurts, self loathing, deprecating, and sins were spilled at His feet. It lay bare on the floor; it was His now. She no longer wanted it or needed it. This is what had kept her from her Master. This was the devil’s way of keeping her asleep. With repentance on her lip’s she prayed again that God would awaken her soul to Him.
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