The Secret to Loving

I am utterly convinced that, in order for a Christian to express the authentic love of God on a regular basis, he or she must consistently receive and enjoy (not earn) His genuine, unique love for his or her individual heart.

In short, the secret to loving is living loved in Christ.

Makes perfect sense, huh?

The very real truth is: what we focus on is eventually expressed through our attitudes, words, emotions, and actions.

Since January of this year, I have let the busyness of life—writing two blog posts each week, leading The Confident Woman book study, administrating His Heart’s Desire Ministries, and editing His Banner Over Me Is Pursuing Love—take up most of my focus.

As a result, I haven’t been routinely soaking in and savoring Jesus’ love for me.

And I can tell it.

There is now a marked, inner thirst that needs attention.

A thirst that can only be quenched by the rivers of Living Water welling up out of my new heart (where He lives!)  and spilling into my conscious awareness (John 7:38).

I think you’ll agree with me when I say that—in today’s world—it can be extremely easy to let our life run us instead of the other way around.

I believe what it really boils down to is desire (I’m a bottom line kind of girl).

If you think about it, most people end up doing what they really want to do. Amen?

If I think about a Salted Caramel Truffle Blizzard long enough, more than likely you will find me at our local Dairy Queen, waiting at the drive-through window—mouth watering in anticipation of taking that first scrumptious, sweet and salty bite.

I remember the Lord showing me back in the early 2000s this principle of desire.

That’s when I began to pray, “Lord, stir up a firestorm of hunger in my soul to enjoy Your love.”

Back then, I was teaching high school math and also helping with the youth at our church on Wednesday evenings.

My plate of responsibility was overflowing.

But God was faithful to answer my prayer.

He put an overwhelming desire in my heart to wake up at 4:00 a.m. weekday mornings so that I could spend focused time with Him before I got ready for school.

I remember writing in my journals,

I don’t want this time to end.

I want to sit for hours, letting You reveal Your love for me to me in powerful ways.

You are the love of my life—my Love and my Life!

It wasn’t long before I felt the Lord’s leading to set apart Saturday mornings to soak and be refreshed in His love.

Ah…!

I was in my element—pajamas on, a steaming cup of Bigelow Vanilla Caramel Tea (I’m a coffee connoisseur now), pillow and journal in my lap, and a black gel pen in hand, ready to write down whatever I sensed my Beloved speaking to me.

I now understand that God’s great longing for me to enjoy His personal love for me is the genesis of my desire to experience and savor His love. Oh, how He loves us!

Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

While I do believe He is primarily referring to our initial salvation experience—when we believe into His eternal life—it also applies to our day-in and day-out relationship with Him.

I am so thankful for the Lord’s drawing love.

His pursuing love.

His not-of-this-world perfect love.

I believe with all my heart that His Banner Over Me Is Pursuing Love would not exist, had it not been for my Beloved’s call to “come away” with Him on a regular basis and meditate on His love:

My darling speaks; he is saying to me,
“Get up, my love! My beauty! Come away!
Song 2:10 (CJB)                      

I believe what He wants more than anything is for you to know, receive, and enjoy His special love for your heart.

When this happens, His divine love will naturally exude from your life, impacting those you come into contact with.

The secret to loving really is living loved in Christ!

I am going to close by leaving you with a “motion picture” the Lord gave me one early morning in January 2006, while fixing my eyes on His personal love for me.

My journal entry:

“Lord, open my ears to hear and eyes to see You as I spend time with You this morning. I’m expecting to hear from You.”

The following is what I saw and heard:

The Dance of Eternity

I want to dance with You, Jesus,
I want to touch Your face.
I want to stare deeply into Your loving eyes,
I want to feel Your warm embrace.

I want to dance with You, Jesus,
Just like Beauty & the Beast.
I want Your love to flow through me,
To the greatest and the least.

I want to dance with You, Jesus,
Held forever by Your gaze.
I want to hold Your nail-scarred hand,
Continually amazed.

And when my eyes are drawn to Your scars,
I hear You gently say,
“That is how much I love you.”
And suddenly I’m swept away.

This dance will last forever,
I know it in my heart.
In the arms of my Forever Bridegroom,
We will never be apart.

“I want to be your Romance,”
I hear my Bridegroom say.
“I’m captivated by your beauty,”
“I will never go away.”

This dance will last forever,
I know it in my heart.
This is only the beginning,
This is just the start.

The One who embraces me,
Will never leave my side.
I hear Him softly whisper,
“You make my heart beat faster,
My sister, My bride.”

There is nothing in this world that can compare to the glimpses of eternity we enjoy when we fix our eyes on Him and expectantly wait for Him to share His heart with us!

In my next post, I’m planning to share some specific ways I receive and enjoy His affections for me.

***

If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.