This Love.

He is my first love. The One who has known me yet loved me from the beginning of time. When I stay close to Him, I act out of a place of deep security. Like when a child decides to be brave and jump off the edge into the pool because they know their mom or dad is going to be there waiting when they jump in. This sense of security is not the world’s definition of it. It’s a security in having a constant and unwavering love following me wherever I go.

This love is an everyday kind of love.

Every morning I’m in it.

This love is an everyday kind of love.

 Every evening I’m in it.

/This Love by Housefires/

                Even while I am unaware of it, I am in it. Even when I jump out of bed to start my day without giving it a thought, I am in this love. Even while I too busy to consider it, it follows me and hovers over me. This love surrounds me and showers me. He waits for me and goes before me, behind me, and all around me. This love is the ground beneath my feet, the air in my lungs, and the song in my heart. This love is the most wild adventure I have ever been on. This love knows me. It knows my strengths and weaknesses and it is constantly challenging me. This love equips me. It calls forth my gifts and calls out my sins. This love knows no bounds and always surprises me with new depths.

Your love’s not passive
It’s never disengaged

It’s always present

It hangs on every word we say

Love keeps its promises, it keeps its word

It honors what’s sacred, cause its vows are good

Your love’s not broken

It’s not insecure

Your love’s not selfish, Your love is pure

*Pieces by Amanda Cook*

This love keeps it’s promises to me and opens my heart to bigger dreams. His love truly is pure. It gives everything and never takes anything. It never ignores, it always engages. His love honors and protects our hearts. How precious is Your love to me oh Lord. How thankful I am that I get to love and be loved by You. A love this real and raw and deep is what I was made for.

The love of God is the most POWERFUL thing on this earth. It has the power to transform us and re-invent the way we think and it has the power to CHANGE THE WORLD. It can be easy to put limits on this love.We can get caught up in the ways the world tries to present love to us and impose this false sense of love on the Father. When we do this, we are left feeling discouraged and unsatisfied. But when we take time to return to the real and life changing nature of God's love, a perspective shift happens and we can come to a place of overwhelming satisfaction and joy. This love is truly the love we were made for. A love that is unconditional and always pursing us. 

I would encourage anyone who wants a deeper revelation of God's love to read the book of Hosea in the Bible and read the book "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. Both of these books will open your eyes to see how fervently your heart is being pursued by the Lord and how desperately the Lord wants to call you His bride. He is willing to remove the idols from your life and make a lifelong covenant with you that can never be broken. A relationship with Him overflows with love, compassion, and faithfulness. 

Hosea 2:16-23

“'And in that day,’ declares the Lord, ‘you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘my master.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. In that day I will make a covenant with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky, and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.’”

           He rejoices over you because He loves you and He can't get enough of you!!

Isaiah 62:5 “For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

There may be some of you who are unsure about how to access this type of love. This love comes through an encounter with Jesus. God sent His Son Jesus because He wants a relationship with you and He wants you to feel, experience, and understand His wild love for you. One way to experience this love is through reading the Bible because it is the Word of God. It is a way God chooses to speak to us and give us revelation about His love. A verse I read a few weeks ago struck me to the core and left me weeping as I pictured the image John describes of Jesus in Revelation. 

Revelation 1:12-17 "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sounds of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance." 

I will save you all from the image I drew in my Bible of what this description of Jesus might look like because I am not an artist 🤭 But I cried when I read this because I could envision this gift of love from God standing in front of me. I could see Jesus in all of His power and beauty. And if this is only a human's description of Him, how much greater when we see Him face to face?

God wants to be known. He really does. I want to encourage anyone who reads this and has not had an encounter with the Lord to use this verse as a starting point. Or if you have had an encounter with His love, I pray you would still take time to experience more of it through this picture. Close your eyes and imagine the person described in these verses. See Him in your mind standing in front of you in all His glory and just wait. Let Him speak to you in His voice that sounds like waters. Let Him look at you with His fiery eyes of love. He wants you to experience His love and I pray each one of you do. I pray you experience the immeasurably more love God has for you. A love that is greater than all you could ask or imagine. 

❤ Melissa