In love with God
Loving God should be the main theme of our worldly existence. With every beat of our hearts we should be longing for, and thirsting for, spiritual intimacy with our Heavenly Father. The Psalmist expressed this beautifully in Psalm 42:1 - "As the deer pants and longs for the water brooks, so my soul pants and longs for You, O God."
And just as natural lovers loose track of time, lingering on and on in each other's presence, intoxicated with the continual mingling of their love – so it must be with you and the One you cherish and adore so deeply.
- No time of prayer should seem long enough.
- No song of praise should reach deep enough.
- No shout of joy should ascend high enough.
Why? Because that all consuming feeling, that intense burning desire, and that unquenchable longing for the Lord, should always be present in you. Just as He is present with you! As a loyal and complete 'lover' you should always be thankful, but never satisfied. And with every single precious moment your heart should cry out, "More Lord, I need more of You."
The "Song of Songs" encourages the heavenly Groom [Jesus] and His Shulamite bride [that's us], to pursue a full experience of each others heart, saying; "Eat, O friends; Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love." or, "drink till you are full, O lovers" [Song of Sol. 5:1].
Generating intimate interaction with God serves to nourish and refresh your personal relationship with Him.
As you simply choose to 'drink in' His loving Spirit [into yours], you quickly forget the pain, the disappointment, the dread fullness of living in a corrupt society. Consequently, you develop a sincere desire, without any sense of obligation or fear of reprisal, to fulfil the greatest commandment! And that is, to... "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength." But what exactly does this mean? It means:
- Provoking perfected emotions toward Him in true worship, and devoting yourself without reservation or restrictions to His Person.
- Fully subjecting your human will to His divine purpose for your life.
- Constantly bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
- Using as much of your time and efforts as possible, to serve the Him with gladness.
Note, the Greek word translated 'love', in the great commandment, is 'agapao'. And it stems from the word 'agape', meaning 'a selfless, divine love'. However, this word could possibly be related to another ancient Greek word, namely 'agab', which means 'to breath toward' [as lovers who dote upon one another].
Therefore, loving God with all the heart, mind, soul and strength could mean 'to breath toward Him' the gentle and perfect essence of all that you are. Hence, with every breath you take, you have the opportunity to reverently return to God the very breath of divine life which He has breathed into you. Surely this is true worship! Remember, it was this divine breath which made Adam a living soul, and which was restored to mankind in the upper room, when Jesus 'breathed' on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Ghost."
God's divine breath in you has restored perfect communion and it allows you access to God's heart, but also to His glory. And in this loving spiritual relationship - your breath intermingles with His breath, and your heart intertwines with His heart. This surely is “living in the glory cloud.”
Psalm 63:1,2 says, "O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; my soul thirst for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see Your Power and Your Glory."
Love not only sees power (and conquers all), it see glory! Hallelujah! |
Chris Demetriou, 17/09/2006 |
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