Jesus is the Love You've Dreamed About

Jesus is the Love You've Dreamed About

Jesus wants to be your spiritual husband. "For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." (Isaiah 54:5) (KJV) And, "For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." (Isaiah 62:5) (KJV) God rejoices over us. God delights in us. "He will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

We are the Bride of Christ, which is mentioned a lot in the Bible. Realistically, the Bible is God's love affair with us. Many think Songs of Solomon is the model for marriage. Yes, that's true, but it is also our model for our marriage to Christ.

God always wants to be first! Jesus is supposed to be your first love. "We love because he first loved us." (I John 4:19) Without loving Jesus, you really don't love anyone else the way God intended. God loves you so much he counts the hairs on your head. (Luke 12:17) Jesus really is nuts about you.

But, Jesus wants to be our first love.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3) (KJV) And, of course, there are the first of two commandments of Jesus... "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt 22:37) (KJV)

You are supposed to love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. Basically, God wants from us what He does for us. He probably doesn't get it from many Christians, but the few that ventures into actually doing it will reap something few Christians get. There is a fullness of God that he can let us experience and Jesus said he came so we might have life (salvation), and have life more abundantly. (John 10:10) Eternal life you get from salvation. But, abundant life you get from devotion to Jesus. You can never out love God.

But, God said David was a man after His own heart. (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22)

You have to surrender your will to Jesus.

Honestly, I surrendered mine. I remember my devotion and acceptance at being celibate when I prayed something like this, "God, I give myself to you as and devote myself solely to you as your child, Jesus Christ as my husband and the Holy Spirit as my guide in Jesus's mighty name, Amen." The more I draw near to God, the more He'll draw near to me. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you..." (James 4:8) (NKJV)

I always fought surrendering my will to Jesus. Honestly, I didn't know what that meant. I do wonder what He has in store for me. But, I doubt it is anything terrible. David risked his life a lot to do God's will. But, he was king of Israel and an actual warrior that shed a lot of blood.

About a year ago, God called me to the ministry with a really odd dream. I remember it well. I was in the military and we had these uniforms that was nothing like I had seen. But, I had a special uniform reserved only for me. I got the feeling other soldiers knew I was different. Not in awe of me, but they knew I carried a responsibility few did. I actually think I was the only one that did. Anyway, my job was to fly a plane, which I never saw, deep into enemy territory.

I had told God before I didn't want to pastor, but would be happy to be an Evangelist. I just never thought I'd be a good pastor but love telling others how things work–in this case, how to be a Christian, how to get saved, how to get healed, etc.

Paul actually said, maybe in his opinion, Christians should be single. "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." (I Cor. 7:7) (KJV) But, that's not realistic. God did make Adam and Eve and said men should not be alone (Genesis 2:18). Even Paul said you should get married if you "burn with passion" (1 Cor. 7:9), which basically means if you're constantly lusting after everyone that crosses your path, get hitched. A husband can lust after his wife all day long, and a wife can lust after her husband all day long. In fact, aren't they supposed to desire each other sexually?

A little tidbit about marriage: the Husband's contributions makes all the difference. A woman can give and give, but it won't matter that much to a man that isn't giving. But, if the man gives everything, it will make all the difference unless the woman is just plain evil and totally into herself. Guys, God even warns you about such women in Proverbs 7. The warning was about adultery and said, "Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death." God described her as "Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)" Such a woman leads a man to ruin. Think Delilah and Sampson. Be wary of the temptress. Her silken words and sinful manners can destroy any man. And, girls, don't be that woman. Guys, look for a virtuous woman, and, girls, be one.

Maybe that's one of the reasons Paul loved singleness.

Men have a harder time with Jesus as Husband than women do. But, there is nothing sexual about it. It basically means, Jesus is your all. He wants to be your everything. He wants to be first in your life. He wants you to fall in a deep love with Him. And, yeah, it does feel romantic. But, it gets even better because Jesus offers unconditional love and acceptance where another human being never can. It should be God, your spouse (if married), your kids, your job, etc. But, honestly, why I told God I'd be His was simple: I really want to see what God has in store for me. I just might get to see things few get to see and experience things few get to experience. Yes, it feels romantic, but it goes deeper. God really wants to satisfy all your needs.

But, Love is our main need.

If God is willing to give us our greatest need, Love, why wouldn't he satisfy all our needs? I believe he does.

Only God can give us Agape Love. That is the deepest love we can ever experience. Agape love is described as the love of God for man and the love of man for God. The depths of God's love really is beyond imagination. But, somehow, we can experience it if we only surrender our will to God, and love Him with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul as Jesus commanded. I definitely have felt temporal love for Jesus. However, temporal love with God will eventually go even deeper. For some, like me, it is the first step into a world I think few people get to go. Honestly, I'm married to Jesus. I made a vow to be celibate for Jesus.

And, you bet your bottom dollar, I want to experience Agape Love to the fullest extent possible. Jesus promised it. "I come that you have life, and have life more abundantly." (John 10:10 paraphrase). Life is salvation. Life more abundantly is that experience of Agape love that St. Theresa called ecstasy. I don't know what she experienced exactly, but I want it. She had the abundant life. To get that, you have to surrender you will, devote yourself, and make Jesus your one and only like she did. I will tell you the closer you get to God, the closer the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself to you. You can feel the tingling and heat of the Spirit from head to toe. There is nothing like the Anointing.

Agape love has changed me. I'm finding I love everybody more and more each day. I want it to get to the point the only thing I see in another person is their soul. Since God is Love, and to love others, God has to love through you, I believe eventually that will happen. My endemic nature might not like it, but I want it. I want to go after God's heart. I don't know what that really means, and I may not get there, but I want it.

Yes, I have my doubts. And, I have my moments of "what the heck am I doing?" But, such thoughts are fleeting. Emotions are fleeting. You can't live life by your emotions because "the heart is desperately wicked." (Jeremiah 17:9) The heart is desperately wicked because it is never satisfied. The heart flows with the wind and is directionless. You basically have to master it. Feelings are wonderful things, but they should never control your life. I think they should be a confirmation of what you think. The heart should be subject to your mind and will not the other way around. The mind and will is the adult and the heart (emotions) is your child. The heart can move you to do things, but you should think it through first.

And, remember this, "love (human) was not meant to last." Pat Benatar sang that line in Shadows of the Night and I've never forgotten it. She also sang "Love is a Battlefield" and we all know how true that is. A soul mate is an extremely rare thing. Even then, that love will fade and has to be constantly nurtured. Human love is a battlefield, as Pat sang. God's love isn't, period. He won't get the seven year itch, or cheat on you, or dump you. God is totally faithful. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Even Jesus can't say that about God, because God had to turn his back on Him at the Cross. So, Jesus really did take everything for us. He had to become sin itself, which God can't hang with. God's, Jesus's love is never-ending while a human's love eventually has an expiration date. You might be totally in love with someone and a year later have moved on. God never moves on, His love never grows cold, His love never gets stale. God's love is for eternity. And, the way to get more of it is to give it away.

The Godhead really is beyond our comprehension. But, in the end, I have a strange feeling Jesus will be all in one. It's not in the Bible. It's just a strong feeling. God the father will be the soul of Christ, Jesus will be the body and the Holy Spirit will be Jesus's spirit. A little trick to know about the Holy Spirit: He only talks about Jesus. I remember a young teen girl said she saw the Holy Spirit, I have to, and He was a mist, and, every once and awhile His face would form and He looked just like Jesus. So, if you've see Jesus in a vision, you've seen God, too. We just can't comprehend how the Godhead works to understand what our eyes have seen.

C.S. Lewis said there were four loves: Agape, Eros (the sexual he called Venus), Philia (friend, siblings) and Storge (empathy or familiar like how a mom loves their child). Agape is charitable love, unmerited love and from God. But, I think C.S. Lewis had it wrong. All love is from God. At God's core, there is love. I honestly think the other three loves C.S. Lewis describes are really reflections of Agape. We are only capable of really loving anyone through God. Otherwise, we don't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Loves

Jesus's love for us was stated here as the greatest: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). What is the greatest love? Sacrifice. If you really love someone, you'll sacrifice for them. And, if you are a husband, you have to be willing to die for your Bride like Jesus, the Husband, did for the Church, His Bride. Jesus is the Husband both corporately (for the church) and individually for each of us.

That's why I devoted my life to God. I don't want a person every getting between me and Jesus. Paul was content there. I can be, too.

God can't leave you; He'll only get sweeter and sweeter!

If you are not a Christian, doesn't this all sound good?

On December 20,1991, I got saved (the second time) in bed with bronchitis. It was a beautiful experience. So, can you! It changed my life forever. The first time I got saved was when I was like 6 and raised my hand during an alter call. God answered, but my mom put my hand down. Nevertheless, God answered my faith then. No one followed up on me and I was 6 so really didn't understand it all.

Do you know Jesus?

Well, it is easy to know him and experience his undying, unfathomable love and affection.

He came and died for you.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) (KJV)

There is no greater love than Jesus.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) (KJV)

Accept Him today if you don't know him.

Sinner's Prayer

"Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior."

Now, go and tell someone and welcome to His Kingdom.

Amen and Hallelujah.

Cameron Rowe
Eternal Cross