Date: Sunday, July 20, 2014
Today's Chapters: Song of Solomon 5-8
Message Title: Jesus Loves You

All of us who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior have something to rejoice about. Not only are we saved from hell when we die, we are also blessed to be one of God's, and to have a one on one relationship with Him. We do not require a priest, preacher, or minister to talk to God for us, we can talk to Him straight forward, and He will speak to us directly. Oh, He may speak to us through His Word, a song, a messages, or another person that He uses, but when He wants to talk to us, He will use any means to get our attention. Sadly, we often come short of hearing Him when He does speak to us, and that is why struggle as much as we do. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” - 1 John 5:14,15.

When we first decide to live life with Jesus an excitement and liveliness comes about us, we are full of life and cannot wait to see what God can do for us. As time goes by and life gets in the way we tend to lose the liveliness, some lose it so much that they forget Jesus is still with them. He calls and calls, but His voice gets drowned out under a pile of sin, then He has not choice, but to step back and let us figure it out on our own. In the Song of Solomon, we have a wife speaking of her husband, and it is a sad song. She sings of her broken heart after he walks away because she neglected him, now she is searching all over for him, but cannot find him.

“My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?” - Song of Solomon 5:4-6,9.

While God is forgiving, there does come a time when He will withdraw Himself from those who live in sin. This does not mean He takes away their salvation, but He will back away and let them fend for themselves until they repent and return to Him. What is so important about living a moral and godly life when it is not required to be saved? Gratefulness. Do you have any idea what Jesus went through in order for us to be saved from the fiery pits of hell? The beating, skin riping, mocking, and spiting, He endured, alone should be enough. He died a horrible death so that we may live, the least we can do to thank Him is live the way He wants us to live. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” - Galatians 5:13.

Those who truly love Christ love Him because He first loved us, and as we learn of Him we understand more and more just how much He does love us and what a great sacrifice He made so that we can not only be saved from hell, but have a relationship with Him too. As the wife continues to search for her husband she is reminded by others of just blessed she is. “I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.” - Song of Solomon 7:10-13.

Christ is the vine, we are the branches, in order for our lives to flourish with an abundance of fruit we need to nourish our branches with the food it needs to grow by feeding the vine first. Any plant that produces ripe, edible, sweet fruit gets that way with a lot of pruning, weeding, and feeding it with the nutrients and water it needs. Our relationship with Christ is the same way, the more love we give to the vine the more nutrients we get to our branch, which makes us more fruitful. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” - John 15:5-7. Praise God!

God is a jealous God, He will have no one before Him, if we choose to love something else more than Him He will feel neglected and cheated. Why? He loves you, He went through a lot for you to be who you are today, He rejoices when He is able to walk with you. “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” - Song of Solomon 8:5-7.

Just like any spouse or person spoken for would get jealous when their love is hanging on another, so does God. God does not want to take away all our joy in life, but He does want us to make Him Lord of our life, that means putting Him first and at the center of all that we do. Truthfully, if we put God first and make Him the center of our lives, He will eliminate all the worldly things that once brought us joy and replace them with wonderful, amazing things that bring us great joy. Let me tell you, we cannot blame God for anything that happens to us, yes, He does have the power to intervene, but He will never intervene with mans free will. If we choose to neglect Him and never seek to know His will for our lives how can He ever show Himself Mighty.

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.” - 1 John 2:22-25.

Today's Prayer: Jesus, No matter how much we resist, no matter how many times we back away from You, You are right there, patiently waiting for us to come to You with all that we are going through. You want to comfort us, guide us, and give us hope through all the circumstances we face. You knock and knock, but we tend to neglect You and lose the sense of Your presence when we ignore You. Lord, open our ears and hearts, help us to get past our circumstances and find You, I know it is only by coming to You that I can have the true victory. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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