Get a right idea of Loves Power
Love is…
God is Love
Love is infinitely strong, its Jealousy supremely cruel. It is a flame above all other flames so that it can’t be quenched and its value is priceless!!
Love as it has God for its primary and ultimate affection is the souls delight in the supreme excellency of the Divine Nature inclining the heart to choose God as it’s chief good and happiness.
There are 5 key characteristics that help us understand what love is in Solomon’s Song of Songs 8:6-7
Notice these 5 things we learn about love in the Poem
The superlative strength of Love
The supreme cruelty of the sparks of it’s Jealousy
It is a flame above all other flames
Its supreme durability makes it unquenchable
And the value of true love is priceless.
“love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.” Solomon’s Song of songs 8:6
Notice all the superlative qualities of Love.
Love isn’t just another power out there that has some strength, loves ability to accomplish its purpose of uniting is as strong as death’s goal to separate. Is deaths power limited? Death’s power to separate in hell is unlimited!! Love’s power here on earth and in heaven is unlimited!! There are no limits to the power of love. You can’t put an limits of either time or space on Love. Loves power is infinite.
Know that love has strength.
The strength that love has is not limited.
The strength that love has is not limited in degree nor duration.
The amount of light and heat of love will increase forever for Love is a flame above all other flames.
The ever increasing light of love will communicate God’s nature to us. The ever increasing heat will enflame our desire more and more for Him. Warm our hearts and ever sweeten the taste or experience. God will “Enlarge my heart” Psalm 119:32 for in “His light we see light” the light of the knowledge of God who is Love in the face of our Heavenly Bridegroom 2 Cor. 4:6.
Love has an unlimited amount of strength to bring about an infinitely strict union between God’s son and his/His Bride.
How is a finite human able to unite to God in Christ in an infinite manner!
Answer: The infinitely strict union is never reached in reality, even in heaven. But since this blessed union continues to get stricter forever and will have no end. Meaning the Bride of Christ will get closer and closer to Jesus Christ forever. She will be happier and happier. She will be perfectly beautiful and have no flaw but practically she will still get more beautiful. The light is perfect but can shine brighter. The heat is perfect but can get hotter. For more about this infinite union look below where I quote John Piper on Edwards “God’s end in creation.”
The reason I mention all this is that when we get a right idea of love we must not put limits on its ability to accomplish it purpose. It will enflame our hearts forever. It will keep us having right motives of pleasing God in our works. Love will forever draw us closer to Himself who is Love.
There is a sweetness of the Experience of God’s love that Scripture calls “Tasting seeing that God is good.” Its by the sweet taste of the Experience by which we know God is Good and infinitely so.
Its all to bad that we see so many marriages fall apart and the two separate or divorce. The more we see of this breaking up tends to give us an idea that true love or an everlasting love is only in the movies. Yes, I believe the true love that is illustrated here in Solomon’s Song of Songs is rare and few and far in between. The same as the fact that Jesus said few people find the path to heaven and many take the broad road that leads to destruction. Few there be that find true love and many find themselves in a destructive marriage.
I think the main reason for so many divorces is the fact that they do not know what love is, the purpose of marriage nor their role in the union.
Men are to love their wife as Christ loved the Church. How many men out there know how Christ loved the Church? How many men out there know what love is? They have to know what it is in order to do it. They may feel something but is it Love? They may do or say something but is it out of Love? If men would know what Love is and then loved their wife then the wife would reciprocate and God would be glorified and everyone will be happy. Yet the main ingredients missing in this happiness that every believer wants in marriage is a “right idea of Love.”
An increase of the right idea of love in the Song is compared to a “spark” or “flame” Song 8:6. No ordinary flame but a flame above all other flames. This increased right idea of love comes after love is felt or sensed for in order for us to get a right idea of love we must feel it because love is an emotion that inclines the heart towards God who is Love. A heart inclined towards God chooses to love. A heart inclined to God who is Love will love. A husband with a heart inclined towards God will love his wife better and better overall.
Husband light her fire by being a better and better example of Love. Show her love in your words. Show her love in your eyes. Show her love in the form of forgiveness and don’t be angry with her. Show her love in all your actions. Show her love by helping with the chores. Show her love in the bedroom. Show her love on date night. Show her love by listening to her tough day and understanding as best as possible (remember, you don’t always have to pull out your tool box of knowledge and fix everything, most of the time she just wants you to listen) so don’t just lend an ear give her both of them and look her in the eye with doves eyes when she is talking to you. Show her love by showing her Christ in Scripture and in your life.
Most of all don’t stop!! Keep loving her. Keep being faithful!! In order for her to get a right idea of love and not doubt your love you must keep loving her because love never fails. Love endures all things.
Granted the husband will fail in his role of loving his wife. He will fail over and over again. Yet if she see’s her man changing and truly sorry when he fails, then she will see love and sense it and know it. If you love her you will get better at keeping doing what you know is right and if you love her you will stop doing the things that displease her ( or at least as time goes by you will displease her less and less often.)
It’s through time and faithfulness that brings the bride/Bride to deep sweet, peaceful abiding assurance that her beloved/Beloved truly loves her. Give her no reason to doubt your love so that she can have a righter, sweeter taste of love from God through you.
I address the men mostly because Unless the woman is a non believer, I have yet to see a dysfunctional marriage where the husband is doing his part and getting better at it. A wife that has a husband who is getting better and better at loving her will reciprocate. He lights her fire by loving her, by being of a better and better reputation in the relationship.
Jesus Christ loved His bride with all His infinite strength. The power of His love to God and His own Bride held him to the cross as He bore her sins. It hurt the brides Husband to have the Father turn His back when seeing the Son with her sins upon Himself. United to Him in His death He bore her sins. This was no easy task. It took an infinite amount of strength to bear her sins and He did it. Since He had the power to exhaust the full wrath of God He could finish the work the Father gave Him to do. The Father said to the Bridegroom “Die for Your Bride, thus proving you love to Me and Her.” The Son of Love obeyed the Father and when her sins were paid for He said “It is finished“.
This post was focused more on the strength of love. But were can you notice the Holy Jealousy of our Heavenly Bridegroom in your relationship with Him. Where and when do you see, sense and feel the sweetness of being loved by Him. Where do you the unquenchable nature of Christ’s love to you. Do you see it as priceless? Where can you see the immeasurable value of your Bridegrooms love for you?
And such, when they receive the Spirit of God, in his sanctifying and saving influences, are said to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire; by reason of the power and fervor of those exercises the Spirit of God excites in their hearts, whereby their hearts, when grace is in exercise, may be said to burn within them; as is said of the disciples (Luke 24:32). JE
“Love God with all your strength”
John Piper on Jonathan Edwards “Gods end in creation”
In giving creatures an ever-increasing likeness to God, God makes himself first cause and last end [73] And it is farther to be considered that what God aimed at in the creation of the world, as the end which he had ultimately in view, was that communication of himself which he intended through all eternity [from creation and forever into the future]. And if we attend to the nature and circumstances of this eternal emanation of divine good, it will more clearly show HOW, in making this his end, God testifies a supreme respect to himself and makes himself his end. [74] There are many reasons to think that what God has in view, in an increasing communication of himself through eternity, is an increasing knowledge of God, love to him, and joy in him.42 And it is to be considered that the more those divine communications increase in the creature, the more it becomes one with God;43 for so much the more is it united to God in love, the heart 41 “Something of God” must be construed carefully, lest we impute to Edwards a confusing of the creature and the Creator, which many of his words could lead us to do (as we saw in footnote 38). God’s knowledge and love and joy are “something of God,” and may be shared by the creature. This results, as the following words here signify, in the creature being “conformed to God and united to him.” That ever-increasing conformity and union will be expounded in detail in what follows immediately and at the end of Chapter Two, Section Seven, ¶¶ 279-285. See related material in footnotes 38, 42-46, 104, 113, 115. 42 This sentence is extremely important in view of how strongly Edwards will express the union of God and his people. When he speaks of God’s communicating “himself” to the creature, and therefore speaks of a “strict” union between “himself” and his people, we must recall this sentence, which stresses that his knowledge and love and joy in himself is what he has chiefly in mind. In participating in these, man is drawn, as it were, into the very life of the Trinity (“Heaven Is a Progressive State,” in Ethical Writings, ed. by Paul Ramsey, p. 730), but not in the sense of being divinized or confused in essence with God. See footnotes 38, 41, 43-46, 104, 113, 115. 43 Becoming “one with God” is none other than the “conformity” and the “union” referred to in footnotes 38, 41, and 42, not a merging of human and divine essences into one.
The End for Which God Created the World
is drawn nearer and nearer to God, and the union with him becomes more firm and close, and at the same time, the creature becomes more and more conformed to God. The image is more and more perfect, and so the good that is in the creature comes forever nearer and nearer to an identity44 with that which is in God. In the view therefore of God, who has a comprehensive prospect of the increasing union and conformity through eternity, it must be an infinitely strict and perfect nearness, conformity, and oneness. For it will forever come nearer and nearer to that strict- ness and perfection of union which there is between the Father and the Son.45 So that in the eyes of God, who perfectly sees the whole of it, in its infinite progress and increase, it must come to 44 There are two cautions given here. One is that a creaturely “image” is always an image, no matter how closely it conforms to the original. The other is that “identity” is not conceived by Edwards any other way than by the sharing of God’s knowledge, love, and joy that he has of himself. 45 Here we are introduced powerfully to Edwards’s view of the eternal state as one that will be an “increasing union and conformity through eternity.” In other words, eternity will not be static. The perfected, holy creature will, in his perfection, make progress in conformity to God. Since God can see all of the infinite progress (which never comes to an end) as though the whole of it were present to him, he regards the union of his people to himself as an “infinitely strict and perfect nearness and conformity, and oneness.”
Categories
Uncategorized
mostsublimesong View All
Saved in 2000 at age 27. Nearly immediately I fell in love with the Song and grew very fast the first two years memorizing large portions of scripture purifying my mind the started chewing on meat to soon and struggled for 12 years and Christ has me on track like always but I just took the long way around and now I love leading others closer to Christ by seeing His love reflected in Solomons love for an enemy slave girl.
I have experienced God's love to me in the Song in ways that words can't express. There are many portion of the Word where she experiences extra ordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. If you have a burning desire for a close intimate relationship with God by experiencing His Love to you over and over again at greater and greater heights, depths, lengths and breaths then The Song of Songs is where you need to be.
I can help you with this process of Growing in the experience of God's love. As of 7-23-16 I have experienced everything prior to chapter 8. The Song of Song is progressive in experience. Meaning that if you are mature then you can experience the joys and extraordinary outpourings of God's Love shed abroad in your heart.
If you are not so mature then the delights in the first chapter of the Song will satisfy your thirst for experiencing the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many Christian are living in sin because they do not know how to experience God's love and get hooked on Loving Him. It feels good to be loved and to love Him. His burden is not heavy and His yoke is light, Jesus said in Matt. 10:28
I believe God wants to use me to help beautify His Bride through the Song of Solomon.
If you see the book literally you will not understand nor grasp the Love God has for you. If you see the book and the verses in it relating to Christ's love to you then I would love to show you how to experience this Love to the fullest. I will pray for you daily and guide you every step of the way.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
I grew up going to church but was a hypocrite. I lived my life how I chose but went to church on Sunday because my family went.
Mom and Dad divorced when I was about 5.
About this time I was sexually abused by "Bob" a made up name. This incident changed my life for the worst. I had no clue how to deal with it.
As I got older I grew in my hatred for Bob. I didn't blame anyone of my family because I was to young to know any better. Some of what happened during the abuse was in a bathroom. So overtime I would use the bathroom and look at my private parts that night would replay in my mind. My hatred for Bob would continue to grow each time.
Now I know this only happened to me one night. I can't image the pain other's go through who have had this happen to them over and over. Even as I write this now I cry with many tears for those hurting. God love you even though you may not know it or feel it. Go to Him in your time of need.
I was a really bad teenager. I only cared about myself and not even my family. I always came first in my mind. Even at the expense of hurting others. I was growing in my hatred for God by now.
I was going to church and was learned that God was in control. I thought well, if God was in control then He must have let me be sexually abused. I didn't understand this, How could a good and loving God allow this. I hated Him for it. My hatred for Bob grew as well. I was still using the bathroom and memories kept coming back. My heart grew even harder for Bob and God. As far as I was concerned God would have nothing to do with my life so I lived even worse. I thought I would be in jail or dead and I really didn't care, I thought it could be much worse than reliving your painful past over and over again. Little did I know that God's plan later would be to use these events to give me a burning passion for the closest most intimate love relationship with Himself through Christ mainly through the love poem in the Song of Songs in the Bible.
I remember hating Bob so much that the only thing that would relieve my pain was actually thinking he would suffer forever for what he did. I grew so much in my hatred for him that I had to continue to think that he would get even worse than what I imaged before. After some time I would only be relieved of hatred for him unless I thought he would burn in a hotter and hotter hell for all the suffering he put me through.
I never told my mom or family what happened, although I think some of them knew something had happened.
I grew up quite rebellious and even went to jail at the age of 20. I was living the fast life pursuing all my sinful desires and wanting more. It never seemed to be enough. I was quite happy in my sin but I just wanted more of it.
I lived life thinking I would die at a young age, riding motorcycle and living on the edge put me in the hospital many times and I should have been dead.
California at age 26.
I moved to California for a job opportunity at the age of 27. While trying to figure out what radio stations to program in my car, I ran across a RC Sproul talking about "people who have the faith that saves and people who only say that have faith" only the people who have the faith that saves will go to heaven. I thought "I don't think I have the faith that saves because my life was so bad." I searched the scriptures to try to get this faith. I found a church and thought people there could help me get this faith that saves. All along God kept showing me how sinful I was and that I deserved punishment from Him for living my life hating Him.
One weekend I read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John desperately trying to find out how to get this faith that saves. By now I knew that if you had the faith that saves that Jesus would be saving you from a life of sin. I still liked my sin and Jesus sure wasn't saving me from a life of sin, so I rightly concluded that I didn't have the faith that saves.
By the time I got to John, I saw "believe" everywhere. John 3:16 and other verses and wow the whole book was written so that you may believe. John 20:31 "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." So at night I would pray "I believe Jesus died for me, I believe, I believe. This was just an intellectual belief. I knew that in history and the Bible that Jesus died for everyone, so I believed it. But this belief did not change my life.
I would go on night after night saying the same prayer only to wake up the next day wanting to fulfill my sinful desires. The prayer wasn't working so I started to word it different each time hoping some prayer would work. After about 2 weeks of this I was fed up with it all, nothing was happening. I still was living in my sin and wanted more of it. A Christian hates their sin and does something about it, and certainly they don't continue to make plans to sin. The prayers weren't working so I gave up. I thought to myself "God, I tried with all my might, I searched the Scriptures, went to church, read the Bible and prayed all to no avail. If Im going to be saved your going to have to do it because I tried."
So I quit praying but still the Bible kept calling me so I read more. 3 Days later I was laying in a tanning bed and God convicted me really hard that I had offended Him by the life I was living. I was so scared of God, where could I run. You can't hide from God. It seemed like forever that I was under these terrors of being punished by a Holy Angry God. This lasted about 10 minutes then this is how I understood it. God let me understand that all that anger that He had for me for all my sin should come my way but He had poured that anger out on Jesus 2,000 years ago. I immediately started weeping an couldn't stop for about 20 minutes. All the sins that I could think of I confessed for that 20 minutes one after another after another, I was so sorrowful and grieved it physically hurt inside.
After I stopped crying I thought that was the weirdest thing that ever happened. I walked out of the tanning salon and stood outside and everything seemed so beautiful, the tree's, the birds, even the air seemed pleasant. Now I was really wondering what was going on.
I pondered all of this as I drove to work that day. I brought my Bible to work and was thinking what am I doing, I want to take my Bible to work so I can read it. As soon as I got to work I started reading my Bible. I couldn't believe what I was reading!! It all was so wonderful. It felt so good to just read my Bible. My client showed up and as I was training them the only thing I could think about was getting back to my Bible. I read all night and slept about 2 hours and was reading again.
I had sinful things in my apartment and I rounded everything evil up and threw it in the garbage. It was weird I was thinking but it felt good so I left it all in the garbage. I called my girlfriend to break it up and she thought I had another girl, I said no, I just think this is wrong we shouldn't be sleeping together. She didn't understand so I told her I was a Christian now and she still thought I had another girlfriend. She said "Im glad your a Christian, so am I" I thought to myself, "I have a strong conviction that sleeping together is wrong and she thought it was okay" I wondered how she could think that. Anyway we broke up.
I kept reading my bible and repenting, there was so much to repent of and I had lived a very sinful life. I was a thief for some part of my life and all the people I stole from kept coming to mind. I owed so much money. I was instantly in debt about $80,000. As I could I paid them back. As of 7-18-2016 I still owe about $25,000 but it sure is a joy to be paying them back.
The first week of being saved a car just about ran me over, they hit me but I wasn't hurt at all. The guy in the car felt so bad. I just looked at him and said "God bless you and have a great day, I am okay" smiled at him and moved on. Now I was really wondering what was going on because I normally would have cussed him out left and right and instead of cussing I blessed him. That was so weird. But again it felt good. I learned to do good by what my conscience told me was good and that it felt good. I got hooked on this feeling good by doing good and did it more often.
About two weeks after being saved I thought of Bob. I immediately prayed for him, something like "Lord help him.." then I stopped praying and said out loud "What am I doing?" I'm praying for a man that I hated my whole life, but it feels good and right, so I did it again. I stopped again midway in the prayer and started pacing around. I was trying to make sense of what was going on and couldn't figure it out. But again it made me happy to pray for him so I did. Bob would often come to mind when I went to the bathroom and each time I would pray for Him. The more I did this the less weird it got. And the greater my love grew for him.
I started memorizing large portions of scripture and this was wonderful because it felt like the words were cleaning my mind and as Proverbs 2:10 "For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul." I wanted more and more of this pleasantness. So I memorized even more and the joy got more and more.
Then this life changing advice came:
A friend from church told me to find a book of the Bible and really understand it. Read through the Bible and pick one and read it over and over and study it and really get it. So I started in Genesis and read through. When I got to Proverbs I really liked it so I thought that would be the book. I started by memorizing all of Proverbs chapter 3. After that I thought maybe there is a better book than Proverbs. So I read on. Then I came to Song of Solomon. I read it with quite some confusion. It wasn't as good as the other books, I didn't know why. So I bought a commentary on it. George Burrowes commentary on the Song of Solomon.
In the commentary I found that George and other saw the book as illustrating God's love to the Church. And not only illustrating it but displaying the Love of Christ better than any other book. This caught my attention big time, because I was having a burning desire for a closer relationship with God and desperately learning about His Love so that I could Love God. You see I had hated Him for so long that God used that old hard heart to spur me on in loving Him. I so much did not want to hate God anymore that I was on fire to learn to Love Him as much and as fast as possible. So here was a book that would help me do that. So I landed on the Song of Solomon. I committed to learning as much of this book as possible.
I memorized the first chapter and would repeat it often throughout the day. I didn't know much of what I was repeating but it sure made me happier and on fire for God. I grew so fast repeating the first chapter over and over again all day, like a dozen times a day at least. It felt so good and I never found any other book that caused me to weep so much. I would often weep everyday just reading it. I was to immature to know what was going on. Even though it hurt to weep so much, I felt like my heart was being cleansed from the filth that was in it by repeating it over and over again so I did. As I read the commentary I understood more and more. What God was doing in me through the Song was greater and faster than any other portion of Scripture so I tended to stay there often. I was so excited about God that I thought it funny that other's in church weren't the same way. Some where happy but it seemed most of them didn't seem to care much about God. They would talk about work, football the weather. The only thing I wanted to talk about was Jesus and God and how can I grow closer to Him.
About this time there was a mission trip to Ireland.
I started to have convictions that I should try to find Bob and witness to him. I kept praying for him but how could he be saved if he hadn't heard the Gospel that has power unto salvation. So I asked family if they had any information. Like me before, my family hated him and thought he deserved hell. After some time I got his name but no location or phone number. Either they didn't know where he was or didn't want to tell me. I prayed some more and then started to get stronger convictions to do something about finding Bob.
So I went on the internet and typed in "his name and child molestation sex offender court" thinking that some court record would have some info leading to where I may find him" I even talked to a private eye and he couldn't help. So I googled some key words and spent hours each day looking through each page. I believed it was God's will for me to witness to Bob. I wanted him to be saved. Really bad. So much so that I thought God would save Bob if I were to witness to him. So I didn't stop searching for him. I kept my computer on each day and went page by page. It took two years to go through about 15,000 pages but I found someone who matched his name in a prison for molesting his grandchildren. I wrote the prison and he wrote back. All kinds of emotions went through my body when I saw his letter from the jail. I didn't open it right away but two hours later God gave me enough courage to face my fears again and I opened the letter. He admitted to being the one who molested me. We wrote back and forth I told him I was angry before but now I was saved and that I loved him and believed God wanted me to talk to him. He read my letters over and over again. I shared the gospel in each one.
I got mad at Bob 2x. Once he said that he love me. I got really angry with him. He didn't love me. That night it was hard to love Bob, I had to call a friend to pray for me to repent, after he prayed I felt greater love for Bob. Then I wrote him back saying "I'm sorry but you can't say that you loved me. You did not love me you lusted after me." He admitted he didn't love as he should have and admitted that it was lust and sinful. Finally some conviction. Yet I only thought he was saying that because I was being nice to him. All his family had left him and he said I was the only "friend" he had.
Wether or not it was true Bob said that he had cancer in his arm and that the help the prison gives was not enough and if he had money he could see a different doctor and get help. I sent him some money and since I was in jail before I knew what it was like to be in there without money, so I sent him money.
About 4-5 months in the economy went down, it was 2008. Work was hard. I still sent him money and I had to work harder. This was a really good lesson for me because I had to "work hard for the benefit of someone who did not deserve it." This was one of the greatest blessing ever because I realized with great certainty that Jesus was in me. This is what Jesus did. Jesus worked his whole life for me and I didn't deserve it!! Christ was in me! This was one of the best feelings ever and it put me in worship for months.
Then a mission trip to Croatia.
Each time I had to leave my business and amazing as it is I was completely okay each time. I am a self employed personal trainer and it is normally absurd to just leave and start over, but each time I had enough work within 2 weeks of coming back. This is a flat out miracle. I trusted God to provide and he did. How many people can start up a business in 2 weeks. Only with the help of God. God was teaching me early on in my walk that as long as I did what He wanted me to do then I had nothing to worry about.
About 3 years saved now.
I Taught the 4 year old's at church Sunday morning for 10 years.
Left my business 2x for mission trips and God miraculously provided when I came back.
I taught 5 x a week plus held a job.
Sunday morning to the kids.
Sunday night with the 5th graders
Friday afternoons at Good News Clubs. Sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship.
Friday Nights with the Kids teaching through Pilgrims Progress, I did this 2x
Teaching Monday afternoons at a nursing home. I taught through the Song of Songs once then John, then Romans then back to the Song again! I love the Song of Songs.
I grew up hating God for what happened to me, and now I love Him because He first loved me. My passion is for children to grow up loving God and not hating Him.
My other passion which has become ever greater is to help others see the Love of Christ to His Church in the Song of Songs!!
I would love to help you, just let me know and I will lead you and pray for you.
God demonstrates His love to us in sending His one and only Son to suffer in our place, taking our sins upon Himself so that whoever believes they get to heaven because of what He did for us will not perish but have everlasting life.