Fall in Love with Jesus Christ

Psalm 21:1-3 (NKJV):

"The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; And in your salvation how greatly he will rejoice! You have given him his heart's desire, And not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head."

Song of Solomon 1:2-3 (NKJV):

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth--For your love is better than wine. Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore, virgins love you."

The joy of the Lord is something amazing that cannot be explained completely to another person! I never knew what it meant to experience the "joy of the Lord" until I became a true believer in Christ, and accepted His sacrifice for my sins. After receiving peace with God, I suddenly became inexplicably JOYFUL. This was quite a contrast from my former life is depression, which almost led to suicide several times. I came bursting out of the dark pit where I had lived the majority of my life, and I suddenly found things daily to have simple joy in! For instance, just watching my children play and interact with one another brings a warmness to my heart. Or watching my husband smile and just enjoy being with me is truly joyful. But the most joy comes just from being in God's holy Presence. I love praying and talking to God as a friend, and hearing him answer in ways I never thought of. He is always creative in His purposes, and He never ceases to amaze me from day to day. He makes like worth living. When I am in fellowship with Him, everything else could be going wrong, and I would just be joyful anyway. This past year, when I suffered miscarriage, marital stress, and countless other trials including a fever that endangered my life, and my son's diagnosis of epilepsy, I found that the joy of the Lord was my strength. Just falling back on my relationship with Him seemed to make it all better because I grew deeper in my knowledge of His goodness and grace in every area of my life. His grace truly is sufficient for our every need. I thank God that I did not walk through the past year without Him by my side. He is truly the love of my life, and my husband knows that this does not place him below Christ, but rather in a triangle as we seek God together. I am in love with Christ....there I said it, and I'll keep saying it over and over again.

Just think of what it feels like to be in love. You talk to that person at every chance, stay up late thinking about them, wake up early thinking about them, do anything to be with them....and so forth. You might write love letters, or daydream of ways to please them. You find that the rest of the world around you just fades away into the darkness. You just can't help the joy you feel in thinking of all the ways that this person is perfect and loveable. Well, that is how I feel about Jesus Christ. I LONG to be with Him every day, and on the days when I get busy and don't spend time with Him, I miss him terribly. But I know that He was with me all day anyway!

So let me ask you, are you in love with Jesus Christ? Do you realize the magnitude of what it took for Him to save you, and thus pledge your eternal gratefulness to Him? Have you experienced personal touches in your life from the King of Kings which let you know that He is near? If you haven't, it is not too late. We cannot fall in love by our own strength with God, but in His perfect grace, He is capable of giving us the ability to fall in love with Him. All you have to do is open your heart, and ask Him to help you fall in love with him....possibly all over again (if you once were there, but aren't now). He is listening and inclining His ear to your prayers when they are asking Him to be closer to you....but be ready because He will bring you to fall in love with Him in his ways, not yours. You simply have to be willing to surrender to His power, glory and grace in your life, and not resist his love for you any longer.

I pray today that God would open your heart to receive the fullness of His love (mercy) in your life. I pray that He would cause you to fall in love with Him as never before, and that the joy of the Lord truly would be your strength. I pray that God blesses you with knowledge of Himself through His Word, in Jesus' name. Amen.

In Love with the Lord,

Sarah