True Love

by Tiffany S.
from Virtuous Daughters, May 2013~Volume 13, Number 2

"I love the LORD,
because He hath heard my voice
and my supplications."
​—Psalm 116:1

—Making God Our True Love
“I LOVE the LORD, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and He helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” ~Psalm 116:1–9~
     
To me, Psalm 116:1–9 is a beautiful passage of Scripture that paints a picture and reminder of my salvation and what my entire life should look like as I journey with the Lord. Romans 10 tells us that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, and we will continue to call upon Him as long as we live. He is plenteous in mercy to all who call upon Him, He is ever with us, and He will never leave or forsake His own. As daughters of the King, we have every reason to love our Lord. As Psalm 63 declares, “Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee.” Our Savior is faithful and true. Dear sisters, our Lord has dealt bountifully with us in giving us the gift of eternal life!
     
I John 4:19 says, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” Salvation in Christ is certainly the first step to understanding true love.

Romans 5:8 declares, “But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” As our first love, He should be first in our life. Do you remember the church in Revelation 2? Christ said of them, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” We must be cautious to not lose our first love; instead, we want to always walk before Him, as Psalm 116:9 mentions. G. Watson wrote, “Instead of loving the service of God, we are to love God Himself and serve because we love Him. In other words, God is to be the object of our love, and not our service the object of it.” Psalm 27:4 should be the cry of our heart: “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.”
     
Have you ever heard that true love is a choice? John 14:21 says, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” One way we demonstrate our love for the Lord is by taking seriously His commandments. We can say that we love Him, but if we never obey, is that true love? No. How important that we always follow Him—that we not “love the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). This obedience requires a righteous fear of God as we endeavor to live for His glory alone. “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.”—Proverbs 31:30 The world’s favor on our life is meaningless in light of God’s approval. Proverbs 14:26–27 provides a special truth concerning this: “In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”
     
I once read that “loving Him means the thankful acceptance of all things His love has appointed.” Our responses to the circumstances God allows in our lives often indicate our love for Him or lack thereof. For instance, when we reject or complain about the gifts God has given us, we are not truly loving Him. Dear sisters, God is so good! Psalm 84:10–12 promises, “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand . . . For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.” Again, we are reminded in Psalm 34:10, “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.” We should be thankful and joyful, because the joy of the Lord is our strength! Every single day we can thank God for the gift of salvation and the breath He has given us. Every day is a gift we don’t deserve.
     
If you are struggling to love the Lord as you know you ought, tell Him; pour out your heart before Him. This has been an incredible help to me when I am struggling with any area of walking with Christ; the Lord’s grace and victory always sustains me. God’s desire is not that we endeavor to love Him in and of ourselves; He wants us to depend on Him fully for even this noble goal. He will provide the strength we need to love Him wholly.
     
Another way to make God our true love is to find our fulfillment in Christ. Psalm 16:11 says, “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” God loves us with everlasting love and draws us with loving kindness. Look for His faithfulness—maybe even journal it! That is an excellent way to strengthen your love for and faith in the Lord.
 
—Giving Him Our Whole Heart
      Psalm 119:10 says, “With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments.” What a challenge! Do we meditate on His Word throughout the day, or do our thoughts wander and revolve around ourselves? Psalm 27:8 exhorts us to seek His face earnestly, and Matthew 5 promises special blessings to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness and the Righteous One.
     
Giving Him our whole heart involves putting forth all our energies into seeking Him. In contrast to the wicked, it is having God in all our thoughts (see Psalm 10). Psalm 9:10 contains a promise for those who earnestly seek Him: “And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.”
     
Luke 10 reminds us of the One Thing we are to be seeking (Psalm 27). In reading through the story of Mary and Martha, I was reminded that a whole heart is not divided. Mary was not giving Jesus half her attention as she did the dishes and listened to His words with one ear. Rather, she was sitting at Jesus’ feet, giving Him everything. Sometimes I find myself trying to seek Jesus-and, but my goal should be to seek Jesus-only. This is complete surrender to Him.
     
Giving the Lord our whole heart is a daily choice and an ongoing lesson, one that we will spend our entire lives learning! Every day we must ask the Lord to help us. However, Philippians 4:6–7 and Isaiah 26:3–4 provide a key point--keeping our mind stayed on Him. The riches that we have in Christ are eternal, real, and victorious.
     
Since power and victory only come from the Source, daily prayer and Bible reading are essentials. When we fail to seek the Lord, we are endeavoring to live the Christian life in our own feeble strength—my own experience has taught me that it doesn’t work. Just as sunshine and water is vital for a garden to flourish, our time with God is vital to spiritual growth. A daily “quiet time,” in which we can seek Him with our whole heart, is truly a life-changing discipline!
     
I often remind myself that it is imperative to “follow hard after God.” I long to “walk within my house with a perfect heart.” When pondering a “perfect” heart, I think of one that is completely focused on the Lord. Remember, the kings who had “perfect hearts” sought Him earnestly and prospered. Don’t hold back—surrender your whole heart—every part of it—to the Lord, and He will do great things in and through your life!
 
—Learning to Love like He Does
      God’s love is unconditional. I Corinthians 13 describes love, and we are once again reminded that love is a choice, not just an emotion. As I pondered, “How can we love like He does?” the Lord showed me that it is by allowing the love of Christ to permeate our lives and flow through us onto others. We are simply a vessel. This requires dying to self and preferring others before ourselves, as Philippians 2 instructs. Essentially, it is taking upon us the mind of Christ and abiding in Him so that His life is being lived through ours.
     
I John 3:16 says, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” This describes exactly how to love like God does! As Christians, we demonstrate our Father’s love by daily laying down our lives. Do we realize our calling to be “living sacrifices” (Romans 12) for the glory of the King? Below are just a few ways that we can demonstrate the love of Christ to others:

• Preferring others before ourselves
• Taking the hardest jobs and the smallest portions
• Not seeking recognition or praise
• Taking initiative
• Seeking to lighten others’ loads
• Bearing each others’ burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2)
• Making spiritual investments in other people

 
Loving Our Parents--
~ Honoring and respecting them
~ Helping them
~ Supporting them in their endeavors
~ Being excited about their projects
~ Serving them joyfully
~ Praying for them
~ Being trustworthy of jobs they assign us
~ Finding areas in the house to take full responsibility for
 
Loving Our Brothers & Sisters--
~ Seriously investing in the relationship
~ Encouraging them in the Lord and in their time with Him
~ Memorizing Scripture together
~ Keeping each other accountable on character areas
~ Praying with and for them
~ Spending time with them
~ Showing them we care
~ Listening to them (A listening ear is greatly underestimated)
~ Playing with the little ones (Remember, TIME=LOVE)

Sibling relationships will last; the question is, will they last in tension or in unity? We reap what we sow—what we put into our relationships is what we will get out of them someday.
 
Loving Fellow Believers--
~Talking about things of the Lord—making eternal investments by steering conversations toward Him (This could be as simple as sharing a verse you read in your quiet time, what the Lord has been teaching you, or talking about the sermon at church)
~Discipling younger girls; setting a godly example for them
~Seeking ways to serve
~Remaining humble
~Showing concern—being sensitive
~Praying for and with them—asking how we can pray for them
~Forgiveness
~Passing on encouragement
~Selfishness never brings joy. True love is quite the opposite. :)
 
—A Few Parting Thoughts
      The Lord has used Psalm 37:5 to encourage me, and I hope to share some of what He has taught me from it here. “Commit thy way unto the LORD, trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.”
      First, commit your way to the Lord. May each of us be committed to never deviate from His ways as we endeavor to abide in Christ and focus on Him intently. May we live for His glory and praise alone. Let us be completely surrendered to Him, giving Him our whole heart through heartfelt obedience.
      Second, trust also in Him. We rest in the Lord by keeping our minds stayed on Him (Philippians 4:6–7; Isaiah 26:3–4). Our mighty, powerful God is worthy of all trust—nothing is too difficult for Him! May we eagerly embrace His will, which is perfect.
      Third, He will bring it to pass. If you think about it, living for Christ is simple because it’s His life lived through us. It is not what we do—as 1 Corinthians 15:10 says, “...by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain….” God will accomplish His work and manifest His mighty power, receiving all the glory. ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus—oh, for grace to trust Him more!
      As we work to surrender our lives and hearts to the lordship of Jesus Christ, He is able to do in and through us abundantly above all we ask or think! As one man said, “Be committed to faithfulness and let God write your story.”
“Bear not a single care thyself, one is too much for thee;
the work is Mine, and Mine alone; thy work—to rest in Me.”
(from Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret)

"The Secret of a Happy Day"
Frances Ridley Havergal
 
Just to let the Father do what He will;
Just to know that He is true, and be still.
Just to follow, hour by hour, as He leadeth;
Just to draw that moment’s power as it needeth.
Just to trust Him—that is all. Then the day will surely be
Peaceful, whatsoe’er befall; bright and blessed, calm and free.
 
Just to leave in His dear hand little things;
All we cannot understand; all that sings.
Just to let Him take the care sorely pressing;
Finding all we let Him bear changed to blessing.
This is all, and yet the way marked by Him Who loves thee best--
Secret of a happy day, secret of His promised rest.
 
 
—O How He Loves You & Me!
      May our gracious Lord be your portion and inheritance as you follow Him every step of the journey. May He keep you as the apple of His eye as He draws you with kindness and loves you with an everlasting love. His thoughts toward you are good, not evil, and He will give you an expected end. Draw frequently from His infinite source of strength and wisdom and grace and victory. As you thank the Lord for saving you and for His unceasing faithfulness in your life, may you rejoice in Him and may your soul be joyful in God because He has clothed you with the garments of salvation and covered you with His robe of righteousness. Cherish the promise that Christ will never leave or forsake you and that as you hide under the shadow of His wings, He will cover you with His feathers and uphold you with His steady hand where no one can pluck you out. He is the Rock that is higher than you, your Light, Strength, Salvation, High Tower, Buckler, and Fortress. Christ is the ultimate One Who will one day come for you, His bride, and Who only can satisfy all your longings and fulfill all your needs. Take His yoke upon you and learn of Him—He promises rest. His grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. Praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
      My encouragement to you is to keep walking with the Lord, loving Him, seeking His face earnestly, and spending time with Him. If you feel downhearted, hope in His Word! Remember, “Every word of God is pure: He is a shield to them that put their trust in Him.”—Proverbs 30:5         
Much Love in Christ,                                                      
Tiffany

 
"Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."
—Ephesians 6:24--
 
Jeremiah 31:3
II Samuel 22:31
Isaiah 54:5
Malachi 4:17
John 17:11–12
Proverbs 15:8
Matthew 10:30
Romans 5:8
Hebrews 13:5–6
Colossians 2
Romans 8
Lamentations 3:22–26
Psalm 103:12
Isaiah 43:25
Deuteronomy 31:6
II Corinthians 12:9
I Corinthians 15:57–58
Jude 24
Isaiah 46:4,9
Hosea 2:19–20
Revelation 19:7
Matthew 28:20
John 10:27–30
Psalm 63:8
Ephesians 5:25–27
I Corinthians 10:13
Hebrews 4:16
Psalm 16
Psalm 73:23–28
Revelation 19:11
Psalm 55:22
Psalm 42:2
I Chronicles 16:11
Isaiah 26:3–4
Philippians 4:6–7
Psalm 27
Matthew 5:6,8
Matthew 11:28–30
Luke 10:41–42
Colossians 3:1–3
Psalm 34:10
Psalm 19:14
Jeremiah 29:11–13
Psalm 37:5
Philippians 3:7–10,14
Galatians 6:7–9
Matthew 6:33
Revelation 14:4
John 15:1–5
John 14:21
Ephesians 6:24
II Peter 3:18
I Peter 3:15
I Peter 1:7–8
James 4:8
John 8:12
Luke 12:3
Isaiah 45:22
Psalm 63
Proverbs 2:1–9
Psalm 55:17