Reason #21 - He Is My Soul's Husband

Listen to this verse:

"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).

Isn't that beautiful? I'm 19 years old, and I'm a girl, and girls love to dream, and girls love romance stories and fairy tales. Prince and Princess ride off in the sunset on a noble white steed into the sunset, and they live happily ever after. *sigh*

And so go the stories...stories that would have me believe I can never be happy as a single girl. Stories that would whisper in my ear, "You'll never be complete until that special someone comes into your life..."

I beg to differ!!

Right now, at this very moment, I have a Husband! I have a Lover! And this is no ordinary groom, but my soul's Husband willingly laid down His life for me.

Oh, how I wish I could know the extent of his love for me. How I wish I could understand the depth of His commitment to me. And how I wish that I could love Him more.

Yes, what a beautiful paradox! Right now, even as a single girl, I am married. I love being single, and I'm truly content right now! I love the freedom that comes from being unmarried, the freedom to be able to focus undistractedly on my Lord. And I don't want to lose sight of that. As more and more of my friends began dating or courting or getting married, I don't want to fall away from my Maker and my Husband, and began dreaming of an earthly man.

Yes, I look forward to being married one day, and falling in love with a man. But until that day comes, I am satisfied. I am more than satisfied.

I wrote the song below so I could sing it and remind myself: "I am His bride!"

MY FIRST ROMANCE

Castles in the clouds, Starry-eyed dreams

Fluttering hearts, “Does he love me?”

Fragile hopes, Shattered dreams

Broken hearts - all this I see.

I have found love – vast and free

Love that spilled its blood for me.

CHORUS

How could I resist His tender call?

How could I resist Love giving all?

My heart has found its One true Love

Oh, this is my first Romance.

Hand in mine, walks by my side

He’ll never leave , I’m asking “why?”

Somehow, someway, He wanted me

Here’s my heart, here’s all of me

CHORUS

A bride right now, I wait for my Groom

Clothed in white, He promised it soon

Can’t wait for the day I see His face.

My Groom will come, and take me away.

I love my Lord, because He is my soul's husband.

Reason #20 - He is My Life

My life verse is Colossians 3:1-4. I LOVE this passage - it has changed my life! Listen to verse four:

"When Christ, WHO IS OUR LIFE, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory."

Isn't that amazing to think about?? Christ is my life.

I often hear people say, "Basketball is my life" or "Music is my life." Basketball and music are both lovely things - I'm not saying in any way that we shouldn't participate in them. I've done both and love them! But what would it look like if every Christian could honestly say, "Christ is my life"? How would the world be changed if each of us was wholly consumed by one goal, one passion?

Our life is like a sentence.

If our lives could be portrayed by one sentence, what would your sentence be?

Read the following Christian “life sentences,” and see if you can assimilate a clear view of the person being described.

“I love God, my boyfriend is cute, and volleyball is my favorite!”

“Football is great, I want to be rich, and I go to church twice a week.”

Are you confused? Unsure? Misguided?

Now read the following example:

“I love the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Here is power! Here is clarity! We have a crystal clear perception of this person’s life. There is no room for any extra goals. One theme comes clearly into focus.

Listen to Paul’s life sentence: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21) His life was Christ. Nothing more.

Let each believer realize that when we accept Christ, we die to our own life. Every previous goal, every former ambition, goes to the grave. A divided life is also an ineffective life that screams out opposite messages to its “readers.” Christ does not ask to be tacked on to the end of our life sentence. He asks to be our life sentence.

Romans 6:4 – “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Galatians 2:20 – “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Colossians 3:1-4 – “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above…Set your affection on things above, and not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”

If a Christian finds that his life goals are divided – that more than one focus claims his heart – it is time for him to do some editing! He must write out his life sentence, and then study it to identify his purposes and goals. There will be activities that he will need to drop from his calendar, much like words that simply do not need to be written. He must remove the unneeded extras that would distract from the main focus of his life.

I love my Lord, because He is my life.

Reason #19 - He Became Sin For Us

2 Corinthians 5:21 - "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Imagine this. The Lamb of God -

Perfect -
Spotless -
Without blemish -

- In intimate fellowship with the Father.

God's standard is perfection, is it not? Only a sinless Being can know our Lord God intimately. Christ knew no sin. He was one with the Father.

I wonder if any of us will ever come close to understanding the enormous impact that lay before Christ when God's plan for salvation was revealed. For Christ, Who had known no sin, Who had always enjoyed unbroken fellowship with the Father, must not only live in a sinful world, and in a fleshly body, but He must become sin.

Christ - the spotless Lamb -

SIN for us.

He became sin, that we might become righteous. By His choice, He lay aside that sweet intimacy, and God turned His back on His Son. Why? Because He loved us so much, that He would rather break fellowship with His Father than to see His people lost and separated from God.

Oh to see the pain written on Your face
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Every bitter thought, every evil deed
Crowing Your blood stained brow.

This the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath

WE STAND FORGIVEN AT THE CROSS.

~ "The Power of the Cross," Keith and Kristyn Getty


I am in awe. I love my Lord, because He became sin for me.

Reason #18 - He Asks Us to Die

Perhaps this reason would strike others as odd. For me personally, I think it is going to be one of the most life changing ones God has shown me. This post was taken straight from my journal, so it is a glimpse of me for who I am - just a mess really! :) and yet excited for what God is showing me, and excited to grow.

This past summer held some of the best weeks of my life. Who would have ever guessed it?

I love going places.
I stayed home almost the whole time.

I love being being with people.
I interacted with very few others, besides my dear family.

I love accomplishing goals and getting things done.
Outside of the spiritual realm, I got almost nothing done.

So why was it such an amazing time for me? Simply put, my life was God this summer. My whole family took a month to do nothing but seek God. We aren't some super spiritual saints - we hardly even planned to do it, and certainly not for that long! God dropped the idea in our laps, and all of a sudden, we were in the middle of one of the most spiritually beautiful times of our lives.

During those weeks, I had glimpses of what it meant to abide in Christ. I had glimpses of what it meant to love the Lord with all my heart. I had glimpses of what it meant to actually hear the Lord's voice (not audibly, but in my spirit) and to know that He was speaking to me. And I had glimpses of what it meant to die.

Jesus said:
"If any man will come after me, let him...

...pray for long hours?
...give a lot of money to charities?
...go every week to church?
...even become a missionary?

No! "...let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." And then His next words are:

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. " (Luke 9:23-24)

I lived 18 years of my life with a will that was strong and alive and well, and I regret that. Just a few months before I turned 19, God finally brought me to a point that I could choose to die. I died to my pride, my stubbornness, my selfishness; and also to my dreams, my desires, my goals.

And I found that dying is the only way to live.

"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12:24)

This summer, God brought me into a deeper understanding of what that looked like. He impressed on me a very simple fact:

"The only things that matter at all are the things that count for eternity."

In eternity, will it matter if people liked me? If I had friends out the wazoo, and impressed those in my life with my talents? When I stand before the judgement seat of Christ, will it matter if I could sing beautifully? If I was busy? If I had a successful career?

On the day that I step into eternity, the only thing that will matter is if I served the Lord with every atom inside me. Simply put, did I love the Lord with ALL of my heart?

And these are all very nice thoughts, right?

Until I have to put them into practice.

Because if I believed them, then they would shaped every activity I chose to participate in. In every choice I made, the deciding factor would be, "does it count for eternity?" And if not, then what in the world am I doing messing around with it??

That is dying. And that is hard.

But I understood that so clearly this summer. It was my heart. And there was joy in that.

Somewhere along the way, my focus shifted. I remember feeling vague uneasiness over it...realizing that I didn't have quite the same passion and single-hearted focus as before. But hey, life is busy right? And in the flurry of getting ready for a new semester, I forgot.

I forgot that greatness isn't about how many people serve us. It's about how many people we choose to serve. I forgot that success isn't busy-ness, and popularity, and favor with men. Success is favor with God.

I heard from the Lord today. And He told me, "you think life is all about you."

I was in awe. Of course it's true. I had planned my whole semester around the activities that I would enjoy, and would sound impressive to others. I stepped into the new semester for me. The painful, honest truth is that I resurrected my "will" and my "self" once again.

And once again, God asked me to die.

And once again, I died.

"I am crucified (dead) with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..." (Galatians 2:20)

This whole dying business isn't too popular with Christians nowadays.

We want just enough of Jesus to make us happy, just enough to give us a peace, and just enough to make things go our way to fulfill our dreams and our agenda. Meanwhile, (Christ) wants to take us to the cross, where our own selfish dreams, egos, and plans for "great accomplishments" have to die. The cross brings you to a place of total and absolute surrender of all you have and all you are. You submit everything in obedience to (Christ).

~ Chip Ingram, "Good to Great in God's Eyes

No we Christians don't understand the dying part of Christianity, nor do we care to. But the disciples did. What did they say?

"Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee (Jesus)..." (Matthew 19:27)

Imagine that. Everything. Thrown aside and forgotten. Why? In Paul's words,

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." (Philippians 3:8)

Is Christ enough for us? Do we crave Him so intensely that we would give Him every fiber of our lives, every vibrating pulse of our passions, every heart throb of our dreams?

This is what He asks for. I am convinced that this is what it takes to "win Christ." And He is enough.

I love Him, because He has asked me to die.

Reason #17 - He is a God of Grace

How many times have we sung the beautiful song:

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me..."

And never even once thought about the words we were singing? I am so very thankful today that I serve a God of grace!

A few days ago, I heard a preacher speak on the book of 1 Corinthians. The first verse in this book says:

"Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother."

I had always skimmed right over those type of introductions. Not much there right? Let's get right to the good stuff! :) I wonder how much we miss of God's Word in the "not important extras" that we always skip over?...

We all know who Paul was. Formally named Saul, I know of few other men described in the Bible who were more passionate in their zeal AGAINST Christianity. Paul was responsible for the death of hundreds, maybe thousands of Godly, innocent Christian men and women. Can it get much worse than that?

Yes, we know about Paul. But who was Sosthenes?

This was a man who also passionately persecuted the Christian church. You see, Sosthenes was the ruler of the Jewish synagogue. He hated Christians and wanted them wiped out. One day, he took his case against the Roman courts, only to be thrown out because the Romans didn't want anything to do with religious cases. The angry mob that Sosthenes had stirred up against the Christians, now turned against him and beat him.

Somehow, through all of this chaos, God gripped his heart. Sosthenes became a vibrant, passionate Christian.

Two men...both dead set against the only One Who could save their souls. Two men...filled with hatred and anger. Two men...responsible for the deaths of innocent men and women.

And two men...transformed into two of God's most passionate, faithful servants.

We serve a God Who declares "There is no sin so great, that I cannot forgive. There is no past so dark that I cannot transform. There is no life so broken that I cannot repair. There is no man so sinful that I cannot use."

We serve a God of grace.

I love my Lord, because He is a God of grace.

Reason # 16 - He Gives Meaning to Life

I have often wondered how non Christians can feel fulfilled in life. I am realizing now that they can't. They flat out, hands down, just...can't.

Christ and Christ alone brings purpose and meaning to our lives. I am so thankful today to know that my life is full of rich, vibrant purpose because I have the Only Reason to live dwelling inside of me!!

For a long distance college communications course I am taking this semester, I had to write a 500 word essay on my life goals. I am so glad that I was forced to take the time to do this!! :)

Thank you Jesus for being a Goal worth living for, and a Goal worth dying for.

"My goal is to live a life that is vividly marked with a wholehearted love for my Savior and Lord. That I could say in complete honesty that I have no closer Friend than Jesus. That the best part of each day would be those precious hours in the morning spent in His presence. That I would involuntarily talk with Him all throughout each day. That my eyes would light up at the mention of His Name.

My goal is to live every day of my life in the light of eternity. That I would evaluate each activity in terms of how it will appear when I stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. And thus, that I will reject any activity that would be meaningless at best or shameful at worst when my life has ended and I am called to give an account.

My goal is to live my life in such a way that I would be worthy of all 4 crowns that Christ has promised to reward His children with: the crown of life for those who persevere and remain faithful through trials and persecution; the crown of righteousness for those who love the Lord’s appearing; the crown of glory for those who are good shepherds of God’s people; and the crown of rejoicing for those who are soulwinners. That as the athlete devotes his life to competing in the Olympics and winning the gold medal, so I would devote every fiber of my life to win the rewards that my Father longs to give to His triumphant children one day.

My goal is to bring with me a vast group of precious souls to heaven, who came to know Christ and first heard of His gift of salvation because I took the initiative to share with them. To unashamedly and fearlessly proclaim the love of Christ not only in my actions, but also in my words. That when I see a new face, I would have only one question: “Do you know Jesus?” And that I would choose to ask that question in all boldness and love.

In short, my goal is stop short of nothing less than a radical life wholly devoted to my Lord…nothing held back. Does my goal seem radical? Does is seem unnecessary? Does it seem unattainable?

In the eyes of most, the answers to the above questions would be a resounding yes! And yet, I am reminded: “Some goals are so worthy that it is glorious even to fail.”

I have not even come close to reaching my goals. Sometimes, it seems that dozens of lifetimes could not give me enough time to accomplish all that I hope to accomplish in one lifetime! But I do not strive alone. With the Giver of all strength and power dwelling within me, nothing is impossible.

I have only one chance at this life. My goal is to make it count! "

I love my Lord, because He brings fullness of meaning to otherwise empty lives.

Reason #15 - He is a Very Present Help in Trouble

Several months ago, a dear friend of ours lost her unborn baby girl at 7 months pregnant. So many other hard things were going on in her life...and now this. There are times when God may seem so far away. A life falls to pieces, and we're tempted to wonder if God even cares.

At the time, as I thought about her situation, I was absolutely overwhelmed as I realized God's nearness in the midst of her pain. Life is hard. We have an enemy (Satan) here on earth who comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. But oh what a beautiful contrast - "Christ is come to give life, and to give it more abundantly!" And even in the midst of our pain, He has promised us that He will walk through it with us - right by our side. To be a very present help in times of trouble.

I wrote this poem at the time, and was in tears through most of it, as I marveled over God's nearness and care for His children...


A father and mother stand together
Grieving over their loss,
A child they have never known
Has left them at such a high cost.

Their hearts ache together
As they try to say goodbye
But how to find adequate words
When all they can do is cry?

But there is One Who hears pain unspoken
Who understands silent grief
Who knows the agony of each tear
And Who alone, can bring relief.

Their joy is His
Their care is His
Their love is His
More infinite, more deep, more abounding
Complete, never ending – perfect.
He Who holds galaxies in His hands…also holds each tear.
He carries in His arms the children He has LOVED:
The Good Shepherd – Who has laid down His life so the lambs may live.
And it is in these everlasting arms that He cradles their child,
Gently caressing, rocking her to sleep against His breast.

In a world where roses are few
Where thorns and briars abound,
Where clouds often cover the sun
And where pain sets in all around…

Surely our joy is not here!
Surely our hope elsewhere lies.
Surely she has found what we long for one day
The pure joy that no money buys!

What comfort is hers!
What peace –
What delight!
And we rejoice with her.
Though our hearts here grieve
We offer our grief to our Lord
And commit her to the Savior’s care.
Knowing that a child who has grown up in the presence of Jesus is the happiest child that could ever be.”

What could be harder than losing a baby? And yet, this thought came to me...our Father, too, knows the pain of losing a loved One. He too understands the pain of losing His Child. There is no hurt too great to give to Him. There is no pain so piercing that He cannot soothe it. There is no burden so heavy that He cannot carry it for us.

What a God we serve!


Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

I love my Lord, because He my very present help in all my trouble.