MY LIFE: #58 My True Love Life

Dr. Stephen Phinney: Our Love Life with Christ is the pinnacle of a believer’s life. If each Truth represented in this series has been appropriated, completing the process will involve your actions.

AN ETERNAL INDWELLING LOVE STORY

THE BOY WHO STOPPED CRYING WOLF

Have them stop devoting their attention to myths and never-ending genealogies; these divert people to speculating instead of doing God's work, which requires trust. The purpose of this order is to promote love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and from sincere trust. Some, by aiming amiss, have wandered off into fruitless discussion.

(1 Timothy 1:4-6)

The impossible task of considering other people more important than oneself is daunting unless it is done in and through Christ. 

Outside of my love life with my precious wife, Jane, deep in the inner chambers of my heart, an eternal love story unfolds—a relentless devotion packed with grace and unwavering loyalty. It is the story of my love life with Jesus, the One who knows me intimately, even before I utter a word each morning.

My love story with Yeshua began long before I drew my first breath. As the Lord’s statement to prophet Jeremiah, the Lord revealed to me He knew me before I was conceived within the vast expanse of humanity. He knew my weaknesses before my mother held me. He saw me in advance—a fragile soul seeking purpose, stumbling through life’s labyrinth.

Jesus reached out to me at the ripe age of sixteen, His nail-scarred hands extending across time and space and touching my soul. His eyes held fixed, and His heart cradled my desperate longing soul. He called out, and I received His indwelling Life without much nudging.

Since I could not waltz through the pages of His Holy Scriptures due to my illiteracy, I looked for love in all the wrong places. Keeping to His Divine mission, He pursued me relentlessly until I embraced His eternal love for me. His promises became my heartbeat, and His sacrifice—the crimson thread weaving through every corner of my mind—ultimately rescued me from the darkness of my self-life.

I slowly realized that in the garden, He wept for my brokenness. On the cross, He bled for my sins. And in the empty tomb, He triumphed over my sinful nature of death, whispering, “Beloved Stephen, you are mine.”

In due time, our love blossomed in quiet moments—through the hush of dawn, the rustle of doubts and confusion, and in the fortitude of my prayers I began to “get it.” It is not I who loves but His love that ignites my soul TO love.

Today, our love story continues—a story of His everlasting Grace stitching together my broken heart of yesteryears, replacing bad memories with seasons of joy amid sorrow. He remains my constant lover, my Husband, my North Star. I can now declare that I am His cherished Bride.

One day, when earthly days fade into eternity, through Rapture or by death, we’ll stand face to face. I will get that long awaited embrace. No more veils of detachments, no more shadows of past sins. Only love—pure, unending, and eternal. I eagerly await to kiss my Groom.

So here I am, penning our love story—a mere weak and frail mortal, yet cherished by the Divine love of my Savior. My heart finally can say: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You” (Psalm 73:25).

Yeshua, my Beloved, my Bridegroom—our love is beyond human understanding, and while it is a sacred mystery, I find my truest love in You alone.

DEPENDENCY IN CHRIST

Dependency upon AND in Christ from within will bring a Life of obedience that will sprout the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Each will overflow into the lives of those around us as long as we allow Jesus to manifest His fruit through us.

It is essential that we see and understand all the Truths of Christ-as-Life and why our identity truly does matter. We need to be willing to allow those who understand who they are in Christ to minister to us by helping us focus our desires on obeying God and giving the Life of Christ away to others. This is all accomplished through each believer accepting their identity in Christ.

Our Love Life with Christ is the pinnacle of a believer’s life. If each Truth represented in this series has been appropriated, completing the process will involve participants (who are believers) embracing their fullness in Christ Jesus.

There are three aspects of a Love Life with Christ, which will be explained in this essay and the one following. Keep in mind: the primary flesh act that gets in the way of a believer enjoying their Love Life with Christ is disobedience. In fact, disobedience will affect their prayer life and its effectiveness. When each of those issues is reconciled unto the Lord, the believer will be able to release Christ to love others in His perfect way.

For whatever reason the Lord has, He has an intimate relationship between love and obedience. It is probably because obedience to authority is the greatest evidence of love. Simply put: loving God is obeying Him. Jesus actually summarizes all the Law and the prophets into these two commands: love God and love others. This kind of love is not worldly, natural, or of humanity – it is God. We find in the truest definition of love in 1 John 4:8, “God is love.”

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).

The proof of Salvation is that we will know if someone is an indwelt believer by their love. God told us to love one another. He also knew that since love came from Him, we had no human ability to love another. So, what is up with that? This is the reason and purpose of God, the Father, placing His Son inside the born-again believer. So, the believer could love. Our Love Life with Christ within us is our evidence of knowing Him from within.

Love is essential in the life of an indwelt Christian. God is the source of love – in fact, as we learned, God is Love. With the inheritance of receiving that love comes a condition – IF you love Me, you WILL keep My commandments (John 14:15).

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:8-9).

Coming up next is #59, “Tree of Life.”

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