Christian Living

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Happy Valentines Day!
During this holiday of love I wanted to remind us all of the greatest love. God loves us all so much – more than we ever give Him credit for. Sure, we know that He died for us, but we forget how He longs to have a personal relationship with us right now. He didn’t merely save us for heaven (remember “eternal life” according to scripture is “that they may know You the only true God and to know Jesus Christ whom You sent.” (John 17:3) He saved us for Himself. We too often get tied up in all that we do and forget that we are not called to a religion but a relationship. We all know how to maintain a relationship, but how well do we maintain our relationship with God? We maintain that relationship primarily through prayer and Scripture meditation. But even those of us who religiously practice these things can slip into just that religion. It is so easy to get into routines and even when we say that we’re getting alone with God we end up missing Him entirely. I wonder how often, if we could only hear Him, does God say to us, “I miss you. Return to Me, your first love, and do the things you did at first (Revelation 2:4-5), when we first fell in love.” We would also do well to remember that He is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14) and does not like to share our hearts. We have this certain idea of what an idol is, but I think that we all become idol worshipers unawares. Since we do not necessarily replace God in our hearts, we think that we are not idolaters, but God will not share His place with anything or any one. Which one of us has not experienced the pain of love given and not returned – whether that person was a friend, a parent, a relative – whether platonic or romantic in nature – we’ve all been hurt by someone we loved who never really loved us back or even turned on us. Yet how often do we do this to God? Too often we take His grace and profess our love, but our actions say otherwise (Isaiah 29:13, Ezekiel 14:2-3). We spend more time doing other things than being with and getting to know the One who loves us and longs jealously for us more than we can imagine. Anything we might say like, “I just have too much to do.” we know is only an excuse. It shows where our priorities really lie, and whatever we have placed at the top of our list is clearly what we love and worship over God. Don’t you know how jealous you have made Him?

I have here two songs that God has written through me (and are posted elsewhere) to those who are His. Please listen to His heart as you read them.

I Miss You

You’re so busy doing
When will you just simply be
I’m waiting to hold you
You’re so busy thinking
When will you just learn to see
I’m aching to show you
Close your eyes
If you try
You can hear Me singing

I miss you
I miss the place I held in your heart
I miss you
I miss the way we couldn’t be apart
I used to be all that you could think about
I miss you, turn your heart back to Me now

You’re so busy talking
When will you just stop to hear
And listen with your heart
You’re so busy searching
But you know I’m always near
We are never apart
Close your eyes
If you try
You can hear Me singing

I miss you
I miss the place I held in your heart
I miss you
I miss the way we couldn’t be apart
I used to be all that you could think about
I miss you, turn your heart back to Me now

Don’t forget that I’m right here, always
Don’t forget that I’m closer than your next breath
Oh, You know My love will never end
Here I’m asking for your love again

I miss you
I miss the place I held in your heart
I miss you
I miss the way we couldn’t be apart
I used to be all that you could think about
I miss you, turn your heart back to Me now

~Dionne Stratton
August 3, 2007

Turn Back to Me

Don’t you know how much I love you
Night and day I watch to see
Where is your wandering heart
And are you coming back to Me
My heart is breaking
My soul is aching
But my arms are right here waiting

No matter how you stray
Just come back to Me today
And you’ll see I’m the only One
Who can really love you forever
And ever since the start of time
Knew I’d die to make you Mine
I’m ready to run to you
Turn back to Me

Don’t you know how it makes Me smile
When you turn your eyes to Mine
Though you’ve wondered in darkness
Won’t you leave it all behind
My heart is breaking
My soul is aching
But my arms are right here waiting

No matter how you stray
Just come back to Me today
And you’ll see I’m the only One
Who can really love you forever
And ever since the start of time
Knew I’d die to make you Mine
I’m ready to run to you
Turn back to Me

You’ve felt the pain
Of being away
From the shelter of my wings
I’m reaching out
Won’t you hear me now
Find the joy My presence brings

No matter how you stray
Just come back to Me today
And you’ll see I’m the only One
Who can really love you forever
And ever since the start of time
Knew I’d die to make you Mine
I’m ready to run to you
Turn back to Me

~Dionne Stratton
February 12, 2008

If you have felt convicted even the slight bit, I invite you to pray this with me -
“Our merciful God, we come before You in repentance. We see that we have not loved You as we should and not near what You deserve. Help us now to truly love You with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Mark 12:30). May we requite Your love with all that is in us. We desire right now to make You the center of our lives – to desire You over everything. Lord, may You be our one great love and the passion of our souls. Be first in our lives, having the first of everything – our love, our time, our resources. Lord, You are worthy of all our love, praise, adoration, worship, affection, trust, and obedience – may we give to You everything that You deserve. Oh God, we are so amazed at the depth of Your love for us – it is far greater than we can imagine for You pursued us when we were worse than strangers to You (Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:21). You breathed life into us when we were dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1&5, Colossians 2:13). Lord, help us every day to surrender our selves completely to You. May we desire to be Yours just as You desire for us to be Yours. Lord, may all Your desires become our desires. Unite our hearts to Yours. We pray these things in the name of Jesus – He who displayed Your love for all the world to see – and for the sake of Your name and the precious blood of the Lamb which purchased us as Your own forever. Set our hearts on fire for You. Amen.”

If you haven’t ever checked it out or if it’s been a while, I encourage you to check out my other postings, not because they are mine but because I know and believe that God writes through me. Sometimes quite directly like in the ones above and in many other ways.

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