Desperate Love

There's a worldly quote about not being able to make a decision when using ones heart? The saying, " you know you can't trust your heart "? Well, even the scriptures say the heart of man is utterly wicked. Because of the fall of man in that garden so long ago. But what is it about a heart that's given itself over to love? I had an extraordinary encounter with God in a vision. With my own hands, I ripped the heart out of my chest! I'm sorry for the graphics, but it was a bloody mess. As I held my heart in my hands, my body limp and my head bending low, slumped over, with a pure resolve and an end I did not know. I walked up these stairs covered in the most brilliant white light coming from the one seated at the top. He stood up... to meet me! Yes! JESUS clothed in such LIGHT! Broken and desperate, I then put all that I had to give, my only possession, which was my heart...into HIS hands. He received it as one of the most precious gifts He had ever held!

Standing there in His holy majestic joy and radiant beauty with such gratitude, He slowly drew ever closer to me!

With His own HAND, He then put my gift...back inside my chest! Thereupon He spoke these words to me, " KEEP...MY...HEART "! In His presence, with so much love in His tone, oh the sound of His voice, I was undone! I still am to this very day! And this wasn't even my salvation experience!

This was a divine collision at an intersection...with greater LOVE!

In this exchange, I was given that which is better than silver and gold. The reality and understanding that this heart within me is truly no longer mine but HIS! Think about it...His heart is within us! His passion and LOVE dwells in us! We must be very unrelenting in the care of His heart.

This love is stronger than death (John 12). And is one of the dearest keys to my treasure box, keeping His heart! Let me share a few insights about the heart that beats within us.

Years back, I noted how I would posture my heart to "listen" while sitting in a Sunday service meeting. And how this way of listening would cause a burning, blazing fire to erupt in me. Many emotions would surface. It has grown over the years, and the fire goes with me wherever I am. With gratitude and humility, I share my world with you.

But how can this be, you might ask, a heart of living love, a burning that is felt inside the human body and even radiates outward? You know, tend to the fire, take care of it; it will keep its warmth and flame. Passionate love is the oil in the five wise virgins' lamps! ( Matthew 25 ).

I've shared with you about my hard-working husband in a previous blog article, " Between His Shoulders ."In the past, in his exhaustion, he would be so tired. I'd catch him about to fall asleep, sitting there beside me on a Sunday. I would elbow him and say, "Honey...listen with your heart, not your tired head"! Love will "posture" itself to hear. This is one of the many gifts God has given to us. It is another key to greater love! Oh, to listen with our hearts.

I've discovered recently that in Jewish tradition, the "heart" is the seat of all emotions. In the midrash (an ancient textual interpretation of the first five books of the bible), it lists over 60 emotions of the heart! Among these emotions: " the heart sees, it hears, speaks, falls, stands, rejoices, weeps, comforts, sorrows." In Ecclesiastes 1:3, our hearts are vessels of feelings and our wisdom!

In 1 Kings 3, the young boy Solomon " asked " God for an understanding heart, to judge His people rightly, and to discern between good and evil. This desire pleased God and He GOD……

Gave Solomon "a wise and discerning heart"! Marvelous, isn't it?

Fascinating, it's like the dark but lovely Shulamite woman in the Song of Solomon. She was desperate and determined to find her Beloved! Desperate love goes after hers!

Shall we not ask, God, what are You thinking? What are you feeling, Lord? Just as the one caring for His heart within her, the conversation begins. She waits, postured. She listens with her heart wide open, gazing, fully alive, with His Words on her lips...she looks for Him! Here the Deep of God calls out to the Deep of God within her, His inward flame on her heart responds, being pulled upward, a divine collision of love implodes leaning on her Beloved, being found in His eyes... she BURNS no longer her own but HIS!

Scripture meditation: His Words, His Promises!

Deuteronomy 6: 5-6…You shall LOVE the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

John 14:21... "He who has My commandments {God's words, His thoughts } and keeps them, it is he who LOVES Me. And he who LOVES Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and disclose Myself to him"!