Overcome by His Love

Oh, Lord,
I want to tell you what you mean to me.
I want to write you a sonnet of love.
How can I express a lose so deep--
A love so dear.
Not a love caused by what you've done for me,
Though that is more than I can say,
But a love grown out of Love.
A love for the Giver of Love.
Love-the word is inadequate to express what I feel.
I can only fully express my love in the tongue of the Spirit.
I want to be with You.
My desire is for You.

I wrote this in December of 1983 after God had lifted my spirit out of a time of pain.
It came back to me after a dream I had last night.
In the dream Christmas was coming and I was making plans.
Sadness was all around me--my own, others--the sadness of life in this world and of families split apart for one reason or another.

Before Jesus was arrested He told His disciples--us--after a long discourse concerning the Holy Spirit that's recorded in John 16: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Life on this earth isn't easy. Every day we hear of friends who have diseases, people who hurt others, sadness, strife, death, war, disunity and more. In our own lives, as in the lives of my own family, we have heartbreaks. And we have no control. We can't make them better.

When I wrote the words from 12/1983, I was hurting because of something that was happening in the lives of people I loved. I prayed and read the word and listened to the Spirit, searching for peace; for comfort. Proverbs 4:20-22 came from somewhere that day: "Give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh."

I know many people doubt the Bible. Others believe every word came out of the Spirit of God. All I know is this: these words are a guide and they come to me when I need them the most. The Spirit speaks to me through these words, and when I heed what they say, I am healed. These words tell me what my spirit knows: God loves me and because He first loved me, I can love others.

Some days I can feel His love so strong it takes my breath away, it takes my words away and the only way I can express myself to Him is through His Spirit. When I do that, the tribulation of the world falls away and I see that He has overcome all the sadness and sorrow I have.

Romans 8:18 "For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

2 Corinthians 4:16,17, 18 "We do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Funny how God takes His word and shows us that it is the mind that is being renewed because we reside in the soul. When our minds are renewed, we don't look at what is going on around us in the same way. The Word of God, whether it comes by reading or by the Spirit in some other way, is our "treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." 2 Cor. 4:7

I pray that God will speak to you by whatever means you need today so that you may have peace in the knowledge that Jesus has overcome it by His Love.