Falling in Love with Jesus

Psychology Today defines “Falling in Love” as:  One person finds himself/herself excited and preoccupied with someone else and desirous of touching that person and being with that person as much as possible. There is a frequent desire to share thoughts and experiences, even trivial experiences. It is a headlong, pleasurable feeling…the rest of life fades a little behind this dramatic daydream. It is as if there is a magnetic attraction to the other person that transcends rational thought. It is so powerful that, like other powerful feelings, such as grief, it seems to the affected person that it will last forever. It is the sort of thing people write songs about.”

If you haven’t experienced this feeling yourself, surely you’ve read it in a book or seen it in a movie…so let’s discuss what people “in love” do:

• You think and talk about each other constantly.
• God gave us proof in His Word that His thoughts are continually on us:
• Psalm 40:5
• Psalm 139:17
• Jeremiah 29:11
• When you're apart, you're dissecting the last conversation, both in your head and to family and friends and you long to be with them again.
• You feel excited about spending “forever” with them.
• You're smitten. Work, friends, family and hobbies take a backseat to your newfound love.
• You're a communication addict, constantly awaiting his next call, text or e-mail.
• God’s Word is FULL of love notes to us!! And, He loves to talk to us!
• You find no faults. Your love seems perfect through the blurred goggles of love. All the habits that would annoy you in anyone else seem quirky in your lover.
• God’s love really is flawless and though He has no habits or quirks, He loves us despite ours!
• You feel their pain. The idea of your love feeling pain makes your heart hurt.
• Romans 6:1-2

Ray Boltz sings the song Feel the Nails: “They tell me Jesus died for my transgressions/and He paid that price a long, long time ago/when He gave His life for me/on a hill called Calvary/but there’s something else I want to know/Does He still feel the nails every time I fail?/Does He hear the crowd cry crucify again?/Am I causing Him pain?/then I know I’ve got to change/I just can’t bear the thought of hurting Him/It seems that I’m so good at breaking promises/and I treat His precious grace so carelessly/but each time He forgives what if He relives/the agony He felt on that tree/Do You still feel the nails every time I fail?/Have I crucified you Jesus with my sin?/I’m tired of playing games/I really want to change/I never want to hurt You again”

• Your conversations never cease. Talking to your love is effortless because you have so much in common.
• You want everyone to meet the one you love.
• No sacrifice is too great to make if it will please the one you love.

Like any love relationship, if you don’t work to maintain it then the feelings grow stagnant and you find that you’ve fallen out of love. Psychology Today says, “Falling out of love involves a gradual loosening of bonding energies focused on your partner and a reinvestment of those energies elsewhere.

Growing apart can reflect a switch from interest in shared time to turning outside the relationship for friends, fun and emotional connection. If the hours apart involve activities that one partner disapproves of, instead of enriching the relationship the impact of the separate time is likely to be corrosive. Insufficient together time, even from purely practical impediments, also can lead to growing apart.

Growing apart can reflect priorities.  Is sustaining your relationship a priority for you? Or are you really more invested in hanging out with your old friends, or watching TV than you are in sustaining your love relationship?

Growing apart can reflect a growing interest in a new love.  There may not be a specific someone/something, but even flirting with worldliness can be a sign, as well as a cause, of falling out of love.

Misunderstandings, miscommunications, misperceptions, misbehaviors and mistakes occur from time to time in all relationships.  The question then is whether or not you are willing to repair the hurt or angry aftermath. Many people mistakenly believe that harboring hurt and anger about how, in their view, they were wronged will somehow protect them in the future. Wrong idea…it's another formula for growing apart.

Falling into painful situations can lead to falling out of love.  Emotional wounds from, for example, the birth of a handicapped infant or the death of a child can be particularly difficult to heal. If there is any element of blame, a gulf is likely to develop and to widen over time if the issues are not constructively discussed.   Even without blame, after a trauma people often feel launching a new life without their former love will help them to escape on-going sadness or resentments.  

Depression puts dark glasses on the outlook of the depressed person.  Hopelessness about things ever getting better in the future is a hallmark of depressive thinking. Focusing on negatives, on don’t likes, makes the gulf between two loves ever wider.  Criticism erodes love.  Gratitude and appreciation enhance joy and love. 

So, if your intimate relationship seems to be splitting apart, pay attention! And take action sooner, not later when the split has become a vast divide.”

We need to work at staying in love with Jesus!! His love for us never fades, so if there is any “growing apart” in our relationship with Him, it’s our fault and we need to fix it!! The most important relationship you’ll EVER have is with Jesus Christ!!

Falling back in to love isn’t easy, but it is worth every effort! Especially when we are talking about falling back into love with Jesus!! Of course, our flesh and the enemy of our soul will try hard to keep us from re-developing a love relationship with the Lord, but it is of vital importance…we need to fight for our relationship or it could cost us eternity.

1. Restore verbal communication. Communication is key to any relationship. The only way to get to know someone is to talk to them. Pastor feels God directing us to turn our prayer lives around this year, just 5.8 minutes a day to start. 5 minutes out of 1,440 minutes a day to talk to our Creator, the One Who died to give us life. I heard a speaker once say that when we make a commitment to pray at a certain time every day, God goes before us and waits…so how does He feel when that appointed time has come and gone and we found ourselves too busy to stop and talk with Him? We wouldn’t want to be treated that way, and we are mere humans, yet we think nothing of treating our Savior that way? If you just had casual conversation with the love of your life every day, how close do you think your relationship would be after a while? Taking time out of your day to sit and talk and listen to the One you love is very, very important in rebuilding a healthy relationship.

Love Letter From God

I just had to send a note and tell you today
Of how much I love you and saw you yesterday.
You were walking and talking with your friends.
So I waited all day for it to come to an end.

Just hoping you'd want to talk with me, too.
But as evening drew near I did not hear from you.
I gave you a beautiful sunset to close your day
And a nice cool breeze to soothe you on your way.

Though I longed to hear words from your tongue
You did not draw near me, you didn't even come.
It made me sad and many tears filled my eyes
And within my heart I began to cry.

I saw you fall asleep on your pillow last night
As I spilled upon you the soft moonlight.
How I longed to reach down and touch your cheek,
To awaken within you a heart complete.

I wanted to rush down so that we could talk.
But you didn't notice me, you didn't even look
Today you looked so very sad and alone.
If only you would invite me into your home.

I have so many gifts for you in store,
Riches in abundance and so much more.
But I won't push you for I'm a gentle man,
I'll just sit and wait patiently, for salvations' plan.

But, still, you haven't noticed that it is I
Though I try to tell you in the deep blue skies.
I whisper your name through the flowers and trees,
But you did not notice that it was even me.

I send soft incense through the flowers that glisten.
Still, you do not hear. You do not even listen.
I shout love to you in the mountain streams.
I clothe you with sunshine through the evergreens.

When will you see, when will you hear,
Through the nature scents that perfume the air?
Though I send love songs through the birds that sing,
Still, you have not noticed that I am your King!

What will it be that will capture your attention
So that we may spend an eternity together in heaven?
Please R.S.V.P.
Love,
Your Heavenly Father

2. Restore written communication. Do you want to be reminded of His love for you? Just read His Word! (Here are a few scriptures to start you off with: Romans 8:39; Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 1:3-6; Psalm 139:13-18; Psalm 138:8; Psalm 8:3; Isaiah 49: 15-18; Isaiah 44:15…try reading them out loud every day!) Remember writing love notes? Write some to God!! Seriously, writing keeps our minds focused.

3. Be thankful for the little things. When you’re waiting at a stoplight, or in the grocery line, use that time to chat with God and thank Him for every little thing in your life that you can think of in that moment (i.e. family, friends, your home (because you’re not homeless), food, clothes, the vehicle you drive (the taxi that is available if you don’t drive).

 

4. Ask Him what pleases Him, then do it. If you know something you can do, say or wear pleases someone you’re trying to win, then you have no problem doing it…there should be no difference in our wanting to do things to please God. So, ask Him what you can do to please Him. Your flesh may buck a little at some of the things He’ll ask you to do (or not do), but the ending result is very worth it

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to evaluate our relationship with God and make sure we maintain our passion for Him. Life gets in the way too often, we need to make Him our priority…make Him the love of our life, because we are His.