Posted: 02/17/2010 at 1:20pm
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Arising From the Depth of Longing
By Ron McGatlin
Unrequited love births deep longing – a strong desire for fulfillment.
Fully requited love is fulfillment with joy and satisfaction beyond reason or understanding.
Though one possess the whole world and can do all things, there is yet a painful sense of desire when deep love is not returned by the one that is loved.
Love that is not felt in the deep realms of the heart of both the one loving and the one loved is not completed love. Love that is not felt is not fully experienced love. However, love is more than feeling. Love produces a covenant-type testament, a union that involves giving substance of one’s life to another. Substance of life is imparted to the one loved, creating a vacuum in the life of the one giving the love. When the love is requited, life flows back into that empty space. If the love is not requited, the space is left empty.
The nature of love is to give. Love will give all it possesses. The deepest treasure of the soul is not too much for love to give.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That which is substance of Himself was given freely to those who are the object of His great love.
A stream of love flows from God toward the world. Every person in the world is an object of the love of God. Life flows from God toward all mankind like the sun flows life to all the earth.
When unrequited, the magnificent love of God for His people becomes the source of deep longing in the heart of God.
The reflection of God’s immaculate love back to Him in the passionate worshipful love response of His people (His Bride) is the source of ultimate joy in the heart of God.
Father God’s love flowing into His people produces purity. Our hearts filled with His love develop a passionate desire to please Him. Our deepest motivation becomes to always please Him and never disappoint Him. His desire guides us, and His grace empowers us to live holy lives according to His will in every matter of life.
All sin begins and ends with not loving God – not reflecting to God the magnificent love streaming from God to His people. Disobedience to the will and purpose of God will always be accomplished in the environment of not loving God. Perfect obedience can only be accomplished in the love of God. It is not possible to reflect the pure love of God and sin at the same time. Obedience is not by the law but by the love of God. Obedience is not from human effort to do right; it is from knowing God in a love relationship. Love is the most powerful motivational force in creation. God is love.
God desires a mate.
There is a deep longing in the heart of God for His mate – His counterpart to receive and reflect His love fulfilling the longing in His heart. God desires a mate made in His image who in loving submission reflects the glory of all things back to Him.
At this point it is needful to remember that the Lord our God is ONE. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are ONE God. Inside the heart of God, the three are One. In the outworking of God toward man and creation, the individual manifestations for function of FATHER, SON, and Holy SPIRIT are evident. The three are ONE SPIRIT GOD. (Mark 12:29)
Many Sons - One Bride
Mature sons of God are the individual parts of the collective Bride.
Arising from the depth of longing in the heart of God is the desire for a pure and holy Bride without spot or wrinkle made of the collective Body of Christ that is made up of many purified sons (Heb 2:10).
God’s purpose and plan are evident in original creation.
Natural creation is a clear picture or representation of the Creator. The ways of unseen Spirit God can be known by observing His creation (Rom 1:20).
Adam was created in the image and likeness of God and the breath (spirit) of God was breathed into him. All of the animals were created with a mate beside them. There was a counterpart mate: a male and a female of every species. Only Adam, the human species, made in the likeness of God was alone and had no counterpart. No mate was found for him in all creation.
Adam was like God who also was without a mate.
There was no counterpart found among all of God’s awesome creation suitable as a mate for God. There was no one to receive His love and reflect it back to Him. There was no one suitable to intimately commune and fellowship with God. There was nothing in all creation to become one with God. Mankind was created to become one with God to intimately fellowship Spirit to Spirit as the Bride of God.
In the image and likeness of God, Adam was created without a mate. Adam knew the longing of the heart of God by the longing within himself for a mate. God established patterns in the natural life of human beings for all mankind to view that reveals His purposes and the process of creating His mate. He took a portion of Adam and made a mate for him.
God is taking from Himself and making a bride/wife for Himself. The pattern of Adam and Eve and all scripture that deals with the human family relationship are pictures or patterns of the Heavenly Family. God became a man in Jesus to restore the Family spiritual DNA corrupted by Adam’s sin. Christ in the Holy Spirit as a seed planted in every redeemed person is the potential to grow into mature holy sons of God fit together as the Body of Christ on earth becoming the bride/wife of Christ (God).
Becoming the Bride of Christ is becoming bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.
Gen 2:23: And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."
Eph 5:30-32: For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
The more we experience becoming members of Christ’s Body, His flesh, and His bones, the more we come to share the deep longing in the heart of God for His complete mate to be fully manifest on earth.
Mankind is created with a desire for God in his spirit.
Our deep longing to fill the empty space created in us that causes us to long for God is daily satisfied as we are filled with His magnificent love causing us to greatly desire to worship, honor, and praise Him always.
The Family of God in Heaven and Earth
The Bride Church (ekklesia) is an intimate part of the Family of God. God is our Father and our Husband. In Christ we are born spiritual children who are to mature into sons of God and collectively become the bride/wife of God in heaven on earth. We become one with God as Christ Jesus abides within us by the Spirit and we abide in Christ Jesus. We live only in and for Christ Jesus who is all the fullness of God.
Edited by Moderator on 02/20/2010 at 5:12am
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