Month February 2025

Love as strong as death

Pastor Dave Rose Leave a comment

Song of Solomon  8:6-7 For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. Many waters cannot quench love,  nor can rivers drown it.

Love eyes

I finished reading the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) in my daily devotions and found the amazing supernatural element God placed in mankind to love.  God not only gave men and women the ability to see each other as no one else can.  In love, we look at our desires and see things no one else sees.  Is your wife or husband the most beautiful or most handsome person in the world? What others may see as a flaw is a unique feature to embrace and love. 

Love is a gift

Love is a gift from God that brings lovers closer and closer.  Even in aging, when the body changes, the love grows. This family of love is what the enemy wants to destroy in our nation.  The confusion of sexuality being taught by extreme evil creates a feeling of hatred, victimization, and loneliness.  Love and passion dissipate through the destruction of the family.  We come against these evil forces and cling to the man-and-wife structure, producing a loving family where each family member feels and strengthens God’s presence.

In our spiritual life. 

We also need the passion of love toward God. We know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit love us from the beginning.  The Song of Solomon represents the love between a man and woman, the love God has for us, and what we should develop toward them.

Generating Love toward God

Bible reading and prayer every day.  Go to bed with scripture.  Play some worship songs and meditate on the many ways God loves you.  Speak to God and express your desire to know Him more.  Gaze upon His Holiness and Goodness.  Thank Him for mercies in your life from Him.

Qualities of Love

For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave.

Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.  

Many waters cannot quench love,  nor can rivers drown it.

Let this passage of love be a goal for your personal life and your relationship with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.

Let your Lightnside shine bright with increasing love in the natural and supernatural.

Love’s Passion

Pastor Dave Rose Leave a comment

(Delayed Post – should have posted on Feb.14)

(She)I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. (He) Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women. (She)  Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade,  and his fruit is sweet to my taste.  Song of Solomon 2:2-3 NIV

Happy Valentine’s Day

The Song of Solomon describes the passion between a man and a woman in love and expresses the love between God and humanity. The Bible also describes the relationship between Christians and Christ as a marriage. While it is very strange for me to think of myself as a bride, I think of the Christ who is coming to take me away to a place in heaven that He is preparing for me.

Passion now

I have been married to Dawn for forty-three years this May 1st. I remember the passion I had while dating.  All my thoughts were focused on being with my Dawn.  The goal (and I need to improve) is to keep my passion strong, even during everyday problems, pressures, and aging.

Passion for God

Today is a good day to spend some time being passionate about our God and receiving His passion for us.  In the Song of Solomon,  passion grew as the two lovers desired each other.  Their gaze was not on current problems or duties waiting for them.  They sought to look at each other, wanting to be in each other’s presence. 

Seeing and touching

A hug, a kiss, or a holding of hands brings back passion.  This passion is beautifully described in the chapters of the Song of Solomon—the experience of being loved,  holding, and being held for our earthly and eternal relationships.

I challenge you to take some time to experience the love God has for you today.  Read His thoughts in this chapter.  God wants to be with you and embrace your heart.  Will you also seek God in this passage?  Will you look and see God all around you?  Will you look at His goodness, His creation, and protection?  Enjoy His presence and allow God’s passion to rest in your heart. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Whoever believed in Him would receive PASSION in an eternal love relationship forever! John 3:16 (my version)

As Valentine’s Day approaches, let your LIGHTNSIDE feel and give passion to God and those you love.

(She)I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. (He) Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women. (She)  Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade,  and his fruit is sweet to my taste.  Song of Solomon 2:2-3

The way maker

Pastor Dave Rose Leave a comment

As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:9 NIV

We all have problems that keep us up at night. 

Some issues are difficult to figure out and seem very overwhelming.  God is our ‘way maker’.  Are you hungry to be fed the answer?  “God says, ‘Come to me and listen and eat what is good.’  Give ear to me; listen that you may live.” V 2-3

As the heavens are higher than the Earth

How much higher is the universe than what we see on Earth?  It is beyond our scope to understand.  I think of the mighty forces of gravity between planets and galaxies,  the power of the invisible black holes that also play a role in the balance of the universe’s paths. God set them in place, and through His power today, they obey His instructions.

One lightning bolt. A memory from the Holy Spirit.

When I was a teenager, I played basketball in a church league.  I remember driving one night after practice as a storm was coming in.  I drove by a power plant and saw the transformers and other equipment that produced lights for the city and electricity for all the town’s needs.  I began to think how wise man was to create this power.  What a display of our understanding and abilities. Then suddenly, one lightning bolt, just one, mind you, lit up the whole sky and completely drowned out the power station.  Just that one lightning bolt out of many that night revealed to me how much greater is God’s power and understanding than man’s. That vision strengthened my faith in God’s wisdom and power. It established that I am in good hands if I trust the one who controls the lightning bolts. 

So My ways are higher than your ways

God had planned your life before you were born.  He sees your needs and paths.  How many times in your life did you suddenly see a path or door open for you that came from nowhere?  It did not come by accident; God’s ways are higher than yours.  Let us increase our trust in the Lord that He sees us and guides us.

My thoughts vs God’s thoughts

Are you worried about tomorrow?  Are you worried about the hows and ways of a project?  Do you think about failure and disaster?  Rest in God.  Meditate before Him and ask for wisdom without doubting.  Recognize your enemy; the devil is at work to discourage you and cast fear on the plan God called you to do.  Usually, the fear comes in the darkness of the night.  Rebuke the night terrors and remind your heart about God’s wisdom.   

James 1:5-6  

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Trust in the Lord.   Read Isaiah 55. Meditate on each verse.  Take time to worship God.  Take time to ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in the day. Believe God is leading you.  Expect to see revelations and miracles take place in your path. Look at nature and see God’s power and wisdom at work. Rejoice that God is for you and not against you. Let your heart burst into songs of Joy. Trust in the Lord and rest in His presence.

Let your LightNside seek God’s ways and be filled by God’s wisdom and revelations.

Listen to The Way Maker by Leeland.