It's Time to Awaken Love! by Faith Marie Baczko

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

I recently heard the Lord say the words, "Will you marry Me?" I sensed in my spirit that this was a very weighty and loaded question – a question embedded with the Lord's desire for absolute surrender for the journey ahead and a new level of consecration to Him. I heard the Lord saying "Consecrate yourselves; times are about to accelerate and the cloud is preparing to move." (Photo via Pixabay)

Marriage is two becoming one – in body, mind, heart, spirit, and soul – and with Christ it is also a marriage in purpose within the context of LOVE – love for Him and the world He gave His life for! The last two decades an accelerated work of preparation has been taking place in the Body of Christ to get ready a Bride for union with Christ – a Bride through whom He will complete His purposes and His Father's will on earth. The Holy Spirit has been growing us up IN LOVE to the fullness of the stature of Christ (see Ephesians 4:13).

Three times in the Song of Solomon we are warned not to "Awaken love until she desires." In Song of Solomon 3:5 and 8:5 the image is of one of a bride who has been prepared and perfumed in the wilderness coming out leaning on her beloved. The Lord must have a mature Bride who has learned His ways of love! On the journey of sanctification, God, with our willing submission, fashions us and instructs us in our ignorance to His ways for the removal of the arrogance of our ways. On this journey, His ultimate goal is that we are transformed in love to become channels of His agape love.

Love is Attained Within the Context of Unity!

Unity begins within the individual in body, soul, and spirit – hence the need forhealing and deliverance. From the person who is whole, it naturally flows corporately in the local family in the form of honor. The natural progression of unity in Christ will then move from the local to our cities and nations, producing the bridal paradigm.

During a powerful praise and worship service, where everyone was caught up in worship, pouring out their love and adoration to the Lord, I heard the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit say, "I love that you welcome My presence and love Me with such passion! However, I would say to you...will you love the person on your left with such passion? Will you honor and celebrate the person on your right? Will you honor My presence in their lives and celebrate the destiny I have called them to?"

In the Bible, the disciples were together, united in one place and of one accord, when the Father commanded the blessing and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. The Greek word for "one accord" implies a togetherness that was fierce and passionate...and it is in that place God commands the blessing! Jesus gave His life for a Bride, that all – Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female – might become ONE body: THE BEAUTIFUL BRIDE HE WILL RETURN FOR.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing – life forevermore. Psalm 133

Agape Love

The Body of Christ is presently camping out on the borders of the most powerful and historic moves of God to hit Planet Earth since the crossing over of Israel into the Promised Land and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. With understanding of the dynamics of this move we can then begin to have insight into THE CAUSE OF THE DELAY! The central focus of this coming move is the Harvest, and the central component is the agape love of God – for the world!

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

One of the chief intentions of the Holy Spirit in our lives is that in Him we become so saturated in the precious agape love of God that it might then be shed abroad to others THROUGH US, impacting and transforming lives and communities! (Photo via Pixabay)

Ministry, revelations, crowds, gifting and anointing, eschatology, prophecy, and the best of Christian living can become intoxicating and cause us to forget that the One whom we follow laid down His life for His friends...this is love!

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.John 15:13

If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1 John 4:20-21

AGAPE LOVE is the highest form of love, sublime and transcendent in its attainment, yet fully accessible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

What the World Needs Now is Love! Always Has, Always Will!

Jesus came and gave His life in love – LOVE was the central focus of the Cross! Love still remains the central dynamic in the summing of all things in Christ and it will be poured out through a people who have been prepared in fire to carry it. They are united with Christ in mind and heart and prepared to become a Bride, prepared to reap and care for the Great Harvest of the world in love. God is looking for a people prepared in love...to love!

Why were the disciples told to wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father? Having been trained by Jesus for three and a half years...what was still lacking? The Power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill God's purposes, and the agape love of God through which the power flows. Both power and love are divinely united in the Holy bundle that is THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER. In God's wisdom, His power must be married to His love!

The disciples were still filled with much prejudice toward Samaritans and Gentiles, and they needed a baptism of love and fire. Baptized in love on the day of Pentecost, these men were transformed and became new men. Their focus shifted from power and competition to releasing the Good News to a Harvest that included all cultures. The great outpouring that we are longing for will be the removal of the log jams of judgment, criticism, cold hearts, religion, pride, self-righteousness, and hatred causing division. The powerful current of the Holy Spirit will allow the river of His love to be released once again to flow to its FULLNESS.

God is looking for a people like the apostle Paul, who will travail in love for His Bride to come forth. As Paul stated, love is the ultimate virtue and without it we are nothing and all our works are in vain! As the Lord once told Jill Austin, "The key to apostolic authority is love. If people want to move in signs and wonders and miracles, if they want to see Heaven breaking in to take whole territories, then they need to discover My heart and My compassion. Then I will give them power to set the captives free and the anointing to see the sick healed and the dead raised." (Photo via Pixabay)

The Way of Love

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

—1 Corinthians 13:1-7, The Message

The Bride Makes Herself Ready! It's Time to Awaken Love!

The trumpet is sounding continually, warning us to get ready! Get the house in order! Prepare our hearts! The Bride must make herself ready! It would be wise to now ask the Holy Spirit to rate the condition of our hearts and corporate houses to show us their true condition and the quality of our relationships and fellowship. Ask Him to give us strategies for breaking down areas of offense and cold hearts.

The river of love that was initiated at Pentecost will be completed at Tabernacles, timed with the arising army of the headstone generation – a people who have ascended to the place of union with the Bridegroom – married to Him in mind and heart, willing to lay down their lives in love for the cause of Christ. A new mature man in whom pride has suffered a great blow, the jealousy of Cain is annihilated; competition, comparison and criticism are exchanged with love, friendship, family, and the preferring of one another. Where the agape love of God is unblocked and judgment swept away by the River, and the love of God flows freely, breaking forth from hearts broken by the love of Christ.

As we fix our eyes on Christ, we must do so with arms linked in cords of love;on such an altar, on such a sacrifice, the fire of God will fall! On a people who will pick up their crosses, not afraid to die, who love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and body and also love their neighbor as themselves – the two greatest commandments:

"'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."Mark 12:30-31

God is looking for a sacrifice that is a sweet savor, a sacrifice of praise in the midst of pain, a sacrifice to choose love and forgiveness instead of anger or revenge; a sacrifice to lift up someone else when you are waiting your turn! It is easy to worship God and to love Him, but God is looking at the motivations of our hearts, for hearts willing to love others. The trumpet is sounding and His call to us is: "Consecrate yourselves, prepare your hearts, and get ready to ride the wave of love." To the Bride who has willingly allowed the Holy Spirit to prepare her in obedience for such a time, to be made one in body, mind, heart, soul, and purpose, the Bridegroom approaches to ask: (Photo via Pixabay)

"Will you marry Me? It's time to awaken love!"

Faith Marie Baczko, Executive Director
Headstone Ministries International | Schools of The Last Wine
Email: contact@headstoneministries.com
Website: www.headstoneministries.com | www.faithmariebaczko.com