A Love Song

Dearly Beloved in Yeshua,

A Love Song

It all began when I went to see the movie “Jesus Revolution,” the true story of the revival fires kindled among the youth of Southern California in the 1970s. Known as the “Jesus Movement,” this move of God was born on the wings of song. A new song. A love song. One of the groups at the center of the revival was called “Love Song.” Their album of the same name was given to my husband Neil and me by the young couple who were sharing Yeshua (Jesus) with us in 1972. I played the album (vinyl) “Love Song” for many months, memorizing all the lyrics. (I have the original to this day and cherish it as one of my most valuable possessions.) I would dance alone to the music while Neil was at work, experiencing on a regular basis an amazing sensation of Love pouring down upon me from heaven. At that time, I was a pre-believer, reading and intrigued by the Bible. The words of Yeshua in red seemed to come off the page as I read them. I did not know the Holy Spirit was wooing me to salvation.

One of the songs on “Love Song” was “And the Wind was Low” by Chuck Girard. A line said, “… and He brought me to the waters, and I felt the fire, the strong desire to really serve Him.” I told Neil that when I “got saved,” I wanted to be immersed in water. He told me that he had heard of some “Jesus people” on the West Coast who were baptizing believers in the ocean, and he would fly me to California if I wanted. (We were still not believers!)

I had no idea what I would see in the movie “Jesus Revolution.” But there on the big screen was the group “Love Song” singing “my” music of the 1970s that turned my heart to the Messiah. I knew all the lyrics. I felt the same love—but more intense this time. Then, the young people in the movie streamed to the beach to be immersed, and I realized that I would have been at that beach had the Lord not supernaturally opened a door for me to be immersed here in Fort Lauderdale. “Jesus Revolution” contained my story of salvation! I left the theatre in awe of a God who has been singing a love song over me for 50 years this July, my spiritual jubilee.

Neil and I received the Lord as our Savior and Messiah in 1973. We were called to begin Temple Aron Hakodesh in 1976. The Lord began to give me songs to write for temple services in 1977. We incorporated as a non-profit ministry to publish and disseminate this new Messianic music. When we needed a name for the ministry, I knew that it had to be “Love Song to the Messiah.” We were, in some way, a Jewish extension of the California “Love Song.” When we began our television outreach in 1980, “Love Song to the Messiah” was too long a title to fit in the local TV Guide, so we changed the name of the ministry to “Jewish Jewels” (that also had a more traditional appeal). But—the love song never left us. We asked God continually to make our lives a love song to our Messiah. (Our desire has always been to somehow reflect the great, great Love that we have come to know.)

Covenant Love

God’s Love—ahavah אהבה in Hebrew (ah-ha-VAH) is based on covenant—brit ברית (BREET) in Hebrew. It is a love that never lets go. Asher Intrater, in Covenant Relationships, explains that when the Bible says that God is love, this means that at the most foundational level of His being, God has a commitment toward relationships. His first and primary relationship is as a father to Yeshua. This relationship existed before the foundation of the world. (See John 17:22-24). From this love flows the Father’s love for us: “Yeshua said, ‘…You have loved them as You have loved Me'” (Jn. 17:23). That is deep, committed, unconditional love.

God’s love for us does not depend on what we do. Intrater expresses our covenant relationship as follows: “God’s offering is relationship; we can do nothing by way of outward achievement to merit His approval. By understanding that He is a loving God, we can turn back to Him to be accepted and restored to a full relationship.” God’s love, based on covenant, assures us of His faithfulness and commitment to us. His love will never fail us (I Cor. 13:8). His love is steadfast. The word “steadfast” is defined as strong devotion or loyalty, unchanging, firmly fixed in place, immovable and not subject to change. God’s unchanging love reveals His character.

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7:9). The New Covenant (Brit Hadashah), sealed in the blood of God’s Only Son, is an example of a Love that endures forever. The Bible makes it clear that this does not depend on us. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (II Tim. 2:13).

I have always loved the story of the little girl who was with her father, about to cross a busy street. The father told her to hold his hand tightly. She replied, “No, Daddy, you hold my hand!” The father said, “Isn’t that the same?” To which she replied, “No!” “If I hold your hand, I might get frightened and let go, but if you hold my hand, you’ll never let go.” Covenant love. Strong. Faithful. Forever.

Covenant in Marriage

Marriage, according to the Holy Scriptures, is a covenant. This month, as in the month of June, for as long as I remember, couples get married. If God is involved, there will be some understanding that marriage is intended to be a commitment that includes trust and fidelity until separated by death.

Last month, as I taught at my condominium’s “Know the Bible Club,” we saw that God said He would make Adam a “helper” comparable to him. The word “helper” in Hebrew is ezer, עזר (EH-zer) which means “strong rescuer,” indicating that the woman was to be a source of strength to her husband, a valuable partner. This word, by the way, is also used many times to refer to God! For example, “Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help (ezer) and our shield” (Ps. 33:20).

We read in Genesis 1:27 that the Lord created man in His Own image, male and female. When He made woman from the rib that He had taken from man, God made the first match, shiddukh שדוך (SHIH-dukh). In other words, He invented marriage. It was God’s idea—a God-ordained institution—consisting of two people, one male and one female. (It is interesting to note that advocates of gay marriage are still adhering to the number two.)

Immediately after this first marriage, the Torah says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). This same verse is found in Matthew 19:5 and Ephesians 5:31. Three times in the Bible, Moses, Yeshua, and the Apostle Paul all said the same thing. God is speaking. He is the One who defines what marriage is. It doesn’t matter what we think; His Word is clear.

Just as the words which God speaks in the Scriptures are the basis of our relationship with Him, the covenant of marriage between a man and his wife are the words of oath commitment that pass between them at the marriage ceremony and seal them forever. Where does Love come in? The happy news is that God Himself becomes a third party to the covenant. His love is the glue that cements a man and his bride in a permanent bond of faithfulness. As expressed by Asher Intrater, “Biblical love is the acting out of covenantal faithfulness in regard to each other person.” Biblical love is a decision and an act of the will.

One final thought. God really values marriage. The Messiah’s first miracle occurred at a marriage in Cana of Galilee (Jn. 2:1). The culmination of our lives as believers in Messiah will be the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). The One whose return we are longing for is One to whom we as believers are “married”: “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Messiah, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (Rom. 7:4).

Love Never Fails

“Love Never Fails” (I Cor. 13:8), besides being my life verse, is a foundational truth that has the power to transform lives from hopeless to hopeful, sad to joyful, purposeless to purposeful, empty to full, weak to strong, sick to healthy, worthless to worthy, and fruitless to fruitful. Corrie Ten Boom once said that there is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still. If she could say that from a Nazi concentration camp, we can say it in whatever situation we find ourselves.

Love. God’s Love. In the early bloom of my first love experience with Yeshua, I wrote—by the power and anointing of His Spirit—many songs about the love of God. “There’s a Love that’s Special” was based on I John 4:10. “There’s a love that’s special. There’s a love that’s free. There’s a love that covers all iniquity. There’s a love that cleanses. There’s a love that’s endless. I found it through Messiah. It’s the Love of God. And this is love that He first loved us. This is love that He first loved us. Not that we loved Him, but that He loved us. Yes. This is Love!”

“Pure Religion” was based on James 1:27. “A love for the widow, a love for the stranger, a love for the orphan, love born in a manger, a love that descends to the depths of our sin is Messiah Jesus’ love. Steadfast love, all loves excelling. Steadfast love of God, so compelling. Steadfast love still seeks a dwelling in humble hearts today. Steadfast love, Love sent from above. Messiah’s birth brought down to earth God’s Steadfast Love.”

“Love Never Fails,” based on I Corinthians 13:8 begins, “It was love that worked a miracle in Sarah, love that caused a child to be. It was love that lifted Isaac from the altar, love that lifted you and me! Love Never Fails. Love Never Fails. Things may seem hopeless and void of solution, but Love Never Fails!”

One of my favorite songs, an old hymn called “Down From His Glory,” emphasizes the great love that God has for the whole world in sending His Only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin. “Oh how I love Him. How I adore Him. My breath, my sunshine, my all in all. The Great Creator became my Savior. And all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him.”

Do we really know how much He loves us? Do we really believe that He knows what is best for us? Do we sense His Love in the midst of life’s storms? When I wrote Kiss Me Again in 2017, the Lord spoke to me about an “umbrella” that He wanted to give to His bride, revealed through my devotional on the Song of Songs. It was His Love that would shelter, protect, strengthen, encourage, and give joy to God’s people in the final days before our Messiah returns. It was true. God’s Love carried me through turbulent times with the death of my beloved husband in 2019 and a second bout with breast cancer in 2022. His love is the greatest power in the world. The Lover of our soul, Yeshua, never takes His eyes off us. He is our Beloved. He is our forever Friend. His Love never fails.

God’s Anticipatory Love

On Day 71 of Kiss Me Again I mention an aspect of the love of God that has been particularly meaningful in my life—His “anticipatory love. “This is an aspect of His love that delights in preparing wondrous things for His bride, things that ” …God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Cor. 2:9). We see this kind of love when a husband finds something that would delight his wife—a trip, a meal out, a gift certificate, a day off, a surprise massage appointment—and prepares it in anticipation of giving it to her at some special time. God does this, preparing blessings for those He loves while thinking, “They will love this!” King David understood God’s anticipatory love, “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!” (Ps. 31:19).

This love of God provides for needs before they are even apparent. From Kiss Me Again: “It was God’s anticipatory love that provided the solution to man’s sin problem before the first human baby was even born. Yeshua’s atoning sacrifice for His bride is already prophesied and anticipated in Genesis 3:15, where it is written that the Savior would crush the serpent’s head though His heel would be bruised in the process. The fulfillment of this prophetic truth in the Brit Hadashah is found in Romans 5:8, “‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us.’ God anticipated our need of salvation—and provided for it—before we knew that we needed it.”

We Need More Love

This is the great need of the hour. We need more of God’s kind of love—the most powerful force in the world. It is the only thing the Bible says never fails. In meditating on I Corinthians 13 and the phrase, “Love is patient,” I realized that we should not pray for more patience; we should pray for MORE LOVE! If we have MORE LOVE, we will be more patient, kind, humble, courteous, unselfish, trusting, hope-filled, and faithful.

Love for God and love for one another. Love is the garment of Yeshua’s bride. Without love, we are nothing (I Cor. 13:3). Rabbi Saul (Paul) exhorts believers to love in Romans 13:8-10, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Dr. David Stern, of blessed memory, summarizes Romans 13:10 as follows: “This is how love is the fullness of Torah—not by superseding it, but through being the beginning, the end and the motivating force at work in it.”

All that God does is done out of love. All that we do should also be done only out of love.

Yoshua, Reduce Me to Love

Please pray with me: “Abba Father, thank You that You are love and that I am the object of Your holy affection. Thank You for sending Your beloved Son, Yeshua, to a hostile world to reveal Your great love and save lost sinners like me. I long to abide in Your love and hide myself in the shadow of Your wings. Please ignite the flame of love for You in my heart so that I can trust You more fully and know You more intimately.

I want to pass on to others the love that You shower upon me and turn away from all that is not loving. I desire to think love and then do love (Prov. 23:7). Empower me through Your Holy Spirit to crucify self and replace it with love. Help me to see that every fear and doubt is a crime against Your love. Since obedience seems to be Your love language, please give me the grace to obey You in all things. I want to please You. You are the One my soul loves! Love is the Key to Your Kingdom. I choose love.”

Love Song to the Messiah © 1977 Jamie Lash

You are my Shepherd, my loving Guide.

You are the Rock in which I hide.

You are my song in the daytime and my peaceful rest at night.

You are my portion and my delight!

Singing a love song to my Messiah,