HOLY ROMANCE: OUR LOVESICK GOD
I. THE FORERUNNER MINISTRY IS A SPIRITUAL ROMANCE MINISTRY
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him,
rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.” (John 3:29)
A. John’s heart and message:
1. Jesus has a bride
2. Jesus is a Bridegroom
3. John is filled with the joy of intimacy with God
4. Greatly rejoicing – fullness of enjoyment of God
B. A spiritually romanced heart is one that is exhilarated and fascinated by God. It speaks of being motivated by
gladness in Jesus. It has nothing to do with identification with earthly sensuality. The forerunner ministry only works
effectively out of the overflow of a lovesick heart. A heart that has been fascinated by the beauty of the Lord.
1. Psalm 27:4 “…One thing have I asked: to dwell in the house of the Lord (in His presence) all the days of
my life to gaze upon His beauty and consider Him.”
2. Revelation 4:8 – “….eyes all over and within and day and night say: “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
C. The forerunner ministry of John the Baptist speaks of the happy heart that he lived with, filled with spiritual romance.
John the Baptist was a man fascinated with God. This was the spiritual strength of his life.
D. How do we hear the voice of the Bridegroom?
E. We hear His voice through a new paradigm of God’s heart and personality. (His desire for companion will bring Him.)
F. John the Baptist introduced himself as a friend of the Bridegroom. The key to hearing the voice of the Bridegroom,
is having a new paradigm of God as a Bridegroom God. The very core of the forerunner ministry is the voice of the
Bridegroom. The Bridegroom is an essential revelation if we are to understand the King and the Judge and participate
with him in a right way.
II. JOHN INTRODUCES A NEW PARADIGM OF GOD AS A BRIDEGROOM GOD.
A. Why is this so important? This paradigm of a lovesick God awakens to us the reality of becoming lovesick
warriors or a lovesick bride.
B. Three mission fields:
1. The lost – to be converted to Jesus
2. To the compromising church – to become dedicated
3. To the dedicated church – to become fascinated with God
C. A five-fold progression related to becoming a lovesick Bride:
1. How we view God – Matthew 16:15.
God describes Himself as having a ravished heart for people:
You have ravished My heart, my sister, My spouse; you have ravished My heart with one look
of your eyes … (Song of Solomon 4:9)
Burning desire of the beautiful God
Jesus is anointed with the oil of gladness (Psalm 45:7)
2. What we look like to God – our spiritual identity:
God’s favorite (John 15:9)
The King greatly desires my beauty (Psalm 45:11)
God’s favorite (Song 6:9)
3. What we look like to ourselves – our spiritual identity
I am dark but lovely (Song 1:5)
4. How we feel – our emotional chemistry
Joy of the Lord with a happy heart in God
5. How we act – our behavior.
Extravagant obedience from a happy heart in God.
D. John the Baptist ends His ministry with a declaration: there is a Bridegroom God whose voice will set us on fire,
even if we are in the wilderness.
E. The journey with God may begin in the Song of Solomon. God is the ultimate aggressive lover of all the ages. He
is not a passive lover, He burns with desire for the human heart.
1. The same burning desire that God possesses is imparted to the church as a seal of fire.
(Deuteronomy 4:24; Exodus 24:10) (A consuming fire/a Jealous God)
2. Initial response by us: “Set me as a seal upon Your heart”
F. God’s fire has two distinct elements:
1. An enabling fire – an impartation of God’s Holy emotions.
2. A destroying fire – judgment that destroys what hinders love.
G. Possible surprising discoveries in personal study of the Bride:
1. Surprised by the vastness of the amount of material on the Bride.
2. Surprised by how prominent the bridal revelation will be in the last generation.
3. Surprised by the impact this relationship will have on your emotions – it will tenderize you.
III. HOLY ROMANCE – A LOVESICK BRIDE
A. The holy romance of the gospel. It is a new door of experience. The highest levels of experience come in
receiving the impartation of divine love.
B. God motivates and empowers us by the Romance of the Gospel. God motivates us and empowers us with affection,
fascination, beauty, mystery, pleasure, delight, gladness.
C. The romance starts in the heart of God. God’s heart operates by this affection, gladness, and desire. In other
words, it starts in Him and is then imparted to us. I call God a romantic in the sense that He is filled with gladness as He
created in Genesis
1. He planned unfolding of the gospel with and delight.
D. What motivates God’s heart? One of our problems in burnout today is because we are doing the work of the
Kingdom without understanding what motivates God in the unfolding of the gospel. We have to enter into His pleasure
and gladness.
E. God ordained and created the original human pleasures before sin entered the human experience. There are
counterfeits and perversions of those God ordained pleasures.
F. The river of your pleasures – Psalm 16:10-11; 36:8
“In your presence is fullness of joy”
“You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures”
G. The superior pleasures of the gospel
IV. LOVESICKNESS
A. Unspeakable joy filled with glory, is another word for holy lovesickness. Lovesick corresponds with the word joy.
It is biblical to connect these two ideas. Lovesick and joy can be used interchangeably.
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
(John 15:11)
1. The lovesick God – Song of Solomon 4:9
2. The lovesick Bride – Song of Solomon 2:5; 5:8
B. God defines His joy only once in scripture:
“For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices
over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” (Isaiah 62:5)
C. The second time that God’s joy is nearly described is in context in Psalm 45:9. The Psalm is about Jesus’ wedding.
Jesus is described as having more joy than any other human being…
“You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil
of gladness more than Your companions.” (Psalm 45:7)