Scripture Text: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30,31 (KJV)

Do you love me? That was the question she asked over and over again - always in amazement when her husband said, "Yes, of course I do".

Never being satisfied with that answer the young lady throughout their 45 years together continually asked the question of her soul mate for life... "Do you love me?". He never wavered but always replied, "Yes, of course I do".

Many times her sister would nag at her, "Why do you trouble the man so? He has told you he loves you. Can't you see he's busy in the fields trying to raise a crop to keep you in the lifestyle you've become accustomed to?" She would always drop her head and just simply say, "I know... I know...".

When her husband passed, she found herself alone in the house and the sudden urge to ask of him once again, "Do you love me?" came flooding over her soul and she began sobbing profusely because she knew this time there would be no answer. She wept and wept and just couldn't regain her composure. Oh how she ached for him to tell her one more time that he loved her.

Through her tears and her loneliness she decided to look through some old photo albums hoping that would ease her mind. There in the middle of those photo albums was a notebook she hadn't remembered seeing before. She picked it up and opened it and to her surprise there were hundreds of entries one after the other with a date behind it... each entry read the same... I Love You.. I Love You.. I Love You...

You see, he wanted so much for her to know how he much he loved her... he would sit down and write it in a book and put the date behind it. hundreds of entries... pages upon pages... "I Love You...", " I Love you...".

Well, I don't know about you but we could just make an application there saying how much God loved us that He wrote it in red with the Blood of His Son Jesus, but there is more to the POWER of LOVING when it comes to the Christian walk.

You may take exception to my next statement here this morning, but I'm going to say it anyway... if you're not sharing intimate time with the Lord, you're probably not sharing intimate time with your spouse. Nothing makes a relationship more passionate and genuine than sharing Christ with one another. No, I don't mean you preach at one another... but God's WORD puts it better than I can - let me read it to you...

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" 2Corinthians 6:14 (KJV)

If you and your spouse are not on the same wave-length spiritually... you may as well forget passion or romance that lasts 30 seconds past the bedroom. A man and a woman who are "in Christ" share a bond that death cannot destroy. Now, did you heart that? A man and a woman who are "in Christ" share a bond that death cannot destroy.

Okay brother Wayne... we got that - it wasn't so profound, so why repeat it?
Simple, if that statement is true, and it is... think of what the opposite results of that statement are. A man and a woman who are not "in Christ" are sharing a bond that death "can" destroy. What is death? Darkness! What is darkness? Sin! If you or your spouse, or both, are living in sin, you are bound to death and destruction and your relationship will most assuredly show it.

Are you fighting all the time? Always at each other's throats? It's probably not the economy. Get back into your Bible and begin reading the Word and praying. You will see your marriage come under such an anointing from the Father, that you'll be wanting to tell all of your friends about it. It's no secret by the way... just getting back to "Bible Basics".

Let's pray:

Father, I do love you with all of my heart, with all of my soul and with all of my mind, and I love my (husband / wife / girlfriend / boyfriend) with all of my heart as well. I come before you this morning Lord and I ask that you would renew my relationship with (say name) as I renew my spirit and my heart and my mind to be more focused on my relationship with you. Bless my (marriage / relationship) with my (husband / wife / girlfriend / boyfriend), and keep us in the center of your will. In Jesus' Name, Amen.