Do you really believe that Jesus loves you? Or are you more like the woman picking petals off a daisy, saying:

He loves me.
He loves me not.

The Gospel truth is, even when I fail Him, even when bad things happen:

He loves me.
He loves me.
He loves me.

How clearly we see the depth of Jesus’s love for us in the Song of Songs (also known as the Song of Solomon). Did you know this was the most preached on book in the Old Testament up until the 1700s? But today we rarely study it, or if we do, it is just as a marriage manual. What have we lost?

In He Calls You Beautiful you will see the earthly love story, but then you will also see how marriage is meant to illumine the most mysterious love story of all, that of Christ’s love for His Bride.

Nowhere is this message of love needed more than in women’s prisons. The first time I planned to speak on The Song in a prison I was plagued by doubts as I drove there thinking: What am I doing teaching such a challenging book to babes in the faith? They are going to go back to their cells and read this very passionate love story and think: “What? What in the world could this have to do with me and God?”

Yet God enveloped us that night. As I told them this story of a great king who fell in love with a lowly peasant woman, led her through the wilderness, and then made her His bride, they were transfixed. When I told them that He keeps telling her, “You are beautiful my love…” (Song of Songs 1:15) one of the women began to cry so hard I finally stopped and asked her if she would like to share.

She nodded vigorously, composed herself, and explained: “All of my life I longed for someone to tell me I was beautiful. In prison, through this ministry, I kept hearing that Jesus loves me. This morning I told Him how beautiful He was to me, and I thought He said, Julia, you are beautiful. I could hardly believe it so I asked Him to say it again…but He didn’t…until tonight, when you opened your Bible and read that He says: ‘You are beautiful, my love.’”

She wept again.

It was a holy moment and we sat in silence. I finally said, “Julia, you have just been kissed by the King.” In fact we all had been kissed.

I so long for believers to know the depth of God’s love for them. And it is one thing for me to tell you what The Song of Songs says, it is another for you to discover it for yourself, so there is an inductive Bible study at the close of each chapter. You can also see what this Bible study is about by watching this video:

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Dee Brestin is the best-selling author of numerous books including The Friendships of Women, which has sold more than a million copies. Dee’s latest book, He Calls You Beautiful: Hearing the Voice of Jesus in the Song of Songs, is now available where books are sold.

Dee is involved in prison ministries and maintains a weekly Bible study blog through her website. A popular speaker around the country, Dee has five grown children and more than a dozen grandchildren. You can connect with Dee on Facebook and Twitter.

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