ONE WORD

Written  2/1/14/

Above All Else, GUARD YOUR HEART

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." — Proverbs 4:23

It’s amazing what the power of one word can do in your life.

Sure, anyone can make a New Year’s resolution—but the reality is, most of them are forgotten within the first few weeks. So I began to ask the Lord: "Is there something I need to focus on this year that would truly change me—from the inside out?"

I didn’t strive to find a word, and I didn’t try to make one up. One day, during prayer, the word REVOLUTION popped into my thoughts. I shrugged it off at first... but then I started seeing it over and over again in the strangest places. And each time, something inside me stirred. I could feel it. Something was shifting. So I began to ponder.

"God, are you saying you want me to start a revolution?"

That felt wild—radical even. So I looked up the definition:

"A revolt that causes a culture to change."

Great word. Great meaning.

But I still wasn’t sure what it meant for me. I wrote it on the whiteboard in my office and sat back, staring at it while I prayed:

"God, what are You trying to say to me?"

And then it hit me.

My breath caught.

I leaned forward.

Tears filled my eyes.

There was a word inside the word.

LOVE—spelled backward. EVOL. At first, I was confused. Love... backwards?

As I kept praying, asking, seeking, knocking... the Lord began to unlock something deep in my spirit. I wrote these words in my journal:

“The world has God's love backwards.

They’re searching everywhere for peace and acceptance—

Longing for identity and belonging.

They’ve turned away from divine love and settled for a counterfeit.

Like orphans, they search for a place to call home.

And when that longing fails them, they raise their fists to the sky,

cursing the very love that would have brought them peace.”

Then I heard His whisper in my spirit:

“I want a REVOLUTION of My love—

And I want to use My people to bring it.

But before I can bring it through you, Gayelee,

I need to start it in you.

There must be a revolution in your heart.

A revolt that transforms the culture of your heart

From your love for people—to My love for people.

You need to come into the reality of the Father’s Heart—

And truly receive My love for you.”

That word shook me.

I thought I knew love.

I thought I knew God’s love.

I had walked as a Christian—and even as a pastor—proclaiming how much I loved Jesus. But in truth, the Father was trying to show me something far greater:

That He loved me.

The word "love" had become so cliché in Christian circles.

Everyone said it.

But did we live it?

Did we know it?

Was the world seeing God’s love in us... or just a cheap imitation?

This generation doesn’t need more religion.

They’re crying out for something real.

They’re longing for love.

Then it happened.

A revelation.

An encounter.

This word—rEVOLution—was changing me.

Jesus didn’t just die so I could go to heaven.

He died to reunite me with the Father’s heart,

To make sure nothing would separate me from His love,

So I could bring heaven—and love—back to earth.

Not judgment.

Not condemnation.

Love. Through grace.

A rEVOLution has begun.

You want revival?

Start a rEVOLution.

Ask the Father to begin with your heart.

Abide in Him.

Rest in Him.

And watch Him change you—from the inside out.

He is calling His sons and daughters home...

Back to His heart.

Don’t just say love.

BE love.

Our hearts are where love begins.

Guard it—because out of it flows LIFE.

— Gayelee Reynolds