Intimacy with GOD by Esher Shoshannah (e book reading free .txt) 📕

is your will. The couch speaks of rest, contentment, peace and fellowship (Phil. 4:6,7, 11; Psa. 23). What a wonderful scene, the Bridegroom and the bride are quietly sitting together enjoying one another in the Holy Spirit. Do you have this dear believer? Can you hear the bride saying to herself, with His arms around her? "O how I love to be with Him here; resting with Him; secure in Him. My heart is filled with love for Him and O He knows it without me saying one word to Him." These private times are times of unspeakable joy. Can you say, "Our couch is luxuriant."? Or do you ever take much time to sit quietly with Him and rest awhile? (Mk. 6:31).

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Lord Jesus, may I never be so busy that my mind is occupied with everything but You. Cause my mind to be focused on You all day long even in the activities that I must complete! I long to sit with You on our couch! I love You alone. May my eyes be dove's eyes for You forever! In Jesus' name, amen!"

 

 V.17 "The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir (cypress)."

Both of these trees are evergreen trees. Even in the winter they exude a very pleasant fragrance! Praise God for those believers who constantly have their Beloved's fragrance in all kinds of spiritual weather! Evergreens do not change!

The surrendered bride can count on her Beloved to never change (Heb. 13:8). Can He count on us to never change in our deep love for Him? Cedars grow to over one hundred feet tall. They are strong and stately, rot-resistant and knot-free.

What a picture of our Beloved who is eternal and without sin (Heb. 13:7). He indwells our temple (house - (I Cor. 3:9; Eph. 3:20-21). His strength is our strength (Phil. 4:13). His purity is our purity (I John 3:3). His royalty is our royalty (I Pet. 2:9). His authority is our authority (Eph. 2:6; James 4:7). The cypress is a hard and durable wood. Our Beloved is our Rock on which the spiritual foundation of this house stands (Mt. 7:24; Isa. 44:8; I Cor. 3:11). What a spiritual house! Hallelujah! Read Eph. 2:19-22! Notice again, the word "our" is used! He is such a sharing Husband. Without Jesus none of the above would be found in our soul or spirit! It is all given to us. It is all of grace. Praise God for Eph. 1:3!

But it is only "our house" because He takes us as His bride. Without my Bridegroom there would be no house! Without Jesus all I have in myself is an empty, worthless, dirty, run down, old shanty! Think of it, when the Holy Spirit comes in a transformation begins to take place – from a miserable shack to a magnificent temple! Think about His house (I Cor. 6:19 -temple). It is a place of: beauty (Psa. 27:4), abundance (Psa. 36:8), sweet fellowship (Psa. 55:14), goodness and satisfaction (Psa. 65:4), planting and flourishing (Psa. 92:12,13), blessing (Psa. 118:26), gladness (Psa. 122:1), prayer (Lk.19:46) and spiritual sacrifices (I Pet. 2:5), Jesus, our High Priest, is over God’s house (Heb. 10:21). We are so precious to Him that He takes up residence in us and we become His house! Wow!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Bridegroom, thank You for the spiritual house You have made of my spirit! You were repulsed by the condition of my house when You prayed in the garden. You despised the shame of my house when You were on the cross, yet You came in and cleaned up the filth and made it fit so You and I could have intimate fellowship! You took a completely worthless spirit unfit for even the lowest of Your angels to inhabit and by Your blood, the power of Your Spirit and the washing of the water of Your Word a beautiful, spiritual mansion has been created in me. I worship! I adore! I bow down! I surrender to You, O my Abba, O my Beloved! In Jesus, the name of the high priest over the house of my heart (Heb.10:19-21)!"

 

Over and over and over it is "our"! He could have easily said, "My" and rightly so. It is all of Him – we had nothing to do with it at all. It is a gift of His infinite love and grace for us His bride! But no, He says "our". Doesn’t that speak to your heart of what kind of Husband He is? He wants to provide everything for the bride He loves to be with. He just wants to love on us all the time in the midst of a cruel and wicked world. The "rafters" speak of strength, safety, security. They hold the house together and give it stability. It protects us from the outside elements such as rain, snow, heat, dust, hail, lightning etc. Col. 1:17 says, "...and by Him all things consist (hold together)." Glory to God! The surrendered life makes Him "...our rafters...". He is the Bride's protection from the enemy!

Overwhelmed with unspeakable joy, she rushes to put her arms around her Beloved and says, "My heart is so full of love for You My dear Beloved Bridegroom! You have provided everything for me (Eph. 1:3). O my Love You really have made me a dwelling place where You can reside forever. And You have made Your heart so big that I can live in there forever. O I love you so much, I feel as if I am going to burst!" Yes, the enemy will battle us and he will bring hurt because he hates Jesus inside of your house, but it will not do ultimate damage (Isa. 54:17). Decorate your house with the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-17), then when the enemy comes, sit at your Bridegroom’s table (Psa. 23:5) and pray Eph. 6:18 that the armor is activated.

With her head leaning on His breast, He holds her tightly and responds..."Yes, My beautiful bride, I love to be with you, and you are absolutely right for I have built a new house (heart) inside of you so I can live in you! That means I'll always be with you (Ezk. 36:25-27; Deut. 31:6,8)! I am consumed with love for you My bride. I desire intimate fellowship with you now and throughout eternity. I really love you with all of My heart. Never, never doubt it. Just look at My hands and there will be no question in your soul about My love (Isa. 49:15-16)!" As the Beloved gets ready to step into this special dwelling place, He pauses and with a look of pride on His face says to angels observing in wonderment, "This is OUR house!"

 

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT AND GO TO THE PRAISE LIST AT THE END OF THIS BOOK, THERE ARE SOME WONDERFUL SPIRITUAL CLUSTERS FROM WHICH TO PICK. YOUR BRIDEGROOM IS ANXIOUSLY WAITING. SELECT A FEW WORDS OR PHRASES WITH WHICH TO PRAISE YOUR DEAR BRIDEGROOM.

 

 

CHAPTER 2 - THE DESIRE FOR INTIMACY (cont.)

 

AN OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER TWO: The bride cannot understand why the Beloved considers her to be so special since she is a very common person. He continues to reveal lovely thoughts about her from His heart. He demonstrates to His bride that He has conquered all problems she would ever face. The Beloved Bridegroom now asks her to go with Him but she hesitates; she only wants to have Him all to herself in private fellowship. He pleads with her, but she will not go with Him. There is now a division between them. This severing of fellowship will cause her great spiritual pain.

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Abba Father, thank You for giving me to Your Beloved Son (John 10:29). Thank You my Beloved for drawing me into the inner chamber of Your heart! What a wonder You are! What a joy to my heart! What a glorious revelation to my soul - this infinite "first love" love You have for me! My heart is filled to overflowing with these thoughts. I praise You! I worship You! I adore You! Take me! Mold me! Use me! Change me! Let Yourself alone be engraved in my spirit, soul and body! Transform me Holy Spirit so I am no longer seen, but rather the glorious image of my Heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen and Amen!"

 

At first, the bride becomes overwhelmed with this high and intimate position she possesses with her Bridegroom King! Then, deep, hurtful thoughts pierce her mind, "My brothers told me over and over again how worthless I am. I hated their constant taunts!" All those horrible memories returned racing through her mind. She began to believe her brothers mocking words that kill the spirit. A darkness invaded her mind, "He will tire of me. I have nothing to offer Him. There are so many more like me. I am common. This is too good to be true. It cannot last!" Looking within, dejection and disappointment attacked her mind. She emotionally girded herself for the perceived coming rejection. Resigned to the fact of her worthlessness and with her eyes closed, a tear falls from her cheek to the ground. In a sad whisper she declares to the Beloved the low estimation of herself.

 

V.1 "I am the rose of Sharon (Heb. "the plain"), and the lily of the valleys."

The rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys are very common flowers. Thousands of these flowers bloomed in the valleys. Knowing who she is the bride says to her Beloved, "I am like an ordinary flower, how is it that You love me as You do? I am common. There is nothing special about me at all. I am a foreigner unworthy of any consideration from You my King."

As His proclaimed bride, you also look at yourself and exclaim to Him, "Why, why do You love me? Look at me! I am a rose of Sharon and a lily of the valleys, a wild flower with no special cultivation. Why do You gaze at me as if I were a rare, costly jewel?" Dear believer, do you see yourself in the same way as this bride? The same feelings are spoken by Paul as he bowed His heart in deep humility and proclaimed, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." (Eph. 3:8). He repeats similar, heartfelt cries in I Cor. 15:9-10, "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet (worthy) to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am...!"

So many individual believers see themselves as common nobodies with little worth. Because of this commonness they think that the Lord can't accomplish much in their lives. They see themselves as having little talent or gifts. All of His lovely roses and lilies have some gift; encouragement, mercy, helps, faith, and discernment to name a few. The enemy loves to focus us onto ourselves and miss the infinitely, costly value living in us - for it is not I but Christ who lives inside of me (Gal.2:20)!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "You my Beloved died for me, a nothing at best. You lifted me up when I was dead (Eph. 2:1). You washed me white as snow in Your most precious blood when my filthy soul was filled with the stench of sin. You clothed me with a robe of righteousness and a garment of salvation. How beautiful You have made me. I deserve only to be prostrate at Your feet and yet You place Your nail scarred hands on each side of my face and look me in the eyes and say, 'You belong to Me my love, forever and ever.' You cause my heart to melt because of that