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

aspects of her physical features. Eight is the number of new beginnings (eight people in the Ark in Gen. 8). This is where we truly become the Lord's portion to His heart (Deut. 32:9)! O how lovely the walk of holiness is to your Beloved!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "O dear Abba Father, may I always see things through Calvary's eyes, through eyes of holiness. Is there anything in me not pleasing to You my dear Bridegroom? Dear Holy Spirit reveal it to me (Psa. 139:23,24), then I will take it to the mighty mountain of myrrh so that I may walk on the holy hill of frankincense in Your peace and power! Your Words and Your thoughts are too high for me, too wonderful for me (Isa. 55:6). What You see in me must be so because You are truth. I heard You say them to my heart by the Holy Spirit! I do not see what You see in me, but in faith I receive these amazing words of love for me from Your heart. If only I had understood earlier that You were not looking for perfection in me while I walked this earth, but simply a total surrender of my will to You. You are patiently transforming me into Your image through the dear Holy Spirit and that makes me beautiful to You! My soul is flooded with worship for You. In Your most worthy name Beloved of my heart, my Lord and my God, amen!"

 

V.8 "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards."

Here is a new invitation to "come away" with Him. Having had her "will" crucified there was only one answer, "Gladly will I go with You, my loving Husband!"

As she and her Beloved walk together hand in hand the Holy Spirit reveals to her what the enemy is really doing and how he does it. “Leopards like to hide among the flowers. Their spots become a camouflage. Thus, the very thing that makes the leopard beautiful, becomes a deathtrap to the unwary on which he preys. At Calvary your Beloved defeated every lion and leopard lurking to devour you! Never forget what I wrote in Eph. 1:22,23, 'And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.' (I Cor. 15:27; Heb. 2:8)." With a discerning spirit of holiness, we are shown what the enemy is really doing and we act on that revelation. It might be just a feeling about a situation that something is not right or a doubt comes to your mind. It is the Holy Spirit warning you. You simply act on it and your walk is kept safe.

When we make the spiritual decision to be separated from the shadows, our Beloved steps in and says, "Come with Me". The Holy Spirit declares in II Cor. 6:17 to, "...come out from among them, and be ye separate...." The interesting thing in the Greek is that the first part of this verse is your responsibility and the second part is God's responsibility. "Come out" is in active voice meaning that you must take the first action with your will. "Be separate" is a verb also and it is in the passive voice meaning that it is to be done to you. If you have the desire to come out and take the first step, then the power of the Holy Spirit will be experienced in that specific area of your walk. The Beloved receives all the glory.

Lebanon was a beautiful country bordering Israel but it also was a compromising nation. Dear reader, allow Jesus to take you away from compromise. Do you compromise your eyes with what you watch? Do you compromise your ears with what you are willing to listen to? Do you compromise your commitment by loving something more than the Lord? Have you now decided to apply the cross to all of these shadows and want His holiness to fragrance your walk? He says, "I am right here to do it for you, come away with Me from all the shadows. If you are willing to come out then I will work it out (Isa.26:12)! I will take you by the hand, through the blessed Holy Spirit, and lead you away from all that endangers you (lions and leopards)!" Praise His holy name! Satan’s weapons (Isa. 54:17) will be formed against you (fear, depression, hurt, etc.) but they will not prosper. Shadows will come back but as you continually turn your eyes upon Jesus (Heb.12:2-3) the shadows of earth will grow dim and disappear in His light!

Jesus will not only lead you out but He will also lead you up to Mt. Amana. Amana comes from a Hebrew root word that means "confirm", "believe", "establish", "support", "faithful", "trust". What a spiritual mountain that is! A place where what is right and what is wrong is confirmed. You are given spiritual discernment! His faithfulness becomes your strength and establishes your faithfulness to Him. Through His blessed support you will learn to trust wholly. Mt. Amana is none other than His Word revealed by the Holy Spirit!

Jesus will not only lead you out but He will lead you up to Mt. Shenir and to Mt. Hermon. The meaning of Shenir is not clear. However, in Deut. 3:1-9 it is mentioned as a border of the territory taken by the Israelites from their enemies. Dear bride, it is extremely important to realize that your enemies have been defeated. Before you can progress in Spirit filled intimacy with your Bridegroom you must know that Jesus has already defeated your enemies (your sin nature and the devil). He has taken the territory called the throne of your heart and made it His own. O how quickly the enemy gets our focus off the victory of 2:8. Have you forgotten the testimony of that verse? Go up to Shenir and see how your enemies have been defeated. Look and see if the borders of your heart are safe. Has self made a breach in the walls, or is there an unguarded entry point where pride has slipped past the borders of your heart and is trying to sit on the throne?

Did not the Lord say in Deut. 3:2, "...Fear him not...."? Go up to Shenir and look down at your defeated foes in the valley. Stop and meditate on John 16:11. Jesus stated that the "...prince of this world is judged." He did not say "will be"! It was a foregone conclusion before He ever went to Calvary that the enemy was defeated. Look at John 16:33. Just before the cross Jesus declared the victory as having been accomplished, not "will be"! "...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Think about these verses as you sit with your Bridegroom on Mt. Shenir: Rom. 8:31; I Cor. 15:57; II Cor. 2:14.

Now you are ready for a trip to Mt. Hermon (meaning: "devoted" and "destroy" or "destruction"). Praise the Father that He would allow us to be taken to Mt. Hermon by His beloved Son where true Holy Spirit, "first love" love devotion is developed and maintained. It is a place where self, through devotion to Him, will be progressively destroyed and the joy of the Spirit filled life is established in you on a daily basis until your Beloved takes you to your permanent home in glory. It is a place where we become devoted to one another. We truly care about His body - our brothers and sisters who hurt. We will be of one mind and heart with each other focused on the Lord.

The early church knew about Mt. Hermon for they were devoted and steadfast, "And they continued steadfastly (devoted) in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42)". Because of this steadfast devotion and beautiful unity, did the early church see the enemy being destroyed? Yes! Am I devoted to what Jesus was devoted - love for the Father and love for the family of God? Then Satan's foothold in the church will be broken and God's power will be demonstrated in dramatic transformed lives!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "O my Lord and O my God cause me to hear what has just been proclaimed. You love me with a love that cannot be described. You have a plan already set for my life and You only ask me to come with You. You have led me and are still leading me into all truth (John 16:13) by the dear Holy Spirit and I am filled. What joy! What peace! What contentment! What purity! What righteousness! What strength! What a vision! You are all of these to my soul! Glory to Your Holy name! Thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You with all of my heart!"

 

V.9 "Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou has ravished my heart, with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck."

Can these words really be in the Word of God? Is it possible that the God of my heart would utter such emotional words from His soul about me? This is beyond comprehension. All because of the bride's willingness to go with Him to the Mountains! He has not changed and still loves for us to spiritually walk with Him, hand in hand along the pathway planned for each of us individually before the world ever existed (Psa. 139:16). And this excites Him! Why? It is because our willingness to go demonstrates our deep trust in Him and full love for Him.

This very same heart of His which was broken and pierced for His bride’s sin is now totally taken with her ("ravished") in overwhelming love in what she has become! It is as if she totally steals His attention so that He can think of nothing else. And no wonder, she is the Lord's new creation! What does Jesus see in her? His own beauty of holiness that is beginning to rise from His surrendered blood bought bride.

 

PRAY WITH ME: "O dear Lord, You say that Your awesome person has ravished my heart, but it cannot be that Your perfectly pure heart is ravished with me! How can You say to me that You are overcome with my beauty; overcome with joy and delight over me; overcome because I am totally pleasing and attractive to You? This revelation is too much for my spirit to bear. I prostrate myself in holy wonder before You. As You look upon all that heaven is - its glorious splendor, how is it possible for me to ravish Your heart!? If I so move Your heart with just a glance of loving obedience in one of my eyes, then I pray, please, please increase my capacity to love and obey You more. O dear Jesus, I long to ravish Your heart every minute of the day until I see You face to face and be overcome with that first look from Your eyes!"

 

Dear blood bought bride, you are standing on holy ground right now. Sit in holy silence and wonderment. Let these thoughts directed to you from Your Beloved penetrate the deepest portion of your heart! Don't rush through this precious moment. Read and reread this verse and say, "He is saying this about me!" Let it sink in just how much your love moves Jesus, your Bridegroom!

Jesus proclaims that His heart is "ravished" by us twice so that you can believe and accept it without question. For the first time He calls her "my sister". This is the intimate family relationship we have with Him (Eph. 3:14,15,16). Before Jesus could take her (us) to be His "spouse" He first had