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

May we be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit and hear the voice of our Beloved saying, "It is time for us to come apart and rest for awhile. Let us go where I can sit with you and feast upon the spiritual delicacies from our heart garden." (Mk. 6:31; John 6:3). He knows when it is best.

The eternal seeds of His Word have been planted and have grown into the wonderful fruit of His Spirit! With a heart garden filled with the Holy Spirit then you will feel free to invite the Lord Jesus into it for fellowship (special time of devotions) where He just enjoys you alone. O the purity of her garden. There is nothing in it that she would want to hide from Him.

Notice that she now calls it "his" garden and rightly so! It was He who created the garden in the first place. His Father tends the garden and His Spirit gives continual life to the Garden. All this produces the Bridegroom’s image in the resulting fruit and spices. O praise God, He owns me, wholly and totally! IT IS HIS GARDEN!

PRAY WITH ME: "Yes, yes come in and eat! Eat and be satisfied! Eat with joy! Eat from what Your Father's hand, by the power of the Holy Spirit, hath wrought in me! O eat Your choice fruits my loving, Beloved Husband! Eat the fruit of my surrender and submission. May there be much, much more as I abide in You and Your Word abides in me (John 15:7-11).

Chapter 5 - The Discovery of Full Acceptance (cont.)

The Beloved responds:

5:1 "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spices; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved (lovers)."

Notice that the Beloved answers her prayer immediately. He does not say, "I will come" but "I am come...". He cannot wait to get there. What satisfaction awaits Him. A mature bride having her garden filled with all sorts of blessings for His heart to enjoy. O my dear friend, can you not see the Beloved here touching every flower, plant and tree. Do you not see the infinite joy, pleasure and satisfaction written in every expression on His lovely countenance? Observe how many times the word "my" appears in this verse. Everything belongs to Him. He is only enjoying what is rightfully His by creation and by redemption (Ezk. 18:4; I Cor. 6:19-20).

If you listen carefully you will be able to hear Him speaking to Himself and to His angels. He proudly proclaims, "this is MY sister, this is MY bride." He pauses, touching the various items in the garden, you can almost hear Him saying, "Abba, Father, what an amazing Gardener You are! All Your patient work of pruning has created this magnificent garden, thank You!" The angels observe in holy wonder (Eph. 3:10). They are filled with praise for what they do not understand - this marvelous redeemed heart.

The order - My sister, My spouse is quite significant. He is reminding her that He had to first become part of the human family and be her "kinsman Redeemer" before she could become His bride and He her Bridegroom.

"...my myrrh with my spices..."

O how often the "myrrh" is mentioned by the Holy Spirit in this song. We are to never forget it! The "myrrh" represents so much in scripture. Remember, the "myrrh" was obtained by crushing! He, the Worm, was crushed by the Father on Calvary (Isa. 53:10). His "myrrh" was the crushing of His soul by His loving Father at Calvary for my sin. He became everything that His Father hated. It had been as bitter as myrrh can be. But now the “myrrh” had turned into a sweet joy with all of the added "spices" of the surrendered life. She had received the "myrrh" and it was being applied to her daily walk. O look at the results dear reader. Bitterness turned into ultimate joy for Him whom her soul dearly loved!

What a joy it is for Him to gather His "myrrh" with His spice (Hebrew: "balsam") from her heart. She was now experiencing the power of the crucified life. Her old sin nature was under the control of the power of Calvary. Sin no longer had rule or dominion over her walk (Rom. 6:6-14). She is walking in His victory. The "myrrh" is connected with balsam from which comes healing balm. Praise God for the healing virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the atonement there is healing for body, soul and spirit (Read Isa. 53:5; Psa. 103:3; Mt. 8:14-17). What had been ashes in her life - now became beauty beyond imagination (Isa. 61:3). It took time but it was worth it. O the inexpressible delight, O the glory this brings to His Abba Father! O how He loves to see His Father filled with joy!

This is the first time the Beloved has had, for any extended period of time, a real spiritual intimacy with her. The garden of her heart was made ready so that they could enjoy the highest and most intimate relationship possible. This does not just happen. The spiritual maturity comes from "abiding" (Please read John 15:7-11). To abide has the meaning, "to remain, steadfast, continue, endure." Staying close to the Lord no matter what is going on is the key to obtaining spiritual insight, victory, direction, wisdom and growing in love for the Bridegroom. It comes through prayer, praise, and trusting in the Word of God daily in every circumstance. You don't give up even when you fail! The secret - she abides with Him on the Mountain of Myrrh, dying to self.

The bride knows that she is perfectly loved by Him no matter what (I John 4:18). She knows that her faithful Bridegroom is always refining her imperfect steps. There are no more doubts but simply a total reliance on His loving heart and wisdom. She abides with Him in a blessed walk of holiness on the holy hill of frankincense!

"...my honeycomb with my honey..."

He now partakes of the honey and the honeycomb. The orchard had flourished more than anyone else had ever expected. Exquisite flowers, luscious fruits and the finest of spices had been produced. The bees came, creating their honeycomb, then taking the precious pollen, made honey! Prov. 16:24 helps to unlock the meaning for us: "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." Psa. 19:9-10 says, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."

She had taken the Holy Word of God and by faith stood on the promises. By that she found out just how sweet to the soul they can be. She stood on the judgments and precepts of the Word and found them to be true and righteous! She willingly applied the judgments of her Beloved to her life in the power of the Holy Spirit. What joy this brought to her Beloved as He partook of the honey of His word and the honeycomb that flowed from her surrendered, abiding heart!

He first takes the honey of His word, for she has been lovingly obedient to it. Next, He takes the honeycomb of her surrendered heart garden. The honeycomb is longer lasting. He not only is receiving immediate joy from the honey, but there will be more joy for Him to come in the future. So often the Lord gets a few joyous spiritual spurts from us - a few praises at church during an exciting moment and maybe a "thank You Lord" in the morning after reading a meaningful passage from His Word. But all is forgotten on Monday during the busyness of the day! However, in the surrendered heart, there is an ongoing praise - love relationship with her Bridegroom in her spirit all week long. Does your Beloved have any honeycomb from the garden of your heart that He can enjoy in the middle of the week as well as taking in the honey of your heart on Sunday? We owe it to Him! As the Holy Spirit keeps reminding us, this is the joy of Heb. 12:2,3!

"...my wine with my milk..."

Next, the Beloved drinks His wine with His milk. Wine speaks of joy and gladness (Psa. 104:15; see 1:2 for comments) and milk speaks of the purity of God's holy Word (I Pet. 2:2). The Beloved's bride had reached the place of experiencing Eph. 3:16-20 for she was "...filled with all the fullness of God." It is the Bridegroom Himself Who takes in deeply the wine and milk. He is filled with joy and purity of her surrendered heart! Then, He invites other lilies intimate with Him to...

"...eat O friends; drink..."

Abba Father speaks into the heart of His Beloved Son and says, "Son of My heart this garden of Your bride is filled to overflowing. It's time to share the glory with Your friends." The Beloved’s eyes sparkled with delight knowing the joy that would be His in sharing the goodness of her garden with His "friends" (John 15:14). He stops and directs their attention to the beauty of some flower, fruit or spice. He lifts up and examines a sample of each of them with a satisfying eye, then beckons others to see and taste. He exclaims to those with Him, "Isn't that exquisite My friends!" He adds one of the chief spices to the fruit and says, "Try this! You will never taste anything more delectable! This combination is rare and only comes from My garden!" This is Holy Spirit led, body ministry supplying what other believers need through her garden (Eph. 4:15,16).

The Beloved’s friends, the lilies, could see the glow on His face and the gleam in His eyes. There is nothing like sharing with others what has brought joy to your heart! There is a special pleasure and satisfaction just looking at the expressions of appreciation and wonder on their faces as they see what you see and experience what you have experienced!

He took time to describe to them the unspeakable condition in which He had originally found her garden. They were overawed at His power to transform a life! There was no trace of the ugliness concerning the former state of this garden. They all knelt down and praised the Father who was so faithful to watch out over the condition of this surrendered garden (John 15:1); they praised the Son whose image permeated the garden (John 15:5). They all gave thanks for the Holy Spirit who was the power behind the cleaning up and restoring of this beautiful garden (John 15:3; 16:13-15; Eph. 6:17) through the blood of Christ and the Word of God.

In heaven, the dear Abba Father speaks to His Beloved Son, "My Son, tell those who are looking at Your bride how she has been used to bless others. She so pleases My heart also. I will instruct the Holy Spirit to send others into her pathway and they will be blessed by the fruit that has been produced in Your vine, My Son." And so brought into her life were those in need of the spiritual fruit which appeared on her branch in the Vine. They came, they picked the fruit, they grew stronger in the Lord. Here are some of the testimonies:

There was a little girl who had been hurt so deeply by unloving parents - she met the bride one day and picked off a large portion of Jesus’ love. It made such a difference. Her heart was healed! O how they rejoiced and praised the Lord together.

On another occasion