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

with Him. His bride did something she had not done before - she followed Him "down" to the valley where the garden and orchard were located. Previously, she was willing to go to the mountaintop. But it is in the valleys of life where the gardens find the best nutrients and weather to produce quality fruit! Don't reject the valleys! O my friend, this is true beauty, walking where Jesus is walking in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit! Jesus cannot help exclaim, "How beautiful are thy feet!"

The Holy Spirit said to the Bride’s heart, "Look once again at the feet of your Beloved. Remember how He leaped upon the mountains and skipped upon the hills (2:8)? His feet were bringing victory over every difficulty in this dark world. As Jesus loves your feet so also the Father loves His Son’s feet. Shhh...the Father is about to speak to your Beloved Husband, 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publisheth peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Thy God reigneth (Isa 52:7)'! No wonder Jesus is excited about your feet. They are becoming like His feet! And the more believers surrender to Him the more the Father’s joy is increased. Why? Because He sees His Son’s feet in them walking all over the world fulfilling the Word of Isa. 61:1-3"

So many believers who love Jesus, praise Him and study His Word with great expectation, then the Holy Spirit bids their feet to move in a new direction and they hesitate! Their feet are not beautiful! They come to the very edge of great spiritual blessing and then fall short! Within reach is everything that they had ever longed for in their Christian life but miss it! There is a beginning desire to "run after" Him! But they are unwilling to have the Word of correction (Heb. 12:6-14) do its work in their lives. Emotional enthusiasm for Jesus is beautiful but it must be coupled with spiritual determination! Many are in love with the principles of the Word, but not with the Prince of the Word! If so, then this would be true, "...If a man love me, he will keep my Word...." (John 14:23).

The Bridegroom declares that she is now totally separated unto Him (true sanctification) from head to toe. What kind of walk truly pleases the Prince? It is to: "...walk in the Spirit..." (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4) and walking in the Spirit is to walk: "in faith" (II Cor. 5:7); "in love" (Eph. 5:2); "in wisdom" (Col. 4:5); "in the light" (I John 1:7). All of these are accomplished by leaning totally on the "...sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God". (Eph. 6:17). How do you know when you are filled with the Spirit – it is the moment you have surrendered all your rights to the Lord – overall and in specific circumstances. When you do that your spiritual vessel has become "emptied" and the Spirit immediately comes and fills it every time! Your burning desire is to obey the Word of God because it is the Word of your Beloved! You can't force yourself to walk in this manner. You become filled with His Spirit and totally in love with the Bridegroom! This "walking in the Spirit" is accomplished by the Spirit, as you abide in Jesus' Word which is making you free (John 8:31-32). Freedom in the Spirit brings fulfillment in your walk (read Rom. 8:2-4). Freedom in the Spirit turns everything back over to Jesus. Do you have a problem facing you? It's not yours it’s your Prince's problem! Speak His precious Word over it and then leave it in your Beloved’s hand. He has never failed to work out a problem given to Him!

 

 

"...O prince's daughter!..."

Who is this Prince? It is none other than Jesus who died on the cross, "And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." (Acts 3:15); "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31). Glory to God, our Bridegroom is the crucified, risen Prince of Life. Everywhere a surrendered believer walks he steps into a footprint that has a nail scar in it. Pause and read I Peter 2:21-25 and see what it says about walking in His footsteps. O to walk daily having the imprint of the Prince of Peace in my footsteps! O to be recognized that I belong to my Lord, the Beloved! May those who watch my life see the imprint of a nail in every step I take! Don't miss this thought, He goes before us and a surrendered believer walks in His steps. "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." John 10:4!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Lord, thank You so much for the shoes You placed on my feet. Thank You for having made them Yourself. Praise Your Holy name for the shoes of the "preparation of the gospel of peace." (Eph. 6:15). I stand strong in them in You against the enemy. I now run and am not weary! You, dear Lord, slipped Your shoes over my feet and all fear has disappeared! What a God You are, when I am following after You I am actually walking in the plans You prepared for me.(Jer.29:11) In Jesus' name, amen."

 

They continue to walk through His garden. The Beloved pauses again and just looks at her, feasting on the heart that is gloriously one with His. He whispers to her, "I’m so, so pleased My Father gave you to Me! You are so spiritually beautiful to Me My dove, My bride, there is nothing in the universe more lovely than you for..."

 

"...the joints of thy thighs are like jewels..."

The word in the Hebrew for "jewels" carries with it the idea of "ornaments" and is so translated in Prov. 25:12. Women of the ancient east wore strings of ornaments attached around the waist, flowing down over the hips or thighs (Gen. 52:25; Ex. 32:27; Num. 5:21; Psa. 45:3). Spiritually He is admiring the lovely sixty-six strands of ornaments flowing from the hips over the spiritual thighs – lovingly obeying His Word that are guiding her heart and footsteps! 

The spiritual ornaments given to us are every facet of His truth received in our heart. Does not the Word say, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth...." (Eph. 6:14)? Our loins give strength of movement to our feet that now walk in His truth. We walk unencumbered up the King’s highway in holiness (John 17:17). Our daily walk (manner of life) demonstrates to all around that we are free of doubt, fear and worldly pollution. May the Lord be able to say about you and me as the apostle John said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (III John 4)

 

"...the work of the hands of a cunning workman."

Notice, what makes her beautiful is done by someone other than herself. It is an expert artist. It is not so much the hips that are in view but the ornaments. To walk one must have hips which are unimpeded. "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (II Cor. 3:17). Who is this expert artist? None other than the Lord Himself. Let Him tell you from His Word, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:10; Zech. 4:6; Jer. 18:1-6)!

Her heart about "melts away" with the fervor of His loving description. She asks, "My Love, my heart is about to burst, please allow me to sit down and rest in Your presence!" He takes her by the hand and leads her to a very special spot. They sit down together under the shade of the Tree of Life (2:3). She lays her head on His breast. After a time of blessed quietness He continues to pour out His heart...

 

V.2 "Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth (Heb."lacking") no liquor (Heb."blended wine"); thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies."

The word "naval" is the Hebrew word for "umbilical cord". As with the original purpose of the navel, the lifeline to the unborn child, so also with our spiritual lifeline, He alone is our life, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21); "...Christ, who is our life..." (Col. 3:4); "...nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..." (Gal. 2:20)!

The navel symbolizes how we were sustained by someone other than ourselves. As an unborn child we were totally dependent on our mother's nourishment. The navel continually reminds us that we were totally dependent on someone else beginning at our conception. He not only is her Bridegroom but He is the One who caused her to be birthed by His Spirit (the Spirit of Christ, Rom. 8:9). As a babe she drank the spiritual milk of the Word (I Pet. 2:2; John 6:63) He was the One Who had nurtured her (Eph. 6:4) as a child. The bride was totally dependent on her Beloved and still is. He has become her life! As in the pregnancy stage, the umbilical cord was filled with nutrients for the baby so also here symbolically it has the spiritual capacity to be filled with Bread of Life and the fruit of the Spirit. The Beloved envisions it as a round goblet filled with blended wine.

 

"...which wanteth (Heb."lacking") no liquor (Heb."blended wine")"

The Hebrews would blend their wine with some other substance in order to protect themselves from drunkenness (milk in 5:1). They were not to "look upon the wine when it is red" (Prov. 23:31). Red wine represented full strength. For individuals to drink blended wine indicated that their motives were pure not wanting the wine to adversely affect them. In our spiritual umbilical cord flows the blood of Jesus, the wine of God! It carries the spiritual nutrients needed to sustain our spirits and souls while walking in this world. Without the blood of Jesus there are no spiritual nutrients: no Holy Spirit, no living Word, no transformation, no joy, no real purpose, no healing and no pleasing God. She is filled up with joy and gladness (Psa. 104:15). O to be filled up with Jesus' joy (John 15:11)! O to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18-21). The joy of the believer is found in the blood of Jesus! Read I Cor. 10:16,17 and see how living the Blood of Jesus truly is.

What is to be blended into your spiritual cup of wine in order to have the "joy of the Lord" (Neh. 8:10) which is your strength? Into the cup of your spirit and soul the Holy Spirit will pour heavenly revelations about the Lord Jesus Christ! These thoughts will come while meditating on His Word, during prayer, while praising or at the most unexpected times. He will reveal the deeper things concerning His heart, glory to God, and you will be sustained!

Song of Solomon 2:4 tells us the Beloved brought His bride into the "banqueting house"! The literal translation of that phrase is "house (sometimes "palace") of wine". In this house, set aside for joy and fellowship, her Husband placed a banner with "love" emblazoned on it over His bride. It was the blood of Jesus that brought ultimate joy to her heart. Inscribed on the walls of His "banqueting house of wine" were these words, "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by