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

for Calvary! Ivory is strong. It takes His strength and not ours to do His will.

There is only one real pain of sacrifice that we must suffer and that is placing our will into His hands; but O the Tower of Abba’s presence released in us! O the Tower of Jesus’ peace, of Jesus embracing us! O the Tower of the Spirit’s power flowing through us! O the Tower of God’s holy purpose produced in us! O the magnificent fruit of the Spirit that will be produced! The great reward is to hear my Beloved say by the Holy Spirit, "Your neck is like a tower of ivory!"

 

PRAY WITH ME: "My loving Husband, I recommit my will into Your hands for another day. O my Bridegroom, flow through me today; bless through me today; work only Your works through me today! Receive glory, honor, adoration and praise from me today! Conform all of me to Your beautiful image! Let much fruit be produced in my branch, by You dear Holy Spirit, for my Beloved. Spirit of the living God fill up my vessel for today and let the ivory alone be seen in my neck, then my feet will continually be beautiful for You. May I walk as one who is the Prince's daughter. In Your omnipotent name Lord Jesus, amen!"

 

All of these unbelievable descriptions of her swirled about in her mind. Her heart was ready to burst but she is unable to utter a sound! Words are too inadequate to express the onrushing love bubbling up in her soul. Secure in her heart, tears of love spill down over her cheeks. She places her arms around her Beloved holding Him O so tightly while resting her head on His chest. The Beloved’s soul is flooded with the purity and fullness of her grateful love and adoration! Filled with her love He looked deep into her eyes and said...

 

"...thine eyes are like the fishpools of Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim..."

It is amazing how one can speak with the eyes alone without a word being said. You can look into the eyes' expression and detect: joy, peace, love, hate, understanding, depression, confusion, etc. Her eyes in the past had been dove's eyes. The Beloved now perceives something new, something beautiful!

 

"...fishpools of Heshbon..."

We are told that springs of water flow into these deep pools for the town's water supply. They are still, quiet waters ready for use. Her eyes have a spiritual depth to them. These are eyes that are not easily distracted anymore! There is a holy fire of commitment for His plans. Praise God, she is ready to go out and see how the vines flourish. Those eyes can stay steady on the ministry which will require concentration and discernment. She has an abundant supply of the water of the Word residing in her to refresh others. She is ready to minister and in just a few minutes in (v. 11) it will happen.

 "Heshbon" is a form of the Hebrew word which means "to plan"; "devise"; "make a judgment"; "actively meditate" or "think about something". "Bathrabbim" comes from two Hebrew words meaning "daughter of abundance".

He can see in her eyes that a life changing decision has been made. She thought deeply about His plan for her life (Jer. 29:11; Isa. 46:11) and that His judgment was now her judgment to walk in His plan. She will meditate on Jesus and His Words (Psa. 63:6; 77:12; 119:78; Isa. 26:3; Phil. 4:8). She desires to, "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Rom. 12:2). She feels deep within her spirit an abundant overflowing like rivers of living water springing up, flowing out to her Beloved and then to others (Eph. 3:20). She has been blessed by her Beloved over and abundantly beyond all she could ever have expected. She is filled with Him and filled with His Spirit. Her eyes are saying to Him, "all I can think about is living for You my Beloved, doing Your will alone. I have tasted the more abundant life and nothing else matters to me anymore but Your will. It is the best and the purest!" Over and over again she shouted in her soul, "YOU are my abundance"! "You are MY abundance"! All those spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3) which belonged to her were now ready to flow out to others in their need. The abundant life that He gives is to be flowing out to others. He reaches over with His left hand and runs His finger gently from the top of her nose to the tip end. As He does this He says...

 

"Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh (points toward) Damascus."

A tower's function is to discern if there is any movement of the enemy in the distance. Her willingness to allow Jesus to be Lord of her life has activated her spiritual senses needed so desperately in the battle against the evil one. This is the first time her nose is mentioned. Why is it so important? In the natural, the nose discerns between what is spoiled and what is safe to eat. It gives warning if there is a gas leak or an electrical wire burning. Many lives have been saved because of the nose's ability to detect what is normal and what is dangerous. Without its ability to distinguish what is rotten and rancid we would be eating and drinking things that are detrimental and destructive to our health. Praise God He has given us the discerning capacity of spiritual smell to detect that which would harm our souls.

Damascus is the seat of Israel's perpetual enemy, Syria. This tower looked out over the valley or plain in order to spot enemy movements from afar. Lebanon represents stability, pleasant fragrance and fruitfulness (Hos. 14:5-7). It also represents transformation (Isa. 29:17). Only a surrendered, Holy Spirit filled believer possesses this! Lebanon means "white" which represents purity or righteousness (Rev. 19:8). It is a tower of purity or righteousness. O how our Beloved loves purity and righteousness in our lives (Rom. 8:4; II Cor. 7:1)! The evil one can never defeat the believer who is totally given to the Lord and His Word. It sanctifies unto holiness (John 17:17). It is through the receiving and obeying of the Word of righteousness and purity that the senses of our spiritual nose are developed and sharpened. It is extremely important for our spiritual survival and the success in spiritual warfare that we be able to face the enemy and know clearly the subtle temptations by the angel of light (II Cor. 2:11; 11:3,13,14; Mt. 7:15)!

Notice carefully that her nose is pointed in the direction of Damascus. A discerning believer is one who knows just where the enemy is located. Most Christians are so distracted by the "little foxes" that they have no idea where the enemy is because their vision is on so many other things. The enemy comes from behind and wounds them. They are ambushed or taken by surprise. Her sense of spiritual discernment has to be greatly sharpened and thus, the bride here will not have this problem because her eyes continue to be on her Beloved. If you are focused on Jesus, then the Holy Spirit will give you the sensitivity concerning the whereabouts of the enemy. Peter (Mt. 16:23) was insensitive to the enemy’s plans for Him, Jesus stepped in and rebuked Satan.

Our enemy would even get us involved with what is good in order for us to miss what is best! O how we need discernment. Someone once said, "My greatest concern is not that I'll be a failure, but a success at something that doesn't really matter." How can you have your spiritual sense of smell finely tuned? Stay in the Word! Stay intimate with Jesus! II Cor. 2:11 says as much, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." The Word exposes his trickery and lies.

Pray that the Lord, "...may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." That, "The eyes of your understanding being enlightenedmay know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ...." (Eph. 1:17-20)! Pray, "...that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ." (Phil. 1:9,10)!

Your Beloved, through His Spirit, challenges His bride to get into the Word for discernment! Read Prov. 1:1-9; 2:1- 12; 3:1-26; 4:5,7, 20-22! Walk with Jesus through the Gospels. See how He responded to various circumstances and situations. Learn from your Beloved, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col.2:3). "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally...and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering...." (James 1:5,6). Because the bride is wholly surrendered to Jesus and His Word, she has His wisdom and knowledge readily available to her for every circumstance by the power and revelation of the Holy Spirit.

The nose enables us to taste the difference between a filet mignon steak and an ordinary piece of bologna. Without it there would be no enjoyment of all the various fragrances of flowers or scents of a mountain forest in springtime. At this point, because the bride is "being rooted and grounded in love...(she is) able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that (she) might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3:17-20; 4:15,16).

His bride is able to discern the various spiritual fragrances emanating from lives of other lilies. She savors in her spirit all of those special revelations of Him given by the Holy Spirit in their lives. O how much Abba Father, Jesus the Bridegroom and the dear Holy Spirit want to share the deep and intimate things found only in the heart of God. O how God loves to have someone so sensitive to Him that He is able to reveal Heaven's secrets to them.

 

 PRAY WITH ME: "Lord, You are my discernment. I stand upon Your holy promise in James 1:5 by which You will give me the needed wisdom in every situation as I face each day my Damascus! Praise You Lord that I have been delivered from my enemies and my past. I bow before You and worship You my wonderful Lord. I am Yours and because I love You, You will disclose Yourself to me in every circumstance (John 14:21; 15:15; 16:13,14,15). Thank You for making this all available to me, in Jesus' Holy and powerful name, amen!"

 

He begins to lightly run His hands through her hair. Her eyes are closed. Enjoy the tenderness of the moment. He says,

 

V.5 "Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries (or "by the locks of your hair")."

"Carmel" means: "vineyards" or "fruitful place". "Carmel" was the place where Elijah, in the power of God, defeated the prophets of Baal (I Kin. 18:19-20). It was there the Lord proved His faithfulness to His devoted, surrendered servant.

What a compliment! Listen to this verse, "...the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." Isa. 35:2! O the glory of having the mind of Christ in full control and all foreign thoughts cast out (Phil. 2:5). The order of the description is interesting. The spiritually discerning