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

nose must be first in order to recognize the presence of the enemy (the world, the flesh, the devil). Next her head is described like "carmel" to deal with the attack in the thought life where most of the trouble begins and plagues us! Her mind, under the control of the Holy Spirit, becomes a spiritual vineyard producing the needed fruit to dispel the enemy, the fruit of: righteousness against unrighteousness (Heb. 21:11), thanksgiving against unthankful thoughts (Heb. 13:15), love against hate, joy against sadness, peace against fear, patience against annoyance, kindness against hurtfulness, goodness against wickedness, faithfulness against disloyalty, gentleness against crudeness, self-control against self-will (Gal. 5:22,23)! In truth, that is "...the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God." Remember that fruit is produced from seeds. In this case it is the Word of God itself (I Pet. 1:23).

The Holy Spirit in II Cor. 10:3-5 tells us that our weapons are not fleshly to fight against that which comes against our thought life. Obviously the weapon we do have is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17)! May He say of you and me dear reader, "Your head 'is like Carmel'!” May we no longer be spiritual babies tossed about by every kind of teaching, thought and ideas which come from the world, the flesh and the devil.

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Lord Jesus, may You see my head crowned with total devotion to You alone. As I walk may Your glory and excellence be seen in my life. May my mind and mannerisms be a spiritually fruitful place for You. In Your glorious name, amen!"

 

"...like purple"

Purple dye was the costliest of all the ancient dyes. It took thousands of shellfish to produce one ounce of it! The Lord directed that purple be used in the curtains of the tabernacle and the temple (Ex. 26:1; II Chron. 2:14) which represented sacrifice to Him and His presence. It was a symbol of royalty and wealth (Judges 8:26; Prov. 31:22).

Ancient Greek and Roman writers used the word symbolically to describe exquisite beauty! What then does her Beloved really see in her? She now is walking as royalty, as the daughter of the King! The Lord Jesus is captivated by the color of her tresses. Colors are seen by those around us. You need to be seen for what you are. All true Christians are priests unto the Lord (I Pet. 2:5,9) but sadly, few truly exercise their privilege as priests and rob the Lord of love and praise. Hair is the glory of the woman (I Cor. 11:15). She, like Mary of Bethany in Mark 14:3-9 and the woman in Luke 7, had submitted her glory to the feet of the Beloved. Where did this take place? When she found her Beloved in 6:2,3 and declared, "I am my Beloved's...!" Hair is to be seen. She is now displaying her royal heritage. She is displaying King Jesus!

Her glory (hair) has been transformed into His royal glory (purple)! All who come into her presence will see the purple. She will exclaim to them, "It is no longer I but my King living in me. For my Beloved's Spirit has been changing me into the Image of my Husband!" (Rom. 8:29; II Cor. 3:18). This dear lady has given all to her Beloved and out of that, her royal priesthood is plainly apparent (I Pet. 2:9) to Him and others. Her mind and decisions are governed by her majestic, royal Husband! O how this pleases the Bridegroom. Is this a picture of you dear reader?

"Purple" speaks of one who is rich. As an heir of your King (James 2:5; Rom. 8:16,17), do you know just how rich you are dear bride of Jesus? Let the Holy Spirit, Himself, reveal what true riches you possess:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. 1:3

"That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Eph. 2:7

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." Eph. 3:16

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19

"The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Prov. 10:22

Are His riches seen in you? Does your Bridegroom rejoice in what He sees in you? Is His image being progressively worked into your walk and talk (Rom. 8:29) by the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit? Praise God for the purple locks of hair! We are looking at a bona fide Spirit-filled believer!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Abba Father, cause me to have displayed every moment in my life the precious spiritual purple which only comes from a Holy Spirit controlled life. Let all see the greatness of Your royalty in my life. I love You Lord with all of my heart. I thank You for Your wonderful patience in changing me for Your glory and pleasure! In the name of my wonderful Husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen!"

 

The Bridegroom continues:

All of a sudden the Bridegroom stands up. Reaching down He takes her hands in His and lifts her up, then letting go, He moves back a couple steps, pausing to admire His beautiful bride. There is such happiness in His voice as He proclaims to her,

 

V.6 "How fair (beautiful) and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!"

How many really desire to be made beautiful for the Lord so that He might have the joy of watching with delight the transformation into His glory of what was once dead in trespasses and sins? Do we not want to become His delight? "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21). How did all of this come about? She had died in 6:3! She died to selfish motives.

She realized that there is no fullness or fulfillment of life apart from His life. "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (II Cor. 5:14,15). See Acts 17:28.

In all the 45 years as His child, I have never seen a believer who held back part of his life for himself ever be ultimately fulfilled. There was always some area in their walk that eroded any momentary joy. However, when they finally submitted all to His feet (hair) there came about a glorious change in their attitude and demeanor! They were blessed and walked in the blessing. There was an increased intenseness of love displayed for the Blessor as never before! Where there is the lukewarmness of the compromised life there will be no hunger for Jesus to increase in our life and for us to decrease.

You must understand that in our spirit we are beautiful to Him. That is where the Holy Spirit resides. But it is in our soul, the place where decisions are made, our feelings are experienced and our mind thinks that a practical and progressive change needs to take place day after day, month after month, year after year so that the image of Christ will be seen in us more and more. O there will be deep problems after you surrender, but you will begin to experience II Cor. 4:7-9 and I Cor. 10:13!

Do you not desire to have Jesus step back and just look at how wonderful you appear to Him, as this bride does? From where did her beauty come? He did it all! She had nothing to do with it except to daily submit her will to His and then lovingly obey! Can you imagine God captivated with His bride? Well He is! Listen to Deut. 32:9, "For the Lord's portion is his people...." Is He your portion dear reader? Can you say from the depths of your heart Psa. 16:11 and Lam. 3:24? Am I a joy to the Lord? Does He look with satisfaction on how increasingly more I look like His Son than a year ago?

Jesus is completely captivated by His surrendered, submissive, spiritually mature bride. He observes every detail concerning her and you also my Christian friend! He really loves every little thing about you when you simply say, "Take it all!" and mean it. You now own nothing. It all belongs to Him; your job, your desires, your mind, your spouse - everything! May He receive joy as He gazes upon each detail of your life. May He say, "How beautiful! How beautiful!" His delight is your delight in Him! "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." (Psa. 37:4). And what is your desire? Him! He will give you deeper revelations of Himself by the Spirit! O how it thrills Him when we finally say, "Take all of me and work Your life into my living!" Beauty that was never seen before begins to surface. There is a new person walking around. She looks like Jesus and she acts like Jesus! Let this famous hymn and additional lines be your commitment prayer right now!

 

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee;

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love!

Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee;

Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King!

 

 

Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for Thee;

Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold!

Take my love, my God, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store;

Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.   Frances Havergal

 

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Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine;

Take my heart it is Thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne!

Take my thoughts and take my soul - love for You my only goal!

Take my moments and my days, let them flow in endless praise;

Take my ways and always use, every step as Thou shalt choose!

Take my all my loving Lord, guide me with the Spirit's sword!   author unknown

 

V.7 "This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of (fruit) grapes (more than likely a reference to the dates produced by the date palm tree)."

The surrendered saint is like a "palm tree" in the desert. Palm trees in the desert indicate the presence of water, a place of rest and refreshment. Depending on the type of palm tree, it can give the weary traveler something to nourish their bodies. The Palm tree, what a symbol of: strength, victory, joy, abundant supply, nourishing others, standing firm (Eph. 6:14)! He had never described her in this manner before! Glory to His name.

The Date palm was highly prized in biblical times as it is today. The fruit was valued more highly than bread. One tree could yield up to 200 pounds of dates in a year and its fruit bearing power increased rather than decreased with age. The taste of the fruit also improved with age! By comparing her to a palm tree the Beloved was stating that now His delightful bride had great possibilities of abundant fruitfulness which would bless Him and many others for the rest of her life.

 What a compliment from the lips of her Beloved! He sees her as one who displays His righteousness. Psa. 92:12 declares, "The righteous shall flourish as a palm tree."