Hey everybody
There are times in every believers life when they feel run down or discouraged in their relationship with God. Yes, we are sinful. But the Lord sees us as beautiful and perfect when we have a 'Yes' in our hearts and when we are sincerely trying to obey Him and love Him.
When we feel discouraged and when we are caught in crisis the Lord sees us one way. He sees us as lovely. (SOS 1:5)
SOS 1:9-10 (NASB)
- Here is the way the Lord responds to the Shulammite in SOS when she is confronted with spiritual crisis and a longing for the Lord. This is how He says she is and this is how He says we are.
"To me my darling, you are like
My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.
"Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with strings of beads."
First He calls her His darling. He confirms in her heart from the get-go that she is His favorite one.
The mare among the chariots of Pharaoh is a symbol of strength and power and righteousness. the Lord is saying she is equipped in righteousness way more than she thinks she is and He knows what her true potential is.
Her cheeks are lovely with ornaments - meaning that the emotions she portrays on her face and the way she shows them to God is lovely to Him. He can see the way her face blushes or turns away when She is confronted before Him in emotion and no matter what it looks like He is pleased and undone by her.
The neck is a symbol of will. So 'Your neck with strings of beads' is referring to her submission to God. When the 'Yes' in her heart is in full bloom even though She is caught in a crisis. The strings of beads refers to divine character that she wears around her neck. The way royalty would wear expensive chains of gold around their neck. the Lord sees her with a will ready to turn and bend to His love even in weakness.
(all info taken from Mike Bickle's SOS verse by verse study guide)
So basically what I'm getting at here is that even when anyone of us feels down in the dumps about where we stand with God - and we all get this way sometimes - Its important to know how He feels towards us and how He loves us in those moments.
Then once we find out from reading things like SOS 1:9-10 we can agree and pray it into our lives. Taking the scriptures and focusing on them in a prayerful way telling God how He loves us and what He's said about us in His word and making it real in our hearts. Add some fasting into that and it will just make the experience that much more enjoyable! God Bless! have fun!
-Drew
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Nov 20-22
Here is a quick exhort for ya'll on fasting and how it applies to all of our lives this week:
Matt 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
So according to Jesus its a good thing that we mourn. What does this mourning look like? Why is it such a good thing that one would be blessed for mourning? Well lets look at another passage that might help shine some light into questions like these.
Matt 9: 14Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"
15And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
In the context of this verse mourning is longing for more of Jesus. The disciples could not mourn for Jesus while He was with them but they would once He had left.
We all long for change. We all want 'something more' in our lives. Even if we are going hard for God throughout the days and weeks and years we still have a longing for more change and more breakthrough. We long for God's kingdom to come and for His will to be done!
We will not be satisfied until heaven comes down to earth and they are united and ultimate peace and revival take place on the earth. (Rev 21,22)
One way to mourn in context to Matt 5 i believe, is when a believer needs more of Jesus in their life. When he/she realizes that the business as usual way of living just won't cut it. Mourning comes from a place of getting with grips of the reality of Christianity and a love for Jesus. The more we have in this life the worse off we will be. Take a look a the rich young ruler, he had everything but yet he was so far from God he even turned Him down face to face. (Matt 19)
He must increase, I must decrease (Jn 3:30)
In everything I must give more to Jesus, and even though He might not be calling me to sell everything (in the natural) and follow Him right now He is asking for that from my heart. And i must be ready to do the same with all my earthly possessions and standings.
We will mourn because we want more of Him in whatever way that looks like in your own personal journey. And its a good thing because when we long for Jesus when we seek Him out and when we are troubled by the the lack of righteousness in our lives and in the circumstances around us He is pleased. He is pleased because its a sign that the 'Yes!' in our hearts towards Him is having an effect on our lives. He is pleased because we are saying 'Yes!' to Matt 5:48. And He now has the means to get us there.
So take a second this week and observe your walk with the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit, 'God where am I in regards to mourning for the Son?' Tell Him that you want to 'kiss the Son' (Ps. 2) Or have Him kiss you with the kisses of His word (SOS 1:2)
Jesus said to those who have, more will be given and to those who don't have EVERYTHING will be taken away. (Matt 13:12) Our mourning is a good sign that we have something in the kingdom. Even though it looks like poverty on this side, and even though our hearts are feeling downcast and crushed its the complete opposite in the heavenly kingdom. For truly we are blessed! It means we are willing to give up more for Jesus. It means we are truly hurt and distressed with our lives and where we stand against sin. It means we will go long hours and even days without pleasures to seek after more of Jesus. And God will reward us for it.
This is love sickness. Fasting/mourning, not eating because i somehow NEED more of Jesus, and biblical this is one of the BEST ways to get it!! Reading the Word, Fasting and Praying.
Amen.
Matt 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
So according to Jesus its a good thing that we mourn. What does this mourning look like? Why is it such a good thing that one would be blessed for mourning? Well lets look at another passage that might help shine some light into questions like these.
Matt 9: 14Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"
15And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
In the context of this verse mourning is longing for more of Jesus. The disciples could not mourn for Jesus while He was with them but they would once He had left.
We all long for change. We all want 'something more' in our lives. Even if we are going hard for God throughout the days and weeks and years we still have a longing for more change and more breakthrough. We long for God's kingdom to come and for His will to be done!
We will not be satisfied until heaven comes down to earth and they are united and ultimate peace and revival take place on the earth. (Rev 21,22)
One way to mourn in context to Matt 5 i believe, is when a believer needs more of Jesus in their life. When he/she realizes that the business as usual way of living just won't cut it. Mourning comes from a place of getting with grips of the reality of Christianity and a love for Jesus. The more we have in this life the worse off we will be. Take a look a the rich young ruler, he had everything but yet he was so far from God he even turned Him down face to face. (Matt 19)
He must increase, I must decrease (Jn 3:30)
In everything I must give more to Jesus, and even though He might not be calling me to sell everything (in the natural) and follow Him right now He is asking for that from my heart. And i must be ready to do the same with all my earthly possessions and standings.
We will mourn because we want more of Him in whatever way that looks like in your own personal journey. And its a good thing because when we long for Jesus when we seek Him out and when we are troubled by the the lack of righteousness in our lives and in the circumstances around us He is pleased. He is pleased because its a sign that the 'Yes!' in our hearts towards Him is having an effect on our lives. He is pleased because we are saying 'Yes!' to Matt 5:48. And He now has the means to get us there.
So take a second this week and observe your walk with the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit, 'God where am I in regards to mourning for the Son?' Tell Him that you want to 'kiss the Son' (Ps. 2) Or have Him kiss you with the kisses of His word (SOS 1:2)
Jesus said to those who have, more will be given and to those who don't have EVERYTHING will be taken away. (Matt 13:12) Our mourning is a good sign that we have something in the kingdom. Even though it looks like poverty on this side, and even though our hearts are feeling downcast and crushed its the complete opposite in the heavenly kingdom. For truly we are blessed! It means we are willing to give up more for Jesus. It means we are truly hurt and distressed with our lives and where we stand against sin. It means we will go long hours and even days without pleasures to seek after more of Jesus. And God will reward us for it.
This is love sickness. Fasting/mourning, not eating because i somehow NEED more of Jesus, and biblical this is one of the BEST ways to get it!! Reading the Word, Fasting and Praying.
Amen.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Nov 13-15
Hello everybody
Ok here we go...
One of the many ways in which we can commune with the Holy Spirit throughout the day is by speaking Gods word over our lives. Jesus, in John 16, tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Helper who will guide us into all truth. Truth only comes from God. God placed this truth into His Word. Jesus is the living Word of God. What I'm trying to get at here is that when we dial down and speak to the Holy Spirit by quoting biblical phrases over ourselves He will then be empowered to help these statements become true over our lives and He (the HS) will help us become more like Jesus. (Jn 17:17)
For example:
Someone could be having problems with where they are looking and they could be giving themselves over to the lusts of the flesh by allowing their eyes to run this way and that. The Bible clearly states that this is not a good thing. (Matt 6:22,23)
So in order to deal with this problem that person could address the Holy Spirit in any given moment through their day (many times repeatedly) and they could pray "Lord I wish to have 'doves eyes.'" (SOS 1:5) When a dove looks somewhere they can only see straight forward meaning if someone had doves eyes set on Christ they would only see Him and would be fixed on Him.
Or the person could pray "Holy Spirit help me to keep my eyes in check so that I do not turn to a wicked way" - (Proverbs 4:25-27)
These little prayers that we address to the Lord seriously help a lot! Not only do they keep us communing with the Holy Spirit throughout our day they actually help us keep ourselves in check and God will actually move on our hearts and He will lead us into victory!
So I'd like to challenge anyone who's fasting this week or whoever has read this, to find some great prayer language and focus on an area that you struggle in and seek the Lord this week with prayer and fasting and rending your heart! (Joel 2:12,13)
I'm personally going to hit Song of Songs and focus on the example of 'doves eyes' for this week. Asking the Lord to continually sustain me and refresh me (SOS 2:5). That I will walk out of my hardships fully dependant on Him being victorious (SOS 8:5)!!
-Drew
Ok here we go...
One of the many ways in which we can commune with the Holy Spirit throughout the day is by speaking Gods word over our lives. Jesus, in John 16, tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Helper who will guide us into all truth. Truth only comes from God. God placed this truth into His Word. Jesus is the living Word of God. What I'm trying to get at here is that when we dial down and speak to the Holy Spirit by quoting biblical phrases over ourselves He will then be empowered to help these statements become true over our lives and He (the HS) will help us become more like Jesus. (Jn 17:17)
For example:
Someone could be having problems with where they are looking and they could be giving themselves over to the lusts of the flesh by allowing their eyes to run this way and that. The Bible clearly states that this is not a good thing. (Matt 6:22,23)
So in order to deal with this problem that person could address the Holy Spirit in any given moment through their day (many times repeatedly) and they could pray "Lord I wish to have 'doves eyes.'" (SOS 1:5) When a dove looks somewhere they can only see straight forward meaning if someone had doves eyes set on Christ they would only see Him and would be fixed on Him.
Or the person could pray "Holy Spirit help me to keep my eyes in check so that I do not turn to a wicked way" - (Proverbs 4:25-27)
These little prayers that we address to the Lord seriously help a lot! Not only do they keep us communing with the Holy Spirit throughout our day they actually help us keep ourselves in check and God will actually move on our hearts and He will lead us into victory!
So I'd like to challenge anyone who's fasting this week or whoever has read this, to find some great prayer language and focus on an area that you struggle in and seek the Lord this week with prayer and fasting and rending your heart! (Joel 2:12,13)
I'm personally going to hit Song of Songs and focus on the example of 'doves eyes' for this week. Asking the Lord to continually sustain me and refresh me (SOS 2:5). That I will walk out of my hardships fully dependant on Him being victorious (SOS 8:5)!!
-Drew
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