Intimacy with GOD, Esher Shoshannah [red queen free ebook .txt] 📗

turned everything over to You. I want to please You alone. My love for You has grown so much more intense. I am now sensitive to the 'little' things that displease You. Thank You for being so patient with me."

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Abba Father, I come to Your throne of grace with one purpose only, make the garden of my heart totally separated from the deadening effects of the world's way of thinking and doing things which displeases You so much. Come wonderful, eternal Gardener and till the soil of my heart in whatever manner You desire! I know it will only result in that which is good and holy. I ask You to fulfill this promise in my heart, 'And I will put my spirit within you, and CAUSE you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.' (Ezk. 36:27) so that I can please You! In the name of Your dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power which is in His blood, amen!"

 

"...a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

Why is the spring of her heart shut up and the fountain of her heart sealed? At this point her heart is for Him alone and no one else. He must receive the first fruits of surrender: love, worship, praise and adoration flowing to His heart. The Jews were instructed to do that at harvest time (Num. 28:26; Neh. 10:34,35). When the garden of her heart is fully developed and the fruit and spices have come to harvest, then she invites her Beloved into her garden which she calls His garden in v.16. After He has received His loving, first portion, then He allows others to be blessed from the garden of her heart and drink of the springs of living water (see 5:1)!

 But for now it is sealed, waiting for Him to come at the appropriate time to enjoy a heart filled with faith, filled with love and filled with the Holy Spirit. And when He opens it up, from the spring and fountain of her heart shall flow rivers of living water - refreshing, delightful waters of submission and obedience flowing back to His heart (Eph. 5:18-19). As she listens to His quiet voice her heart pounds with love for Him. She questions, "Am I dreaming, or is this all for real? Can it be the Bridegroom of my heart, the God of the universe, has said all of this to me - to me, a nobody in the eyes of the world?"

He takes her by the hand and says, "Let's walk together in the garden for awhile, My love. And as we walk, I will show you just what I see inside of you that causes My heart to overflow in love." He gives her hand a gentle squeeze as they begin to walk. Beaming with joy He excitedly says, "Look how your garden is filled with My favorite fruits and flowers! They are so beautiful to Me My love." He stops and just takes in the joy of all the beauty of colors and the fragrances. "My love, look, look over there - you have these wonderful yellow Henna flowers in your garden. Let's get a little closer." He picks a flower and puts it in her hair. "That flower is so beautiful, let Me just step back and enjoy looking at you for a moment. I can’t wait to share the flowers, fruit and spices of your heart with My friends (Heb.13:16;Rom. 8:29)!"

This is almost too much for her. The bride is having such a difficult time paying attention because her heart is overflowing walking so close to Him. She whispers, "Dear Husband, my heart is about to burst. Forgive me for not speaking." It was a greater fullness of her spirit than she had ever experienced. Arm in arm they continued walking. Pausing, the Beloved breathes in the magnificent fragrance, then, with one sweep of His hand over the garden, He says, "Your garden, look at it My love..."

 

V.13 "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire (henna), with spikenard,"

O grasp this verse dear one of His love! The Lord has a special order in listing these very special plants! First, her heart is seen as an orchard of pomegranates with other precious plants dispersed among them! The pomegranate was dealt with in v.3 and now her Beloved sees, not just one pomegranate, but a heart garden filled up with worship. Her heart is filled up with love for the blood of Jesus; her heart is filled up with sacrifices of praise for Him; her heart is filled up with surrender to Him! The Beloved puts His arm around her shoulder and says...

"So many of My people give Me a pomegranate to taste once or maybe twice a week. What I love so much about you is that I may come into your garden at anytime during the day and there are many, many pomegranates just for Me to pick. Thank you so much for allowing My Father, by My Spirit, to plant those seeds and cultivate and prune them and prune them.."

The first fruit in our life must be the pomegranate. Without praise and a love for the precious blood of Christ, service to the Lord is meaningless. Can it be said of you by the Lord as He looks at your garden -"My bride is an orchard of pomegranates"? Listen to the Bridegroom excitedly speak with joy to His Father about His bride, "Thank You My Father for cultivating in My bride's heart garden so many beautiful spices and fruits (John 15:1). She is so lovely to Me. I love to look at her. You have filled My heart, Abba Father, with the joy You promised Me when I went to the cross (Heb. 12:2)! Thank You for giving her to Me (John 10:29)!"

 

"...with pleasant (choice) fruits..."

No matter what, we will have some kind of fruit in our lives: some of poor quality, some of good quality, some of choice quality. What makes the difference? The pomegranate! Abiding in Him with true, heartfelt worship, praise and obedience (Isa. 43:21; John 4:23,24; 15:1-5) produce the fruit of the Spirit! She is pleasant to Him! Am I? Are you? Do we care?

 

"...henna, with spikenard."

"Henna" speaks of resurrection and joy (see 1:14 for detailed comments). O how our Beloved loves the "henna" for it tells Him that we are filled with His resurrected life (John 10:10; Phil.3:10). It is the life where our ways are controlled by the Holy Spirit through the precious promises of the Word. O dear surrendered believer, the "henna" needs to be seen desperately in our lives. Young believers are watching and learning from us. Do they see the Spirit filled life, the abundant life, the transformed life, the consistent life; in other words, the power of the resurrected life? The unsaved around us need to see Jesus in our hopes and habits; in our mouth and in our movements; in our attitudes and activities. May we have done to us as was done to Lazarus when he came forth out of the tomb (John 11:43-44).

Allow the Holy Spirit to take off the grave clothes of the old self-ways. Lazarus came forth, he demonstrated that he had life but he did not have it more abundantly until the grave clothes came off. When the grave clothes came off the new, abundant, resurrected life was fully demonstrated for all to see! Notice that others were responsible for that act. We must allow others who are Spirit-filled in the body of Christ to minister to us by the power and unction of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:16). Humble yourself before Almighty God and allow members of His body to help unwrap those things in your life which hinder your spiritual walk. We need each other. That’s the way the body of Christ spiritually functions.

It is significant that the Holy Spirit mentions nine specific items which make the bride's heart garden so beautifully attractive. Isn't it interesting that Gal. 5:22-23 lists nine characteristics which make up the fruit of the Spirit. Note carefully that the fruits and spices are mentioned in pairs except for the pomegranate. Why? It is the blood of Jesus, first and foremost that causes the other fruits and spices to grow.

Spikenard was obtained by crushing a root. It is the independent human will that must be crushed and replaced with total surrender to the Lord's will found in His Word and lived out by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was Mary of Bethany who gave up the most precious possession she had, 300 denarii of spikenard perfume (representing her will). She anointed Jesus' head and feet with it. This consummate act of worship meant so much to the Lord that He never wanted Mary to be forgotten (Mk. 14:9)! The resurrection life (henna) never appears in the life of the believer without the sacrifice of the will, broken over the Bridegroom's feet.

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Abba Father, Gardener of my heart, till the soil of my garden until pure spikenard is obtained. Nothing less will do! I yield the rights to my garden into Your loving, caring hand. I humble myself under Your mighty hand. I humble myself before those You send into my life to change me. As they "tough love" me by unwrapping the grave clothes and point out the dross I will accept it from Your hand. Empower me to change. I cannot do it alone! In Jesus' precious name amen!"

 

V.14 "Spikenard and saffron..."

Saffron is used in cooking for flavoring and coloring. It is obtained by drying the stigmas and parts of the styles of the autumn crocus. Approximately 4000 flowers yield about one ounce of saffron. Obviously, much time was required to produce the saffron. Perseverance (James 1:12) is needed in extracting the saffron. As with us, much time is needed to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..." (II Pet. 3:18).

With our will (spikenard) daily sacrificed to Him then the saffron will be produced. Saffron was also used as a deep yellow dye. Yellow is the color of gold. Gold, represents the glory and Deity of the Bridegroom as we will see in comments on 5:11,14,15. A totally yielded life will allow the Holy Spirit to produce Jesus' glory in the garden of her heart. The Word of God states that "God is good" and "God is love". It has a sweet fragrance (Psa. 19:7-10; 119:103). O to have the saffron produced in the heart, God in control and seen in the walk of the bride. Then it becomes "not I but Christ living in me." (Gal. 2:20)!

Think of it, 4000 flowers needed for one ounce of saffron. And as the bride yields thousands of moments of her will to the will and direction of the Lord, a sweetness appears in her manner of living and in her relationship with others.

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Lord Jesus, may Your Father cultivate the spiritual soil of my garden to see a wonderful harvest of saffron and producing the yellow dye which will be indelibly stamped on my walk. May more of You be seen in me as my garden is tilled by the Father in the Name of Him who is the True Vine of my heart. (John 3:30; 15:1-5)!"

 

V.14 "...calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense..."

Calamus is referred to as sweet cane in Isa. 43:24 and in Jer. 6:20. In Exo. 30:23 it is called "sweet calamus". When its leaves are crushed it gives forth a fragrance like that of ginger. It was used in the making of the holy anointing oil (Ex. 30:23). So sacred was this oil to the Lord that He warns in Ex. 30:32,33 that the precise proportions of mixture were not to be duplicated