Intimacy with GOD by Esher Shoshannah (the unexpected everything txt) 📖
- Author: Esher Shoshannah
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V.12 "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."
Dear Christian, what a beautiful compliment from Your Beloved to have your life be called a "garden" by Him! Did you know that God has His own garden? It is called "the garden of the Lord" in Isa. 51:3 and the garden of Eden is called "the garden of God" in Ezk. 28:13. God's wedding present to Adam and Eve was a garden in which He had already prepared for them. In that original garden a loving God placed all manner of wonderful things to be enjoyed through touch, taste, smell and vision. It was a place where God, longing for fellowship, could walk with man and share the wonders of His creation. It was the perfect setting for discussion, deliberation and devotion. God walked and talked with Adam in the garden. It was none other than Jesus Himself for He is the "Word of God" (John 1:1); He is "...all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). He is "...the express image of his (God's) person..." (Heb. 1:3)!
O what infinite heart-wrenching pain Jesus must have felt when Adam and Eve chose another one to walk with after having committed spiritual adultery (James 4:4). The garden of their heart turned into hideous weeds of wickedness as did the actual physical garden. But, praise God, four thousand years later Jesus the Creator (Jn1:3,10) came back to earth to restore what sin had so corrupted. He created a new spiritual garden for the heart of every believer. The Holy Spirit would plant it by applying the precious blood of Jesus to the spirit of man! Man would become a new creation in Christ Jesus (II Cor. 5:17). This wonderful spiritual heart garden would once again be a place where God and man could share intimately.
A garden is where seeds are planted. Praise God for the powerful seed of the Word of God which was planted in the garden of our heart by the Holy Spirit (I Pet. 1:23)! Are you lovingly, with great expectation, meditating on your Bridegroom's Word? Are you expecting a great harvest from those seeds being planted into your heart? Here's how it is accomplished.
This garden of the heart is made spiritually beautiful through absolute surrender of the believer's will to the Lord (Rom. 12:1). New and precious fruit begin to grow there for God and His children to enjoy. It will only happen as the bride gives over the garden of her heart to the Father, the "husbandman" or "gardener" (John 15:1-11). With the Father having full rights to the garden of your heart, He instructs the Holy Spirit to break up of the "fallow ground" (Jer. 4:3; Hos. 10:12). In grace He does for us what He had asked Israel to do! In this garden, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are planted glorious eternal seeds of His Word (Matt. 13:23)! O the blessed fruit that is produced: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (self-control)" (Gal. 5:22-23)!
So significant is the garden symbolism that her Beloved Jesus died, was buried and rose in a garden! "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid." (John 19:41)! We know that there was a garden at the tomb because Mary Magdalene mistook her resurrected Lord to be a gardener (John 20:15). In the midst of the first garden was the tree of life. In the midst of Calvary's garden was the tree of life (Jesus on the cross).
In the first garden there was the tree of knowledge of good and evil and in Calvary's garden Jesus, the all good God, became that tree. He became sin - all that was evil. Calvary was the place where all the evil in the universe was exposed. Praise God, the bride now may eat freely of the fruit of Calvary and have all that is good, pure, and righteous produced in the garden of her heart. It will be progressive in her walk as illustrated in John 15 "fruit" and "more fruit" (v.1), "much fruit" (v.5). It's the tilling and the pruning that is not enjoyable to us. Thank God for the resulting "peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12:11).
It was in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus often prayed. In the original garden Adam "fell" before Satan. In this garden, three times Jesus fell to His knees in prayer and then finally on His face sweating great drops of blood. It was in Gethsemane the soldiers of Satan fell before Jesus the "I Am" (John 18:4-6)! Prayer, praise, power and victory are all found in God's garden.
Dear, dear bride of Christ, what is in your garden? Is it a place where Jesus can come and enjoy all manner of spiritual fruits (4:16)? Can your Beloved Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, find in your heart all that He sees in the garden of this bride's heart (4:12-15)? Or does He approach the gate of the garden of your heart, open it, and find all manner of spiritual weeds and thorns such as unforgiveness, jealousy, gossip and selfishness? Does He then quickly shut the gate walking off with His eyes toward the ground wondering why His Father (John 15:1) was not allowed into the garden of your heart to change it?
But this is not true of our bride in this Song! Since surrender, the Beloved sees eternal wonders in her beautiful heart garden. Let the Holy Spirit reveal all the specific joys in this garden which caused Him to earlier exclaim, "...how beautiful is thy love...my spouse..." He is so moved that He must share in loving detail what is so glorious about her garden. He takes her hand and says.....
"A garden enclosed (locked or sealed)..."
Because she has sought Him and found Him (3:4) and afterwards came away with Him from the lion's den and the mountain of leopards there is no longer a place where the "little foxes" can get in and do damage to the vines in her garden! Does the Holy Spirit have the only key (your will) to the garden of your heart? When the Father and the Son appear at the gate does the Holy Spirit have the key of your will to let Them in to have intimate fellowship and lead you into a special service?
This bride's heart is separated unto her Lord. It is only for Him! This "garden enclosed" (locked or sealed) speaks forcibly of the need of holiness (sanctification, separation). This is what pleases the Beloved so much, a heart separated (locked) from meaningless worldly things and desires, for that which has no value, and those things which pollute the mind and soul. He has been given full, loving control. His bride will not read, watch or listen to what she knows her Lord would not be pleased with (Psa. 101:3). It is not a struggle to her because she is in love. Who would ever want to hurt someone with whom they are in love (John 14:23)? Unthinkable!
It is extremely important to understand what brings about true, continuous, joyful holiness in the garden of your heart. The tools for cultivating a holy garden are the promises of God. "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (II Pet. 1:2-4).
Please note the words: "HIS divine power", "hath GIVEN", "are GIVEN". Our Lord has given you everything to make joyful, separated living a reality. He does not need your energy (see Zech. 4:6; Phil. 2:13; II Cor. 4:7-9). He needs your submission and a perseverance that rests on Him alone. The results will be an unspeakable strength and purpose never before experienced. You will truly begin to travel from "glory to glory" (II Cor. 3:18)!
Consider these verses on holiness: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." (II Cor. 6:17); "Having therefore these promises (II Cor. 1:20; I John 5:14,15), dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (II Cor. 7:1).
How can I cleanse myself from that which displeases my Beloved? It is by exercising your God given faith (Rom.12:3) and confessing to the Lord, "I can't but You can"! The Holy Spirit gives you a promise from the Word. Then you speak that Word to the problem by faith (firm conviction) and the problem will either disappear (Mark 11:23,24) in God's timing or He will give you His strength enabling you to bear it (I Cor. 10:13)! It is in these circumstances you begin to know just how real God is! His praise will become a way of life. It will be a holy compulsion!
Your only part is to take the first willing step. Look again at II Cor. 6:17. Remember, "come out" is active voice and "be ye separate" is actually a verb in the original Greek that is in the passive voice. As you know, passive voice means you have nothing to do with it, it must be done to you! Praise God! You take the first step of separation in each circumstance you are facing and the Holy Spirit steps in and empowers you to continue in the victory. Isn't the Lord good? Give our God praise!
How often we have tried to put on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:11-18) and yet at the first sign of attack we cave in and are defeated. So many of us miss the verse just before the admonition to put on the whole armor of God. It says, "...be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." "be strong" is in the passive voice which means we have nothing to do with it. It is saying, "be made strong"! So before I try and put on the whole armor I need to say to the Lord, "Lord I do not have the strength to carry the needed spiritual armor for battle but You do. I am willing to do battle so I submit my will to You." All the other verbs are "active" such as "put on" making it your responsibility. How do you put it all on? It immediately happens when you fulfill v. 18! You begin to pray the Word in faith, truth, righteousness and peace then the spiritual armor is activated completely. Praying God's promises is doing spiritual battle in the Holy Spirit! His power is activated in victory.
Do you want a perfect picture of holiness (separated unto Him and under His total control)? Then picture yourself, dear love of Jesus' heart, in the embrace of His arms (read 2:6; 8:3!). Holiness is simply full surrender to His arms!
Listen to her speak, "My Beloved, I never realized until now how secure it feels to be sealed by You, to be enclosed and protected by You. My heart has changed so much since I have
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