Intimacy with GOD by Esher Shoshannah (the unexpected everything txt) 📖

Lord's heart in all of its full, tender affection for you, His bride. It is a Spirit filled book on true surrendered love for the Lord Jesus Christ, your Bridegroom!

Do you need the Lord's encouragement and reassurance? You have heard from others how the Lord desires to be spiritually intimate with you, but doubts sweep over your mind. You think, "I can understand Him desiring to be intimate with others, but surely not with me." Get ready to have the Holy Spirit personally reveal to you just how loving, joyful, peaceful, kind, tenderhearted, good and gentle He truly is, even when Jesus, our Bridegroom, must correct you and me.

This book is filled with the Lord's tender affection for you. In the Word of God, the Holy Spirit speaks of "agape" love and "phileo" love. "Agape" has been defined as "a love committed to the highest good". It is a love not dependent on the emotions. Praise God for that kind of love. Without it none of us would be saved (John 3:16). With "agape" God set aside His wrath against us and instead, poured it out on His dear Beloved Son. It was a love that could look at our dead, sin-sick, spiritually putrefying soul and actually become our sin and die for it! (Eph.2:1-5).

"Phileo" love is best defined as "tender affection, love from the emotions in a person's soul". It is the love of true friends; love of a child for his parents or for another child; love between a husband and wife. This kind of love can be casual or intense. So often we relegate "phileo" love to only the human level. To the surprise of many, this word is used by the Lord Jesus in describing His Father's love for Him. "For the Father loves" ("phileo" = tender affection) the Son...(John 5:20).

"Phileo" is used by the Holy Spirit in describing the Father's feelings toward His Son's disciples in John 16:27. The disciples had a deep, tender affection for the Lord Jesus and because of that very special kind of love, the Father Himself had a deep, tender affection for them. Read John 16:27, it is a “because of" love! Most frequently the word "agape" is used when describing love. I John 4:16 teaches that "...God is love...". Here the word for love is "agape".

Within "agape" is God's "phileo"! It is a very special love found within the all encompassing "agape". For example, "agape" can reach out to anyone in spite of circumstances or how negative a person has been. "Phileo" is the kind of love which responds to love from another. Again, it is a because of love! There are times in this book that the Lord Jesus, your Bridegroom, pours out His "phileo" love to you, His bride. Praise God, we have a Maker who is emotional over us! He is a God of jealousy and a God of joy (Exo. 34:14; Ezk. 36:6; Zeph. 3:17; John 17:13).

How serious is "phileo" love to the Lord? Read I Cor. 16:22. Phileo shows the Lord that we truly Agape. Phileo touches our soul’s emotions and we, with great fervor of love commit to serve and love Him. It is the sign that we truly Agape Him and are committed to the highest good no matter what the cost. That is what Rev. 12:11b is all about, "and they loved not their lives unto the death". It was "phileo" love that drove them to give up their lives. Do you understand now why “phileo” is so important? I Cor. 16:22! YOU CAN COMMAND AGAPE BUT YOU CANNOT COMMAND PHILEO!

Let me illustrate the difference between “agape” and “phileo”. If my wife asked me, "Do you 'agape' me?" She is asking me if I am committed to her highest good. I would say to her with intense emotion, "How could you ever doubt that I 'agape' you, look at me, I 'phileo' you!!!!" My intense “phileo” indicates that I strongly “agape” my dear wife. Read John 21:15-17. The same is true with Peter when the Lord asks him twice, "Do you 'agape' me?" In response, twice Peter answered, "Lord, You know that I 'phileo' You!" The third time Jesus asked Peter if he had “phileo” for Him. Peter was emotionally grieved and said, “Lord…You know that I ‘phileo’ You.” Let me put myself in Peter’s shoes and say it this way, with intense emotion, "LOOK AT ME! I PHILEO YOU WITH EVERYTHING THAT IS IN ME! I PHILEO YOU! I AM COMMITTED TO THE HIGHEST GOOD WHEREEVER YOU WILL SEND ME! LORD, I SAY IT ONCE AGAIN WITH ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME – I PHILEO YOU!"

It was said by scholarly rabbis that all the scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies. They symbolically saw God’s people married to the Lord (Isa. 54:5 and Jer. 31:32). On the surface this book is just a love song written by a young King Solomon to a young foreign lady. Hidden underneath the surface of this love song is the heart of the Lord Jesus for His bride. When the Holy Spirit unlocks this precious, spiritual love letter to you, you will never be the same!

The Lord Jesus taught us that there are hidden meanings (types and shadows) behind Old Testament characters and circumstances. He did this by using the story of Jonah as an illustration (sign) of His own resurrection in Matt. 12:39-40. I Cor. 10:1-4 will further illustrate the point. The Holy Spirit taught the writer to the Hebrews precious symbolism found in the Old Testament. He unlocks the secret types and shadows concerning the Lord's Tabernacle in the wilderness (Heb. 9:1- 28; 10:1,19,20).

By allowing us to see the above examples, the Holy Spirit is encouraging us to go hunting throughout His Word for these wonderful spiritual nuggets (I Cor. 2:9,10). This will encourage us and cause us to love Him even more! Get ready!

This Holy Spirit inspired Song, into which you are about to venture, is filled with very spiritual secrets from the heart of your Bridegroom, Jesus, to us His bride. In it your Bridegroom reveals the innermost thoughts of His love for you.

These thoughts are very private, as all love letters are intended to be. Little by little the Holy Spirit will open up each passage to your heart. You will fall deeper in love with Jesus, the Beloved Bridegroom of your heart, as He whispers in your spirit. Your heart will burst forth from the deep well of Holy Spirit love poured out into your heart at salvation (Rom. 5:5).

Enter now into the deep love of your Heavenly Bridegroom. Why wait, since your relationship will be that of a bride to the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ? What Jesus yearns for most from you is a bride's love for Him. Why not give Him that kind of love now? Most believers will give Him a child's love (Matt. 18:3,4); a servant's love (Luke 16:13; John 14:21) or a friend's love (Prov. 17:17; John 15:15). Praise God for these three important relationships of love. When you came to Him as a child He saved and delivered you. With a child's loving trust you begin to stand on His promises by faith and your loving Father meets all of your needs. As you learn of His heart from the Word a servant's love arises from within. You now see the wisdom of following all of His commands, for you know in your heart they are right and good.

One day you hear Him calling you "friend" from John 15:13-15! The Holy Spirit begins to give you revelation knowledge from the mind of your Friend, Jesus. The Lord's mind becomes your mind; His thoughts become your thoughts (Rom. 12:2; Phil. 2:5). From your heart a friend's love pours forth to this One who calls you His friend! He is preparing your heart to enter into a realm of love that few believers ever experience - His Bridegroom's love for you and your bride's love for Him! This is what He desires most to give you and to receive from you.

I will call this kind of love, "first love" love. Read Rev. 2:1-5 and you will see just how important this kind of love is to your Lord. When a young couple fall in love they become consumed with each other. Nothing else seems to matter. What is thrilling to realize is that your Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus still has a fresh, "first love" love for you, His bride. He is consumed with love for you dear bride (Jer.31:3).Think of how deep it is! He continually looks out for your welfare and intercedes for you (Heb. 7:25). He sent the dear Holy Spirit to live inside of you to take care of His bride (Rom. 8:26-27); you have every spiritual blessing at your fingertips (Eph. 1:3).

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear caring Shepherd, cause my heart to have a bride's love for You the Bridegroom of my heart. As I read this love letter from my heavenly Spouse, Holy Spirit open up the deep thoughts of His heart to me. I long to love Him as I have never loved Him before. Only You are able to teach me about it and empower me to give it back to my Beloved. 'No good thing will You withhold from those who walk uprightly.' (Psa.84:11). By faith I know that it has begun to happen while praying this prayer (Mark 11:24; Isa.65:24). In the glorious name of Jesus my Bridegroom I pray. Amen and Amen!"

 

Allow His Word to reveal just how this bride - Bridegroom relationship is so important to the Lord: John 3:29; II Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:9; 22:17; Isa. 54:5; 61:10; Jer. 31:32. The Hebrews, God’s people, saw themselves married to the Lord.

The Holy Spirit tells us that we are the bride of the Lamb. Praise God! The Holy Spirit proclaims this book to be the "The Song of songs". In other words, it is the best song ever written in the Word of God. Many would say Psalm 23 is the best song, yet that is not what the Holy Spirit declares. For the Holy Spirit to make such a statement, then this book must be very, very spiritually important!

 To understand the symbols and secret words written to His bride, you must know who the individuals are in this song. The girl represents you, the bride of Christ. King Solomon (called the beloved) represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is called "the Beloved" in Matt. 17:5 and in Eph. 1:6-7. Solomon's name means "peaceable". Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isa.9:6). Jesus alone gives peace (John 14:27; Eph. 2:14). Solomon was the wisest person who had ever lived (I Kings 4:29-34; Matt. 12:42). Jesus is wisdom itself (I Cor. 1:30; Col. 2:3). Solomon was Israel's most glorious king. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords (I Tim. 6:14-16; Rev. 19:16). There was no one richer than Solomon. Christ is the epitome of true riches (Eph. 1:7,10; 2:4,7; Phil. 4:19).

Why did Solomon have so many wives? These ladies were family members of rulers from other countries. By giving a powerful nation a member of your family you were trying to insure peace between the two nations. These ladies were called "treaty wives". This would tend to discourage war between the countries.

When Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh, the daughter of Pharaoh was sent along as part of the treaty agreement (I Kings 3:1). Since God blessed Solomon with great wisdom, his kingdom expanded and so did the number of treaty wives. The fact that we read of only 60 queens and 80 concubines in Song of Solomon 6:8 strongly indicates that the events of the book took place very early in Solomon's reign. The number of wives reached one thousand late in his reign according to I Kings 11:3. When this Song was penned by Solomon through the leading of the