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

Every need His hand supplying, every good in Him I see;

On His strength divine relying, He is all in all to me.

All that thrills my soul is Jesus, He is more than life to me;

And the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see."

Thoro Harris

The Beloved reminded her that His supplying, protecting love was free to her. He reminded her that the cost to purchase it was the cross of shame. He said concerning them, "There are those who search and search in the wrong places for this kind of love attempting to purchase it! You can’t buy it!" He paused, then declared in the strongest terms, "...if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be condemned (despised)". "All you need, My darling bride, is an empty vessel and My Spirit will fill it continually with My infinite love which cannot be bought. It’s free only to those who freely surrender to My heart! You know full well, My spouse, that My whole character and being is Love. My only joy is sharing it!" They walked a little further on this path of righteousness coming up out of the wilderness.

The Lord's eyes sparkled with excitement as He put His arm around her, "Guess what? I have prepared a surprise for you My love. I don't think you can see it just yet but we are real, real close." And then, all of a sudden there appeared this magnificent "table in the wilderness" (Psa. 78:19). It was round and filled with radiating splendor! Two awesome figures were seated there, but she did not recognize them. The light emanating from each was too bright for her eyes to handle just yet. Shading her eyes with His hand the Beloved said, "It's alright my love. Your eyes will get used to this amazing glory in just a moment and you will see clearly!"

When the Lord took away His hand she could see without any difficulty. Her heart burst with joy! She looked up at Jesus, holding tightly to His arm and said, "You love me so much and as always, You think of everything! You have prepared 'a table before me in the presence of my enemies.' (Psa. 23:5)! O my wonderful Husband, You keep on surprising me with so much! I know I say this constantly but I can’t help it, I love You with all of my heart." He lovingly pointed out, "This table is exactly what will be needed for you in this terrible wilderness journey."

Jesus escorted her to the table, and with great grace, pulled out this throne-like chair and bid her to sit down. One of the glorious figures got up and gently anointed her head with the oil of gladness and said, "It is an honor to have you sit with Us." In her spirit He revealed Himself to her. It was the blessed Holy Spirit! Her heart ("cup" Psa. 23:5) began to overflow with heavenly joy. A glorious light burst forth from her spirit. She had never experienced anything like this nor had she ever seen light so dazzling. It was the glory of God all over her. The Lord Jesus took her by the hand and said, "My precious bride, come and sit next to Someone who has loved Me forever." She knew by looking at her Beloved's eyes that there was an eternal, infinite very special kind of love in His heart for this One sitting across from her. (John 5:20; 17:22-24).

The Beloved said, "This is My Father who has given you to Me!" (John 10:29; 17:2). Her heart was bursting with love! Tears of gratitude welled up in her eyes. The moment she sat down the Father kissed her on the forehead. He said, "I have waited a long time for this moment." The Father looked into her eyes as His love covered her soul. In a soft, hushed voice she kept repeating two Words, " My Abba", "My Abba", "My Abba" (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Mark 14:36)!

As she gazed at this wonderful table and all that was freely provided for her there she knew that no matter how great the waters of adversity, His love for her could never be quenched. Every kind of spiritual weapon was there for all the evil which would be brought against her (Eph. 6:10-18)! No matter how great the rivers of evil would rise to drown her, His protective love and grace would always be greater still. It could never be purchased with all the riches of the world. His love and all the provisions that went with it were more valuable than His created universe and it was hers without cost! The cost to her God was enormous: the Father emptying out His heart for us by the giving up of His Son; the Son emptying out Himself on the cross in total spiritual, soul and physical death; the Holy Spirit’s infinite grieving over what the Son had become!

The Father looking proudly at her and proclaims, "I can see that you love Us with all of your heart. But it doesn't stop there, you also love others with the same fervent love." She bowed her head and said, "Yes, and that fervent love is greatly concerned for..." The Holy Spirit quietly broke in and said, "...for your sister, she belongs to Us and it is now time for her to learn about the true surrendered life." It was in 7:11 that she initiated the request to go wherever He desired to lead. But now she is specific! The bride has a discerning spirit and sees that her little sister needs nurturing to develop into a strong consistent Christian. So she voiced her deep concerns, wanting direction in what to do about this little sister she loves so much. She spoke again to Abba Father...

V.8 "We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?"

The Words "we have" indicate that her little sister already belonged to Jesus, first by creation and secondly through Jesus' redeeming blood. Having "no breasts" points out that spiritual growth and maturity have not taken place in her young Christian walk. Faith and love have not been developed in her heart (I Thess. 5:8) nor exercised in her soul that is so needed to please God in the walk of surrender (Eph. 5:2).

The bride poured out her heart, "I long for my little sister to enter into this glorious rest and contentment. I desperately want her to enter into this blessed, intimate relationship. I know I can help her because of the afflictions I have gone through. I can share these experiences with her and she will know what to expect." In other Words, lead her into having a 7:10 experience. The bride would be able to help her sister through the rough spots, since she had been there before (II Cor. 1:3,4)!

Great are the dangers to the one who walks as an immature Christian. So many decisions must be made and many will "speak for her". All these voices: dating, hobbies, entertainment, church, money, security, friends, material goods will all speak for her; each will make a claim on her saying, "I am the most important consideration for your life, all others are secondary. Pay attention to me first and foremost." So many voices vie for her absolute attention and affection.

The bride said to Abba Father, "may my sister never listen to the '...voice of a stranger...' (John 10:4,5). She needs to be nurtured to love my Husband's eternal Word and develop discernment in her." The Father said, "There is One other voice that will speak for her. I love her so much that I will fill her with My Spirit as I did for you. He will speak for her! I will draw her to Myself. My Spirit will pour out Himself in her soul a baptism of fire and love. You, My very special child, will be used so that My love will flow through you to your little sister until she is mature." Then the Spirit within her heart said...

V.9 "If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace (encampment, battlement) of silver: and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar."

If an ancient city had only a wall surrounding it, then it was quite vulnerable to the attack of an enemy and in a short time would be forced to surrender. Why? Because without battlements (towers from which the enemy could be sighted and fought) built on the top of the walls, no action could be taken against the enemy. It was the battlements on the top of the walls that allowed the soldiers of the city to fight against the enemy and keep them from climbing over the walls at will. They will know exactly from which direction the enemy was attacking.

Here was a spiritually young believer not fully developed. The question is, what will be her place of function in the body of Christ - a wall or a door? All true blood bought believers have been given gifts and talents to be developed and then used by the Holy Spirit in His body (Eph. 4:15-16). It is for the surrendered believers to be used by the Holy Spirit in taking the younger Christians under their protective wings to disciple them. They will help nurture and encourage them to grow in the Lord, leading them slowly in the exercising of their gifts. Thank God for those who are willing to take the time to protect and care for the little ones!

The bride is placing the need for discernment into the hands of her Husband. Once the discernment is given, then she will work with her Bridegroom in the developing of her sister to full maturity in Christ (Titus 2:4)! Whatever gift(s) and talent(s) surface will need to be carefully nurtured and exercised. A spiritually young person is not to be thrust into a ministry too rapidly (I Tim. 3:6; I Pet. 5:5). Pride, in all of its subtle and not so subtle forms will surface. The focus is on them and their gifts instead of the Lord. Yet, in many churches their leaders will say, "Get that new believer teaching a primary class in our Sunday School. They can do it. It’s all there in the teacher’s manual on how to do it!" However, the young believer needs to grow spiritually by watching those who are deeply in love with the Lord.

How sad that churches thrust young baby believers into positions of spiritual responsibility and yet they have not learned to grow in love, surrender, prayer, praise and faithfulness. They have not been tested. The enemy will make sure that the young believer will have a very difficult trial come along to devastate him/her. The new believer quits the responsibility and others are hurt in the process. Satan loves it!

Note carefully that it has taken eight chapters in the life of this bride for her to come to the point where she is ready to be used in the nurturing of her little sister. She has the heart for it because of 7:10 and 8:6! Only when she came to the realization that only Jesus is everything to her (7:10) and then, convinced of His never ending love, places His seal upon her heart and arm (8:6) is she ready for the work of mentoring her little sister.

Pride was mentioned a moment ago. We see the diminishing of pride in her own life. It took time and through surrender pride was patiently dealt with by the Holy Spirit. How do we know? In 2:16 she stated, "My Beloved is MINE." In 6:3 she stated it again, "My