HIS HEART SONG…Part 5



HIS HEART SONG…Part 5

“Lost….and Found…the one my soul loves”

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• We ended last week with the Beloved asking his bride to get rid of the little foxes that were coming between them…all the “little” things that were robbing them of their intimate relationship….

• She started her journey looking for His KISS…wanting His WORD to touch the deepest part of her heart…very intimate…to awaken her so she could RECEIVE the Word of God in a way that would REVEAL and IMPART God’s love to her heart…she ASKED for it…and she is GETTING it!....but it’s a process…..

• Today, we pick up with her response to him….

Song of Solomon 2:16 “My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.

• Sin is DECEITFUL…she didn’t think these little foxes had caused much harm…after all…they were little…but we can see from her super sad response to her Beloved…they had totally WREAKED havoc on her relationship…

• Instead of jumping out to meet him…she instead made a DECISION FOR HER SELF…

• He had asked to see her face…to hear her voice…but she responds to him out of total selfishness…

• She at least knows where he hangs out now…remember in chapter 1, she had to ask him to “tell her” where he goes at midday….but here, she knows that he is hanging out with the lilies…the LILIES are other believers that are madly in love with Him too…she also knows that these other lilies are very important to him too…She knows that he loves to be with the lilies because they lavish their praise on him…he is listening to their sweet voices and smelling their fragrant perfumes…He LOVES it when we gather together to praise him…

• He wants her to come and be with the other lilies…because that’s where she will be fed

• But she is interested in what pleases HER right now…she says “My lover is MINE…”this statement will completely change by the end of this book…at this point, o, she loves him…but she is not willing to really surrender her WILL….she will meet him when SHE wants to and WHERE she wants to…

• She wants her little Christian life to be on HER TERMS…

• IT GETS EVEN WORSE…

Song of Solomon 2:17 “Until the day breaks and the SHADOWS flee, turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the mountains of Bether.”

• O MY GOODNESS…..craziness….but, just like what we do

• Shadows have moved in…it is almost night…where there had once been light, the light is being overtaken by shadows…

• Shadows always come when the sun/Son is either departing….or when the sun/Son is being eclipsed by something…something coming between YOU and the SON/sun

• The shadows keep her feet from moving…..it’s those little foxes…it’s all that selfishness and stubbornness…she took her eyes off of him and put her eyes on those “cute little foxes”…

• By saying what she has said about the SHADOWS…she REALIZES and RECOGNIZES that they are there!!!...It’s not like they have surprised her or anything…she KNOWS they are there!!! She KNOWS she hasn’t been completely connected to God like she should have been…she KNOWS this

• The MOUNTAINS OF BETHER…”bether” means SEPARATION or DIVISION…(Beth-heron or Bithron)…..deep gaps…hard to pass over….literally these mountains separate Israel from the Jordan River…symbolizing the fact that SIN SEPARATES

• UHhhhhhhh….HELLO!!!! Has she already forgotten that He has already conquered the mountains and hills…remember how he came bounding and skipping and leaping over them…he has conquered all her problems…

• BUT…she has decided not to go with him…SHE decided not to turn to him and not to let him hear her voice…SHE DECIDED…..NOT HIM…..

• Can you picture the scene….He is saying ARISE and COME with me…and she is busy looking at the little foxes and the SHADOWS….

• The CRAZIEST thing is what she asks HIM to do…..she asks him to TURN……WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!?????

• He is calling her to ARISE and COME and she is asking him to TURN AWAY…..

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• Let’s take a second to look at some verses about just this…the church seems to want to SLEEP…we’ve drawn accustomed to His presence…so much that se haven’t really noticed how far we have drifted from him…we’ve fallen asleep when we should be ARISING…

• Matthew 25:1 "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' " 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

• Ephesians 5:14 "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

• In many ways the Church has been asleep for a very long time...there's a lot more about what the Bible says about ARISING…

• Isaiah 52:1 "Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion. For this is what the LORD says: "You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed." For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them. "And now what do I have here?" declares the LORD. "For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock, " declares the LORD. "And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed. Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I." How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

• Soooo, something I have been asking God over the last while, is HOW DO WE ARISE? How do we WAKE UP??

• I think a part of it is the fact that as it says in John 10, HIS SHEEP HEAR HIS VOICE… and so as we as His people sense Him stirring our hearts to WAKE UP and to grow in intimacy with Him,…and as we sense Him moving us into what He is calling us to be in these days in this generation….and as we sense Him and hear Him calling us to come up higher…to ARISE….it is up to us to respond to His wooings and to allow Him to keep drawing us closer.

• Because we have tended to be 'asleep' in many ways…we may feel spiritually groggy, lethargic and even apathetic …do you ever feel that way????

• I think a HUGE part of us WAKING UP is for us to be sure our minds are RENEWED by MEDITATION…..meditation on the WORD and SPEAKING the Word…because the more we SPEAK the TRUTH of the WORD..the more it exposes those “little foxes” in our lives…and the more those things are exposed, the more FREE we can live!

• This process of having Him RENEWING OUR MINDS/HEARTS can be very scary and feel very insecure and confusing...but I believe it is a crucial part of His SHAKING of everything that can be shaken!

• (This last weekend when we went to the revival in Alabama…Nathan, the evangelist preached on Romans 12:1-2…we are REDEEMED…but not RESTORED…not restored because we haven’t RENEWED our minds…)

• The Bible says that there will be many who are DECEIVED especially in the last days…he wouldn’t have warned us so many times if it wasn’t something that wasn’t going to happen…

• I am going to read to you some excerpts from the November 2010 “The Berean Call” ….to WAKE you up to deception that is going around even now in churches…..you HAVE to KNOW the Word of God…KNOW what it says so that you will spot a counterfeit before it deceives you…..this article is about Rick Warren and his unbiblical “Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan”, Rob Bell and quotes from his book “Velvet Elvis”, the Emergent Church movement, The Message Bible, and an unbiblical movement called Renovare…the if you want to look it up…just FYI…if you go to this website…I do not necessarily agree with their views on the Rapture)

• The following in italics, are the excerpts I read from The Berean Call

• “The mark of a true Christian is that he or she conforms to what the Scriptures teach. Those who conform to the goals or agendas of the world, either personally or by participating in organized programs that compromise what the Bible teaches, although they may indeed be believers, are nevertheless drilling away from the faith. (Hebrews 2:1)…Our responsibilities then, as Bereans (Acts 17:11), is to search the Scriptures and compare the movements, programs, agendas, and so forth, that are being promoted today I the world—and especially in Christiandom—with what is foretold in God’s Word. That will tell us what we may support and what we need to disregard—or even stand firmly against (Ephesians 5:11)…Certainly the world is all about solving its problems without the God of the Bible. Yet many professing Christians are rushing to remedy the world’s troubles in ways that are without the support of Scripture, some even in contradiction to what the Scripture, some even in contradiction to what the Scriptures teach. RICK WARREN’s global P.E.A.C.E. plan is one of many programs and teachings that, for the most part, cannot be reconciled with God’s prophetic Word. It is Warren’s “50-year plan” to cure global issues such as “pandemic diseases, extreme poverty, illiteracy, corruption, global warming, and spiritual emptiness.” He claims that his social-works agenda developed from his reading of the Gospels—that Jesus gave him the model that was the antidote to the five biggest problems on the planet. Warren subsequently expanded that model from an exclusive endeavor of Christianity to one requiring the support of ALL RELIGIONS. The “P” in his P.E.A.C.E. plan originally stood for “Planting Churches” as the key antidote for curing the world’s ills. Later, however, before a panel audience of representatives of the world’s religions, he changed the “P” from “planting churches” to “PROMOTING RECONCILIATION”

• Warren announced unequivocally that the universal problems CANNOT be solved “without including people of faith and their religious institutions.” He told his audience at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland (1/24/08) that the various houses of worship are needed for distribution centers of resources to help eradicate global problems. His shift, however to an ecumenical program that includes Islamic mosques, Hindu temples, Jewish synagogues, and other religious establishments as participants in meeting social needs may impress the world, but it is CONTRARY to what God says in His Word. The God of the Bible is an exclusive God: “I am the Lord, and there is none else, and there is no God beside me.” Isaiah 45:5

• There is to be no participating with the purveyors of FALSE GODS. The Apostle Paul tells us we are not to e “unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

• Rick Warren’s “I’ll curing” ecumenical agenda is illogical as well as unbiblical. How can his game plan for remedying “spiritual emptiness” work with those who promote a false spirituality? Peter tells us, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name (Jesus Christ) under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6) ………….Yet Warren told his Davos religious audience that he was not concerned about their MOTIVATION in doing good, “as long as you do good.” Tragically, he reinforces the very lie that keeps billions of religious people blinded to the truth and from turning to Jesus Christ: WORKS SALVATION.

• The influence of this fix-the-earth program is staggering…Warren’s best-selling “Purpose Driven Life” (30 million copies plus sold world-wide) introduced his “50-year” global P.E.A.C.E. Plan and has been translated into 52 languages. According to his website, more than 500,000 evangelical churches are partnering with him in his unbiblical ecumenical effort.

• Although Warren’s attempt to solve the world’s problems is more than misguided, it’s not the only prophecy-denying, EARTHBOUND enterprise that’s gaining followers today. ROB BELL, in his book “Velvet Elvis”, reflects the “fix the earth” eschatology of nearly all Emerging Church leaders. “Salvation is the entire universe being bought back into harmony with its maker…But we can join a movement that is as wide and as big as the universe itself. Rocks and trees and birds and swamps and ecosystems…God’s desire is to restore it all…The goal isn’t escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. And God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work.”

• Brian McLaren, arguably the best-known emergent leader, has a low, if not distorted, view of biblical prophecy, as do most of his peers in the Emerging Church Movement. He regards the Book of Revelation as “Literature of the oppressed” to inspire “each generation”, rather than God’s warning of future events and judgments to come upon mankind.

• Those future events and judgments are clearly at odds with the agenda of solving the world’s problems and turning it into a paradise. McLaren declares: “In this light, (that is, removing the prophetic aspect of the Book of Revelation) Revelation becomes a powerful book about the kingdom of God here and now, available to all. “ He believes, as does Rick Warren (who also has a low view of prophecy), that it is necessary for all the religions of the world to work together for the greater good of society: “I think our future will also require us to join humbly and charitably with people of other faiths-Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, secularists, and others—in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for all people, things that matter greatly to the heart of God.” That sentiment, although pleasing to the flesh, is far removed from the “heart of God” and His Word.

• Restoring or preserving this planet as a rallying cause has far exceeded the biblical principle of stewardship today and has become an EARTHBOUND mindset. Scripture is quite clear that any abuse of what God has provided for mankind is sin. Yet some are using the Bible erroneously to support their unbiblical agendas. EUGENE PETERSON, in his 10-million-bestselling THE MEAAGES BIBLE, has no qualms about distorting the Scriptures for “the cause.” He translates John 3:17 to say that Jesus “came to help, to put the WORLD right again” rather than “that the world through Him might be saved’ (meaning the salvation of SOULS-KJV). He then promotes the ecological Green Movement by adding the adjective “green” to Romans 15:13: “Oh, May the God of GREEN hope fill you up with joy…”

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• 1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”

• We should never get so proud that we think that WE have it all together…THAT is the sure sign that you already ARE deceived!

• Galatians 5:1"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery..."

• What are these YOKES OF SLAVERY?... What are the STRONGHOLDS of the enemy? …They are his LIES!

• That's why 2 Corinthians 10:1-5 tells us we need to TAKE CAPTIVE OUR THOUGHTS and DEMOLISH the thoughts and pretensions that set themselves up against the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD...

• Do you ever sense the enemy telling you that God is NOT faithful or trustworthy? or that He will not protect you or provide for you? and that He can't do the impossible because it's impossible?......remember His Name is like perfume poured out…..He has come to you leaping and skipping over the mountains and hills…HE HAS CONQUERED IT ALL!!!

• We have to know him intimately so we won’t be deceived by the enemy’s LIES…He attacks us by lying about WHO GOD IS…

• We demolish the strongholds with the TRUTH…

• James 1:22 says “Do not merely LISTEN to the Word, and so DECEIVE yourselves. DO what it says.”

• This is where our bride fell into error…she HEARD The WORD (JESUS)…but she did not DO what He said!

• If the lies of the enemy were super easy to detect…we wouldn’t be warned that he masquerades as an angel of light…2 Corinthians 11:14….John 8:44 tells us that the enemy is the father of lies…

• The more these lies are exposed and ripped out of our lives and replaced with the TRUTH..the deeper the level of TRUTH is…and that brings deeper intimacy with Him!

• 2 Corinthians 3:16 "But whenever anyone TURNS TO the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

• ____________________

• Now…back to our bride…who has asked her Beloved to TURN AWAY…

• She wants him on HER TERMS….it’s like she is saying…”I’ll do what you want LATER…when I’m ready….there is just too many other things distracting me right now…I’m too caught up in MY desires and wants and cares to bother with what you are asking me to do right now. I am fine just knowing that you are MINE…

• You might be thinking….well. why isn’t it OK just to always hang out with just me and him….?....Don’t you remember that part of showing him that you love him is to DO HIS WILL….and His will is to “GO into all the nations…”…to GO and TELL others about Him…

• She likes the “FEELING” she feels when it’s just him and her…but what she doesn’t realize yet is that He is asking her to come out and to GO with Him…because He is not hanging around outside the wall…he is going to GO…she doesn’t realize at this point that when He GOES…that “Feeling” that she likes to feel inside of her is going to GO too…

• the FEELING of His PRESENCE is about to…which is the COMMUNION…their COMMUNION is interrupted here because of her disobedience…

• He is challenging her to get rid of her SELFISH ways and to have a heart of COMPASSION and LOVE for the lost that need to know Him…

• John 4:34-36 “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, “There are four months, then comes the harvest.?’ I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.”

• There is a time for resting in Him…and THEN there is a time to GET UP AND GO!!!!! When He says GET UP….that is when it’s time to GET UP!

• Many Christians don’t understand why they can’t get that “FEELING” that they first felt back again….they enjoyed it for a while, then it seemed to go away…WELL…when you choose not to OBEY the WORD…when you aren’t moving or “GOING” when God asks you to…you soon find out the your old grace just isn’t sufficient anymore….He is trying to give you NEW GRACE..but you don’t want it…and the old grace isn’t enough anymore…

• She would rather NOT go out into the world…she would rather HIM go out and do “His thing” apart from her…well….Ok….if that’s what we tell Him…then HE WILL….so when He does just that…when He goes and TURNS….her “feelings” seem to leave her and she realizes that her relationship just isn’t SATISFYING anymore…

• HE IS TRYING TO GET HER TO LEAVE HER “SELF” …..AND TO BE LOST IN HIM!!!!!!

• She soon finds out just how SELFISH and CARELESS she had been….because now, it is NIGHT….and NIGHT symbolizes the ABSENCE of the Lord…

• -------------------- interlude of an unknown amount to time here------------

Song of Solomon 3:1 “All NIGHT long on MY bed I looked for the one my heart loves, I looked for him but did not find him.”

• Night has come and she has realized her HUGE MASSIVE MISTAKE! In Hebrew, this word is actually the plural word for nights meaning MANY NIGHTS…

• It is dark….and she is alone….and it is unbearable

• We’ve all been at this point…where you FEEL utterly alone…all the problems and pressures come in on you…you start to panic…fears come in and you THINK that GOD has abandoned YOU…but this is not the case…

• Jesus said in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

• She has lost the FEELINGS…the COMMUNION…not HIM…but she is not mature enough at this point to realize this…

• How could he ever forgive her now…after what she has said to him…after DENYING him the one thing he asked her for…for her ATTENTION…..

• She actually FEELS that He has left her…especially when her calls to him go unanswered…and WE BLAME HIM…BUT IT’S NOT HIM….it’s us…we have walked away from Him…We have CHOSEN to hang on to our “little foxes” and we have CHOSEN to disobey Him…and then when we realize what we have done…we DEMAND that He show up right then when we decide to call out to him…

• She is realizing that she has made a HUGE MISTAKE…she is realizing that she has only wanted him on HER terms…

• BUT THINK ABOUT IT….with all the love and attention He has given to you….do you really think that because you have made a mistake, that now he must be through with you??????......

• NO….NO….and DOUBLE NO!!!!!!

• Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an EVERLASTING love…”

• YES! What she has done is terrible…..BUT…HE IS BIGGER THAN OUR SIN!!!!

• Romans 8:35-39 tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God…

• We are also told to SEEK HIM and we will find Him when we search with ALL our heart…Jeremiah 29:13

• Sometimes we do decide to start the SEEKING process…we BEGIN…but we don’t really follow through….we seek for 5 minutes or so…we come up and get someone else to pray for us….then almost as quickly as we start to seek….WE STOP….the enemy comes in and taunts us…he tells us that there is no way that Jesus would ever forgive us…that there is no way He could possibly ever love us anymore after what we’ve done…it’s hopeless….surely He must hate us by now…we should just give up…and for some reason we BELIEVE THE ENEMY…

• Can’t you just feel the anguish that the bride is feeling….she must be remembering all the incredible things He had done for her…and she just tossed it all aside…all those SHADOWS that were there before had now become NIGHT….all that she would’ve had to do was to TRUST HIM and follow Him and not only would the shadows have gone away…but there would have been no need for NIGHT!

• Notice that she sought him on HER bed…it used to be “OUR” bed…now it’s just “MY” bed…

• Some good news is…at least HE is what she is longing for…she hasn’t gone so far that she doesn’t even desire to find Him anymore…she is MISREABLE because she is outside of His will for her…BUT at least she is not wallowing around in SELF-PITY as many believers do…at least she is not GIVING UP after the first try….PERSEVERANCE is what God is looking for….DO YOU HAVE IT???

• As of right now…she is not putting much EFFORT into her “looking” yet…she is still sitting on her bed!.....

• She had looked for him on HER BED….that’s the first place she looked and she didn’t find him….she didn’t find him there because she was still looking for Him from HER POSITION…she was looking for Him in s a certain PLACE….BUT…instead of quitting and giving up as the enemy would want her to do….she takes the NEXT STEP…SHE GETS UP!!!!!

• She is realizing that He is apparently not where she found him before…she is not getting any deeper in her relationship with Him just hanging out on her bed and searching…so she needs to SEEK in another manner…

Song of Solomon 3:2 “I will RISE now, and go about in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.”

• She GOT UP….UP out of her depression…out of her hopelessness…she went out to search for him….but she “found him not”…..

• Why would he make her wait to find Him?...Why would it take so long?...Does God have a reason for this?....of course He does!

• Was it so that her heart could remember all the incredible fellowship they once had????....I think that could have been ONE of the reasons!

• Remember that saying….”Absence makes the heart grow fonder”….

• Surely she is remembering all the things that SHE had promised to HIM also…how she loved him and had SURRENDERED to him….but remember…none of this had been tested yet…it had only been WORDS up until this point….

• NOW…she is heading out to the STREETS…in PUBLIC PLACES…she is HUMBLING herself…PRIDE and SELFISHNESS is dying in her as she searches for “the one her soul loves”…

• Can you imagine what others are saying about her…after all, they know the position that she had with the Lord…they are probably saying things like “I knew it wouldn’t last between her and God”….”He should have known better than to share himself with a person like her”…..CAN YOU IMAGINE THE CRAZY TALK THAT IS GOING AROUND HER TOWN ABOUT HER!!!!!????

• BUT….she doesn’t care….it is not important anymore….she is HUMILIATED…and she doesn’t care…BECAUSE

• She knows now that life without Him is not worth living…she NEEDS him and Him alone!

• Sometimes God hides himself from us…listen to David’s words when this happened to him…Psalm 30:6-7 “When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed…”

• BUT there is a promise in Jeremiah 29:13-14 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

• Something else to think about: He says “where two or more are gathered in His Name, He will be in the midst of them”…but remember how she wanted to remain ALONE…he wanted her to go with the other lilies…but she wouldn’t…..just a thought (…..it’s important to GO TO CHURCH !

• Don’t you think that the Holy Spirit knows just how long it will take to break our STUBBORN WILL and to STRENGTHEN our spirit!!!!!?

• Some people really don’t believe that these “little foxes” that THEY let in could possibly have caused the separation they feel from God….somehow…they blame the church…they get OFFENDED and leave….or they JUSTIFY their own condition

• Until we face the fact that the EMPTINESS we feel is from our OWN REFUSAL to listen to Him and to do what HIS WORD says….we think we can pick and choose which parts of the Bible (HIS WORD) that we want to obey…..THAT’S CRAZINESS…

• We need to pray Psalm 139:23-24 “SEARCH ME, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

• Are we willing to REPENT and CONFESS your SELFISHNESS and STUBBORN WILL…are we willing to ask him for forgiveness for wanting things done OUR WAY and in OUR TIMING?

• Hebrews 12:11 “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

• We think that the rest that we have found IN OURSELVES is the ultimate rest…BUT God knows that it is not enough…so when the “feeling” of His presence is gone…it causes us to feel empty to the point that you GET UP to do something about it

Song of Solomon 3: 3 “The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my soul loves?”

• It’s actually written “Whom my soul loves, have you seen?”….to show the EXTREME ANXIETY of her heart

• THE WATCHMEN: the ones charged with her protection…the word “watchmen” is translated “KEEP”…spiritual watchmen have a deep understanding of the Word of God…they are her to WARN US of IMPENDING DANGER...

• We live in a season of NIGHT here on the earth…where the enemy prowls around looking for ways to destroy us…it’s important to have WATCHMEN in our lives….

• She has stopped here to get some COUNSEL from the watchmen…

• Hebrews 13:17 “OBEY your leaders and SUBMIT to their authority. They KEEP WATCH over you as men who must give account. OBEY them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Song of Solomon 3:4 “”It was but a little “distance” that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loves; I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”

• WOO! WOO! She has now found him again! And it was just a “LITTLE DISTANCE” from after she passed the watchmen that she found Him.

• COMMUNION is back!

• John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

• He is all about her COMFORT and ENCOURAGEMENT!

• THANK GOD for this promise!!!

• Psalm 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night,  but rejoicing comes in the morning.

• FOUR times in these first four verses she calls him THE ONE MY SOUL LOVES…there is no question that she loves him

• The more you love him…the more miserable you are without Him…the more you love Him…the more intensely you feel when you fail him…

• BUT…get your eyes off your failure….LOOK at how He deals with her…look where they go…He loves us so….

• A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY: They go to her mother’s house… The women in the East have all separate apartments, into which no person ever attempts to enter except the HUSBAND. If we look in Genesis 24:67…We find Isaac bringing Rebecca into his mother's tent, when he made her his wife

• Her beloved wasn’t found by her because ‘now she is perfect”…and not because she has now “done everything right”….but because He knows just how much we can handle at a time…and He is so GOOD and so FAITHFUL and so IN LOVE WITH US…

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength but with your testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it"

• It’s just like the testing in Ezekiel….at first, our faith is tested and tried just a little…to our ankles…then we come through that with Him right by our side…and our faith is stronger and more refined…but not perfected…so then it gets more and more ...

• Ezekiel 47:3-5 “And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed.”

• She says “She HELD him and she would not let him go…”….she has apparently only learned half of what she was supposed to learn…she has got the fact that she is miserable without him….but she hasn’t got the part that it’s not that she needs to HOLD TIGHTLY to him…but she needs to OBEY him…to GO with Him…

• She is still not at the point where she will follow him when she is not FEELING him…she hasn’t matured enough to know that she needs to follow and obey him even when she doesn’t FEEL Him

• It is still a SOUL thing with her…a “mind, will, emotion” thing…it’s still about HER and WHAT SHE WANTS and FEELS…she is not concerned with what He is concerned with yet…with His Spiritual Kingdom…she is concerned only with her feelings

• Check out this verse…

• Luke 18:8 "...However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

• This is a major question that I believe Jesus is asking His Church these days...especially when it comes to COMING UP HIGHER. When He comes, WILL I BE WALKING BY FAITH? or will I be walking by sight because of fear and unbelief?? …..Very sobering thought, since the Bible says we can't please Him without faith

• Hebrews11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

• 2 Corinthians 5: 7 "Walk by faith and not by sight"

• How do we get faith?

• Romans 10:17 "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

• That WORD is the RHEMA word of Christ…..when it goes from just being “words” that you read or words that you hear into words that are a REVELATION to you through the power of the Holy Spirit…it is the Word of God REVEALED to you…

• WHERE IS OUR FAITH!!!!!?????.....It’s just like us….we get into these crazy modes where because we don’t “feel” Him…we don’t want to come to church, we don’t want to worship Him, we don’t want to go and tell others about Him, we don’t want to serve Him…because we just don’t FEEL IT…..that is very IMMATURE faith…that is where our little bride still is…

• But….o…how He loves us even in our selfishness and in our immaturity…He showed that love to her by allowing her to HOLD HIM…for a season…

• She has learned many lessons…but she is not perfected yet…she still has a lot to learn…she is determined to HOLD on to Him because she does not want to go through the pain of losing Him again…BUT…she still hasn’t learned to let the Lord do what HE wants to do!!!!

• We don’t lead Him…He LEADS US!!!!

• She is going to go through this test again in Song of Solomon 5:2…and this next time, it will be more severe….

• But for now…she is resting again…

Song of Solomon 3:5 “Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field; Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”

• Once again, he tells the daughters of Jerusalem to let the maiden sleep…remember …the “daughters of Jerusalem” are sincere…but spiritually immature believers

• It’s important for us to meditate on what He has done for us…

• Psalm 63:5-6 “My soul shall be satisfied…and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips: when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the night watches.”

• She is about to enter into the most incredible sleep…but during this sleep…during this time of MEDITATION on His WORDS…it is a time of STRENGTHENING and REFRESHING so that when she awakens…her SPIRITUAL NATURE is CLEARLY evident…..she comes out like a COLUMN OF SMOKE! WOO! WOO!

• When she comes out of this rest…we find that she has made a lot of spiritual progress…both her life and the way she chooses to live have been brought to a higher lever…..

• But…that’s for next week (

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