THEME: The overwhelming love and authoritative life existing in a deep intimate walk with Christ will only become a reality as we embrace the call / invitation to give of our lives for the needs of others. Allowing God to lead us into hard circumstances that weaken our strength and intellect and glorify His supernatural life inside of us.

SONG OF SONGS 5:1

He
I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; 
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. 
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; 
 I have drunk my wine and my milk.

Friends
Eat, friends, and drink; 
 drink your fill of love.

1. SPIRITUAL AWAKENING TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST

Song of Songs is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It begins by speaking about a relationship between King Solomon and a woman of quaint standing.

It is a type of Christ and His bride, the church. The whole book describes a deepening intimate relationship between King Solomon and the Beloved transforming her from feeling fearful, insecure, and worthless to confident, at peace, and secure in Him.

In the first verse of Chapter 5 we see the young woman flourishing as she is described as a garden shut up for her King. By the grace and empowerment of the Holy Spirit we read about fruit and spices beginning to take shape and growing from the enriched soil of her garden.

It describes the inner working that God so willfully promises to do in any honest heart that longs to enter into a relationship with Him.

He takes the most self-centered human on the planet and by His grace and promises begins to change him, causing compassion and a desire to see others prosper to form in the very core of who he is.

JOHN 15:5
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

This is our inheritance in Christ as we continue in fellowship with Him. With an open and honest heart we become children of God. We grow into His very nature and produce fruit that brings Him glory.

2. THE REST OF HIS PRESENCE

SONG OF SONGS 5:2

She
I slept but my heart was awake. 
 Listen! My beloved is knocking: 
“Open to me, my sister, my darling, 
 my dove, my flawless one. 
My head is drenched with dew, 
 my hair with the dampness of the night.”

Here in verse 2 we see the rest and security that we all long for which has been promised to us by God through an intimate relationship with Him coming to fruition in this young woman’s life. But there is something blocking the King from entering the presence of the Beloved or more truly said, the Beloved from entering the presence of the King. A door has been shut and stands in the way of the very person of Christ (the deeper depths of His love and glory have been shut out).

As we read on, her rest and security she once knew left as the King's presence retreated from her room.

SONG OF SONGS 5:2-6

She
² I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³ I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

⁴ My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

⁵ I arose to open for my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.

⁶ I opened for my beloved,
but my beloved had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

All of our joy, all of our security, and all of our rest as Christians depend on one thing and one thing only – the presence of God in our lives. Without God’s presence — without a Holy Spirit Revelation every day of His closeness and concern for us — our lives would suddenly be consumed with turmoil, fear and grief.

3. THE INVITATION OF CHRIST INTO A DEEPER COMMUNION WITH HIM – TO BECOME ALL THAT HE IS

So why did God’s presence leave His beloved?

Or the better question would be, where was God’s presence leading His beloved?

We know that God’s presence under His covenant promise to His church could never be taken from us due to the fact that His active presence in our lives is not given to us on our merits but on the merits of another. Christ and His perfect obedience to the Father awards us His presences. For God to remove Himself from us completely, He would have to deny His son’s perfect sacrifice and spit in His face.

God is continually leading us on a journey in this life to grow us into children of God — to become more like Him, to become begotten children. "Begotten" means to be of the same kind, to be of the same nature. God is ever-forming and growing inside of us His nature, His heart.

But we can refuse to continue on in the journey. We have the choice as creatures of free will to deny God as He leads us into portions of His character and nature that we find difficult to accept.

We can release His hand and withdraw from His active presence in our lives for fear of where He might lead us next.

But the question still stands where was God’s presence leading His beloved?

SONG OF SONGS 5:2-6

She
² I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”

³ I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

⁴ My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

⁵ I arose to open for my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.

⁶ I opened for my beloved,
but my beloved had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

The bridegroom’s hand had been dipped in oil of myrrh. There was a residue left on the bolt of the door and I truly believe it was left there as a token to teach us, His church, a lesson — to remind us the reason we live and breath on this earth and to refocus our attention on the ultimate goal of our so journeying.

Myrrh was used to make perfume, incense, and at times has been used as medicine.

Myrrh is a dried gum resin from a number of species of trees. It is produced by the tree as a reaction to a purposeful wound through the bark and into the sapwood. The trees are bled in this way on a regular basis.

It is also used throughout history as a perfume, incense, and medicine.

You see there are seasons in a Christian's walk where God allows circumstances and difficulties to wound us. To allow our human ingenuity, our American resolve, our pride and all of our strength to be pierced producing a situation where only the life of God could sustain us.

And it is then that the most precious commodity on earth is seen in its greatest abundance in our lives — the life and weight of God’s grace living within us.

He is leading us to a place where our rest and the supernatural life within us could be seen by others. Individuals He longs to draw into a personal intimacy like we have.

He is bringing us to a place where we are given for the needs of others.

But there was something blocking the King from bringing His beloved into this type of life. A door had been shut and stood in the way. A door of offense or bitterness. A door of fear and doubt. A door of anger or hopelessness.

TESTIMONY: MY MOM AND THE YEARS OF PRAYER FOR ME. HER TIME IN THE HOSPITAL – AND HOW THE ENEMY WAS ALLOWED TO TORMENT MY FAMILY FOR A SEASON.

4. THE POWER OF A WOUNDED VESSEL

DANIEL CHAPTER 6 – One man’s willingness to trust God through wounding circumstances changed the whole spiritual climate of the know world.

Daniel 6:16-17
¹⁶ So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

¹⁷ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.

²⁷ He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.

Daniel 6:19-20
¹⁹At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. ²⁰When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

Daniel 6:23
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Daniel 6:25-27
²⁵ Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth:

“May you prosper greatly!

²⁶ “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

“For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.