“I am my beloved’s (my friend’s), and his desire is toward me” (Song of Songs 7:11).
This is a question, perhaps somewhat humorous – can a wife be a friend? Some say that wife can’t be a friend, others – that wife can be a close person. But this isn’t up for debate.
However, wife is part of the bone. It says here she belongs to her friend. It is about the soul and the Lord. We need to look at the status we have in the Lord. We know Him as God the great, terrible Judge, we can feel Him as beautiful – Who is worthy of glory and majesty. But Friend…
There are people who have never had friends. What is a friend? – Not everyone will be able to answer. Unfortunately, not everyone has friends. There are fellow people, there may be many of them. But a friend is one who lays down his soul for his friend. Do you have such a friend? Not only will he share bread with you, but he will go to death for you. That’s what a friend is.
Unfortunately, very few people on the planet know what a friend is. And now the Lord is waiting today for us to enter into such a relationship with Him – for Him to become our friend. So she says: “I am my friend’s, and his desire is toward me.”
Here is the situation: I called a friend at three in the morning, tell I need him to come urgently, and he being sick, for example, but still gets up and goes without asking, simply because a friend asked him. Here is a friend.
You can say that you don’t have such people. But you can shape people with your behavior. You, by your behavior of the highest devotion and trust, evoke a high mentality of relationship with each other.
To transfer the Lord- sounds a little shocking – and go into the dimension of friendship yourself. The Lord answered Moses: “Oh Moses, I will not destroy the people according to your word.” That is, the words of Moses weren’t just words, but his heart. The God of the Universe changed His decisions because of man. Or Abraham – also changed God’s decision when he interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah.
Today the Lord is also waiting. He says, “You are My friends, because I have revealed everything to you.” And He reveals only to those who have the royal spirit. Therefore, the Scripture says: “The glory of kings is to search out a matter.” He revealed everything to them.
But not everyone is a friend of God. His friend is the one who is with Him wherever He goes. And it is written that God was with David wherever he went. Today the Lord calls to friendship with Him.
This is a complete belongingness. “I belong” is the key. I’m not my own. I belong entirely to My Friend. Who can belong like that?
“Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field, let us lodge in the villages” (Song of Songs 7:11). It means to go out of your boundaries, beyond the general limits. Let’s go forth to the field – she doesn’t “drag” Him home, she has her own dimension with Him in the fields, there are other dimensions of anointing – when we are in the fields. It’s warm at home, it’s good, but in the fields there is another dimension, there are dangers there. You go out into the field and stay there, and there you receive new facets of the anointing. So go beyond your inner world.
“… let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms are opened, and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.” (Song of Songs 7:12). The vineyard here symbolizes the Church of Christ. In the Church, indeed, the vine is blooming, the buds are opening. We are growing together. It’s not about a berry, not some kind of flower. But everything here is in the plural: the vine gives grapes – there are many of them. Buds are never one at a time – there are always a lot of them. Pomegranates bloom – this is also a family. It’s all together – only in the vineyards and gardens of the Lord can one grow, this is where the Bride is drawing Him. Because this is the favorite place of the Lord, she invites Him there.
“…there I will give you my love” (Song of Songs 7:12) There – only in the Church is perfect worship. Giving love symbolizes worship. When we worship the Lord, we show our affection in the way that the Lord delights in our worship.
“The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our gates are pleasant fruits, all manner, new and old, which I have laid up for you, my beloved” (Song of Songs 7:13) This is access to the delights of Christ.
Mandrakes are already the fruits of love. There are the blessings of Christ.
There are three levels of the grace of God. The first is grace for all. The sun and rain are sent for all people, both for the evil and the good. This is a common blessing. Grace of God.
Then – the grace of Christ for the Church. Also common to all. We all worship, we feel the presence of God – not because we deserved it personally, but because we come into the people of God.
And the third level is your individual personal grace, which is given to you personally because of you, because of your relationship with Him. For some, this grace is very poorly developed, it is literally at the initial level – they know little about the presence of God. And others know it well, because they personally know God, and He personally knows them by name. This symbolizes mandrakes, that is, the delights of Christ, which are not given to everyone, but through relationships. The Lord said to Peter, “Do you love me more than they do?” What a question? I don’t know! But Peter knew. So, there was something that really touched.
“All pleasant fruits, new and old” – don’t throw away the old fruits, don’t preach against the old. Both new and old. Those revelations, those touches, those intimate moments with God – old and new fruits – the soul says that she has kept them for the Beloved.
My topic today is the sacred of yours, kept by you. This topic is solid food. Who has no revelation – you will not understand. For whom personal relationships are a value, that one will understand.
Take Esther. She was at the “casting” of the king among the beauties – there were thousands of them. Maybe she wasn’t even so pretty. But why did the king choose her? Not only because of her figure, not because of her face. There was something special about her. Ahasuerus knew what family life was, he had a queen, Vashti. He was an experienced true king, an anointed one. And he saw deeper than the common man. Ahasuerus recognized her and chose her.
What did Esther have to do to please the king? – She needed to concentrate with all her might on how to please the king.
This is what will make you special. This is a special grace – when God likes you so much that He loves you more than others. Sounds strange, but it’s true. He blesses you more than others. Why? Because of you, not because of Himself. Because if I take it lightly, I will be the Vashti who was rejected by the king.
Esther never relaxed when she became the king’s wife – no – she strained even more to keep the king’s love, because He had a huge choice. The King somehow didn’t call her to him for a long time – so it is with people – there are those who live an even life for a long time and don’t feel the presence – the King doesn’t call them.
Yes, she is a wife, but the king doesn’t call her. For a long time she was without a call to the king’s house, which means there was a reason.
It is important not only to be baptized and become a Christian – it is important to maintain this zeal to the end. Esther had an intense life as a king’s wife. She remained loved.
She held a high spiritual tension. It is peace, but not carelessness.
There is a secret. She says that she’s laid up the fruits for Him – new and old. Secret things are kept for the Lord. This theme is mystical. We often speak ahead of time and say things that are not yet ripe. We begin to give it away, and this is neither simplicity nor love, this is stupidity.
There is wisdom – not to tell things to people who immediately chat it out. Such people can’t be priests, because they don’t know how to keep secrets. A priest keeps secrets. If someone has confessed, then you should not reveal secrets to anyone. You can share with ministers – but only with special ones. This is the guild of the “dead” – they died to themselves, they no longer rejoice or grieve. They serve neutrally as Angels and make decisions based on the Word.
This ability – to keep for Him – speaks of the highest level – these are the prophets of God. This ability is the ability to keep the hidden. This is high skill, this is aerobatics.
What are you keeping for the Lord? Not everything should be given to people. I don’t give away the most intimate, because it will either not ripen, or it will ripen incorrectly.
Appreciate higher values. Paul said, “…knowing the best.”
There are many good things – but there’s the best. Try to select the best to you and keep the best for the Lord. All together is good, but there is the best.
Every day I have to take a gem stone and write down this precious truth – that’s what mandrakes are. The light-minded is taken by surprise – what did you take? And he didn’t even think what he took.
There is wisdom and there is the Wisdom. The Wisdom cries out. When you listen to Proverbs, the Wisdom is crying out there. Wisdom and the Wisdom are like an Angel and a Cherub.
There is this sacred thing of God that one has to washed through, like treasure – gold, silver, gem stones , which you collect in your necklace in the humility and meekness of Christ.
Spend time fasting, write down what precious things you took. Do not hurry. As a pregnant woman bears a child for nine months, then gives birth, breastfeeds – and only then the child grows up – so it is with revelation. First, it must be kept, and then given birth, so that later it can be given to the mature ones in the power of the Holy Spirit. It works in you when the revelation is ripe.
Seek not simply for the holy, seek for the most holy. There is wisdom, and there is the Wisdom; there are holy things, and there are most holy; there are values, and there are great values; there is glory, and there is the radiance of glory. He – Christ – is the radiance of glory.
Contemplation. It’s what is inside of you. God has a name – it is the Secret One, that is, He is in secret, Who doesn’t reveal Himself.
This is the Sacred God I would like to present to you today. If you invent this precious box for yourself in your spirit, if you decorate it with gem stones – and there will be treasures inside – you will be a person who will have something to give to Christ when you meet Him. If you are a superficial person, you will not be able to say, like the bride, that “I’ve kept for You what I didn’t give to anyone.”