A Lily Among Thorns

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys, like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens Song of Songs 2:1-2

I've been studying the Song of Solomon, the song of all songs, for some time now.  It has stirred my passion for God and inspired my gratitude for His relentless pursuit of me.  I have been awakened to the fact that God has been chasing me, wooing me and pursuing me with the same tenderness and zeal a young man has when trying to win the heart of the woman he loves. 

I've been praying and declaring from this word this past week and hope that you will also see yourself in it and pray along with me. 

Prayer

I am only a little lily of the valleys (that grows in deep and difficult places).  But You say, Like the lily among thorns, so are you, my love, among the daughters. 

I pray to rise above the thorns that surround me.  The anxieties, life's worries, the cares of the world, distractions of this age, pleasures of life, false glamour, the deceitfulness of riches and passionate desires for other things.  The things that were meant to choke me and suffocate me as I've been growing up in Your Word of truth.  The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on Your head.  You took all of these for me on the cross and overcame so that I can rise unto You everyday and declare that in the midst of the thorns, You have the affections of my heart.  Therefore, my fruit, produced by Your word, the seed and my faith in good soil, will ripen and come to maturity and perfection.  I pray and declare that I will steadily bring forth fruit with patience, in Jesus' name! Amen!

Scripture References:
Song of Songs 2:1-2 (Amplified Version)
Luke 8:14-15
Luke 8:11

The Midnight Hour

It is always exciting when Jesus says to us, "Let us go over to the other side" (Mark 4:35).  To me it's like He's saying, "Come up higher or let's do a new thing, time for change or promotion".  You're excited to see what happens "on the other side" and can't wait to get there.  But in the "middle of the lake" you find yourself "straining at the oars", because the wind and the waves are against you.  The storm is like a hurricane and everything pointing to the fact that you are not going to make it to the other side and fear creeps in.  The disciples found themselves in a few of these tests and so do we.  We shouldn't be surprised when we are about to go higher, that we face a storm that we did not expect. 

The middle is often a place of testing.

I was searching for a specific scripture and was flipping through my Bible slowly trying to find it.  My eyes landed on one that was not the one I was looking for but I felt drawn to it.  I had not highlighted it or underlined it before but I saw it and took it for myself.  I remember praying to the Lord,  "I'm believing this is where I am today and will trust You for it in Jesus' name!"

I felt that I was in the middle of a test and needed desperately to see Him in His Word.  I was watching for Him.  So I had enough hope in my heart this day to take it by force. 

The Bible says that the "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).  I felt afterwards that the Holy Spirit reminded me that this is what I did.

The scripture that I took by force was Deuteronomy 11:31  You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. 

The wind and the waves I was facing sounded like threats that I had made no progress at all.  That my prayers had not moved any mountains and the times I launched in acts of faith were in vain.  In my dark hour I began to cry out, just like the disciples did.

"He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them". (Mark 6:47)

In Mark 6:48, the Bible says that "About the fourth watch of the night (between 3-6am) He came to them, walking on the lake".  To me this is equivalent to saying, He's walking on the very thing that threatened to take them down.  This situation is under His feet!  But then He does something that has always puzzled me.   "He was about to pass by them."  The Amplified version says that "He acted as if He meant to pass by them." 

Why pass by them Lord? 

I now believe that He wanted them to see Him in a whole new way.  Indeed!  "When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost." (Mark 6:49) but I trust that He wanted their faith to rise to a whole new level.  I also want to believe that they were watching and waiting for Him even in their struggle.  Wishing He was there to calm the storm like He had done just a few chapters back.   I think that with each test they progressively became more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly, His Presence and His rest. 

In searching for my one specific scripture, His Word in Deuteronomy 11:31 almost passed me by.  But I was watching and desperate to see Him in His Word for me.  I took hold of His Word with hope and boldness, His very Presence, and immediately I felt His rest.  I took heart!

He is the Word. 

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14).

They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.  Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I.  Don't be afraid."  then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. (Mark 6:50).

I'm believing that He wants to take us to the other side.  I'm believing promotion is coming, or blessings are on their way.  We are going higher than we have gone.   He wants us to take His Word in to our hearts and to see Him in His promises and be able to say with confidence "this one's mine!"  As we do, we can trust He's in the boat with us and His Presence gives us rest.   I pray that we become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing.  Understanding Him more strongly and clearly, for we have found favor in His sight.  In Jesus' name, Amen!



It's Gonna Be All Right

I remember my Dad shared something that had happened to him but ministered to him greatly some years ago. Tivo was the big digital recording system. He had set it to record a Dallas Mavericks game but heard the outcome of the game before he could watch it. He was happy to hear that the Mavericks had won the basketball game but he was enjoying the season so much that he decided to sit down and watch it anyway. Through three quarters, the Dallas Mavericks trailed, seeming destined to lose. My Dad was frustrated and started to coach them from his living room. In the third quarter when the game was still in doubt, he too began to lose hope in what he thought he’d heard. It was not until the last minutes into the fourth-quarter that things began to turn around with a victorious ending.

The Lord used this to remind him that we too get caught up in the everyday issues of life and get frustrated because we doubt our victorious ending we read in His Word.

We've been Tivoed!

We can choose to trust Him as we walk through life believing in the middle of what seems like a losing game. Or we can choose to remember that we win and have peace as we trail through on our way to victory.

The Word says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” Romans 8:37

In the book of Habakkuk, it says that Habakkuk began to call on God for help.  God answered him and said …”I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Habakkuk 1:5

This proves that we can know the outcome of a situation in advance and still not believe.

Once again, in 2Ki 7:16 (The Message), while there is a famine in the land of Samaria, Elisha the prophet says to the king "Listen! GOD's word! The famine's over. This time tomorrow food will be plentiful—a handful of meal for a shekel; two handfuls of grain for a shekel. The market at the city gate will be buzzing." But….The attendant on whom the king leaned for support said to the Holy Man, "You expect us to believe that? Trapdoors opening in the sky and food tumbling out?"
"You'll watch it with your own eyes," he said, "but you will not eat so much as a mouthful!"


(The next day) "Every word of the Holy Man to the king—"A handful of meal for a shekel, two handfuls of grain for a shekel this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria," with the attendant's sarcastic reply to the Holy Man, "You expect us to believe that? Trapdoors opening in the sky and food tumbling out?" followed by the response, "You'll watch it with your own eyes, but you won't eat so much as a mouthful"—proved true. The final stroke came when the people trampled the man to death at the city gate"
(2 Ki 1:16-20)

Let's not get trampled!  We just have to trust that He knows the end from the beginning and there's protection in us not knowing all the details.  We could fall into unbelief and mess it up.

What if God interrupted your day to tell you that “It’s gonna be all right.” 

I believe that’s exactly what He wants to say to us today ☺

His Word says Ps34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.


Prayer
Lord I pray for an undivided heart that trusts in You no matter what.
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Co 15:57) Amen!