Rabbi Schneider - Lovesick in the Spirit

TOPICS: Song of Songs... Journeying into Divine Love

We're just gonna briefly review, and then press forward today to some new information. The, the bride, the Shulamite, was talking about the couch, how she was being carried by the couch of the king in a wedding processional. And she said how the couch was luxuriant. In verse number 16, she said, indeed our couch, or our bed, is luxuriant or green. And this speaks about deep confidence and rest in her love relationship with her beloved, beloved, friends, and this is what Jesus has for you and I. As you and I journey deeper into knowing him, our life is gonna take on a quality of rest and confidence. She calls this couch luxuriant or green and this speaks to us of the fact that as we journey deep into eternal life, remember Jesus said this is eternal life to know me, as we journey deep into eternal life, as we plummet into the depths of our salvation, we're gonna enter into a place, beloved, of great abundant life. The couch was luxuriant. It was a place of rest. It was a place of confidence. It was a place of vibrant life.

You know we sometimes read of people that have had out of body experience, Christians, and have gone to heaven for a minute or two minutes. And one of the things that they always say when they come back is that every blade of grass there, everything was alive. And so when she says his couch is luxuriant, it's green, it speaks to us, beloved, of the life that we have in God. And as we discover him we are going to become more and more alive. Remember Jesus said I've come to give life and give it more abundantly. The Shulamite bride had discovered, she had identified the king as the source of life and satisfaction. She called him the apple tree of refreshment among all the trees of the field. In verse number 3, she said: Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, So is my beloved among young men.

In verse number 5, she said: Refresh me with apples. So she had identified this Jesus as the one that was able to make her alive, as the one that was able to satisfy her, as the one that was able to give her life, and because she had found him, she was totally given over to him. She was single minded. In fact she said that she had become so focused on Jesus that she described herself, in verse number 1, of chapter 2, as the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. In other words, a rose is a love flower. She was saying, I'm totally in love with you, Jesus. And she said I'm living a pure life for you. I'm living as a lily among the valley. Even though around me is a fallen world, I'm living a life of purity, and chastity to you. And beloved, we can't enter into the depths of knowing him without repenting.

And I just challenge you today, if you're living in disobedience understand that your disobedience will keep you from experiencing the deep love of Jesus. It's not that, beloved, he loves us based upon our good works, but that he doesn't release us to the, into the knowledge of his love until we are in agreement with him. And this involves repentance from sin and saying yes to him, and turning to him in obedience. So she had come to this place, she was in love with him and she was obedient to him. I'm the rose of Sharon, she said, and the lily of the valley. And so, beloved, you and I, if we're gonna experience this deep bridal love that is going on here, we must cherish him and extol him, and, and, and, and, and, and, and just make him priority number 1 in our life. And live that out by practically living in obedience to him, and chastity and loyalty. See she had doves' eyes now. We read doves' eyes were, were the eyes of one that was totally loyal.

As, I've said, a dove with single vision. They had no peripheral vision and had mated once for life. We covered all that last time. I want to pick up in verse number 4. As she was living for him now so that she had another encounter with him. And this is the way it is in life. We don't encounter Jesus in a new, you know, extravagant way every day, but over the course of our lifetime, those of us that are living for him, there are marked moments in space and time on this earth that Jesus reveals himself to us in a deeply personal way, in a way that touches us, in a way that marks us, in a way that we know we've encountered him. You see, people that have never encountered Jesus, they are bored with Christianity. People that have met Jesus somehow, people that have been marked by him, it could come in many different ways.

I'm not defining how he marked you. I don't know, you know, maybe the Holy Spirit just came to you one day and you were overwhelmed with the feeling of his love for you. Maybe you were reading the Word of God. Maybe someone shared something with you and you just felt Jesus. It could be many, many different ways. God comes in many different faces. But when someone has encountered Jesus, they're marked, and they're not bored, because they know he's alive. And because they know he's alive they're passionately pursuing him. That's how this Song of Songs starts out. She had an encounter with him, and as a result of that, she wanted more, and more, and more. And it's continuing on even now. And so she says in verse number 4: He has brought me into his banquet hall. She's having another experience with him. She already had one experience in chapter number 1, where she said: The King has brought me into his chambers. She said: He kissed me with the kisses of his word. She had an encounter with him, but over time she began to backslide a little bit.

So in her backslidden state, she began to repent. She began to call out. She began to say, help me to get back on track. And as she was calling out and repenting, Jesus comes to her again. He reaffirms to her how much he loves her. Her passion for him is ignited again. She says that her heart opened up to him and became as a sweet fragrance to him in his love, and now she is again passionately pursuing him as he has revived her in her love. And so let's continue on. He has brought me, in verse number 4, to his banquet hall, And his banner over me is love.

Now as I said last time, in the ancient world, in ancient Israel, the, the nation of Israel was divided in tribes. And each tribe would have a banner. It was like a flag. And they would walk under their banner. And their banner identified them. Their banner identified who they were, where they were going. Well she exclaims here that the banner over her now, by King Jesus, is love. Now when I say King Jesus, of course I'm speaking prophetically. She, in the original sense was speaking to Solomon, but we are looking at this as the Holy Spirit intends us to, that the bridegroom King is Jesus, and she is, beloved, us. She's the church. She's the symbol, a prophetic shadow or symbol of us. And so she exclaims that his banner, that Jesus's banner over me is love.

What does this mean? It means that she had come to trust him; that what was happening in life, she could trust that what was overshadowing her life, was his love. That she wasn't afraid of circumstances. That she wasn't afraid of the future. That she wasn't gonna be afraid to obey him because she realized that he was the king, that he had authority over everything. And she had come to trust him enough to be able to open up her heart knowing that he was always taking care of her, that he was always nourishing her, that he was always working something good out in her life. And she also had come to realize, beloved, that if she failed, that God could take even her failure and turn it to good, because God causes all things to work together for good to those that love him and are called according to his purpose. So she had been set free now, beloved, in trusting in his love. And you and I, beloved, need to also be confident in a banner over our life from Father God and King Jesus of love.

So Father God, we bless you right now, and we thank you that your banner over us is love. Now Father God, forgive us for being deceived for what, from what we see with our eyes, when we see terror all around, cause your Word tells us in Psalm, 91, that a thousand may fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, but no evil will befall us or come near our dwelling because you are our God. So Father help us not to fear what we see going on around us. Lord Jesus, help us to trust you. Help us to know that you're in control. You told us in your Word, Lord, that not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from your knowing. And so we ask you to release us to trust you in, in, in love, that we would be able to believe that the banner over our lives is love; that we would not be afraid of the future, that we would not be afraid of losing our job, that we would not be afraid of old age, that we would not be afraid of running out of money, that we would not be afraid of health concerns, that we would not be afraid of things happening in our children's life, that we would have no relational fears, Father, that we would have not phobias.

Father set us free to trust in your love. Set us free to know that the banner over our life is love. Help us to understand what that means. Help us to understand that your love, Father God, affects and is involved in every detail of your children's life. Jesus you said that if the Son would make you free we'd be free indeed, that we would know the truth, and the truth would set us free. So we're asking you now, King Jesus, to set us free, to know that the banner over our life is love, and that we need to fear nothing, knowing that you are our King and that your love is unconquerable, that your love, Father God, cannot separate us from you and that nothing can get in the way of it. Set us free by the power of your love, we pray. Your Word says that perfect love casteth out all fear. So Father cast all fear out of our life now through your perfect love. Let the banner over our life be love. And all God's people spoke Hebrew and said Amen and Amen.

So now we're gonna press on to some new material, verse number 5. She cries out to him: Sustain me with raisin cakes, Refresh me with apples, Because I am lovesick. Look at that again, in verse number 5. She says: Sustain me with raisin cakes, Refresh me with apples, Because I am lovesick. Now this is a beautiful word. She's basically saying, I feel weak because I love you so much and I'm so desperate to be closer to you. I miss you so badly. I wanna be so close to you right now that I feel lovesick. Have you ever been so in love with somebody that you could hardly even work, because you just couldn't stop thinking about them? You just want to be with them all the time? It made you actually feel weak? That's what she's feeling. She's so ravished with loving Jesus that she feels weak. And now she's crying out to him in the spirit, sustain me with raisin cakes.

Now I want to tell you a great story, beloved. I minister to a Messianic congregation called Adat Adonai. I encourage you to come and visit us sometime. It's not a big congregation. We've got about a hundred and fifty people on Friday nights, about a hundred on Sundays. Love you to come and be with us sometime. Listen what happened. I was preaching to the congregation about a month ago. As I was preaching, the, I just sensed in my heart that there was a deep work that the Holy Spirit was doing in some of the people's lives that were there. And, and I felt like he was, he was bringing them to a place where they were crossing over, like the children of Israel that crossed over the river, they crossed over the river to the other side. And when they crossed over the river, they built a memorial there because they knew that something significant had happened, that they had crossed over to the other side, and they built him a memorial in a place of remembrance because of such a great thing that the Lord had done in their life.

Now listen to this. As I was ministering to the congregation about a month ago, at the time of this filming, I sensed that the Lord was really shaking some people up inside, and really just uprooting some things, and getting them free from some things, and was going to just bring them to a brand new ability to feel his nearness, to feel his closeness, and to walk with him in intimacy. And so at the end of the service, I wasn't planning this, I just felt the unction of the Holy Spirit, I invited those that felt this happening. I wasn't inviting the whole congregation, but I was inviting those that really felt that God had done something in them that had forever changed them, that they were gonna be in a new place in their journey now, I invited them to come forward.

There were fifteen people that responded. And I said I want us all to hold hands in a circle. Now I'm calling this group the Fabulous Fifteen. And I took authority in the Spirit and I drew a line in the Spirit in the blood of Jesus. And I said something has happened. God has brought you to a new place in him, to a new ability to walk with him, to experience his love and to experience his intimacy. A brand new thing has happened, and as a result of this, he is gonna sustain this new place that he's brought you into, this new place of intimacy with him. He is gonna sustain it now, listen now, with raisin cakes. Now keep in mind I just got done reading verse number 5, where the bride calls out to the bridegroom, sustain me with raisin cakes. And I said God has done something. And over the course of the next weeks, God is gonna sustain this commitment and this new place that he's brought you to in intimacy with him, with raisin cakes. He's gonna be bringing things into your life.

A raisin cake was made with grapes, a dried grape. It symbolized refreshment from the Holy Spirit. It symbolizes life from the Holy Spirit, that God is gonna sustain us with raisin cakes. So just over, a little over a week ago, one of the Fabulous Fifteen came up to me towards the end of the service, one of these ones that had come forward and just sensed that God had done something in his life, and God had brought him to a new place of intimacy. And, and I said to him God is gonna sustain us with raisin cakes. So a few weeks later, which was just a few days back, a few days a little bit ago, he came up to me at the end of the service. He said I've got an unbelievable testimony to share. He actually didn't say it was unbelievable. I said it was unbelievable after he shared it, in the positive sense. And then he said I, I have something, just a great testimony about the raisin cakes.

So I, I released him to share his testimony. He said that he was driving down the road and he was just really struggling. He had some health issues and challenges that he deals with. He was just really struggling, and he said Lord I just thank you for all the things that you've done for me, and, and I know that, that you don't have to do anything else for me. And that you don't always, you know, you, you don't always do things in, in, in my life because you want to teach me to live by faith and not by sight, but he said I'm really struggling right now. And if you could do something, if you could give me a raisin cake, he prayed that same prayer that I spoke over him. If you could give me a raisin cake to encourage me, and refresh me, and let me know you're there, I'd really appreciate it.

Right when he was praying that prayer, his phone rang. It was his wife. And there's a particular individual, I don't know who the individual is, that every now and then she would almost mysteriously show up in their life. I believe the first time it would, it happened, if I understood the story correctly, it was when he was very sick. And she just showed up and just began to prophesy words by the Holy Spirit that encouraged him. And every now and then she would show up at strategic times, almost mysteriously, and deliver just a word of encouragement from the Lord. So just as he was praying that prayer, Lord would you refresh me, his wife calls him with raisin cakes. His wife calls him and said, you know what, our angel, they called this woman that would show up at this, at these mysterious times, our angel.

His wife calls him and said our angel just came over and she just was encouraging me and giving us some encouraging words, and she left you a, a bag with some things in it. And so he was praising God when he got off the phone that, you know, right when he was praying to God that God would do something to encourage him and refresh him, to let him know that he's there, that his wife calls and tells him that the angel just came over, this person that the Lord had used in his life in such a meaningful way. He took that as totally from the Lord, just lifted his spirit. And then he got home. And when he got home, he went to the bag that the angel had left him. And this angel knows nothing about this, this commitment and the raisin cakes. She's not part of our congregation. So this man goes over to the bag that the angel had left him, and opens the bag. What do you think is in the bottom of the bag; raisin cakes.

Now how many times has someone given you raisin cakes? I mean this was such a supernatural, dynamic manifestation of the Lord sustaining his faith, exactly the way that we prayed with the raisin cake to show him he was there. The point is, beloved, that as you and I are walking with God, Jesus is faithful to sustain us with raisin cakes and apples. He is faithful when we need him to, to minister to us that which we need to go on to the next phase of the journey.

So Lord Jesus, we ask you right now to sustain us with raisin cakes. I'm praying especially for those people now, Lord Jesus, that are really weak, that have no more power in and of themselves. Would you come to them right now? Lord, I'm asking you to release angels. I'm asking you to release angels to strengthen your people right now. Father, even as you did with the man in the congregation that I just shared with the viewing audience all over the world, even as you supernaturally did by literally sending him a raisin cake to show your reality to him, Father I'm asking you to release raisin cakes to those that are weak in power right now to sustain their faith and encourage them. And I'm asking you, Father God, to refresh us. We think here, Father, of the Shulamite bride and how she said that you would refresh her with apples. Refresh me with apples because I'm lovesick.

So Father, we ask that you would refresh those of us that are hungry for more of you, and thirsty for more of you, those of us that know you're real. Lord Jesus, those of us that know that you can be had, that we can get ahold of you in a deeper way. Those of us that feel like Jacob that said, I will not let go until you bless me. Those of us, Lord Jesus, that know there's more. Those of us that want to enter in to a deeper fullness. Those of us that want to enter in to deeper romance. Those that want to experience your love in a broader and in a fuller way. Those of us, Lord, that want to be touched emotionally by you; those of use that are looking for a greater revelation of how beautiful you are, Lord Jesus, and how beautiful we are to you; those of us that are wanting to deeply enter in to divine romance.

I ask you, Lord Jesus, refresh us now with apples. Release to us supernaturally, dynamically, and prophetically through your Holy Spirit in a multiplication of ways the reality that your presence is surrounding us and that you live in us. Lord Jesus I pray that you will ignite our emotions so that we can feel what you feel. Lord Jesus I ask you to allow us to feel your love for us. Beloved, just put your hand on your heart with me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, let's just say it together. Just repeat after me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that I'm beautiful to you. Thank you that you love me. Thank you that I'm lovely to you.

Now Jesus I pray that you would fill us with that knowledge. Cause us to feel beautiful. Cause us to feel lovely. Reveal your beauty to us, our beautiful bridegroom God and King. Thank you Jesus, help us to love your people. Help us to release this same love that you're releasing into our hearts, into the lives of others around us. Cause our whole life, Lord Jesus, to be filled with your presence and let us carry that manifest presence with us wherever we go.