Rabbi Schneider - Intimacy with God

TOPICS: Mysteries of the Song of Songs, Intimacy with God

You know we need two different aspects that are operating in our lives in order for us to walk in stability. Number one, we need to be girded by the energy of God, by the life of God, that comes to us through our mind; the logical part of God. But then just as importantly, we need the emotional and the feeling part of God and combining the thought process, working in logic, and the intuitive part of our heart, operating in the realm of feeling; the blend of those two aspects together, help us to walk in fullness. In some points we see that even from the beginning God created man in His own image, male and female; both equally God, but different parts of His nature. We have on the one aspect, we have the parts of God that are strictly logical in nature.

Then on the other hand, we have the part of God that's emotional in nature. Both are real, both are different, and both need to work together. The reason I speak that right now, beloved children of God, is we're going in to a book of the Bible called the Song of Songs and what we find in the Song of Songs is the emotional part of God. In some sections of scripture, for example the book of Proverbs, we find the mind of God, we find the logic of God. In the book that we're looking at today, we find the heart, the intuitive, and the relational, emotional part of God. And so this is one of my favorite books in the Bible, several weeks. I really want to encourage you, go get the entire teaching online. But listen, as I continue now. I'm in chapter number 1, verse 4. forward. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord abides forever.

Father right now I bless Your children. I pray that You would impart to them that which You desire. In Yeshua's name, amen.

The Shulamite bride, who's a shadow of the church and an example of how you and I should be to know God. She says to the Lord, "Draw me after you and let us run together"! Her twofold purpose in life, to know Jesus. "Draw me to yourself" and to partner with Him in His mission in life. She said, "Let us run together"! I taught on that extensively last week. We're gonna continue on now and we're gonna read this verse. This continues on in verse number 4. "The king has brought me into his chambers". So I'm gonna take a second and I just want to give a quick recap as to where we are to be able to put this section that we're focusing on, "The king has brought me into his chambers" into context. The Song of Songs is about how to have a relationship with God. In the Song of Songs, we trace the journey of the Shulamite bride, who began with a hunger for God, which was followed by an initial experience.

And then as we continue through the chapters in the Song of Songs, we find out what happens in her life in order to bring her to a place of maturity, so she can walk in the power of God and in His fullness and know Him all the time. So it started out with an initial experience that I'm calling, "The Chamber Experience". She had a heart for the Lord. Why did she have a heart for God? Because God was working in her life. That's why she said, "Draw me after you". This is why Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you". She found herself longing after God, panting after God, and yet she realized in order for her to come, she needed Him to supernaturally draw her. And so she said in verse 4, "Draw me to yourself. Draw me after you". It was because of His working in her life that she had the impulse to want to come. She recognized the tension there.

On the one hand, she recognized it was up to her to choose to come. She said, "I want to partner with you in life. I want to be with you. I want to do what you do. I want to be like you". She realized that she had a choice, that she desired Him more than anything. She had a burning passion that came out of her own will, but she also realized that behind the scenes she needed God, she needed Hashem, to draw her. You see she said, "Draw me after you and let us partner together"! And after she calls out to the Lord, pants to Him, something happens. The Lord grants her, her request. And He comes to her and she has an experience that's so secret, so private, that there's no words that can fully describe it. And we read about on the second part of verse number 4. Let's read the Word of God together. "Draw me after you and let us run together"! And the Lord answers and look what she says, "The king has brought me into his chambers". Again, I'd like to call this "A Chamber Experience".

Many of you have had a situation like this, you've had an encounter like this at some point in your life. There was a point in your life that the Spirit of God came to you and you so knew that you were being surrounded by God's love. I mean, there was an episode in your life where you were supernaturally touched. Some of us can recall during our early days of salvation, it seemed like God was all around us. Some of us remember when we first came to know the Lord, it seemed like there were so many miracles going on in our life, we felt so close to God, we felt so connected. That's what happened to her. She's just beginning her journey. God had awakened her. He brought her to Himself and then He brought her into His chamber. Have you ever had an experience like that? I just want to bless you right now.

Father these that are watching right now. Thank You for those, Father God that You've ministered to in such a way, You've made Yourself known, You've touched them. They knew that it was You. And now Father I want to pray for those that may be watching right now and there's never been a time in their life where they knew that You touched them. Father I ask You right now for these that are watching, they're crying in their heart. They're desperate Father God to have a touch from You. They want to know that You love them. Father they want to feel You. They want something to happen in their life that they know that they know, God that You're alive, that You're real, that You love them. Father I ask you to bring these that are reaching out to You now, that have never had an experience like this before, into a chamber experience.

Father God like the bride here in the Song of Songs that said, "The king has brought me into his chambers", Father I ask You to bring us into Your chambers. Kiss us with the kisses of Your mouth as the Shulamite bride cried for Father God. And help us to know that You're real. Help us to touch Your love. Help us to know You in substance. Father give us an experience that no one could ever take away from us, that Father we could never deny. We love You Father God and we call out to You like the Shulamite bride. Father draw us to Yourself. Let us partner with You in life. And Father we're asking You now to bring us into Your chamber. In Yeshua's name, amen and amen.

And so I want to continue and I want to touch on this point now, "The king has brought me into his chambers". Remember this book, the Song of Songs, is a journey into divine love and it traces our life as we go from being an infant or a babe in Messiah, to the time that we become mature in Messiah. And our lives began as babes, when somehow God kissed us. We knew He was real. He became alive to us. It seemed like all our prayers were being answered. It seemed like there was miracles going on in our life. We were emotionally touched and then sometime after that, it seemed like we were no longer experiencing a feeling of His closeness the way we did when we first got saved. And you're gonna see that's what happens here in a little bit, in the life of the Shulamite bride.

In other words, again church this is a journey. We have an experience, we're brought into it, everything's brand new. We feel so alive and yet sometime in the future as we continue on with the Lord, we go into a phase that sometimes is described as a time of dryness. We don't have that same feeling of being alive. We don't have that same sense of closeness that we feel as we did when we first came to salvation. I'm gonna show you how that's normal, how it's natural, how it happened in the Shulamite bride's life. And I'm gonna show you what to do about it and why it's happening. But before we get to that part, let's just continue on in the text.

"The king has brought me into his chambers". God touched her. I mean it was an intimate kiss of the Lord's love. She knew she was feeling the love of God. I mean she knew she was loved. She had something in her heart that was so precious to her, I mean it was so sacred. "The king has brought me into his chambers". A private, sacred, experience, where she experienced the love of Hashem, the love of God. And what was her response to that? "We will rejoice in you and be glad". I just want to point out here, that sometimes we have to remind our self to be thankful for what God has done for us. Her response is, "We will rejoice in you and be glad". Again, she's a shadow of you and I and the Lord is trying to teach us how to respond to His love.

Let me ask you, how many times has the Lord done a miracle in your life or my life? He's answered a prayer that we've prayed for, for a long time. He did a miracle or He answered a prayer and we receive it and you know what? We don't even stop to praise Him for it. We don't even stop to thank Him for it. Remember when Jesus healed ten lepers. How many of the ten lepers that He healed came back and returned to give Him thanks? Only one. Jesus said, "Where are the other nine? Weren't they healed also"? I don't think that parable, beloved one, was something that was unique to those ten lepers. I think Yeshua was showing us, that's the nature of humanity. It's a picture of the world today. And so the Shulamite bride, when God answered her prayer and came and visited her and brought her into a beautiful, intimate, experience of His love; she responded by saying, "I'm gonna rejoice in what You've done for me. I'm gonna be grateful for what You've done for me. I'm gonna be thankful for what You've done for me and I'm gonna be glad for what You've done for me".

And the wake up call, church, to you and I is let's be thankful, let's be glad, let's give Him thanks, let's rejoice, for what He's done for us over and over and over and over again. The Lord spoke to me not long ago and I heard the audible voice of the Spirit. And He said to me this, He said, "Rejoice continuously and you will overcome every obstacle. Rejoice continuously and you will overcome every obstacle". You see we're against, church, you and I face such spiritual opposition in this world. There is such a force of darkness against us. It's not something that's visible all the time. Often times it's just in the supernatural, unseen realm. There's such a force of darkness pressing against us, such a force of oppression, such a force of gloom and doom that's in this world; that you and I can sometimes be overwhelmed by that source of oppression and frustration coming from the realm of darkness, that we stop being grateful and we stop rejoicing. The enemy sometimes beats down so hard on us that we don't stop and look around at all the good things that are happening in our life.

I recently heard the testimony, a true story of a famous star. They were getting like you know 50 million views on their YouTube that they were putting out, selling out their albums, you know millions and millions all over the world. Everyone thought they were fantastic. And yet they said they focused on the two people that wrote about them and criticized them in the newspaper. Here they have millions and millions of fans adoring what they're doing and yet instead of being able to rejoice in all the joy that they were bringing to the millions of people around the globe, instead they found themselves focusing on the two critics that wrote something bad about them in the newspaper. The point is, beloved, that you and I can be the same way. God can be doing all these things in our life, just like the Shulamite bride had this amazing experience with God, experiencing His love, touched by His love, feeling it, and she rejoiced in that.

But sometimes you and I, God's doing all these things in our life; you know He's blessing us, He's answered a prayer, You know we've got our family, we've got our health, you know whatever good things God's doing. I know that some of you are struggling at home. Some of you are dealing with health problems. But I'm making the point that there's all these good things that God has done for us. We woke up this morning. We have breath. We can think. We don't deserve to be alive, right? I mean every breath we take is a gift from God. We don't deserve to be here. All these good things that God has done; the food that we eat, we can taste it and get pleasure from it. And yet instead of focusing on all the good things that are happening in our life, what happens sometimes? We focus on the negative things and we lead a lifestyle of being frustrated, or angry, or feeling oppressed, or living in fear, rather than living a lifestyle of being grateful, of being thankful and of extolling His love.

And the reason sometimes we make this mistake is because we're up against such powerful darkness. Paul told us in the book of Ephesians, "Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but it's against principalities and forces of spiritual wickedness". It's no in what we see. So I want you to understand, you're in a fight. The devil does not want you to rejoice. The powers of darkness do not want you to be grateful. The powers of darkness do not want you to be thankful. But you and I need to be reminded that our response to God is to be thankful and to rejoice every day. Listen to what she said. "We will rejoice in you and be glad". I want to encourage you to have a spirit of humility, so you can thank God for the little things that He's doing in your life and not focus on the negatives.

You see the truth is, illustrated by this example. I asked a man, "How are you doing today"? And this particular man, he was struggling. He had a health challenge in his life. He was very limited financially. But whenever I asked him, "How are you doing"? He always said the same thing, "Better than I deserve". And that's true for you and I. We don't even deserve to be alive. And so we should be thankful for everything that the Lord is doing for us. And when you and I walk like the Shulamite bride was walking in, "We will rejoice in you and be glad". When we lead a lifestyle of rejoicing, just like the scriptures tell us, "Rejoice continuously". The Lord says, "Rejoice, I say again rejoice". When you and I focus on the positives, thank God for the good things, rejoice, we're gonna have a spirit of gladness, a spirit of life, a spirit of laughter, a spirit light. Beloved, it's gonna carry us into the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord, the strength of God, cones from His joy. So let's choose joy.

Again, we're learning how to walk in the Lord. The Shulamites bride's journey teaches us how to walk in God. Her journey is a journey into divine love. Let's continue on. She's brought into the king's chambers. She has this encounter. She rejoices. She's thankful. She doesn't take it for granted. She doesn't let it roll of her back like water off a duck's back. She seizes it. She says, "Thank You Father for doing this for me. I'm gonna rejoice in it. I'm not gonna forget it. I'm gonna remember it and I'm gonna be glad. And Father I worship You and I praise You". She says, "We will extol your love more than wine". She made it a focus and a purpose. She gave it kavanah. She gave it focus to praise Him. She said, "I will extol your love more than wine".

I want you to know people who are praising Jesus, they're doing it because they're choosing to do it. They're doing it, beloved, because they're choosing to do it. Think about Job. "Though He slay me," Job said, "yet will I trust Him". He decided he was gonna praise God. He was gonna be faithful to his creator. He was gonna be faithful to God his Father. He was gonna lead a life of exalting Jesus. He was gonna lead a life putting Jesus on the throne. He was gonna live in a way, "You're beautiful to me God. I love You God. I trust You Father. I might not understand what You're doing, but I trust. Father I praise You. I declare that Yeshua is at Your right hand, that He is beautiful to me. I worship You Father and I will extol Your love and I will glorify Your Son more than anything else in this world. Amen and amen".

And beloved, that spirit of power and that spirit of praise needs to be in our life. If we walk in praise we have power. You know the children of Israel, before they went into war, you know what they did? They praised. They lifted up the name of the Lord. They blew the trumpets. They called upon His name. They worshiped Him and they praised Him and they moved forward in glory. And that's what the Shulamite bride is doing here as she's journeying into divine love. She's being thankful. She's being grateful and she's praising Him. "We will extol your love more than wine". I hope that the things that I'm sharing with you are not just words that roll of your back like water off a duck's back. Beloved, we have to make a decision to do these things. Make a decision when you wake up in the morning to realize that your life is a gift to you. You don't deserve anything. I don't deserve anything. Everything we have is a gift from God. What did we do to deserve to be created? We didn't do anything.

Our life is a gift and we should respond by thanking God. We should wake up in the morning, "Father God I praise You and I worship You". Even when you're struggling, you can be honest with God. He knows your struggles. Tell Him about your struggle. If you feel bad, you can tell Him you feel bad. But even underneath the spirit of oppression you might be feeling deep in your center, you can say, "But Father God I love You and I trust You and I thank You". This was the attitude of the Shulamite bride. Now next week what we're gonna do, is we're gonna continue on with the deep mystery here. I want you to join me and I want you to pray today before you go to sleep and I want you to say:

Father God I pray that You will use this teaching from Rabbi Schneider in the Song of Songs to rewire my heart and my mind and to bring me into further alignment with Your Son through the Holy Spirit. Father I thank You for the Word today. I thank You for sowing into my life. And Father God I will be forever grateful to You and I look forward to seeing You face to face.