I am only speaking for myself at the moment, but it seems to me that for some reason Jesus is not allowing the full brunt of the truth to reach my heart, at least not in one big impact…perhaps I might not survive the crash. Okay, I am now speaking for all of us; what The Family did in putting down the Words of David is summed up accurately in Daniel Chapter 9 verses 5, 10 and 12 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments :10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.:12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.(aka, the City of Brotherly Love)
Now allow me to be hard on myself, for I am an old sinner and have walked with regret before, and it has some healing properties. Yet, as I just said, for some reason Jesus is not allowing the full-impact of my sin to hit me; He is filtering it as a tree filters the direct sunlight. The glaring light of truth would blind me…as Paul was blinded by the flash of realization that struck him off his mount. If I put all the sins I’ve committed in my life together and weighed them on a balance against the sin of turning from the Words of David, then those life-time sins would pale into insignificance! As I said, and these Words are recorded in the Words of David, Jesus took us beggars off the streets of this world and offered us His hand in marriage! He offered to train us in the ways of His courts in preparation for His unimaginable offer, but all along we kept a reservation in our hearts; which was this; that not all His Words need be taken with purpose, or seriously, therefore we could pick up or put down at will. Now our Husband is not a forceful man, but gentle and entreating, He seeks those who follow from the heart, so although it would seem to most that the option is there to choose at one’s own will. There is a deeper layer, a deeper secret, a hidden one that only His love slaves comprehend. And that is, His Words are His will and therefore their will. Right there you see that “churchy element” in those thoughts that God’s will is for the taking or the leaving, what we’ve come to know as ‘lifestylers’!
Casting my mind back, I remember only one or perhaps two instances where there was an option offered; which would be ffing and loving Jesus in an intimate way. Please correct me if I’m wrong. The offered option was genuine, for Jesus Himself said that His love is unconditional. Yet still, why offer something just for the offer sake. To the perceptive heart, a path to deeper obligation was unveiled in His Words and those that desired that touch moved deeper into the spirit as they embraced the more radical offers. Were there not many tests for Esther during her sojourn in the house of women? Did not Ahasuerus retain all the virgins in the house of women irrespective of his continued quest for queen? There’s the analogy to Jesus’ great love for all His brides; no one is truly left out in the cold. The tests continue through the years, some veiled, some in obvious sight. Was not His love for the Father tested whilst on earth, and did not He prove His love for his brides here too? Is it a strange thing that He would set similar tests to prove the fealty and devotion for all those virgins called to the house of the King? Should not some tests be veiled in order that the hidden things of our hearts are revealed to ourselves?
So the deeper, and at times shocking revelations received and delivered to us by our prophets did indeed have an important role to play in everyone’s lives. When my now awakening carnal mind tries to uncover the awful truth of our indiscretion, there seems to be one or two doors closed! Perhaps the Keys to these doors will be given as I slowly assimilate and retain the truth that is beginning to filter into this fragile mind. I want to go there, but His loving hand is saying, “Not yet My love, not yet, it is too great a burden, too great a sin.” I am heart sick…for I fear I am too late?
“I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when He spake: I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer.” SoS.5:6
We all know that feeling you get when you miss the boat…and there is no way to bring it back to port. The sin of unbelief and unheeding has left me in desolation. “For the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” The realization of what I’ve done has found me and I can’t help feel that I, like Esau, have spurned my birthright, and no amount of weeping will bring it back to me. My thoughts are like a watchman.
“The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me”. SoS.5:7
Of course I don’t want this fear to come upon me, not now that I have woken from my stupor. I want only for this to be a lesson that at first I failed, but now with hindsight will never fail again. Why is Jesus withholding the full impact from me…is it because there was only one final test? Oh, the test was too sore, too crafty in its design! Yet, the study books were open, the admonitions and warnings were there in full sight as I entered the examination hall. I’m sure the prophet Daniel would sit with me on some bench in Heaven as I weep in bitterness of gall. He would understand as my Beloved understands! Yet both their hands are tied, as was the Father’s hands tied during the great rebellion which we can read about in the Woe letter. At present, I feel there is forgiveness, as there always is for those that repent, but nonetheless the damage is done and the price of payment is now on my desk; yet My Husband’s hand covers the line that holds the total cost. Again, the feeling of regret is upon me, but with a pressure that is supported by that same hand; the cross that is too heavy for my weak shoulders is only partially on me.
“Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee! My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. SoS.6:1-3
White lilies represent the key theme of purity and rebirth. This meaning makes them a perfect flower for weddings and funerals. White lilies in a funeral flower arrangement symbolize the deceased’s return to a state of innocence.
QUESTION: AFTER BACKSLIDING, DO YOU EVER GET BACK TO THE LORD AS CLOSE AS YOU WERE BEFORE?
Answer: Closer!
Question: But after Eve ate the “apple” she knew the evil and couldn’t be simple again.
Answer: But she was a lot wiser and humbler! She believed a lot more, had more faith, and now knew the Lord was right!
QUESTION: BUT ESAU LOST HIS PLACE!
Answer: Same as last answer above: Defeat teaches you a lot. Like the Prodigal, he lost his birthright, but he gained many other valuable lessons, and the Lord promised to make many nations of Ishmael and Esau (Genesis 27:39,40).The sons of Ishmael and Esau became the Arab nations!
YOU LOSE THE INNOCENCE YOU HAD BEFORE THE “APPLE”, BUT LESSONS OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE THAT ARE ACTUALLY MUCH MORE VALUABLE ARE GAINED.
Question: But when you have so much knowledge and get away from the Lord, many times it’s hard to get back.
Answer: It was a hard road for David, but look what it taught him. Compassion, humility and gentleness.
IT’S FUNNY HOW WHEN PEOPLE LOSE THEIR INNOCENCE THEY DON’T FEEL THEY ARE AS CLOSE TO THE LORD AS BEFORE. That’s because they don’t really realize what God’s righteousness is. Their idea of righteousness is so different from God’s. When you feel so righteous and good, it’s because you’re self-righteous and not closer to God, but closer to yourself! It’s a perverted idea from the churches–a kind of “sinless self-perfection.”
DAVID WAS FAR MORE RIGHTEOUS AFTER HE BECAME A GREAT SINNER–than he was when he was so haughty and self-righteous! One reason why I really need to confess my sins and tell everybody about them is because it really helps keep me humble! It helps you to be honest with yourself and with others and with the Lord. (Benefits of Backsliding)
Chapter 2
Hosea 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
:2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; What is between our breast but our heart and what is in the whore’s heart, the world
:3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. Are you in the wilderness of the world thirsting for the Words of David?
:4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
:5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. If you wonder why your way has been difficult and thorny since forsaking your birthright, then here is the reason; His hand has done this thing.
:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
:9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. Our Husband, in His love ,chastises us.
:12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. Have you yet entered your wilderness, with Him ,your Beloved?
:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. With lilies of rebirth in hand will we find the innocence of our youth again, in the hand of our cherished One.
:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
:17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. Now this is very interesting but it struck me that this verse is numbered 18, and to us 18 was a significant year, as it was the year of return for some of us.
:19 And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. With weeping, Ahh, have we found His hand again; have we found our way back into His courts, and into His private chambers.
:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.
:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
:22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
Recent Podcasts
Our Indiscretion Plus Red Heifer Sham (March 28) (Audio)
Our Shelf of Faith (April 06) (Audio)
Fight For Your Crown Awaits (April 05) (Audio)
Trials Test Our Faith (April 04) (Audio)
Live the Doctrine Pt.2 (April o3) (Audio)
Live the Doctrine (April 02) (Audio)
Light on the Mountain (March 31) (Audio)
Relentless Mind Battles (March 30) (Audio)
Overcoming Challenges (March 29) (Audio)
Visit “OUR WINE CELLAR” for more podcasts
“Jesus: I want you to live in the spirit and walk in the spirit. You’ve heard that a lot‚ haven’t you? Well, I really do mean it and it really is possible. Living and working and walking in the spirit doesn’t mean only in the spirit-the body will be working too. But the difference is the focus, the balance. When you’re working in the spirit, your body is moving, but it is being powered by your spirit, which is in sync with Me.”