As we prepare our hearts to read the Word of God, we will focus our attentions
on what the Holy Spirit has to say to us today as we continue on in our
study of Song of Solomon, chapter one. We left off last lesson with the
scriptural understanding that with the Lord, it is possible to experience
untainted pleasure in the chambers of intimacy with our husbands. Our
heavenly Father is the only one who is able to take those areas of our
lives where the devil has held us hostage for so many years, and set us
free! As we continually abide in the presence of the Lord, we can enjoy
marital bliss while our heartaches vanish away one by one... Verse 4 says,
"We will be glad and rejoice in thee" because it is a choice married people
make to find that place of joy with the Lord's help. It will not happen
though, without some effort on our part. Husbands and wives must each
be willing to work on their marriages. Do you have a worker's mindset
today, dear lady? Are you as committed to your relationship with your
husband as you should be? Will you keep working even when it's hard or
seems hopeless? What will be your focus? The first and most important
thing that must occupy all our minds is found in the very next phrase
within verse 4 which says:
Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers:
we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than
wine: the upright love thee.
"WE WILL REMEMBER THY LOVE MORE THAN WINE"
The thought life is very powerful, isn't it? How many of you ever fight
intense wars in your mind when confronted with the act of physical intimacy,
thoughts that automatically cause you to become what is commonly termed
as "frigid"? As we ponder the meaning behind that word, a woman who is
frigid is not radiating warmth, she is unbending as things that are frozen
would be; her circulation has been seriously hindered! Can you enter the
chambers of intimacy with your husband carrying a mind that is clogged
with rubbish and closed off to the flow of love? Can you enter into a
closer relationship with the Lord if you have closed off doors to Him?
Of course not! A clear conscience is the best conscience to carry with
you into this very intimate setting with your husband, and your Savior.
Ladies, did you realize that you choose your own conscience by selecting
what you will think on? It's true, for the Bible says in the phrase above,
"we WILL remember". Scripture is referring to intentional or deliberate
thinking. Our thought life must not be consumed with wine - that which
we have sampled in the world…
Romans 8:5-7
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. [6] For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
[7] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
What are you permitting yourself to remember today, dear lady? Are your
meditations inspiring you to act warmer or colder toward your husband?
Every thought we regard is the result of a choice we have made to think
it or not. Let's be honest again, ladies, many of us drag memories into
our bedrooms that simply don't belong there! They are carnal in nature
and they intoxicate our behavior as wine does. Hence, inner turmoil is
our constant companion. We literally decorate our marital chambers with
the sin of the past... Our minds are fixed on the so-called "love" of
men from days gone by that gave us the wrong impression about feeling
secure and cared for, obstructing our present day responses. We are literally
drunk with the past! As long as you focus on the past you are under the
influence of it. In essence, we are minding the things of the flesh and
not the Spirit. You see ladies, as scripture points out, carnality of
mind is against God and His methods; it cannot subject itself to the Lord's
will. Spiritual minds however, result in life and peace...
Romans 8:13
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Many women have experienced sexual abuse, rape, incest, molestation etc.
Such sexual activities have occurred against their will and darken their
hearts and minds, making it difficult to yield to the Spirit of God. Many
women have also unreservedly committed their own promiscuities; sexual
activities they willingly engaged in, watched in movies, or read about
in books that tarnish their thinking and cause them to view physical intimacy
between husband and wife improperly. Women who were sexually active before
salvation fall prey to comparing their husband's lovemaking skills to
the men of their past, or those in their fantasies. In any case, these
experiences resulting from sin are lodged in female memory banks and carried
with them into the king's chambers. Carnal thoughts are hindering numerous
wives from experiencing what God intended every married couple to fully
and purely enjoy. Ladies, it's time to take out the trash!
2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ;
Whose love does the Bible say in our opening text we are to remember more
than wine, remember more than the worldly "love" we may have known? THY
love - God's love! HIS love is to be the focus of every husband and wife,
not the worldly affection that might exist in our pasts. God's love is
nothing like the world's love at all! God's love is a pure love; it is
a sacrificial love; it does not seek it's own. It is a love that is for
our good, not our ruin. The world's love leaves us hollow and disappointed;
God's love satisfies and overflows from within us. In order to be the
right kind of lover, we've got to remember the right kind of love!
Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Is this your struggle point today, dear lady? Do you battle with the past
in your mind on a daily and nightly basis? Maybe you don't wrestle with
any of the issues I mentioned previously but you are too focused on former
offences your husband has caused you in an earlier period of your marriage.
Is it driving a wedge in the intimacy shared between the two of you today?
Is the past haunting you and driving a wedge in the intimacy shared between
you and the Lord?? Have you closed off the areas to God that He has been
gently trying to work on in your life? It's time to sober up! You've had
a hangover far too long… Don't let your flesh hold you back and interrupt
the full joy of your fellowship with Christ or your husband. He loves
us with an everlasting love - will you trust God's love? Will you trust
what He is trying to accomplish in you and in your marriage? If you want
to obtain intimacy with your husband, and intimacy with the Lord, then
you must be ready to open the doors of communication…
Rev. 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me.
Ladies, it's difficult to weave intimacy into our lives when doors are
shut. Christ will not make a forcible entry… Of your own will you must
open your heart to the Lord, beginning with reading the Word of God. While
you're there, focus on the love of God. Yes, your past physical interludes
may have been contemptuous, hurtful, or terribly frightening; or they
may have even been exhilarating… Whatever type they were, scripture will
show you that no matter what the world has dealt you in the past, Jesus
is our everlasting example of the right kind of love! His lovingkindness
will draw us away from what lust drew us into. Christ would sup with us
and feed us the bread of life and drink new wine with us! Through communicating
with Him we learn how to properly communicate with others. Take your past
to the Lord in prayer and cast it upon Him; don't drag it around in your
memory bank any longer! Permit the Lord to warm your heart where it has
long been frigid…
Song 5:2a
I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled…
As you allow the Word of God to dwell within you richly, it will have
a cleansing, healing affect upon your heart and mind. It will improve
your circulation as truth pumps its strength into those areas of your
being without feeling, having been deadened by lies. A steady diet of
God's Word will replace old memories with present day truth and bring
you hope and help, comfort, wisdom and power. Ladies, corrupt thinking
can become a powerful and destructive force in a believer's life if it
is not recognized and put to death. Only through the Lord can your thoughts
be ordered aright. Hence, when your king is drawing you into his chambers,
the battle in your mind can be won, and you will gladly enter with him
carrying a clear conscience that has been emptied of all trash…
Psalm 45:15
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into
the king's palace.
In closing, the memory capacity of an ordinary human mind is remarkable!
It is estimated that in a lifetime, a brain can store one million "bits"
of information. It's up to you, dear lady, to decide what the contents
of those bits will be... Remember HIS love more than wine, won't you?
It will be the best thing you'll ever do for your marriage!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
