BECOMING LOVERS of GOD Part 6

BECOMING LOVERS OF GOD…Part 6 “Deep Calls Unto Deep”

 Intimacy with God should be what we are “going for”…our ultimate destination…but that doesn’t mean only knowing Him for what He has done, but for WHO is TRULY IS!

 Last time we met, I was at the point where I had told God to “do whatever He needed to do in my heart so that I could wholeheartedly love Him”….and of course, he responded with a big “OK”….which had me in freak-out mode for a bit!

 Believe it or not…the REAL REVELATION TO ME was…as much as I said that I wanted to reveal the deepest things in my heart to God… HE for sure, totally REALLY wants to reveal what’s in HIS HEART to ME!!!!

 Look at His heart-cry toward us ….

 Song of Solomon 4:9 “You have RAVISHED my heart, my sister, my spouse…”

 HIS heart is RAVISHED toward US!!!!!....This is how HE feels when He thinks about us!

 Definition of RAVISHED: “to be overwhelmed with deep, pleasurable feelings or emotions”  DO YOU GET THAT???!!!!...The God of the UNIVERSE has very, very strong feelings toward us….He is overcome with deep delight when He thinks about us!

 Psalm 139:17-18 “How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand…”

 OK…that’s ,just WOW…..His thoughts toward us outnumbers the grains of sand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 PASS OUT LITTLE CONTAINERS OF SAND FOR EVERYONE…..every single grain of sand in here represents one thought of God toward you…one happy thought…..and this is just a tiny bit of sand…think of alllllllllllllll the sand on the entire earth!.....One handful of sand contains about 10,000 grains…..WOW!

 We have to understand that the God who loves us…loves us BIG TIME!

 THINK ABOUT IT: Could you or would you be willing to sacrifice your child for other people…people who may or may not even LIKE you!!!!???? Not in a million years would I do that!.....but God did…..what could have ever compelled Him to sacrifice His only Son for US????.....what force was that strong that He would watch His Son suffer and die and have all the sin of the world laid upon Him??????....He tells us what force compelled Him to do that in John 3:16  John 3:16 “For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”

 THAT is some INTENSE LOVE!!!!

 It seems almost to incredible to be true…but IT IS!!! It’s this love that draws us in to Him….it calls to us…..like the Scripture says…

 Psalm 42:7 “Deep calls to deep…”

 As our love for Him begins to awaken…as we become more AWARE of how incredible He really is…as we are captured by this intense love that He has for us….we becomes like the lovers in Song of Solomon…

 Song of Solomon 6:5 “Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me.”

 Have you ever been THAT OVERWHELMED by love!!!!?

 As we begin to understand just how God feels about us….it causes us to hunger more and more for Him….as we go deeper in Him….it causes us to LONG for more, which causes us to go deeper…which causes more hunger

 Deep calls to deep…..

 The more knowledge you have of God…the more it pulls you to know more…then you realize just how much you don’t know…it’s like, at first, when you begin to hunger for more, it feels good….then the more you know, the more you realize what you don’t know and it almost causes PAIN because you realize how much more there is to know and how shallow we actually are in our knowledge….could that be why God says…

 Matthew 5:4 “BLESSED ( divine favor is invoked upon)are those that MOURN (that feel or express deep regret) , for they shall be COMFORTED (helped, assisted, contented)

 THINK ABOUT IT: We receive salvation based on our need…we realized we needed it and we asked for it and God gave it to us…..then, sometimes for several years, we are content…just knowing that we have salvation….but then we attend a Bible Study, or we hear a teaching, or we are reading the Bible and God somehow starts to reveal to us that there is so much more….and then our hearts actually start to ACHE for what we don’t have, for what we don’t know….then we become spiritually HUNGRY…..that’s when the DEEP CALLS TO THE DEEP…..

 And we resolve in our hearts to press on to know the deep things of God…and according to Corinthians…He is faithful to REVEAL HIMSELF to us through the Holy Spirit!

 1 Corinthians 2:10 “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

 THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY: You can’t hang out in the SHALLOW end of the pool and expect to experience what it’s like for those hanging out in the DEEP END…the DEEP END calls you…..it woo’s you….shallow Christianity will never get you to the deep things of God…

 SIDENOTE HERE: sounds like it may be kinda scary to go deeper?????...you gotta spend time and energy, you gotta reveal things in your heart that you may not actually want to…..BUT…Look at DADDY God’s promise…

 Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of SONSHIP. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

 He is our DADDY GOD and He promises to never leave us or forsake us…..so get rid of the FEAR FACTOR and go with the FLOW! WOO! WOO!

 Sometimes it’s just taking that FIRST STEP FORWARD…

 When God calls me to try new things… to stretch past my comfort zone... to step out into the unknown…it would be easy for me to hang on tight to Him out of fear…But God doesn’t want me to grab onto Him because I’m afraid…. He wants me to trust Him enough to let go of fear and embrace all the adventures He has for me. He wants me to learn to live in joy and freedom, to learn how to GO DEEP with Him.

 Been there, done that…..like when He told me that I saw gonna start teaching “big people” Bible Study….I was completely freaked out…and even cancelled the first class at least 5 times!...... now, I am totally comfortable and He says…get ready to go deeper…O MY GOODNESS!

 ______

 There is a persistent call of God that is tugging on our spirit inviting us to come closer to the Lord, to come deeper into the things of the Spirit

 That hunger and spiritual craving of our heart…kinda is just like physical hunger…you can only ignore it for so long…..we can only satisfy that spiritual hunger with an intimate encounter with the presence of God

 So…I looked up the definition for HUNGER is…both a strong desire or need for nourishment as well as the discomfort, weakness, or pain caused by a prolonged lack of food. Man experiences hunger in every level of his life: physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, sexually, financially, and SPIRITUALLY.

 MORE HUNGER FACTS: Physically, the pangs of hunger originate when the blood-sugar or glycogen levels drop in our body. Glycogen is produced by the liver and gives us the necessary glucose and carbohydrates that our body needs to generate physical strength. Physical hunger is often accompanied with various sensations such as weakness, dizziness, anxiety, a loss of concentration or mental focus, and grumpiness.  SPIRITUAL hunger works the same way….if we don’t feed our spirit the nourishment that it requires, we feel similar sensations of weakness, uncertainty, double-mindedness, and a lack of purpose of energy about life…AND EVEN GRUMPINESS!!!!

 Spiritual hunger is just as real as physical hunger…BUT it can ONLY be satisfied by an INTIMATE ENCOUNTER with the presence of God!!!

 Psalm 42:7 “DEEP calls unto DEEP at the noise of thy waterspouts…”

 The word DEEP here is translated from the Hebrew “tehowm”… which refers to “a deep place, an abyss, an immeasurable deep chasm, depth, or void, as well as a surging mass or water that rises from some deep subterranean place

 There are depths to God’s nature and God’s love that the Holy Spirit is inviting us to explore….there are hidden chasms in the depths of our spirit that can only be filled with God…

 Psalm 42:7 is showing us that the heart of God is reaching out to touch the deepest parts of our spirit being….

 In Hebrew lexicon it is also translated “wave calleth unto wave” meaning “wave follows wave without intermission”……………….wow……think of that….

 There must be a place in God where WAVE after WAVE of God’s supernatural power and influence can come over us again and again until we are so completely saturated…completely overwhelmed with joy unspeakable and totally full of His glory…

 Psalm 42:2 “My inner self THRISTS for God, for the living God. When shall come and behold the face (the presence) of God?”

 We were created to walk THIS INTIMATELY with God! To walk any other way leaves us defeated, unsettled, unsatisfied and even despondent about our lives

 God is continually CALLING us…urging us to open up every chamber of our heart to Him…

 Deep CALLS to deep…

 “Call” is translated from the Hebrew verb “qara” which means “to call unto , to summon, to invite”. If you look in Strong’s Concordance…the word “qara” also conveys the idea of “someone accosting you by boldly and aggressively calling you to come closer and meet with him”………….WOW

 While God never forces His Will upon anyone…..can’t you just see, how through that definition, of HOW MUCH GOD WANTS US TO DRAW CLOSE TO HIM!!!!!!!

 Let’s go back to Psalm 42:7 again….”Deep calls to deep, AT THE NOISE OF YOUR WATERSPOUTS”…  At the WATERSPOUT is where this encounter with God is supposed to take place…

 What is a waterspout????....a waterspout is a “spiraling motion of wind, called a vortex, that rotates over a body of water such as a lake or river, drawing up vast quantities of liquid to the top of its funnel which it then rains down in mighty torrents upon the earth”

 The Hebrew word for waterspout is “tsinnuwar” which literally means “a hollow conduit, a gutter or watercourse.”….in other words, the rotating action of the wind created a hollow vacuum at the center of the waterspout that sucks in everything in its path and draws it closer…

 Remember that song we talked about before…”There’s a God-shaped hole in all of us, and the restless soul is yearning…”

 That’s what this verse is saying!!!!.....there is a place inside of all of us that yearns and longs to be filled……………..we try to fill it with all kinds of stuff…busyness…endless projects…etc…….but those things never satisfy……BECAUSE OUR SPIRITUAL HUNGER CANNOT BE SATISFIED WITH EARTHLY THINGS!!!!

 This is why we MUST have intimacy with God…..

 Intimacy includes a REVEALING…and UNCOVERING of all we are to God…nothing hidden…nothing kept back…..exposing our heart to Him…  God is looking for those who will worship Him like that…who will answer the call of the deep…

 John 4:23-24 Jesus said, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in TRUTH; for the Father SEEKS such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Hi in spirit and in TRUTH.”

 The Greek word for TRUTH is “aletheia” and it means “truth, in the sense of nothing hidden and nothing concealed…to have no secrets, to have nothing hidden from view”

 We have become experts at hiding behind lies and we are super good at putting on a “mask” and pretending we are one thing, when in all reality, we are another….We actually believe that it is easier to believe a lie than to face the reality of our TRUE FEELINGS and our TRUE nature….think about it…

 Isaiah 28:15 “…for we have made LIES our REFUGE, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”………………..WE HAVE HIDDEN BEHIND A LIE….

 Why do we think we can hide from God and why would we want to????? Why are we running away from the presence of God instead of running to Him?...... could it be because we carry around a lot of guilt and shame about our past…and we feel that it is easier to hide behind a lie than face the reality that is causing our shame and guilt…  BUT WE HAVE GOT TO REALIZE that…GOD IS NOT INTERESTED IN A SUPERFICIAL/SHALLOW/SURFACE RELATIONSHIP……………….He is calling to the DEEP things…the DEEP places in our wounded hearts….He wants all of us!!!

 But we FEAR exposure…..so we try to keep our relationship with God on a shallow level……………………..so deep calls to deep………………..God tries to bypass our mind and He calls to our heart………………will we listen? Will we let Him in?

 There are certain things in your heart…the deep secrets….that can never be understood or overcome by pretending that they don’t exist……

 The only way you can get past the guilt and shame of the past is to OPEN YOUR HEART to God and allow Him to heal you and set you free…………

 But we don’t want the TRUTH…cause we KNOW we are going to have to let go of some things…EX: bitterness, offenses, anger….sometimes these things have become sooooooooo much a part of “who we are” that we are too afraid to let them go…we don’t know “Who we will be” if we let these things go…but our Daddy God won’t leave us “desolate”…what He reveals, He heals…(that’s acutally a promise in Hosea)

 Some of us aren’t willing to pay this price….we don’t want the TRUTH…so we settle for a less demanding level when it comes to our relationship with God….SHALLOWNESS….YUCK….sounds kinda Laodeocian, doesn’t it????....remember God said, I would rather you be hot or cold then lukewarm,….shallowness=lukewarmenss=YUCK

 When you finally submit and let the deep of God call to the deep of your heart…God will cause you to know the TRUTH about your personality and the TRUTH about your life…

 Why do you behave the way that you do???... Why do you react to certain situations in a way that seems so out of character with the rest of your personality???...What is REALLY holding you back from doing all that your heart desires????...... all this and more will be revealed and HEALED is you open your heart to God and let him deal with the DEEPEST parts…

 The DEPTHS of God’s heart is crying out to the DEPTHS of your heart….

 THINK ABOUT THIS: “You are as close to God as YOU want to be”- Oswald Chambers

 ______

 Why do we work so hard on things that will never satisfy our soul??????

 Isaiah asks that same question too…  Isaiah 55:1-2 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”

 GOD knows what will satisfy us…He constantly calls us closer…why do we turn the other way??? Why do we do retarded things that will never satisfy???

 Psalm 42:1-2 “As the deer pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?”

 The whole Psalm 42 was written by someone who had walked away from the presence of God…he used to be completely sold out for God….but he allowed the cares of life to weigh him down until he no longer cultivated the presence of God in his life…..he realizes the incredibly deep hunger and thirst for God’s presence that exists within him….listen to how he talks to his soul…

 Psalm 42:5 “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

 The reason many people walk around DOWNCAST in their soul is because they have either walked away from the presence of God…or they have never learned to open their hearts to Him and allow Him to come into the deep parts  The word “cast down” comes from the Hebrew word “shachach” which means “to be depressed, bowed over, reduced, weakened, and despairing.”

 Sounds kinda like the pains of hunger, doesn’t it

 A soul that is cut off from God is depressed, weak, upset, confused, and lost…nothing will satisfy it….no accomplishment or success in life will make that soul feel complete

 Do you feel sad and depressed, even though everything around you is bright and cherry???...Do you constantly feel negative thoughts going around in your soul???....there is a solution to that!

 You feel agitated and depressed because your heart HUNGERS to be satisfied with the glory of God!!!! NOTHING ELSE WILL SATISFY!!!

 Psalm 42 is about that….it’s about forgetting God and getting weighed down my life’s cares and worries…………….but deep continued to call to deep………….GOD IS RELENTLESS IN HIS PRUSUIT OF US…………….

 Psalm 107:9 says that God, “…satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with gladness.”

 SATISFY is from the Hebrew word “saba” which means “to be completely satisfied or satiated, filled to the full.”  LONGING comes from the Hebrew word “shaqau” which literally means “running to and fro because one is thirsty and eager to satisfy his appetite.…it is used to describe a bear that angrily roams the woods seeking to satisfy his hunger, and locusts that move from field to field with an unsatiatable appetite.”

 IS YOUR SOUL HUNGRY? …a hungry soul can only be satisfied by an intimate and personal relationship with the presence of God

 ------

 Let’s check out one of our favorite examples…to see how different people approach intimacy with God… you will see that there are different degrees to intimacy

 Let’s go back to MOSES ON THE MOUNTAIN:

 Several times, God called Moses to come up on Mt Sinai to have fellowship with Him….twice, this time of fellowship lasted for 40 days!

 THE BIGGEST GROUP (MILLIONS): Check out what was going on with the children of Israel….Exodus 19:11-12 tells us they could APPROACH the mountain but they couldn’t ASCEND it…Exodus 24:2 says “Moses, alone, however shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”…..WHY couldn’t they go up?...because they really didn’t desire a closer relationship with God…they saw the glory of God in Exodus 24:17 as “ a consuming fire on the mountain.”

 That is just like a bunch of people that attend church….they can “sense” God in the place, but they never approach the altar, o they have issues they want US to deal with, just like the Israelites wanted God to deal with all their problems….but they have no plans to really change their lifestyles or anything like that when it comes to God….just like the children of Israel at this point

 A SMALLER GROUP OF 74 PEOPLE: Exodus 24:9-11 “Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel, and they SAW THE GOD OF ISRAEL…they BEHELD GOD, and they ate and drank.”

 These people had a much more intimate vision of God than the other people….the Word says they even saw “under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.”……………they surely felt a very real sense of God’s presence………..but even this, it had NO PERMANENT transformation…….CRAZINESS, but true….cause just a short time later, we find these guys back down the mountain, worshipping the golden calf!!!!.....they had a vision of God….but they WEREN’T QUALIFIED to ascend to the top of the mountain into deeper fellowship with God…WHY???...because the DESIRE wasn’t there….

 Just like some people at church….they actually approach the altar, they may even have someone pray for them, and God moves mightily in their life….deliverance, healing…….they witness God doing amazing things….but then…by the next Sunday they are nowhere to be found…..back out doing what they want to do….not quite willing to pay the price to go deeper with God…it would interfere with their schedules, their lifestyles….it would require actually giving up some lesser pleasures for the more superior ones…but they are just not willing to do what it takes

 2 OUT OF MILLIONS: as the mountain grew steeper…the numbers of people dwindled…and fast!...of all of Israel, ONLY TWO QUALIFIED for going on to the next step of intimacy!!!!! Why was Joshua qualified?....Exodus 33:10-12 “When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship…the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”…….the tent was a place where the Shekinah glory of God rested…and Joshua would not leave from there…he wanted to be where God was

 Joshua had errands to run and things he had to do…but when he was finished with his duties, with his work…his desire was to be in the house of God…where God’s presence was…you know that he surely had friends that pulled on him to hang out with them instead…but he didn’t…HOW MANY OF US are that committed to God?????....when our duties are done…we long for and crave to be in His presence??????...not only do we long for it…BUT WE ACTUALLY SEEK THAT PLACE OUT AND GO THERE!!!!...He apparently didn’t let people or frivolous things keep him from seeking the deep things of God…

 THE ONE: Exodus 24:15-17 “Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of the Lord rested on Mt. Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day, He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.”……………..the people saw God as a consuming fire….but Moses saw in the cloud, the Glory of God, and he worshipped instead of shrinking back

 Check out Moses’ intimacy with God…..Exodus 33:11 “The Lord used to speak to Moses FACE TO FACE just as a man speaks to his friend.”….Numbers 12:8 “With him will I speak MOUTH TO MOUTH.”………………..WHAT COULD BE MORE INTIMATE THAN THAT!!!!!!???

 Another thing we notice about Moses is that he opened his heart to God….he told God…Exodus 13:13 “Let me know Your ways.”

 Another thing that apparently happens to us as we become more intimate with God…is we begin to feel about other people like God does….it is not about “US” anymore…we have God’s heart of love… We can see that this is how Moses felt about the nation of Israel because of his response to God when God’s anger was so hot against Israel for worshipping the Golden Calf….but Moses responded in Exodus 32:32 “But now, if You will, forgive their sin, and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written.” …………………..the more he fellowshipped with God, the more UNselfish he was…………..to the point that he was willing to sacrifice his privileged position in the favor of the children of Israel

 Moses also had a huge revelation of God’s glory….. talking and fellowshipping with God gave Moses an intense desire to know Him better…that’s why he said in Exodus 33:18 “I pray, show my Your glory!” and God responded and said “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you…The Lord, The Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”…….Moses was only able to see some of God’s “afterglow”….and some of that GLOW rubbed off on him!......

 Are we GLOWING with God’s radiance??????....Where are we when it comes to these groups…..are we with the crowd, or with the 74, or with the 2, or with the 1?????

 It seems like getting in to that inner circle of deepening intimacy with God comes with DEEP DESIRE…..only those who count such INTIMACY as a prize worth “sacrificing anything and everything else for” are likely to go there…..if other things, other intimacies are more desirable to us…we will not go in to that inner circle of the deep things of God…

To begin the process of getting this intimate with God… there are some things we need…

 1. TEACHABLE SPIRIT: Ask God to help you to be willing to allow Him to have access to ALL areas of your heart…you have GOT TO have a teachable spirit…a “know-it-all” attitude will eventually quench the Holy Spirit and then eventually your spiritual hunger will just go away…Isaiah 66:2 says “…To this one I will look, to him who is HUMBLE and CONTRITE (sorrow for sins or offenses) of spirit, and who trembles at My Word.”…we have to be TEACHABLE so God can bring us any TRUTH we are lacking!....we have to realize that if we are going to have a passion for Jesus, that it doesn’t come naturally to us..we HAVE TO HAVE the Holy Spirit’s supernatural assistance!

 2. OBEDIENCE: Ask God to help you learn how to be obedient to Him in all the areas of your life so you can grow in greater intimacy… because ultimately, if you deliberately disobey the Word of God, that will quench the Holy Spirit in your life and it’s the Holy Spirit that reveals Jesus to you….you can’t expect Him to make Jesus known to your heart in a DEEPER way if you have driven the Holy Spirit away by your disobedience!....I’m talking about WILLFULLY being in a wrong relationship or having wrong attitudes that you know goes against God’s Word…or bitterness you won’t let go of because someone offended you and you want to get even, so you keep slandering them……OBEDIENCE is not an option if you are wanting to go DEEPER with God!

 Don’t get discouraged, frustrated, or freaked out when people get all “weird” on you and they “misunderstand” your need to become more intimately involved with God….because they will….it will disturb and provoke people who are still living for many things…they will ask “Why waste your time on that? Why this extreme devotion?”…they actually feel like you blame them because their lifestyle is not focused on Him like yours is…they might even call you a FANATIC!...BUT, after all, isn’t the first commandment to “love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul and mind”!!!?

 3. MEDITATION ON HIS WORD: Ask God to help you focus more on JESUS and less on your own problems….ask Him to help you see more of what’s real in the spirit realm….you will need time to be quiet and meditate on His Word for this! But when you do spend this kind of time with Him…you won’t ask “What is the minimum amount of time that is required of Me? Or “What can I get by with?”…instead you will ask “What is the very MOST I can give!? I want to give it ALL!”…when you discover the pleasure of living in DEEP INTIMACY with Him, you are ruined for everything else!....

 It’s difficult to grow in intimacy if you don’t spend time meditating on His Word….Proverbs 2:1 says we are to “treasure His commandments within us.”…set aside time each day where you can meditate on the Scriptures so you can grow in intimacy with Him

 4. REVELATION: Pray to receive more revelation and more wisdom into the personality of God….and don’t stop crying out for it until you get it!...Proverbs 2:3 “Cry out for discernment, and life up your voice for understanding.”…..pray according to Ephesians 1:17-19 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of WISDOM and of REVELATION in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of OUR HEARTS enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which He has called us, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might”………..

 5. AN ABANDONED HEART: God is looking for people who are willing to go beyond the MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS…think about it… when we are working on our college degrees, we do whatever it takes to pass tests…we stay up all night studying and all that stuff and our culture considers that NORMAL….are you willing to pursue your God that way????...... pray for Him to give you passion and zeal and hunger for more of Him…pray and ask Him to reveal what He sees and feels to you  EX: I have sure heard of people forsaking CHURCH to go to football games…but never really heard too much about people forsaking FOOTBALL games to go to church….think about it…

 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— BUT DON’T STOP THERE……..keep reading…..”BUT GOD HAS REVEALED THEM TO US THROUGH HIS SPIRIT….For the Spirit searches all things, Yes, the deep things of God…”

 It’s not a “fix” for a moment….if we want real intimacy with Him, we have got to obey His Word, meditate on His Scriptures, have a teachable spirit, pray for revelation from God, and have an abandoned heart…committed to searching for the DEEP THINGS

 ______

 God is looking for a MARRIAGE relationship with us…

 Isaiah 62:5 “As the BRIDEGROOM rejoices over the BRIDE, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

 God longs to be PERSONALLY known by US…just like a groom longs to know his bride…

 A TRUE marriage is a union of one spirit with another…it is deeply intimate….that is the type of relationship God wants with us….He wants for us to TRULY KNOW HIM!  He doesn’t just want to shake our hands after the marriage ceremony…..He wants a “song of Solomon” relationship with His people!!...PASSIONATE and EXTRAVAGANT!

 SMALL STRAWS: The battle of the ages is raging to transform you into the image of Christ while Satan also tries to make you into his image. I have given you free will, the ability to choose, says the Lord. The enemy has increased his pressure through your circumstances, difficulties, and persecutions to choose to respond to life with evil instead of good. But, I have given you My Word to influence and guide your choices. Be wise! Revelation 22:12 "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

 Why is He calling us at this time to go DEEP???? Why do we need to DIVE IN to His waters…to His intimacy????...Is it because HE IS COMING SOON!!!!!!!????.....Let’s look at some prophetic verses from Ezekiel 47…

 Ezekiel 47:1 “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from UNDER the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from UNDER the right side of the temple, south of the altar.”

 Notice that the waters flow UNDER the threshold, not over it… symbolizing humbleness…which is how we are supposed to be…, the temple faces east because that is the direction from which He said He will appear at His Second coming….the waters are flowing from the RIGHT side of the temple…that is where we are, at the right hand of God….the right hand is the position of power and blessing…  soooooooooooooo, we are all in UNITY, in the position of POWER and BLESSING…WHY? What’s the importance of that???...because WE are the main part of this flow of LIFE to a thirsty world…!!!!!!!

 If WE are not in DEEP with God…..how will we ever have anything to give to the ones without Him??

 John 4:14 Jesus said, "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’

 Each new deep calls out for a greater deep within us…. The deep in you calls out to welcome and stir up the deep in me,… as the deep in me calls to the deep in you and others..check out what happens in Ezekiel as the DEEP keeps getting DEEPER….WOOWOO!

 Ezekiel 47:3-5 “As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.”

 Jesus wants us to be brave and step out into His rushing river of the DEEPER revelation of His love to the point that WE can no longer control our destiny….. being swept off our feet by His great loving, "waters to swim in."…they never run dry!!!!!!

 God doesn’t want us to “just settle”…not ankle deep, not knee deep, not even waist deep….BUT OVERFLOWING…not even “TOUCHING THE BOTTOM” DEEP….. but deeper still than that!

 WHY?...... check out the reason…

 Ezekiel 47:9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves, whether the rivers go, will live. There will be a VERY GREAT MULTITUDE of FISH, because these waters go there; for they will be HEALED, and everything will LIVE wherever the river goes.

 DO YOU SEE THIS!!!!????? The FISH that will be healed and live is the HARVEST OF SOULS that comes in because of the LIVING WATER that flows from the DEEP PLACES in US….. the Bride of Christ!!!!

 Isaiah 60:1-5 “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy”  DO YOU SEE that we don’t go DEEPER just for OUR SAKES…but for the sake of the HARVEST…..as we are refreshed, we in turn pour it out on others…

 Ezekiel 47:7-8 “When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. Then he said to me: "This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are HEALED."

 Ezekiel 47:12 “Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water FLOWS from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for good, and their LEAVES for MEDICINE. “

 Same kind of thing is found in Revelation…

 Revelation 22:2 “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The LEAVES of the tree were for the HEALING of the nations.”

 GUESS WHO THE LEAVES ARE???!!!!...that would be US!...the leaves are our hands….as we reach out and touch others in His love and His healing power…all because we went DEEP IN HIM!!!  How do we know this???....because of John 15:12 which says “This is My commandment, that you LOVE ONE ANOTHER as I have loved you.”

 Then He says in Revelation 22:14 “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the TREE OF LIFE, and may enter through the gates into the city.”

 Ok…back to Ezekiel…

 Ezekiel 47:10 “It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spearing their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds of the fish of the great sea, EXCEEDINGLY MANY.

 Now is when it gets super cool…this is when the great harvest comes in….do you see how the FISHERMEN (remember that Jesus told us we are to be “fishers of men”)are standing BY the flowing river…they are not trying to control it or make the flow do what THEY want it to do…but instead they are acting in UNITY with Christ in the harvest instead of trying to make it into something “THEY” have done

 Sad news…..in Ezekiel 47:11 “But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.”

 Swamps and marshes are always close to flowing water…but there is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between being IN the flowing water and being close to the flowing water…..so huge, that it is a LIFE and DEATH difference…tradition and religion won’t get you there…being “earthly-minded” or “lazy” or self- righteousness will keep you from getting in the river….it’s not enough for you to ATTEND a church that is in the flow…YOU, PERSONALLY have to be IN the flow!!!!

 Those in swamps and marshes will be given over to SALT…that means BARRENENSS…YUCKville….like in Deuteronomy 29:23 “The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it….”

 DON’T HANG OUT IN THE SWAMPS AND MARSHES…..JUMP INTO THE RIVER!!!! WOO! WOO!

 HIS DEEP is calling to YOUR DEEP…..JUMP IN!!!!!

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns -- Sept. 8, 2010:

Take time to establish yourself in the truth of My Word, and do not allow the lies of the enemy to obscure My character, nature and will for you. I am for you and not against you, and I will bring you forth in strength if you will trust Me, says the Lord. Defeat comes to you by way of fear and unbelief. Your victory will come through faith and trust. You will either choose defeat or victory depending on what you believe.

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith.