Bubbling Brook part 2
Releasing what's inside by receiving it until you have filled yourself to overflowing with what God has already filled you with. That's pretty much all I seem to preach these days. Because that's what matters to me. That's how you love--by knowing and believing that you ARE loved. That's how you give--by knowing what you've got, and understanding that what you've got is what others need. It's a bubbling brook that comes from deep inside. Your innermost being. Your heart. But for today let me show you another picture of what I'm talking about. It's found in the Song of Solomon. "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon" (SOS 4:12-15). That's us. The spouse. The Lamb's wife. The church. And we already have everything we need. The problem is that the well of living waters is ALSO a fountain sealed. We have it all, but we don't necessarily know what we have. And we aren't experiencing it because we are robbing ourselves of the gift we've been given by trying to earn something that can't be earned. We're running around like chickens with our heads cut off looking for love in all the wrong places. Because we don't realize that we are connected to the source of love. We don't realize that we are Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. We don't realize that WE are the source of love. It's not external. It's internal. It doesn't come from the outside-in. It comes from the inside-out. Which is where the last verse of Song of Solomon chapter 4 comes in: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." See, we already have everything we need. Everything we've been searching for, and trying to earn--or get in any way that we can. What was necessary was for the wind to blow. The wind being the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. So that we might know and believe. So that we might understand what we know. So that what's already inside can get stirred up and can flow out! Or bubble out. It's the unveiling of the secret garden. It's the mystery revealed--Christ IN you, coming OUT of you! It's filling yourself with God's love so that you can love Him back by loving others. That's how the gardener enjoys the fruit of His labor. He enjoys it when WE enjoy it. Because He finished the work both for us and as us! He lives in us. And we live in Him. So my thought for today is this: Just let God love you. Stop trying to earn it--or worse yet, stop giving up on love because you think you can't earn it, or don't deserve it. You CAN'T earn it. It's a gift. And deserve's got nothing to do it. God doesn't love you because of what you've done, or what you're doing, or what you're going to do. He loves you because of who you are. And because of who He is. A Father loving His Son. A Son living a life of love because He knows His Father loves Him. That's what I honestly, truly think it's all about.