“I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love,“ Hos 11:4
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It can be a delicate dance to live in intimate relationship, whether we are talking physically or spiritually. There are signals we receive in the process – ones that invite, though not always immediately reward. Hopefully with maturity comes a faster response to life-giving signals, and a rejection of the things that lead to dryness. It really does become important to ‘be ready,’ particularly when you want to be impregnated with His life.
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Jay Ferris once wrote,
“Where love and intimacy is concerned, God is the great initiator. It is enough that we as a bride be open to His advances. About all that we are really good at is throwing up barriers to intimacy. Of course we do this with the Devil’s help and at his urging. With deception and accusation as his primary weapons, he is able to keep us far off by confusion and guilt. In no other area of human experience is he more successful than in the area of our sexuality. The culture seems to be rapidly approaching terminal confusion in this area, and our sexuality remains a source of great embarrassment to what’s been calling itself “church.”
And again,
“Tozer encourages us to ‘press on into God, and spend our whole lives there.’ I took a little different position on the subject, sharing that my experience had been rather that, it is the heart of God to press on into me, and I get there much more often by response than initiation.”
.Personally I find this to be a tremendous encouragement to know that God wants to be in me, and in a very real ‘male’ sense is driven far more toward this depth of intimacy than I am. It is His comfort zone to be one with His Woman (the ekklesia), and any division from her, or among her, is a frustration that is pictured in Eve being removed from Adam, Romans 8:20. This is an encouragement to the female part of my spirit that needs Him for completion. I believe He loves me. He came in His Son and proved it when I was at my very worst.
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But sometimes, and I don’t know all the reasons why, it can feel like He is distant and preoccupied. How much is this my own projection onto Him? Busy with all sorts of things that don’t generate the life of Christ, over time we can become unresponsive and disinterested in His signals and wake up in a place of dryness. He is there with us, however, even in the periodic reminders of lifelessness. Sometimes it’s painful, and always not pretty. Spiritual menstruation is as much a male issue as it is a female one.
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At times like this, when we so desperately need Him, a humble recognition of the source of Life and Love can open the floodgates. “No one can come to Me unless my Father draw Him,” John 6:44, is not a push away, but an invitation to acknowledge that He is the sovereign initiator and giver of all good things. The “Draw me!” expression in Song 1:4 is a deep guttural cry that includes the meaning of pulling up and out. The first use of the same word in the Bible is Joseph being lifted out of the pit he found himself in, Gen 37:28.
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This is a prayer that The Lord hears from heaven and comes running to!
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“He that cometh to God must believe that He is. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” ~ Hebrews 11:6
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Listening for His signals,
Pam