Mike Bickle emphasizes the bride's identity in Christ, illustrating how she sees herself as the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley, reflecting her spiritual relationship with Jesus. He explains that the true value of believers lies in their relationship with God, where they are loved and called to love Him back. Bickle encourages the congregation to understand their primary identity as being cherished by God, which leads to a life of success defined by love rather than worldly achievements. He also discusses the importance of recognizing the different seasons in one's spiritual journey and the need to remain steadfast in seeking more of God's presence and love.

Let's turn to page 127. This is our teaching number 4. We're looking at the session notes number 12. We're looking at the bride's identity and the love of God. Father, we ask you for the impartation of the Holy Spirit. We ask you for living understanding even now. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, in the last teaching, we left off in chapter 1, verse 16 and 17, where she was describing how she saw the Lord and their relationship together. The maiden is continuing to talk here in chapter 2, verse 1 to 7. But she's telling how she sees herself, what her spiritual identity is, and what her testimony of experience is. And then she gives her own prayer. She gives us record of her prayer to the Lord. So in verse 1 and 2, we see her identity. Verse 3 and 4, her experience. Verse 5, her prayer. And verse 6, her perspective of how the Lord relates to her. And in verse 7, what the Lord says about her. We'll look at that just verse by verse. Paragraph A, the Father promised to give Jesus an eternal companion. That is the inheritance the Father promised the Son. Yes, all the nations are given to Jesus as His inheritance. But what He really wants is the people in the nations, not just the real estate. He doesn't want to just own the land. He wants to own the people and to fully possess them. So the Lord's inheritance to Jesus is an eternal companion that would be equally yoked to Him in life. She will love Him with all of her heart in the way He loves her with all of His heart. This is the great prize of all the ages that Jesus is waiting for. To possess the nations of the earth. To fully possess the people in the nations of the earth. The human heart is God's most precious possession. The only thing Jesus would die for is the human heart. He didn't come and die just to inherit real estate. That all the lands of the earth would be His. Yes, His death did purchase those for Him. But what He came for was to possess the human heart. Paragraph B. The maiden or the bride is pictured as a beautiful rose that fully loves Jesus. And she's pictured as a pure lily that longs to obey Him. She longs to love Him and she longs to obey Him. In verse 1, she gives her confession, her identity. I am the rose of Sharon. I am the lily of the valley. Now some commentators will say that the Lord is speaking here. But I believe with a careful reading of this passage, it's clearly the bride who's talking. She is saying, I am the great rose that the Father has cultivated to give to His Son. Paragraph C. She presents herself before Him with this two-fold confession. She feels desired by the Lord. I am the rose He desired. She feels clean before the Lord. I am the pure lily that stands before Him. This confession, or this revelation, follows chapter 1, verse 12 to 17. Page 128. Paragraph E. She is the rose that captures His heart. She is the only prize that He longs for. The Father knows His Son so well. And He knows the inheritance that the Son longs for. And here, the maiden sees herself. I am the inheritance He longs for. This is an indescribable privilege that this is who God has made you. Paragraph F. Paul the apostle prayed along these lines. He said, Father of glory, give to us a spirit of revelation so we would see the riches of the glory of being Jesus' inheritance. Beloved, do you understand the riches of the glory of who you are to Jesus? Do you really know who you are? You're not just a believer struggling and stumbling, and that's it. Yes, we are struggling. Yes, we do stumble. Yes, we're pressing through obstacles. The enemy is resisting us. And we don't see so clearly in our thinking. But I have good news. The riches of the glory of being His inheritance, that's who you are. Ephesians 1, 17 and 18. This is the prayer that's prayed most often at IHOP. Of all the prayers of the Bible, this is the one we use the most. That we would understand the inheritance of who we are to Jesus. The Father is cultivating a rose that He's going to hand to His son as His inheritance. And the maiden says, I am that rose. I know who I am. And when we know who we are, it changes the way we see ourselves. We live so differently with the identity that I am the rose of Sharon. But not only does she see herself as a rose, she sees herself as a pure lily. A lily in a dark valley. The valley of this fallen world. Page 129. Paragraph J. Our primary identity is who we are in our relationship with God. What do I mean by our primary identity? The real reason we have value and the real reason we are successful is because of who we are in our relationship with God. In our intimacy with God. We are loved by God. And we love Him back. Our love is weak, but our love is real. And our love moves Him. What a remarkable reality. You are loved by God. The uncreated God of Genesis 1. He wants you. You are the prize He wants. With all the power that He has, He wants you to be His companion forever. That's the prize He wants. You are loved by Him. But that's not all. The Spirit has so worked in your heart that you actually love Him back. It's not enough that He loves us because God so loves the world. We have to respond in order for the purpose of our life to be fulfilled. God loves many people and they say no. But beloved, you said yes. And you love Him back. Of the 6 or 7 billion people of the earth, the vast majority say no to the Lord God. But you said yes. Yes, our love is weak. But it's real. And it moves Him. And just by the grace of God, you said yes. Yes! Thank you, Lord. He loves me. I love Him. Therefore, I'm successful. If you don't achieve anything noteworthy in the eyes of men, maybe you will never do anything that another person notices in any impressive way. You are already successful. He loves me. I love Him. Therefore, I'm successful. This is our primary identity. Now we have a secondary identity. It's what we do and how people see us. But beloved, that's our secondary identity. Our primary identity is how He sees us. And so when my life hits a rough time and a challenge, I'll just draw back. And I'll say, You love me. I love you. Therefore, I'm already successful. I'm not working hard in my ministry so I can be successful. I'm working hard in my ministry because I'm already successful. If we work from success instead of working to gain success, we have a whole different approach to life. When I approach my ministry, in the most important way, I'm already successful. If my ministry falls apart in the biggest sense, I'm already successful. Now I want to be successful in the secondary way, but that is secondary. If I hop gets real big or I hop gets real little, that doesn't affect my primary success. Like I tell people all the time, I hop is not my dream. I've had friends through the years say, Oh, your dream is finally coming true. I said, My dream isn't I hop. I hop is my assignment. My dream is my relationship with God, who I am in Him. The dream of my heart is to growing love with Him. My assignment is I hop. If I hop gets real big, my dream is not affected at all. And if I hop falls apart, my dream is not affected at all. Nobody can touch the dream of my heart. That's between me and God. And I can serve in the ministry in a very different way if I'm already clear I'm successful. I'm not working to be successful. I'm working because I already am. And so I can carry my assignment with far less anxiety and fear and stress. Because it does not define who I am. Paragraph K. The Lord declares, We are the rose. We are the lily. And when we agree with our identity, when we come into that confession of who we are before Him, it breaks shame off of our lives. It breaks the fear of failure off our lives. This confession is the true definition of our primary success. We must agree with God on how we measure our success. Yes, I do want to be successful in the secondary way. I want to excel in my assignment. But again, I don't want to excel in it so that the Lord will find me successful. I excel in it because He already seen me successful. So having this definition of success does not make us lazy or careless. But it actually makes us diligent but with peace and a calm spirit. Because I'm not defined by how well the work of my hands goes. I'm defined by the interaction of my heart with His heart. Page 130. In the middle, Roman numeral 2. Now Jesus speaks. He says, Like a lily among thorns, so is my love or my bride among the daughters. So Jesus makes clear she's the lily. He's not the lily. She is. He says, Among all the peoples of the earth, my bride is like a lily before me. Like a lily among thorns. Having the Bible, interpret the Bible, thorns speak of sin. She says, My bride amongst the fallen sinful world is pure before me. Now first, we're pure because of the gift of righteousness. And second, that purity is being worked in our character throughout our life in this age. And we work hard for that purity to grow. But beloved, for billions and billions of years, you will walk in perfect righteousness. Even with that confidence, that big picture vision that helps me today, it is my destiny to walk as a pure lily before Him. Roman number three. Now she declares her understanding of His unique value. She now responds to Him. She says like an apple tree among all the other trees, so is Jesus to me. Of all the men of the earth, there's only one man that is refreshing. Page 131. Just in a few verses, we're going to find the apple tree speaks of that which is refreshing. And she says, you are the only apple tree among the sons of men. Beloved, there's no other way. In the years I've pastored, I see the young couples fall in love. Finally she found the man that's going to answer the cry of her heart. I go, this man is a very good young man, but he will not satisfy your heart, I promise you. All you have is him, you're going to end up empty on the inside. Oh no, he's so nice, he's so charming, he's so good. He's the refreshing I'm looking for. Oh, I'm sure the Lord will use him to bless you through the years, but I promise you, there's only one apple tree among the sons of men. There's only one that really sustains the heart. So let this young man be a blessing to you, but don't look too much to him. He's a fallen man, there's only one who is the apple tree among the sons of men. Well, the young woman looks at me and goes, well, he doesn't really understand the one I'm marrying. And a few years later, Wow, that was so helpful that you told me that years ago, I didn't believe you. Oh, I still love him, but he doesn't have what it takes to touch the deepest part of my spirit. There's only one, he's fully God and fully man. I mean, the young man says, oh, my wife loves Jesus more than me. I've heard that through the years. My wife loves him more than he loves me. I said, that's your assurance that she will love you all the days of your life. I said, as long as that's true, you got it made. She loves you more than him, things will go bad. And many young men say, this pastor's confused. Years later, they come back. Let's go on to number C. She understands Jesus is the most refreshing. She says, in Psalm 45, you are more beautiful than the sons of men. But when we settle the issue that there's only one that will truly refresh us at the deepest level, it's not the leaders in your church. Well, they're ignoring me, and if they would only pay attention to me, my life would become happier. My husband loved me more than my life would be perfect. If my friends knew what I was really about, they would love me more than my life would be happy. All four people loving you more, that's good. But no matter how much they love you, you will never be satisfied with them. My children, I gave everything to them. If they would only love me, my mother's heart would be satisfied. The maiden understands. She settles it. There's only one among all the people of the earth that can touch the deepest parts of my soul. I will look to him for refreshing, and then I will be able to relate to my children, my husband, my friends, my pastor, in a very different way. Or I look at the leaders in the marketplace that are over me, I look at them differently. Because when my heart is satisfied in him, I relate to them in a very different way. It's a very important decision she makes in her early journey. He is the apple tree that refreshes me. Many people say it, but they don't really walk that out at the heart level. The sooner we know we are the rose and the lily to him, that he is the apple tree to us, it settles issues in our heart, we carry it in a different way. Then we relate to our ministry differently, we relate to our work in the marketplace differently, we relate to our husband and our children differently, which these issues are settled. Very important confession. Roman numeral 4. Now she gives a personal testimony of her experience. Somebody may say, well, what's really happening in your relationship with him? Verse, chapter 2, verse 3. I sat down in his shade with great delight. His fruit was sweet to my taste. So she makes a declaration that I'm sitting in the shade tree of Jesus. He's not just the apple tree that refreshes, he's the apple tree that brings shade. Now notice she says, I have great delight. And more than that, the fruit is sweet, I mean it's pleasant to me. Beloved, there's only one shade tree we can find rest in. We can't earn his love, we can only rest under the shade that he gives us freely. Many believers know that salvation is free. But after they are initially saved, they have a right to God based on how well they're doing. When they're doing well, they have confidence with God. When they're struggling, then they're condemned and shamed and they lose confidence. You can only sit down and rest under one shade tree. It's the finished work of the cross. It's not in how well we're doing. Sometimes I'm really doing good in my spiritual life. Other times I'm not following through in the way I want to. The Lord says, just sit under the shade and at least know that you can find rest in your relationship with him. Because with that confidence then I can follow through far better in the practical issues of my life. She said with great delight we can know the pleasures of connecting with God. Page 132 Paragraph D We can know the superior pleasures of the Word of God touching us. Beloved, there's no greater pleasure available to the human spirit than when God reveals God to us. Paragraph E Remember the question that she's asking. Back in verse 7 of chapter 1. Where will you feed me? Then in chapter 1 verse 12 she's at the table with the king. But now she's giving her testimony. She says it's sweet what he feeds my spirit. He talks to me about his love. He talks to me about how he sees me. It refreshes my heart and it's so sweet. The whole truth is sweet. She's at the king's table enjoying the apples under the shade tree. Things are so perfect in her spirit. Now tomorrow we're going to find out that he's going to disturb her. He's going to call her to the mountains. We'll wait until tomorrow. Let's just enjoy today for now. She's only in chapter 2. She thinks this is the end of the journey. No. He wants more than her being refreshed. He wants to refresh her so she can be a partner an eternal companion with him. He wants her near him working with him heart and heart. He doesn't want a maid serving at a distance. He wants a bride near him enjoying the father's commission together. Paragraph G. He brought me to the banqueting table. She's continuing to explain her experience. This is her testimony. She said he brought me. He led me to the banqueting table. His banner over me is love. Beloved Jesus wants you to He wants to feed you at the banqueting table. But we have to make time to actually let him do that. He won't force us to slow down and take time to eat from his Word. He has so much to give us. The fruit is sweet. It's not boring. It's exhilarating. I already know God loves me. What else does he have to say? The banqueting table is filled with diverse and abundant foods. He has many, many things to tell you that will exhilarate your heart. Turn to page 133. Roman number 5. His banner over me is love. She says, I'm at the table and I love it. But there's more. His banner over my life is love. Now the banner speaks of his wise and loving leadership. In the ancient world, when the army would go to battle, every group or every unit of the army, they would have a banner or they would have a flag over them. And it would identify who they were. She says, the flag over my life is the leadership of Jesus. Everything that he does in his leadership, he does for love. He wants to reveal love to me and he wants to produce love in me. He wants to convince me that he loves me and his leadership will cause me to grow in love back to him and to other people. Paragraph B. This is our confession. His banner, his leadership over me is always about love. There's various ways that this leadership or this flag over our life is manifest. Number one, we have confidence in his mercy. When we sin and repent, the devil comes to condemn us and accuse us. His banner over my life is love. He's already forgiven me. Number two, when negative things happen, we know that he can cause everything to turn out for good. Yes, the negative is real. And sometimes we contribute to the negative. But if we repent, even that will be turned around by his leadership for good in our life. He can overrule everything for good if we will give our heart to him. Number three, just the revelation of his loving heart. I mean his burning heart of desire for me. Millions of years later, we will still be discovering more about his burning heart of love. This is what exhilarates our heart. Sin will only bring pleasure for a moment. But his leadership will bring love to our heart forever. So paragraph C, this is what we confess. Jesus is the apple tree that refreshes me. It's sweet to my taste. So I'm going to sit at the table and I'm going to eat a lot of it. Number two, his banner over my life is love, love, love. Top of page 134. She continues now to talk about her experience. She goes, I'm not satisfied. I want more. I want more. The more he gives me, the more I want. This is how the love of God works. The more that we understand and receive it, the greater our capacity is to receive more. The more we get, the more hungry we are for more. She says, sustain me with raisins. Refresh me with apples. For I am lovesick. The more we understand of these truths, the more we hunger for them. We need to make time to sit at the table with him. And one of the most practical ways that we do this is just simply taking time in his presence with our Bible open, talking to him when we read it. Talk to me about your heart, Jesus. Talk to me about how you see me. Talk to me about how you see the nations. Talk to me how you see life. Feed my heart from the way you see things. If we would do that more, we will find it sweet. I remember in my early days, the Bible was so boring. I remember my leader said, you have to read the Bible to grow in the Lord. And you have to spend time in prayer. I was at the university. And prayer and Bible study was so boring. I remember the struggle. I said, Jesus, I really love you. But the Bible is so boring. And prayer is so boring. If you could make this more interesting, I would do it more. And I never believed that one day I would enjoy prayer and the Word. If you would have told me 35 years ago, that one day I would be leading a house of prayer, impossible. Why? I hated prayer. I loved Jesus, but I didn't like prayer. The Bible was confusing and boring. Somebody would have told me back then, you will lead the house of prayer. That would have been more bitter than death if you would have told me that. I'm not joking. That would have been a prison sentence. House of prayer. Ah! What did I do to deserve this? I had no idea that His fruit would be sweet to me one day. I tell young people, stay at that table. The reason it doesn't connect is you can't see the truth of who He is. Yes, you know He's your Savior. You know that. But He's so interesting. He's so brilliant. He's so fascinating. And not only that, you're very interesting. And His plan for you is fascinating who you are to Him. That fruit will be sweet to our hearts. But we have to give time for us to understand the fundamental truth. Many believers, they see Jesus as boring. And they see obeying Him as burdensome. They do it, but they don't want to go to hell. So they will endure a boring Jesus if they have to to get out of hell. Can I understand that? But we have good news. He is a beautiful God. Very interesting. And who you are to Him will be very interesting to you once it connects. Obviously, most of you know that. You wouldn't be flying across the world to come to a conference like this. Obviously, that's clear to you. But I want to tell the people who are still saying, man, I just wish I could enjoy God. In verse 5, she says, sustain me. Refresh me. I want more of Jesus and more of the work of the Spirit. Because I'm love sick. My heart is sick with love. Meaning, I have such desire. There's two different aspects to being love sick. What does love sick mean? It means your heart is sick because of love. There's a positive dimension to that. Oh, I love to love you. It feels so good to love you and to be loved by you. That's the positive. But there's a negative dimension to being love sick. Oh, I'm struggling. There's hindrances. I can't break through, but I love you. I'm in pain. Help me. When God awakens the vision in our heart that we can go deep in the love of God, part of what we feel, and it's very positive, we're excited, but part of it seems so out of reach and our heart is in pain trying to get a hold of it. I mean, it's even agonizing. It's desperate. Gotta break through and have more. Someone says, boy, you don't know he loves you? Oh, I do know he loves me. He's the most precious thing to me. Why are you in such agony? Oh, I have to have more. I don't know. Quit confusing me. Because love sick is positive and negative. You're ruined. You can never ever live life normal without having more of him. Your only option is to persevere. So many of you, you know both sides of love sickness. Matthew chapter 5, verse 4. Jesus said, you're blessed if you have this feeling of mourning, of sadness. The breakthrough will come. Just stay with it. Stay with it. But here's the only problem. When we break through in love, we have a greater capacity to want more love. So the sweetness increases, but even the desperate pain for more increases. The more we get, the more we have to have. And it's just a cycle that continues throughout our entire life in this age. Jesus says, stay with it. The breakthrough will come. You will be comforted. Top of page 135. Now she gives her perspective of his leadership. Of his banner over her life. She says, his left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me. So the bride understands the two-fold activity of God in her life. Again, we're using this pole, and we're interpreting it through the lens of New Testament truth. Because we have a high view of Scripture. And what I mean by a high view of Scripture, all of Scripture focuses on Jesus. It may not seem that at a first reading, there may be books of the Bible that don't seem like they're about Jesus at all. But with a high view of Scripture, and with an understanding of the centrality of Christ, we know he's in every place in the Scripture. So we ask the Holy Spirit, show us where he's at in these books. Where is he at in Leviticus? Where is he at in Numbers? Where's Jesus in Ecclesiastes? Where is he in Lamentations? Where is he in Song of Solomon? And the Spirit says, I will show you Jesus all through the Bible if you will ask. And I only remind you of that, because if this is your first time through the Song of Solomon, you might say, all this poetic language, how do I know it's about Jesus? Yes, it is a natural love story. It's about the beauty of married love. But I tell you with a high view of Scripture, with an understanding of the centrality of Jesus, we know he's everywhere in the prophecies, in the types and shadows, in the poetry. So I just pause that moment just to grab some of you who are thinking, I don't know if all this symbolism is about Jesus. Don't take my word for it. Ask the Holy Spirit. Do you have something to say about Jesus in the Song of Solomon? I think the Holy Spirit will smile. Oh, I have more than you imagined. So I just pause, just to kind of get your attention on that again. So paragraph 8, the bride sees the two fold activity of the leadership of Jesus. The left hand is under her head. She can't see the left hand. This speaks of the activity of God that's out of our view. Jesus does many things in your life that you never see in this age. He holds things back from you and releases things that you never even are aware of in this age. I mean in a real simple way, you don't even know the car wreck that you avoided two years ago because you didn't know that you almost had one. His left hand is constantly intervening to lead and protect in ways we don't know. Paragraph C, the right hand of God, this speaks of the activity of God we can discern, we can see it. We can feel it. But beloved, let me tell you there's two dimensions of His activity. And I rejoice in the left hand of God as much as in the right hand of God. Banner over me is love whether I see it or not. That is my confession. Roman numeral 8, in verse 7, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, do not stir up love until it pleases. The Holy Spirit speaking over this whole drama in this bride's journey. Paragraph A, the Holy Spirit has ordained strategic seasons in your spiritual life. And there are seasons when He will give you new truths. And He's telling the daughters of Jerusalem, the others in the body of Christ, leave this one alone. I'm giving them a new truth. I'm giving them a new challenge you don't understand. Leave her alone. Top of page 136, paragraph B, the Spirit's agenda for the bride right here was to awaken deeper lovesickness in her heart. She wanted to go deep in understanding the beauty of Jesus and how Jesus saw her. But the daughters of Jerusalem, they wanted to disturb her and get her on to other things. Here she is, resting under a shade tree, enjoying the refreshing apples, and smiling because everything is so sweet. And the daughters of Jerusalem speak of members of the body of Christ that are sincere, but they lack discernment. What are you doing? Come do what we're doing. Oh, no, I'm just in a season with the Lord. He's touching my heart in a specific way. Oh, forget all of that. Come do what we're doing. Paragraph C, the Spirit solemnly charges, don't disturb her. I'm talking to her in a new way right now. And what happens is that many people come and disturb you with their religious judgments and opinions. You need to be doing what they're doing, is what they say. People say, you need to do what we're doing, is what they say. Paragraph D, the Spirit says that I charge you by the gazelles of the field. This speaks of the importance of being sensitive and gentle when we bring the Word to other people. I don't mean if they're in sin or in compromise. But if they're in a special season, maybe you don't understand it. Maybe you're in a special season, they don't understand. A gazelle is easily startled. They just jump real quick, easy. Many are easily disturbed from the season they're in. I've seen the Lord call people to a special time of being before Him. One word of criticism, it just so disturbs them, they just lose their way so quickly. Because they're just young and they're immature, but the season is real. Paragraph E, Jesus illustrated this so well with Mary and Martha. Mary was at the feet of Jesus. Her older sister Martha, Mary, do what I'm doing. Come and join me. Jesus said, Martha, don't disturb her. I'm talking to her right now. What do you mean talking to her? She needs to be doing what I'm called to do over in the kitchen. Martha, don't bring your opinions to Mary right now. I'm talking to Mary in a special way. Mary has chosen the good part. Beloved, nobody can choose the good part for you. But understand you have special seasons where you have a greater emphasis on different things in your spiritual life. Top of page 137. Paragraph F. In the English, it says, don't disturb her until it pleases. In the English translation, it says, don't disturb her until it pleases. But in the Hebrew, the word it can be translated he, she, or it. And several translations put the pronoun she. And I don't know what your translation says, but I believe that what the Spirit is saying is, don't disturb her until I change the season. Now, interesting, the very next verse, we'll look at tomorrow, he comes and disturbs her out of that season to call her out of the comfort zone. He goes, I will disturb her at the right time, but you leave her alone right now. So I'm not just telling that to you so you don't disturb others. But I want you to know that people are very prone to disturb you when you're in a season of the Lord. It's part of the pattern of growing in holy passion. All through the years, when the Lord would call me in a special way to engage with His heart, I always have well-meaning friends that would come and tell me, no, that's off base, come do what we're doing. And as a young believer, that threw me off. I was like the gazelle or the doe. I was easily startled by a little criticism. I went, oh, maybe I'm wrong. Then as I got older in the Lord, I could sense the Lord saying, don't be disturbed out of this season until I disturb you. We'll end with paragraph G. The Spirit has different emphasis for different seasons of your life. Now, if somebody's in sin, go disturb them. They're living in compromise, then disturb them. But if they're saying, the Lord's called me to a special emphasis to engage with God's heart, or I'm in a special season where I'm giving money to missions more than I ever have before, or He's calling me to touch this group of people in a way I never have, just be careful. Maybe the Lord's really calling them to something unusual for a season. Paragraph G. The Lord has different emphasis in different seasons. In a very general way, I think of the four seasons of the calendar. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the spring, that's when the spring seasons, He gives you new truths. New seeds. New challenges. New assignments. People love the spring. It's exciting. There's new things to plan. And the next season is summer. Well, in the summer, that's when the seeds are cultivated. It's a lot of work in the summer because you've got to water, and you've got to weed the garden, and you've got to cultivate it. The sun's hot, but you get to see the seed grow. And so people appreciate the summer. It's hard work, but they get to see the growth. Everyone loves the autumn. That's the harvest. That's when the fruit comes to fullness. That's when the celebration of the harvest. You're seeing the fruit of your labor. And it's blessing other people. Everyone loves harvest. Then comes the winter. The winter is the time of death. Without the winter, the other cycles of the year do not work. Talk about in the agricultural sense. Without the winter and the death process, then the seeds will not have the same effectiveness. Nobody likes the winter season in the Spirit. But the winter season is a very significant part as is the other seasons. Sometimes people have a wrong perspective. They think every season is autumn. They get somebody to prophesy, and they say, breakthrough, breakthrough, breakthrough, breakthrough. All I see, more money, more honor, more breakthrough. And they go, autumn forever. Well, we'll be autumn forever in the age to come. No winter, no spring, no summer. The prophets have spoken. Then I come talk to them. Don't believe that. Yes, you will have a harvest. But I promise you, you'll have a winter, summer, and spring too. In the name of Jesus, I bind your word, Mike Bickle. Okay, you can bind it all you want. The seasons will still come. I remember talking to a very famous ministry in America. He has one of the biggest ministries in America. He's a good friend of mine. And I went and I spent some time with his ministry. And he says, do you have any words of advice? Because they had so many years of great growth. I said, yeah, I got some advice. Get ready to be pruned. He goes, pruned? He goes, pruned? He goes, no, we're growing. I said, John 15 says Jesus will prune every branch so it bears more fruit. I go, get ready for the winter. He said, brother, I don't receive that word. I said, does Jesus love you? He goes, yes. I said, then he's going to prune you. Because he wants more fruit in a better quality. It's not just about growth, growth, growth. More money, bigger numbers, more money, bigger numbers. He's after your heart. He's not after your big money. He's after your heart. A couple years went by and even before all of his large ministry staff, he brought me forward. He said, Mike told me he was going to prune me. The Lord would prune me. He said, it's not a prophetic word. That's just plain Bible. Everybody goes through the four seasons. So when we're in a harvest season, like I've told the leaders at IHOP, we're like right now, we're in a season where all kinds of things are growing. I mean, lots of unity, lots of momentum. I said, we're in autumn. This is good. I said, put your seatbelt on. Winter always comes after autumn. Some of the young leaders, no. Don't worry about winter. Spring comes always after the winter. Don't worry, spring will come. And the hard work of the summer is coming after that. Then autumn will be back again. I said, let's get locked into Jesus. Put our seatbelt on and just be faithful to Him. Amen and amen. Let's stand. The prayer in my heart is sustain me, refresh me, Lord, I want more of you. And the Lord, I believe, will give you more if you will stay with that prayer request. And obviously, many of you, you already have that prayer even though you might not use that language. You want more. That's why you got on a plane and came so far just to pray and be before the Lord. But the Lord says, I really will meet you if you will stay with this. And don't be offended by the change of seasons. Stay with it. Stay with it through all four seasons. Because I will feed your spirit with sweet and exciting things. Amen. Let's just worship. And again, I like to have people come forward. But I'm not going to do that again. You can if you want. But my point is is that I want everybody engage with the Lord instead of a bunch of people praying for people. I mean, you can come forward. That's fine. Yeah. But I'm saying I'm not calling a prayer team. I want everyone to stay focused. So come up if you want privacy just to be alone with the Lord. Lord, we say yes to you. We say yes. Sustain me, refresh me. Sustain me, refresh me. Jesus, you are the apple tree among the sons of man. I am the rose. I am the lily to you. I know who I am to you. Oh, I love your right hand and your left hand. Your banner over me is love. This is my confession. I am the rose. I am the lily to you. I love you, Jesus.