Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of studying the Song of Solomon, revealing it as a profound expression of Jesus's love for His people. He shares his initial reluctance to engage with the book but later discovers its deep emotional truths and the importance of understanding God's feelings towards humanity. Bickle highlights two main themes: God's emotions for His people and the call to prioritize the first commandment of love. He encourages believers to engage in a personal dialogue with God through the scriptures, fostering a deeper relationship with Him. Ultimately, Bickle asserts that knowing God's love is essential for spiritual preparation in a world increasingly marked by emotional and sexual brokenness.

Solomon now for about 25 years and so I Get asked why would you teach that book? And of course, that's the first question That I asked the Lord when he really emphasized that he wanted me to do this I'll tell a little bit of that story briefly in just a little while But I didn't like it the Song of Solomon when I first read it. It was like, uh, I mean really I just I didn't get Anything and and I just said Lord. Are you sure that you really want me to to do this to study this book and Well some years later. I'm really glad because I began to see the heart of Jesus in a new and a powerful way paragraph a one of the greatest needs in the church today is to understand Jesus's love I Mean as simple as that is. I believe that's probably the greatest Not probably the greatest gap in need of the people in this room I mean the people that are on fire for the Lord across the earth and there's millions of them It's the greatest need in my life to go deeper in this. It's not to get more ministry skills I want more ministry skills not more leadership skills. I need more leadership skills, but it's to Experience the heart of God in a deeper way because that shifts everything When this happens in our heart progressively I've really appreciated the testimony of Some of the most prominent leaders through church history some of the great revivalists who have emphasized the value of the Song of Solomon and each week I'll have the the notes the teaching notes and then I'll have a Corresponding set of notes which I'm calling additional study material Which will give a lot more information and I got a number of quotes from guys like John Wesley and Charles Finney and George Whitfield some of the great revivals of history and What they felt about the Song of Solomon? Now my favorite Bible teacher Some of you know this name. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones From London. He was the pastor of Westminster Chapel for about 50 years right in the middle of the 20th century Right there in London probably the largest church in the earth at that time I'm assuming in my opinion and the opinion of many many people The best Bible teacher on the planet. I've had many scholars. I've talked to said dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones Unquestionably was the man that had the deepest understanding of the word now again Not any one man. Can you give that title to but for those of you that don't know him? This is not a kind of a lightweight theologian This is a deep man of God and this is one of my favorite quotes on the Song of Solomon He I took this right out of one of his commentaries from the book of Romans chapter 7 He says have you has he ever said this to you as he ever whispered to your heart my beloved is mine And then he exhorts. I mean this great Bible teacher. He says read the Song of Solomon See how the bridegroom expresses his feelings for his for his bride his love How lightly we skip over these great statements? He's talking about in the Song of Solomon that we could argue our pet theories and our pet Ideas now because he right was in the middle of theological controversies. I mean his whole his whole ministry of 50-plus years He says in one sense the whole subject of being a Christian is that you would know this Jesus his personal love that he would tell you in unmistakable language That he loves you that he's given himself for you He does this through the Holy Spirit. I just skip a sentence or two read the lives of the Saints Throughout the centuries. I mean the great men and women of God. I don't mean the famous ones per se I mean the ones that are famous for going deep in God not necessarily for having a big following But they were well known in their generation for going deep with God He says read their lives throughout the centuries you'll find They all know about this reality. They've all come to know him and to speak to him and To receive the love of God, etc. Etc. You can read more about that on your own paragraph B Well, and I think of the Song of Solomon the eight chapter love song. I Think of two distinctives now, there's more than two, but there's two that I really look into Because I'm not so interested in understanding every verse and what it means and symbolism I'm interested in two major themes So when people say should I study the Song of Solomon I go well Yeah, sort of but what you need to study are these two themes from the scripture the two I'm going to highlight and you will find them a deep well in the Song of Solomon So it's not the book itself that excites me. It's the this twofold message The two of the distinct is I emphasize and the song is God's emotions for his people David was a man after God's own heart. He was a student of God's emotions And I think one of the most when I look back over 30 years 40 years of walking with the Lord being a Bible teacher 40 years I would say this even as a believer the number one issue that I locked into I don't I don't mean I went deep I tried to go deep was the subject. I mean in my 20s years ago 30 years ago plus I Wanted to be a student of God's emotions. I Wanted to see how God felt. I Love Alan Hood's testimony when he was about 21 22 years old and he first came and moved from Florida and joined the church Just to be a part of Learning about this. He was captured by the idea of being a student of God's emotions That's the one thing that captured him that he's commented the last 20 plus years that we've talked about it Well, the second theme is the call to the first commandment. I Believe those are the two primary distinctives that that have captured my heart and that's what God wants me to emphasize from this book Number one God's emotions. I Delights in you He desires you he and actually enjoys weak and broken you and Weak and broken me actually enjoys you he enjoys you far more than you enjoy you seriously That's sounds kind of clever, but it's real When I began to understand that Then I begin experience a little again. I need a lot more This empowering of my own heart When somebody I wrote a book many years ago about 20 25 years ago on Pat called passion for Jesus about 20 I don't know when I wrote it. But anyway, people have asked me all these years. How do you get passion for Jesus? I said I know for sure Study Jesus is passion for you Be a student of God's emotions Number two the first commandment, of course you hear us say it like a broken record around here The Holy Spirit is going to restore the first commandment to first place before the Lord returns that can become a cliche But I pray it's more than a cliche the number one priority in from God's point of view in your life is That the first commandment would be first That's what he's after That's what he's revealing himself. He's after that He wrestles with us. He hymns us in he blesses us. He restricts us He unrestricts us. He does he does all those different dimensions. He's after this in our lives Just consider the prayer of Jesus here in John chapter 17. I Encourage you if you don't have a lifetime verse, you don't have to have one, but I've had one for years It's this one. I've had this one for I don't know since my young days in my 20s John 17 26. I just said that's the one I'm going for Jesus is praying to the Father and He prayed and he says father. Here's my prayer that the love with which you loved me Would be imparted to them. They would love me like you loved me father Beloved I can't imagine Anything more dear or more important to God or to us than this prayer Jesus ends his high priestly prayer with that with that statement He goes Abba right where these goes the cross next or goes to the garden than the cross father the love with which you loved me You would impart it. They'd be captured with it empowered by it and beloved song of Solomon When understanding that the simple truths of the Song of Solomon, it's not a complex book Yeah, this thing will stir our hearts and it's not again the Song of Solomon you can find these truths Genesis to Revelation Actually, you'll find more in the book of Psalms than even from David then song of Solomon But song of Solomon has it all condensed in one eight chapters love song I mean actually David says more than his son Solomon said but it's spread out to the whole book of Psalms And Paul the Apostle he took the theme many subjects on this in Paul's writings paragraph see Another reason that we study this book is that it gives us a pattern. It gives us a model of What I call the progression of holy passion It gives us the progression. It shows us the steps. It shows us the principles. I mean in eight chapter love song this poem He lays out the pattern that he the Spirit is going to use to bring you and me forward So when I read this song and I understand the different seasons in the song I can locate myself in that season how many have through the years and 15 have been going on 15 years of IHOP the the leaders in those early days when they were learning the song Over the years they would talk about oh, man. I'm struggling. I'm in song of Solomon 3 We all know what they're talking about. No, I'm in chapter 2. He's challenging the comfort zone No, I'm in chapter 4. I'm rising up to go to the mountain we understand those are all different seasons of our life and they have different challenges and Different dimensions to them and God captured these in rule in poetic language One of the reasons I believe he put it in poetic language because poetry is such that it feels different though The truths are the same it feels different a poem does to every single person though. We might understand the same general ideas That's just a guess why he put this Song this poem and he put so much intensity about how he feels in this song or poem paragraph see The song sets forth the poetic way some of the key principles. We need to grow in love and partnership with Jesus He wants us to grow in love that's not just a phrase but he wants us to grow in partnership He doesn't want us just to love him. He actually wants us to do the things of the kingdom with them It's not enough that we love him. We stand at a distance to say I love you. My heart is warmed for you He says no, I want more than that course love always means partnership always in the real sense. He says no I want you engaged with me and what I'm doing, but Lord, it's so little what you're doing in me But it means something to me the Lord would say that we do it together when I began to see my ministry as Partnering with the Lord and seeing what he sees and what he feels and trying to respond to that. I don't mean in just mysterious Trying to find out the mysterious direction for the future because people would say, you know, what's the Lord doing? Well, you know what you say about the future. I mean more than that. I Mean, how does he feel? When we're in the midst of challenges when the money's not working right where there's conflicts when we're in the routine and the mundane and I say Lord, I want to be faithful this how do you feel about me being faithful when it's mundane and routine and the day In and day out and and that's what I mean by partnership. That's a dimension of partnership. Very very powerful Some people have the idea of love they stand at a distance and they just feel warm feelings for Jesus and that's it Love is so much more than that Love and partnership are really really the same thing This song when you understand it, it helps you to locate what season you're in Sometimes you're in two in one season. You're in two different places in the book at the same time paragraph D why now I Believe as I mean why now why is this book is an important book? Because I believe we're in the early days of that generation and I'll say this a thousand times I'm not a prophecy people said are you probably no nothing like that No, I just see the signs of the times It's an opinion, but it's an opinion that I I feel stronger about as the decades unfolded things are escalating so fast And I mean, I may not see it in my day But it's not too early to begin to get ready and prepare spiritually and the preparation is spiritual There's always a guy up on a mountain, you know storing guns I mean that I have no but I have no thoughts about that I don't even want to bother with the guy unless he comes knocks on my door, but the preparation from the biblical point of view is spiritual preparation So that we don't get offended so we don't get seduced We don't get deceived so we don't get angry at God It's spiritual preparation is the preparation and we're in the early days in my opinion of that generation That's gonna escalate and again, it may unfold some many decades and it may go faster may go slower I don't know. You may not see it in your day, but you might Your children may see it. You may see it. Maybe not. Maybe you're their children, but we're in that day where it's escalating Things are intensifying and I'll tell you this the generation Lord returns will be the most emotionally broken sexually, I mean mostly wounded sexually broken Generation human history and the knowledge of how God feels heals our wounds and It fascinates us In a way that the temptation the seductions of society of the culture have far less power when our heart is fascinated And with the emotional brokenness in the sexual brokenness that's Escalating so rapidly I can understand why the Lord's saying I want my church to know how I Feel it's not enough to keep them busy. They have to know what I feel about them and what how I see them And I want to touch their emotions not just use their hands in labor Paragraphy that's it was 1988 I've got the story a written down in a Detail in several places, so I'm not gonna tell a lot of time. I'm gonna spend a lot of time on this but I was in a After a morning prayer meeting I went to my office Down 8 o'clock in the morning. I was looking through the mail. I was looking at a Wedding card and it had this the verse on the Solomon 86 and I said, okay That's a cool verse for a wedding and lots of weddings use that I've seen it many times over the years But something happened different this time when I saw this song of Solomon 86 It's where? It's about putting the seal of love on the heart And just suddenly I just I've never done it before with this verse. I prayed I said Jesus Put the seal of your love on my heart I just begin to weep and the presence of God began to rest on me and I was just so Struck by this because it was so sudden and so intense It went on for a few minutes. And so I picked up the phone It's at the church office and I called the receptionist and I said hey, you know If somebody comes by just say I can't talk right now. Something's happening. I don't know and then You know 35 plus years of pastoring I've only done that one time In my whole life where the spirit moved on me and I actually picked the phone up and said please no matter what No matter even if it's the boss That'd be my wife no matter what Because my heart was so touched I was weeping I said Jesus Seal my heart with your love. I don't even fully know what it means and suddenly the phone rings about ten minutes later Can't believe it. It's amazing how you can go from the heights of engagement the Lord to in the flesh I mean what and the thing hold the whole thing lifted and kind of Pick the phone. Oh, yeah, and the guy on the phone says hey, I hate to do this But uh, Bob Jones is on the phone and you most of you know the name Bob Jones a prophetic man He said he says he's heard the audible voice of the Lord. He has a message for you, and it's urgent I thought I'd better Let him in. Yeah. Yeah, that's good And I'm on my knees Bible open wedding card there weeping and I go. Yeah. Well Bob Bob says only got one minute He says I just heard the audible voice of the Lord. He told me song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6 and 7 I I can't believe it. He said the Lord told me it's for you Whatever the message of that is you're to lock into that all your days But it's more than that. He said he's gonna release grace an anointing of the spirit worldwide It's gonna raise up people all the world that he's gonna release whatever the the theme of this is about and he's gonna empower People to walk this out. Well, the theme is the first commandment and understanding of God's emotions and I mean he talked to me less minute 60 seconds, maybe two minutes max probably one minute. He hung the phone up And I was sitting there just overwhelmed. I said, okay God, this is amazing. So a Little time lifts and I mean this thing I'm because it's so intense So I call my wife and I said I have the most remarkable thing Bob Jones just called me Said song of Solomon. This is remark. I was reading it. I'd be the very passage Nobody knew I was reading that how did that happen the spirit of the Lord was resting on me in a way? I've never talked about before at that kind of level She goes. Wow, this is amazing. So I hang up and So I decide to read the book. I mean, okay Well, he really said song of Solomon 8 verse 6 and 7, but I mean, hey, you know, it's the end of the book. So And I'd never read the book in a serious way I'd read the book in a joking way you know to make jokes to the junior high group and stuff when I was a youth pastor, but Please don't do that But you know, I would I joked about the book And so I read it through in a serious way all eight chapters it was horrible No, I mean horrible, you know flowers perfume body parts flowers perfume body parts. I went No, I mean it was horrible so I come home that night from the office and Diane says hey the fantastic day She says tell me more about I said what before I tell you that about what happened with Bob I said have you ever read song of Solomon? She goes. Yeah, it's amazing. I don't know. It's horrible. I Said I asked the Lord to give it to the ladies ministry. I don't want I don't want to do this book I Couldn't get any connect with it because I didn't I wasn't thinking of the heart of Jesus for his people I couldn't even connect at all. It took me a while, but I knew the Lord wanted me to stay with it So I stayed with it. My point is it was unfamiliar but I stayed with it and Again, it's not the book itself for he wanted me to study it to catch these themes about his heart And over time, you know a couple I mean it didn't take so long a year two or three Probably two or three years probably if I remember right and but now I look back 25 years later And I'm telling you the encounters meaning. I don't mean some exaggerated thing I don't I don't mean counters like Wow way up there. I'm talking about the little stirrings of my heart Multitudes of times for 25 years is what I mean. I'm using encounter small e for encounter I tell you it is the most precious reality. I found these truths in the book of Psalms I found them all through the New Testament. I found them all through the writing of the prophets. It's the heart of Jesus top of page two How to interpret the song Well, there's the natural interpretation Which depicts a real love story between King Solomon and his bride the Shulamite She's a she's called the Shulamite and I have it written down here in the notes because she came from the city of Shunam so she's called the Shulamite because of the city the little village that she lived in well the and I got a bit more detail on this on the additional notes that There's a little bit on the internet tonight. We're gonna have a lot more in the next couple days I mean, I got pages and pages and pages that we're getting it all edited, etc And so I get a lot more about the natural interpretation and this is a very very valuable interpretation and the natural interpretation sets forth the principles that honor the beauty of love within marriage the beauty of love within marriage or the beauty of married love a very powerful biblical theme in the song of Solomon I've studied that I love that theme the natural interpretation It's a real story that Solomon is wrote a song about the journey that he went on with a young woman That became his wife Paragraph B and again, I got quite a bit on the on the internet beyond besides the teaching notes tonight on the natural and the spiritual interpretation the spiritual interpretation Uses symbiote talks Employs a symbolic interpretation to emphasize the Lord's relationship with his people as the bridegroom King. He's not just a bridegroom, but he's a bridegroom King He's a king with power, but he's a bridegroom with desire. He's a bridegroom King paragraph C Now if you're going to use which we are in this course the spiritual interpretation the allegorical Interpretation We want to make sure that we're only embracing truths that are clearly established by the New Testament Some people take spiritual interpretation of Old Testament stories and they come up with truths that aren't found anywhere If they're not found in the teachings of Paul and Jesus and the Apostles don't accept it The only valid spiritual interpretation of song of Solomon must be rooted in New Testament truth And again, I got a bit more on that Let's go to paragraph 8 Well each book of the Bible Was written given by inspiration of the Spirit and Jesus said the Holy Spirit will glorify me I mean the Holy Spirit has a fierce loyalty to Jesus and Some people have said well song of Solomon's not about Jesus. I said the song of Solomon is eternal Book I mean, oh, but we'll be reading the song of Solomon a million years from now in the resurrection. It's in the Bible There's no book of the Bible that doesn't last forever I Said it's inconceivable that a Holy Spirit inspired book By the fierce jealousy the Holy Spirit is not ultimately finding its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus I just can't fathom that I can't imagine that a million years from now We got a book about marriage that doesn't exist in the age in the resurrection We just talk away back there, you know a couple billion years ago when there was marriage now I don't think so. I think the book has its fullest Meaning it has it has meaning in natural marriage But it couldn't possibly in my opinion have its ultimate meaning there Because a million years from now will still be edified by reading this book Paragraph F. I say this like a broken record. I've said it for 20 years 25 however many We must refuse all sensual overtones in interpreting the book And ninety nine point nine percent of people do I've only met two or three people that I mean literally two three and twenty five Years, maybe three or four, but it's a very small number who actually thought Jesus was their boyfriend. I said Really oh, yeah, I go really Yes, let me tell you why I said don't tell me it is perverse and that's darkness and that's deception He's not your boyfriend. He's not your lover never He is your God forever and what he's talking about is our hearts stirred by the power of God in the first commandment and Nothing that has its roots in a sensual romantic relationship in any way whatsoever Now God's the author of natural romantic sensual love within marriage He's the author that it's beautiful and glorious, but that's not what this book is about in the spiritual application It's top of page three Oops forgot G. No, no, no forgot G Just saw it. Hey if I forget one, you gotta shout it out. Gee, you don't know So you can do that Jesus spoke of himself to the disciples on the road of Emmaus from all the scriptures He didn't just pick out three or four books The Bible says he used every all of the scriptures to speak about himself. I Don't think that I mean he knows the Bible really well. He didn't need any notes didn't any handouts nothing He talked from his heart about himself from the Word of God And I believe that all of the scripture the 39 books of the Old Testament Includes the Song of Solomon top of page 3 paragraph J Jesus is returning for a church established in her bridal identity It's not just the church as an army though the church is an army. It's not the church as a family We're the family of God forever. It's not just the church as a body. We are the body of Christ River, but there's one Generation where the Spirit will emphasize the church in her bridal identity as a cherished bride Now we'll look at this in the days to come the Bride of Christ doctor is not about being male or female Women are the sons of God men are the Bride of Christ as sons of God. It means we have access to God's throne in God's power Sons of God we have access to his throne in power. It's the Bride of Christ. We have access to his heart to his emotions So it's it we have both we have his throne and his heart. We have his power and his emotions. We don't pick between them He's a bridegroom King. Both of them are part of the destiny the people but the Spirit has never Emphasized this part. I mean he's spoken it to a group here to group their group there But I believe we're in that hour of history where there's gonna be I mean millions of people worldwide Speaking and capturing this and it's already happening. I mean in the last 10 or 20 years. There are Thousands of ministries capturing and talking and singing prayer ministries and preachers these themes From I mean themes about the Bride of Christ I mean the Lord stirring it up all over the earth because I remember 25 years ago I was looking for people that could give me a little comfort on this I found a guy here and a gal there here and there but I'm telling you there's Thousands of people across the earth that are being touched by this theme It's I believe one of the signs of the times of the early days of that generation this this awakening globally of Intriguing interest and more than that to the theme of the Bride of Christ and when Jesus returns he's returning to a church Yes, they are sons of God. Yes. You're the family of God. Yes They're the bride there the body Christ, but they haven't they're in their bridal identity as a bright thing come Lord Jesus We know who we are to you now come and we know who you are Let's look at paragraph three. I mean Roman numeral three Okay. Okay. I'm new at this. You know, I used to do this all the time years ago, but I'm out of practice. I Used to always have fill in the blanks and I used to I used to always love it had a lot of fun with it actually Paragraph K the essence of the message of the Bride of Christ is the of the bridegroom message It's the revelation of his beauty the revelation of his emotions Here it is. It's the revelation of his commitments to share his heart I mean to share to open his heart to share his heart his throne his secrets I mean, he's not just allowing us to witness his power. He's sharing his heart his throne his secrets his beauty With his people. He's saying come near I have things to share with you beloved. This is amazing. What a fascinating journey we're on to those that have Ears to hear meaning to the spirits beckoning people to say hey Jesus has things to share about his heart Do you want are you care? Do you have time? the Roman numeral three the main characters in the book A's King Solomon. He's a picture of the triumphant Christ as the bridegroom King He's the bridegroom King, obviously The Shulamite is a picture of the Bride of Christ She starts out in the book as the maiden but right in the middle of the book chapter 4 she becomes the bride paragraph see the daughters of Jerusalem They speak of sincere yet spiritually immature believers They're sincere I mean They're the real thing and they're all through the book that the times they show up in in the song They're eager to learn and they're attentive the reason I mean, I want to mention one more point. It's not an actual group of people meaning that people say well with that Group over there be the like the daughters. I go. No, no, no No, don't pick that church on the other side of town or that denomination. They're the daughters of Jerusalem No, no, I said no, it's it's it's Completely wrong. It's it's just personifying sincere but immature that's in the process of learning So if you get really like mad at someone don't say you daughter of Jerusalem, I know what how dare you you know, you Shulamite Ah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, forget all that stuff. Don't go there D the watchmen the fourth group speak of this of represent spiritual leadership. They're the ones watching the wall We have a little bit more on that Keep their spiritual leadership Okay paragraph e now there's two primary sections in this book and of course we'll unpack it in these twelve We're gonna have twelve evenings on this so we're not gonna break down every verse, but we're gonna get to the key themes Oh, this is glorious paragraph e the first four Meaning the breakdown of this book is what is glorious not my stuff I mean, I love this the first four chapters Focus on the bride's inheritance It's our inheritance in him how he feels how he loves us how he woos us. I Mean when we understand who we are to him, it's the bride's inheritance But number two the last four chapters shifts gears. It's Jesus's inheritance in you Beloved you have an inheritance in him, but he has an inheritance in you He gave you everything I Mean the finished work the cross it's done He did it's not that's not the end of the story that you have an inheritance in him Some people say he went to the cross. I have an inheritance. It's finished. I go. No, he has an inheritance in you This is to empower us to give ourself fully back to him And that amazing that he actually wants an inheritance in you and me. I Look at myself. I go. Why would you want me to be your inheritance? I mean Lord, you know, I My early days that first dawned on me. I felt like apologizing to the Lord that the father made me the gift I go. Sorry Jesus. I go. I didn't know he was gonna choose me But you have no need to apologize. You are the inheritance the whole body of Christ through history This is what he longs for top of page four Now again, I have more on this on the expanded notes on the additional notes But in order to receive the full benefit of this paragraph eight You have to turn this song into dialogue. It's not enough to learn the phrases to understand the symbolism We have to turn it into conversation with a person Learning the truths which the class is about is only a starting point I mean, you don't go to a famous restaurant to study the menu I don't you hear about that one restaurant. It's so amazing. The foods amazing I mean, I just go there for hours and study the menu. That's just I just study it Do you ever eat there? Well, no, but I love the menu Some people are connoisseurs of the Song of Solomon, but they don't actually talk to Jesus about it It doesn't become personal. It becomes a theory and an idea that excites them But it's not something that actually moves them the connoisseurs of the menu paragraph two There's two general ideas two general truths related to meditating on the word and I Talk about this a lot and I have several documents on the internet on it the first category of truth related I Mean the first category is related to truth that exhort us to believe something about God to believe something There are truths in the Bible. We're supposed to believe The second God loves you God forgives you God will direct you God will provide for you you believe those though That's what you're supposed to do There's a second category of truths that exhort us to obey to obey Paragraph C. Now when we come it's very very simple and I urge you to use this simple little principle that when I come to a verse that exhorts me to believe like In Song of Solomon, I'll just use Song of Solomon says you've read the Lord speaking you've ravished my heart I'm supposed to believe that I've ravished his heart. I've moved his heart So what I do is number one under see I thank him. Have you ever stopped and say and when though it says You know, God forgives you or God loves you said thank you Jesus for loving me I tell you something will happen if you pause and actually say that I don't mean every time But when you approach the Bible when it's something like you've ravaged his heart you stop instead of just underlining you say thank you And you talk for just a few seconds the paragraph to You add more than thank you. You say show me more. That's simple. Thank you that you love me Show me more when I do that. Thank you that you will provide for me. Show me Lord Thank you that you will lead me show me with it. Thank you for the glory of your son. Show me I tell you It's amazing that simple little dialogue how it will change your Bible study time paragraph D well, there's the second category of scriptures of the Song of Solomon or the whole Bible is Exhortations to obey so when it's time to obey I mean a passage obey number one we stop and commit to it and number two we ask God for help Like in Song of Solomon says rise up in other words challenge the comfort zone When I read that passage and we'll look at that in a few weeks I stop and I say Lord I commit myself to obey you when I'm challenging when you're challenging the comfort zone of my life I pause and I actually say something to him and then I ask him for help top of page 5 Solomon was a prolific songwriter. Okay, somebody without looking In your Bible how many songs is Solomon right? Does anybody know this is I hop. Come on. Yes, we do songs You're right a thousand and five He wrote a thousand and five songs That's that's remarkable. But only one song a thousand five a Thousand songs only one song did he title the song of all songs? He goes this is my absolute chief song But it was the spirit that Inspired him to title that the spirit used the superlative like king of kings Lord of lords meaning the ultimate Roman numeral six The theme of the song is right here at the beginning. We'll look at this next week in more detail She cries out. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth and of course, I Made a rule and I hop 15 literally 15 years ago even right before we were starting and we were we were getting anything organized in the spring of 99 Then as I began to talk about song of Solomon I said we're not going to talk about sing about kiss with the kisses of his mouth at the kisses of his word because that's what it means The rabbis for 3,000 years have used this passage to talk about the kisses of the Torah The kisses of God's Word she's asking the father father She's asking one in authority Over the king She's talking to the one that has authority over the king. Hey ask him tell him let him So this is the one in the in the New Testament since we're asking the father about the son this is what we long for father and The kisses of his word is the word of God that awakens Understanding in our heart about his heart his his glory his beauty his love for us our love for him We want the word to touch us and awaken our hearts Paragraph B. It's the word that proceeds out of God's mouth. It's the word that proceeds from God's mouth That's what that's why it's called the kisses of the mouth It's the word that comes out of the mouth of God the Torah for the word shall proceed from God's mouth is what the scripture says Paragraph C The kisses of the word is it's tough encountering the word I'm talking about reading the Bible and the Holy Spirit touching us in a way that reveals God's love and God's emotions Which are really the same God's love God's emotions The kiss of the word is a metaphor for spiritual intimacy Think of Jesus touching the spirit touching your heart and warming your heart one man said I don't want to kiss Jesus on the mouth I said that's good. You're not supposed to I said don't Don't imagine. Let me kiss me and you know put your lips up like that. No, no Do you want to picture something picture the spirit like fire touching your heart when you're reading the book of Romans? Reading the gospel of John reading the book of Psalms paragraph II Solomon writes this song in a way. This is my opinion that is reminiscent of how what he experienced Because in his early days as a king he had a dream and in the dream right here in 2nd Chronicles 1 Verse 7 God 2nd Chronicles 1 verse 7 God appeared to him and said Solomon asked anything you want Beloved this is Borrowing from the New Testament when Jesus said Pray for anything that you want believing you'll receive it. I mean God's borrowing from the New Testament He offers that theme to Jesus. I mean that that truth to Solomon Solomon says I want wisdom. I want knowledge. I want to serve you with excellence is the meaning Verse 11 God says because It was in your heart To get wisdom in other words to be more useful in in my purposes and in my hand My hand on you you could have asked for riches honor long life But instead you asked to be more useful to be a blessing to my people So he goes now if I give you a double portion of everything Paragraph F. I'm gonna bring this to an end. So I'm kind of rushing through this because here's a key real key point paragraph F. I Believe over the last 50 years plus that's not an exact number The Holy Spirit has emphasized truths in the Bible That are related to we can receive blessings related to faith if we pray the prayer of prayer faith We have blessing and some people call this emphasis. They call it the faith movement I remember in the 60s and 70s and 80s people were talking about the faith movement. I mean, I'm at the Lord in 71 So I don't remember them saying it in the 60s It's not what I'm saying But people were talking about the faith movement that there were these guys and gals saying if you understand what God promises to give your faith is stirred you could get more and the Holy Spirit anointed this Truth of ask anything you want and you can have it and what happened? Paragraph G is that People I've been the Lord really anointed that truth It's a real truth But most people use the truth of the prayer faith of getting anything they want and they ask for riches honor and long life They asked for the opposite of what Solomon asked for and God told Solomon I was testing you when I gave you that offer And I believe well for 50 years God's anointed this message of the message of faith and many people under that anointing They've asked for riches honor and long life and they would and those are good things and those are things to ask for but were Better to make first the request Lord. I Want the anointing to walk in the first commandment? I Want to love you like the Father loves you I'm gonna use the prayer of faith to press that it if the Lord appeared to you to dream and said anything you want What would you ask for? Again most people ask for riches honor and long life Solomon didn't and God says I was testing you and I believe God's been testing a generation By the by that real truth. I mean, it's a real truth that he really really will answer the cry of our heart But he would that the primary cry of our heart would be Not for riches honor and long life. Those are good blessings. Those are second. We do ask for those but those are second But we asked for the supreme request Paragraph G that he would release the highest things in our heart the highest things in our heart paragraph I the Holy Spirit's first priority and the Holy Spirit's first emphasis is That we asked for the grace of God to walk in the first commandment. That's what he wants us to do That's the kisses of his word. That's the cry if the Lord says ask you anything. I want the kisses of his word I want to walk in the revelation of God's heart and my heart stirred by the love of God Amen and amen