Mike Bickle emphasizes the profound truth of God's desire for humanity, drawing parallels from the life of David, who sought to understand God's emotions. He highlights that this understanding can radically transform our spiritual lives, allowing us to embrace God's leadership without fear, knowing that His desire is for us. Bickle points out that many Christian traditions overlook this essential truth, leading to a tragic loss of connection with God's love. He illustrates this through the poetic language of the Song of Solomon, where the King expresses His deep affection for His bride, symbolizing God's love for us. Ultimately, Bickle encourages believers to recognize their worth in God's eyes and to respond to His love with a heartfelt commitment.

Truths in the whole word of God are truths that are related to God's desire for us. That's one reason why I love to teach the life of David. I refer to David as a student of God's emotions. David was really focused on knowing how God felt about things. And this truth of how God desires us is like a many faceted diamond. There's many facets to this truth. This one truth changed my life dramatically years ago, and it continues to change my life. And I've had all kinds of interaction with people over the years that have testified this one truth. Again, the many facets of it, God's desire for us, the light went on and began a journey of changing that they began a journey of, uh, of their life being radically changed by this. It is such an important truth in the Bible, but it's, uh, remarkable. That's not the right word. It's tragic. It's, I don't know what the word is, but so many Christian traditions don't have this as part of the, of the diet. And I don't know what the right word is, but it's a great loss to the people. And when they discover, they begin this journey that God desires them. It's like, really? Well, that changes everything. And that's the truth. It changes everything in our spiritual life. And it will change your life. If this is a new truth to you, although many of you are established in this, we're here in song of Solomon chapter four, this truth is, uh, poetically declared by the King in this great love song over his bride. He says, you have ravished my heart. I love that translation. The new King James, you have ravished my heart. And then it goes on in chapter seven. This is the bride's confession or statement back to the King. I'm yours. I am my beloved. I acknowledge your full leadership over my life. Here's why, because I know your desire is for me. So I'm not afraid of your leadership at all. Beloved, when we know his desire is for me, then we're not guarding ourself from his leadership, like trying to find a way, a better way to live. We're trying to find ways to skirt around the word of God because we think that if we really obey, we're going to lose. But when we know that his desire is for us, we can say freely with a free heart, I'm fully yours. I fully embrace your leadership. Number one, I looked up the word ravished in the dictionary and it means, uh, the definition here in Webster is being filled with emotion of delight, being filled with emotions of delight because of one who is unusually attractive. Now, the one that's unusually attractive in this case is you. You're the unusually attractive one. The Lord's heart seriously is ravaged for his people. That is a truth so big it takes the Holy Spirit escort for us to get it. Let's look at a paragraph B. The two of the most dynamic statements, in my opinion, in the whole of the Bible, right here, John 15, nine, I probably quote John 15, nine about every other sermon in the last, for the last 10 or 15 years, I cannot get over John 15, nine. And I think even in the resurrection, I won't get over it. And neither will you. Jesus looked at him at the table. I've said this. You've been here a bunch of you for years and you've heard it over and over, but my goodness, this is intense. He said, in essence, I love you the way the father loves me. That's the meaning of John 15, nine. I feel about you the way he feels about me. Well, the way God, the father feels about the son, there's no hindrance. There's no diminishing of the affection. There's no sin. There's no weakness. There's nothing that would quench desire. There's nothing that would quench delight. And what I mean by desire, I mean, this open hearted enjoyment of the relationship, one with another. This is the highest expression of God's desire is that he loves us. The father loves us like the father loves the son, that Jesus loves us like the father loves the son, because it's not enough for Jesus in John 15, nine to say, I love you in that intensity. John 17, look, verse 23, he goes, let me tell you, the father feels the same way. He loves you like he loves me. Like what? Well, Jesus, are you, do you be honest, Jesus? Are you a little bit sad that he feels about us like he feels about you? I mean, you've been together so long. Jesus goes, no, it delights my heart that you're new on the scene. I've been with him from eternity past, but he loves you like he loves me. I love this because that's what my father's like. He is wholehearted, abandoned love. That's what his personality is like. And the father and the son, one God, three persons. There's no difference in their personality. Jesus says, I love you that the way the father loves me. And the father loves you the way the father loves me. This is the ultimate statement of your worth. You may have nobody on the earth right now who appreciates you, who recognizes you, who sees your value, who appreciates what you're doing. But I tell you, I don't, it doesn't matter in this one sense, how many do or don't value you in this one sense, because God says, I value you and I love you like I love my own son. Your life has indescribable worth because of that. The devil's a liar. He wants to come all the time and tell you it's not worth it. It doesn't matter. You're not making any difference anyway. And the Lord says, my heart's moved by you. What do you mean you're not making a difference? Every cup of cold water you give in my name, I'll remember it forever. The love you showed me by sure, by loving them, even if they don't appreciate it, I am moved by it and I'll never forget it. It is worth it. You know, the life we all have many challenges and there's times in our life where there's setbacks and disappointments and like, Oh Lord. And the devil says it's not worth it. Beloved. That's the great lie. The devil so succeeds in so many, destroying so many lives, but when we're anchored in his desire is for us. It silences the accusations of the devil, the flaming missiles. He shoots at us. The enemy says in Ephesians six to destroy us like flaming missiles, striking us all the time. And there lies, you're not worth it. You're forgotten. God doesn't care. Your life doesn't matter. You're not worth anything. Roman numeral two. I love this Roman numeral two. So I want you to underline that Roman numeral two and say, this is amazing. The reason I could say that because I, I'm using somebody else's thoughts. I have, I've used this from William Barkley from years ago. He wrote this in a commentary. It's not word for word, but it's a lot of his ideas. And, uh, this touched me many years ago, the Christian paradigm or the word paradigm or perspective, the Christian perspective of God, the idea that it's a, it was a brand new idea in Jesus's generation. When he came and brought the revelation of what the father was really like, it was shocking even to the nation of Israel who had a history of the revelation of God, but they didn't connect the dots in the right way. It wasn't that Jesus brought a new truth is that Jesus, because the truth Jesus told about the father are all established in the old Testament. This idea that the old Testament, God's mean and the new Testament, he's nice as a complete distortion of scripture. There's absolutely zero change in the God of the old Testament and the new Testament. It's the exact same personality. It's the exact same God, but the idea of the Christian paradigm of God is founded on the revelation of God's tenderness. And again, this is an old Testament doctrine, but it's not emphasized over and over in the old it's present all the way through at key times, but it's not emphasized like it is in the new. So that would be the difference is the, the, the, the emphasizing of it, not the fact of it. The idea of God is a tender father. The idea of Jesus as a bridegroom came with deep desire. I mean, delight. And when I think of the bridegroom, I think of his delight in the relationship he wants to partner with us. I mean, here he is in John 17, right before the cross, he's about to go to the cross and he cries in John 17, 24, he goes, father, I desire them, desire them. You're about to go through the most grueling, inconceivable suffering that a human could think of. And you're desiring them. John 17, 24, I desire in all heaven, silent, that they be with me where I am. I'm doing this, that they would be with me forever together. I don't want to rule alone. I want to rule with them forever. Beloved. That's the bridegroom revelation. Paragraph B, the Jewish tradition. It emphasized again, the old Testament said much more than this, but this is how it came down in terms of Jewish tradition. They emphasize God's holiness. The idea that God was fully separate from sin and the Pharisees and the scribes and God's holiness is a very dynamic and exciting truth, but the scribes and Pharisees took it to an illogical conclusion. And they never, they didn't think of a holy God as sharing human experience. They thought of a holy God as someone you stayed far away from and you bowed to, and that was it. You obey, you bowed and you obeyed at a distance and trembled. They never thought of the holy awesome God as sharing human experience because he was incapable of it. He's the holy God, far, far away, transcendent, holy God. They thought of God as being above, above sharing human experience by the very definition of being transcendent. Transcendent means, you know, greater than great. That's my definition. Transcendent means holy other than, I mean of a different category, transcendent. There's no one in his category. They said by the very definition of being God and holy, you can't know what we're about. Not really. You can rule over us from a distance as we bow before you and tremble. Well, paragraph C, the Stoics, Greek philosophers, there was quite a few different groups of Greek philosophers. They believed that God had no emotions. That was one of their key ideas. The main attribute of God was apathia, which we get the word apathetic. They said that God had inability to feel anything. He had no ability to feel. He had power, but he didn't have emotions. Here's why. They said if he was sorrowful or if he was joyful, either extreme, he would be vulnerable to being influenced by the ones that made him joyful or the ones that made him sorrowful. So by the very fact he's God, if he's sorrowful, then the people on the earth that made him sorrowful, he might yield to them. If he's joyful, he might get excited and do something for them. So he can't be subject to those kinds of emotions because he would then no longer be God. He would be vulnerable to humans. And they said the idea is that if a human could affect God for that moment, they were actually greater than God for that moment. If they could get the upper hand on him and by getting him to do something, by God being joyful or sad about them. Paragraph D, the Epicureans. That was another group of Greek philosophers. We're back in the generation of Jesus. They said, well, it's not that God lacks emotions. It's really the issue is that God is detached. He lives in a world of bliss far away in the intermediate world, that intermediate state of Greek mythology where God is so in doing what he does, but he's not really involved with humans. He, every now and then he looks over the balcony and heaven goes, oh, oh, I guess there's a big war going on. I better get with it and go help the Greeks win or something like that. They thought of him as detached. And so he was unaware, uninvolved. So paragraph E just sum it to get up. The Jews had a holy God who was separate from humans. The Stoics, an emotionless God. The Epicureans, a detached God. Jesus comes into this context. Brand new idea. Not only that, the new idea is that God loved humans. God became human. What? He became human out of his passion. For God so loved the world, he sent his son. Jesus so loved the world, he came. God the father said, I love them, but I need God to be human for this thing to come to fullness. And he looked at his right hand. Jesus so loved the world, he came. God so loved the world, he thought of the plan. I mean, I can't even imagine the, what happened in the, the, I don't know how this works, of course, in the eternal councils of God. God's talking father, son, and spirit eternity path. And the scripture describes as though God, the father originates the ideas. God, the son declares them and God, the spirit releases power. I mean, that's very, very simplistic. It's there's more to their relationship than that for sure. But this idea that the father looks at his son and says, become one of them. We've loved them all through the old Testament, but God never became human. Now remember when Jesus became human, here's the deal. He became human forever. Yeah. Billions and billions and billions of years to redeem you and me, the father, let me just add, you know, the dialogue that didn't happen this way, of course, but Jesus, you understand you're going to save them. You have to be human forever. It's not like you raised from the dead, come back to the right hand, take off the garment of humanity and go, Oh, that was an intense run here. Take that back. Woo. That was intense down there. He said, no, you're human for ever. You'll always have fingers. You'll always have an elbow. You'll always have a knee cap with his resurrected body. Beloved in the age to come. When you have a resurrected body, you'll have an elbow. You'll have bones. You'll have teeth. Jesus has fingernails forever. I mean, this is amazing. This is, I mean, this is a remarkable reality. This is, I mean, intense. And he says, Jesus, your Jesus never, ever was less than God. There was never a time where he was not God, but he clothed himself in humanity because of love. Beloved. This is the epitome of desire for God. So loved the world. He devised the plan son. You become human forever. The son so loved the world. He said, yes. And of course he loved the father. He was doing it in loyalty to the father, but he was also doing it in his passion for the people. Someone says, which did he have more of? I said, that's it. You don't need to ask that question. He fully loves his father and fully loves his people. What is your favorite, your heart, your liver, or your kidney? You get to have all of them. Meaning we don't have to separate which is the most. He loves his father and he loves his people. Top of page two. Now the height of his involvement with his people is in his desire. The height of his desire is his identification, becoming human, not just that it became human. Then he took the wrath of God for all the other humans. So two big points became human forever. And he took the wrath of God for you and I. So there is no wrath. So God, the father could love us like he loves him. There's nothing in the way ever. Let's look at it again. Song of Solomon chapter four, verse nine. But I want you to notice this phrase, my sister, my bride, my sister, my spouse, the King James says the, he says, verse nine, again, you've ravished me. I have unusual delight in you. Now I have, my heart is filled with delight because you're unusually attractive to me. I'm moved by you in essence, using that poetic language. This truth is emphasized in this love song seven times. I have the verses there. In other words, it's not a secondary theme. It's something that's brought up over and over again in this great love song. Verse 10. Now the King, which in the poetic sense, the application is obviously the King is Jesus. He declares over his people. He goes, it's not just that I love you. Your love, your return, the, in your, even in your weakness, it's beautiful to me. It's not like he loves us and he brings us incredible intensity, this overflowing glory of who he is with love. And here's us, you know, fumbling, bumbling, stumbling. I love you. Oops. Did it again. Sorry. Failed again. Failed again. I really can't stay focused on you. I do love you. I mean, you know what I mean? I'm trying to love you. I mean, our love is so frail. It's so weak compared to his, but he declares because of the kind of personality he has. And because of the, the scope of what salvation, grace of God, what the cross did, what Christ crucified, raised from the dead produced for us. He looks at us and he goes, your love, we would call it fumbling and stumbling, weak, frail. He goes, it's beautiful to me. Like, Lord, that's not possible. It isn't possible that the way I respond is beautiful because yes, it is. I see what you don't see. I see the seeds in your heart of love and you see your stumbling more than your longing for me. I see your stumbling. I see it. I cover it with my grace, but I see the longing and your longing moves me. Beloved, our weak love isn't false. It's not hypocritical because it's weak. Weak love isn't false love. It's still real. And as I understood, understand this, I'm still in journey. Obviously, I only understand a fraction of it. You know, as the years unfolded in the resurrection, we'll look back and say, we didn't hardly understand any of it. What were, what did we think? We always understand this a little bit, but the way that he loves us is, it's just, uh, he says it's verse 10, how beautiful it is. Then he goes on. He goes, matter of fact, your love is much better than wine. And he's talking about the, the wine of this world. He goes better than everything. This is a love song. He says, and he's using wine throughout the song saying, comparing it to the things that intoxicate or stir up the heart. And he goes, your love moves me more than everything does is the idea in this poetic language. Then this is remarkable that the God of Israel has this kind of feeling for people. It says in paragraph B, he says, my sister, my spouse, or my sister, my bride. Well, we understand the bride is his desire for deep partnership. It means more than that, but that's a core idea for the subject, the truth, the bride of Christ. He wants partnership. He says, father, I want them with me where I am that verse. I said in John 17, 24, a few minutes ago, I want them with me. I want to rule with them. I want to reign over the earth with them. That's the bridal emphasis, the partnership. But here he says, it's more than the fact that I want partnership with you. You are my sister, meaning I became a fellow human being. I'm a human forever. That is the height and the depth of my commitment to you. There's two verses in Hebrews that highlight this in a very, very striking way. We'll read them and just make brief comment. Hebrews 2, I want you really familiar with these two verses. Verse 14, in as much as the children of God, but believers us as we have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself shares the same. We partake of flesh and blood. The father looked to the son. He goes, you need to partake of flesh and blood as well. I mean, this is a remarkable idea for the uncreated God who dwelled in eternity past before Genesis one to have flesh and blood. Yeah, I mean, just that's inconceivable. The angels must have absolutely been overwhelmed in silence like. What? Yes, I don't know that they heard it in heaven. I don't know how that works, but I know that when Gabriel went to Mary and said, in your womb, the son of David, the angels like, no way. Not just human conceived in the womb of a young woman like God. Great is the mystery, Paul said, that God has come into flesh. Great is the mystery. Well, anyway, verse 14, in as much as we partake of flesh and blood, he had to do the same. He can't save us if he doesn't become human. The reason he did it that through his death, he could pay the penalties. The idea by off by his death, he paid our penalty, and by paying our penalty, he destroyed the power of Satan that had power of death over us. He destroyed his power over us because Satan's power over our life is we're guilty. We're guilty humans. Jesus became a human, lived innocent. The innocent one became guilty, so the guilty ones can become innocent, so now the devil doesn't have a charge over us. Now we're free. But my point isn't the grandeur of that. That is so glorious. It's the love that moved it. It's the why. I mean, the what that he did is so glorious. We'll sing it about it forever, but why? He said, my desire is for you. Watch this. He became human, and through his death, he paid the penalty so that he would destroy Satan's claim over our life. Verse 17, therefore, here it is, in all things. That phrase, in all things, is the measure of his love for us. In all things, he became human. He had to, because here's the deal. The Father says, if you don't become human, you can't be a human high priest. If you're going to be the high priest that solves the problem for humans, you've got to be human, and you've got to be innocent your entire life, 100% obedient to me, 100% of the time, and then you can qualify to be the offering to pay for their sin. You can be the high priest. Jesus said, I'll do it. I'll do it. Verse chapter 4 develops it, brings this point to the next level here. The writer of Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 15, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness. I mean, our high priest, he was innocent, so he could be a little despairing and exasperated, like, hey, I did it too. Get with it. Come on, you guys. Pull up your bootstraps or get with it. He says, no, no. The writer of Hebrews says, no, no. He said, oh, very different posture. He goes, I was there because I had human feelings. My body was fatigued. People rejected me. I had difficulties in life. I didn't just command and all everything worked. I worked. I was a carpenter for years. I had setbacks in life. The lady down the road who bought the table didn't like it, and she complained to the neighbors. Well, it's far beyond that. He said, I was tempted in every single way you are tempted, and it didn't make him feel exasperated because of his personality. It made him sympathetic. He looks at you and I, and we go, oh, God, our hearts hurt. He goes, oh, oh, I love you. I know your friend doesn't get it. They, you know, they told you to get with it and quit feeling sorry for yourself, but I get it. I really do get it. He's sympathetic. He was tempted. He was pressured in every way we're pressured, but he never yielded. But the glorious thing because of his humility, because if you and I did not yield, we would be strutting. If we don't yield, we look at the people that yield and say, get with that. Come on. But because of the quality of who he is and his superiority, he responds in tenderness because of his personality. Therefore, therefore, and here's the message of the night, because he's so sympathetic and because he's so caring enough to become human, and he's so sympathetic because he did become human. He gets it. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Find mercy. That's forgiveness. But not just mercy. Find grace. That's power. See, sometimes we think grace is all about forgiveness. Grace includes mercy. Mercy is forgiveness, but grace is mercy. Plus, it's empowering. Don't just find forgiveness. Find the ability to overcome at the heart level as well. So paragraph C throughout the song, the king sees our love again in chapter 7. How beautiful, how pleasant, how delightful. I'll add the word, is your weak love? Our love is weak, but the Lord says, no, I'm going to be with you for billions and billions of years. I see it in the big picture. I see those seeds in your heart that are going to come to fullness. I see the truth of how you long for me. Beloved, he enjoys the relationship in a way that is surprising to us. And when I understood, he enjoyed the relationship with me, even when he was displeased with an area of my life. But the relationship itself, he delighted in. It made me run to him instead of from him. This one truth of his desire will change everything. I mean, change our spiritual life dramatically. Again, I've heard the testimonies over the years of people that have said that this one truth set me on a different trajectory, completely different pathway. Roman numeral 4. Here's a practical expression of his desire for us. A practical expression is his leadership. The bride or the maiden who becomes the bride. Here's what she says. This is early on in the journey. This is chapter 2. Remember, it's an eight chapter journey. So this is at the beginning of the journey, near the beginning. The king brought me to the great banqueting table, to the great feasting, the great feast. His leadership, his banner over me was love. Then she said, because of his leadership, the banner over our life, the leadership of Jesus over your life is to show you love and to bring forth love in your life. He wants to express love to you and he wants to impart love in you. So his banner over your life, she understood it. The banner, the leadership of Jesus, and I have a little bit more on the notes there, his purpose, his banner purpose. See, when an army returned from battle, they would have a big parade in the ancient world and they would have a banner, the flag or the banner, and it would identify their army and their victory. And Jesus is saying, my victory, my leadership over your life is love. I'm going to show you love and I'm going to impart love by the way I lead you. Now the difference, the challenge is sometimes I wish the banner of his leadership over my life was my life being easy right now. His banner over me was easiness. He goes, no, no, that's not exactly it. It will be easy eventually. It'll be easy forever once it is, but my banner is to show you love, to overrule everything and turn it out to love. Oh, I just want it easy. I want more friends, more money, more influence, less work and less trouble. He says, you long for the resurrection. You'll get all that in due time because now I want to reveal love to you and I want to impart love in you. That's my banner. You'll be glad I did it when it's, when you see it at the, in the resurrection, you'll be glad I held the line to lead you into love. So I hear paragraph C at the, paragraph 2 under C, here's what we confess. Here's our statement. When things are difficult, negative things happen, the devil comes and says, give up and give in. I say, his banner over me is love. His leadership is going to work everything out together for good. Devil, you're a liar. His banner over me is love. And beloved, if you really love someone and they're wanting just to give up and give in, I mean, don't just, you know, let them speak their heart and their pain, but at the end of the day, help them see the devil's a liar. And even in our failure, because you know, maybe it's not a difficult situation and we fail and we so hate what we did and we say, I'm just so despicable. I can't believe it. Forget it. I don't even want to, I don't even deserve to serve you. And the Lord says, just declare the banner. My leadership over your life is love. Even if you're a failure, accept my love even then. Top of page three. One of the great high points of the prophetic scripture is here in Ephesians chapter 5. This is one of those verses you want to, you really want to know. Verse 27, the church is going to be filled with glory. Jesus is coming back for a glorious church. I mean, there's all kinds of compromise in the church now and division. And the Holy Spirit would say, you just wait. There's a plan. There's going to be great shaking in the nations, but there's going to be a great outpouring of the spirit. And there's going to be a great response of the people of God. The Holy Spirit's going to help the church. And the first commandment's going to be in first place. And the outpouring of the spirit in the midst of great shakings, the combination of the whole thing is going to produce a victorious church. I don't like the shaking part, but I like the outpouring of the spirit. And I love the response of the church of wholeheartedness in the nations. Many will fall away in the shaking, but many will press in to a deeper level like never before. And the, and Paul prophesies when the Lord returns, the church is going to be filled with glory. It's not going to be a Laodicean church of compromise. Then he goes on and says, Paul tells us how the church is going to be brought to glory. And the reason you know this, this is his strategy to bring glory to your life right here. And it's also gives you and I insight on how we help as a vessel to see the glory of God in other people's lives. So this is how God is going to is going to use this principle to bring glory to your life. And he's going to use you to bring glory to other people's life. I mean, his glory, his powers, what I mean, the Holy spirit's power. Look at verse 27, 28, 29. He goes, yeah, the church is going to be brought to glory. Let me tell you how he says as husband loves their wives as their own body. No one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes it. And he cherishes it. Jesus is going to do the same thing. He's going to nourish and cherish the church to bring her to glory. I talk about the cherishing heart of God. I talk about that dimension of God's heart that many are not familiar with. They didn't grow up in a Christian heritage tradition where the cherishing heart of Jesus was emphasized. So when they think of his heart, they don't think of him. They think that he's powerful. They think that he's loving, but loving is kind of abstract. We'll see it in heaven. We don't see too much on the earth, but we know he loves us, you know, but I love this word. He's going to cherish us, but this is not only the way he's going to talk to you. It's the way he's going to use you to talk to others in his name. It's by cherishing and bringing out the, the, the, budding virtues in their heart are going to come to fullness. There are times to point out deficiencies. I don't mean we never ever point out deficiencies, but we do it with a tone of cherishing with tender care, but there are times. So some people think cherishing only means affirming. No, it's, it's affirming. It's a tone of affirmation, but we're bringing corrections when necessary, but always in light of the big picture of what God is calling them to and how they're responding. So yes, this area needs to change in so-and-so's life, but the Lord says, I got a big plan, and my heart is for you, and I see the way you've been responding in other areas, and I'm with you, and there's a glorious plan that you're a part of. You know, I love this verse, paragraph B. We're talking about the cherishing heart of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I love this verse. Paul says, don't judge anything. In other words, don't come to a final conclusion, is what he means by don't judge anything. Don't come to a full conclusion until the Lord comes, about a person, even about yourself. Actually, here he's talking about judging ourselves. He says, don't even come to a full conclusion until the Lord returns, because when He comes, He's going to shock you. He's going to bring to light the hidden things of darkness, talking about the human race, but He's also going to reveal the secret counsels of your heart. And you think, oh no, the secret counsels of my heart. That's a remarkable thing, that when the Lord reveals the counsels of my heart. But then Paul says, no, I don't mean to rebuke you, to praise you on that day. Did you know that the Lord is actually going to praise, meaning affirm. He's not going to say, you know, praise like you praise God as God. He means like a father or a mother praises a child, affirm. He says, He's going to bring out the secret counsels of your heart, and He's going to, when He brings them, He's going to bring affirmation to you. Because if we think the counsel of our heart would be, oh no, the Lord says, no, no. He says, I see what you don't see about even the longings of your heart. Look at paragraph one. The whole truth about our life includes much more than the wrong that we've done. Beloved, the counsels of your heart, there are passions in your heart, there are longings in your heart to walk with God, to obey God, to be fully God's. And He says, I see the counsels, meaning the movements of your heart. That's what the counsels of the heart mean. We think that the whole truth about our life is what we do wrong. The whole truth about your life is the longing you have to do right. And because of His desire for you, He sees that in a way that nobody else does. He sees your heart better than you see your heart. He defines us in part by our longings. The enemy comes and tells us to define ourself by our failures. The Holy Spirit, through the grace of God and through the cross, says part of the way you define yourself is like God does, through the longing you want to obey. And He sees you, so stand up in boldness and love Him and receive from Him and delight in the relationship. And you'll grow strong and you'll grow mighty in the Spirit. I give a few examples here, the middle paragraph of page 3, of how Jesus, the Lord's gracious leadership over the lives of people who are struggling. I love, I enjoy, I'm really inspired by this one of Gideon, paragraph C. Gideon, Israel is being attacked by the Midianites here in Judges 6. Gideon is hiding in fear in a wine press. He's hiding over here going, the enemies come, the enemies come, they've invaded us. He's terrified and the angel of the Lord stands in front of him. Gideon! Yes. And the angel says, mighty man of valor. Really? Really? Shaking like a leaf, little Gideon, is what I would have said. He's hiding, trembling, mighty man of valor. The Lord saw in Gideon what Gideon couldn't see himself. He saw seeds of courage that Gideon couldn't get in touch with and those seeds of courage came forth. They were not under, they were not seeing the fruit of it for some time, the fullness of it. Same with David. Paragraph D. The scripture records many of David's failures. You know, one of my favorite classes that I help you is to teach the life of David. I love to go right through his life and there are many failures in David's life. But look, Acts 13, written, Paul the apostle, a thousand years after David's death. A thousand years later, here's what God says. God testifies, Acts 13, I found David a man of my heart. He did all of my will. I went, really? He did all of the will of God? If that's the editing of the grace of God, I can do this. If that's how you read people? He goes, yeah. From where I'm sitting, on my throne, through my heart and the grace of the cross, David did all the will of God. Like, wow. I need to go back to my life of David class and get rid of a few chapters. David had some serious failures and he repented of them and the Lord says, I have forgiven them. But here's the real essence of what this means. He didn't quit. David, even in his failures, he wouldn't quit. He ended up doing the whole will of God and God forgave his failures and caused them to work together for good. And at the end, he fulfilled the will of God in his life. Beloved, the devil tells you to give up and give in and quit. And the Holy Spirit says, be like David. He did all the will of God. He looked at his failures. They pained him. They hurt him. He cried out to God. He received the mercy of God, pushed away, stood up and boldly went forward. Beloved, that's the kind of God we have. Paragraph E. The devil accuses us and Jesus cherishes us. The devil knows that he accuses us and we, if he can keep us feeling rejected or the threat of rejection, he can keep us from growing in love. And a lot of believers just stay at the edge of the grace of God, whatever that really, I don't know what that means, but they stay at the edge of grace. You know, they got a foot in the kingdom and they cry all the time over their sin. And it's good to be sorrowful for our sin while we're repenting of it. But they stay in that mode for months and months and months. Accused that maybe I'm out. Maybe I'm rejected. Maybe it's over. Maybe. And the Lord says, no, the devil's the accuser. I cherish you. No, because the devil knows if that is the narrative of your life, you'll never grow in love. He'll keep you constantly hamstrung in your spiritual life all your days. Paragraph F. One of the most important exhortations in the New Testament in terms of practical things to do is here in Romans 6. This is one of the absolute number one exhortations. There's different ways to say this, but Romans 6 says it clear. Reckon yourself. That's maybe not the best translation. See yourself as alive to God. Beloved, the way you see yourself affects on how you respond to God. He goes on in verse 13. Present yourself to God as alive from the dead. That means when you present yourself to God as alive in God, that means delighted in by God. Forgiven. No condemnation. The devil wants us to repent and then present ourself as under judgment. Like come down real low and just, just go ahead and kick me out now. Just get it over with. Paul says, no, see yourself alive to God. Alive to God means fully forgiven and dwelt by the Spirit. God's gracious evaluation over our life, even our failures. He sees the budding virtues, his gracious leadership. You got the authority of the name of Jesus. You got the indwelling spirit. You have eternal rewards piling up every time you give someone a cup of cold waters. Then every act of obedience is recorded. Your life is mattering. It's being remembered. You're alive in God. All of that, all those are under this truth. Present yourself alive to God. See yourself that way. The devil wants us to see ourselves as condemned on the verge of being kicked out of the kingdom. Our life is a waste, filled with shame, because if you present yourself to God that way, you will never grow. Never in the Spirit. Paul said, verse 13, Romans 6, when you present yourself to God, present yourself alive to God. That means in the grace of God, in the privileges of who you are in Christ. Don't do that false religious humility, you know, thing where you drag around and put yourself in probation for 6 or 12 months, spiritual probation, so you can even the score. Beloved, don't present yourself to God as a beggar in prison. Present yourself to God alive in Christ Jesus. Paragraph G, a person that feels dirty, I'm talking about a believer, they will live dirty. A person that feels clean, I'm talking about they've sinned, they've been forgiven, they've repented, they'll live clean. You get a believer, they feel dirty and they feel ashamed and their sins of the last week, months, and years are piling up. That's all they feel or mostly what they feel is a shame. Beloved, they'll live dirty. They'll stay in their patterns of compromise. They feel clean as a free gift, alive in God. And I don't mean they even feel it, all the emotions all the time. They go, God, this is real. You desire me. Beloved, if you feel clean, you'll live clean. I'm talking about you feel clean in the grace of God, by the gift of God. Top of page four. Let's go down to Roman numeral six. I'm going to talk about just this last couple moments here, three types of obedience. And actually all three of them are biblical. But one of them is superior. The other two are not anti-biblical, but they can't be the primary way we obey. Let me explain. The primary way is what I call affection-based obedience. It flows in our weakness. We sense from the Word that He has affection. He delights in us. Like, how could you delight in a relationship with someone like me? It's because of who He is and what the grace of God is and what Christ crucified and raised from the dead is all about. And it's His personality. Beloved, when we feel His affection for us and our weakness, and then it stirs up even a little bit of affection back. My affection needs to grow, but it's more than it used to be. But I want it to be more in the future than it is right now. This affection from Him and back to Him, beloved, that's the strongest, most consistent kind of obedience. The second type of obedience is biblical too. It's duty-based. Now, we need to obey whether we feel like obeying or not. That's important. Some people say, I don't feel it. You still need to obey. He is God. He is the Creator. He is the Redeemer. Whether I feel like it or not, I obey. But that kind of obedience, though necessary, isn't going to hold me steady long term. That's not enough. God has the right as King to require my obedience. And in some ministries, I'm not trying to put anyone down. That's not my point. So if you know someone like this, don't go point your finger. Do it the other way. Do it the cherished heart of God way. But they motivate people to obey only appealing to duty. That is biblical to appeal to duty. But that's not enough. It's part of the relationship, but it's not enough. Not enough. Duty is not enough. Duty is important, but not enough. And paragraph C is fear-based obedience. And some would think fear. Oh no, fear is always bad. No, I mean the fear of negative consequences. You get involved in immorality. You get caught. That people go, oh my God, that's terrible. That's a godly thing to say. Oh my God, that's terrible. That is godly to do that. You go steal something or do something bad to somebody. They're going to throw you in jail for life. Oh my God, this is horrible. You know, there are negative consequences that keep people from doing things wrong. And that's biblical. The fear of real consequences is right, but it's not enough. So we'll never ever raise a generation. We'll never cultivate obedience in a generation by only appealing to how bad it will be if you sin or how you ought to obey out of duty. Though there's biblical verses of that, but the scripture says that's part of it, but don't limit it to that because that will never produce a consistently obedient person. Bring them all the way into affection-based obedience. Roman numeral seven. Have worship team go ahead and come on up if they would. God's love leads us to rest, to spiritual rest. When I speak of spiritual rest, I think of two things. And some people confuse these two, but the love of God, the desire God has for us, there's what I call and others, this isn't unique to me, they call the rest of forgiveness. Oh, we relax that the by the cross of Christ, Christ crucified, raised from the dead, the free gift of grace. Oh, there's no striving to try to be forgiven. We are forgiven and we rest in that knowledge. That's fantastic, but there's more. There's what I call the rest of intimacy, because we can rest knowing we're secure in our salvation and our acceptance into God's family, but our hearts can still be in turmoil about our life purpose and our hearts were created for God. A lot of believers, they have the assurance of salvation, but they don't, they can't find a life purpose and they're trying to find fulfillment here. They go, I love being forgiven. I love the grace of God. I'm empty here. This isn't working and that relationship's not fulfilling me and this ministry is not fulfilling me. My heart is empty. And the Lord says, the only rest you're going to get in that way is by yielding to the wholeheartedness to give yourself fully to me. There's that rest of heart. It's different than the rest of forgiveness. I'm not talking about being forgiven. I'm talking about regardless whatever the size or the impact of our ministry and life or our assignment in the marketplace, if I know I am pursuing God with all of my heart, I was created to walk in the first commandment. That's the rest in my heart in terms of my life purpose, to be a lover of God. I love what Augustine said in paragraph C. One of the great fathers of the church from the fourth century, he said, you made us for yourself, O Lord, but our heart is restless till it finds its rest in you. And he didn't mean forgiveness. He meant till we settle the issue that ministry isn't our big point. Favor is not the big thing that's going to make us happy. It's when we're living abandoned to him, that's the seek, that's the primary dream of our life to be fully given to him. Our heart is at rest in that way as well. And the love of God leads us to both types of these rests. Amen and amen. Let's stand before the Lord. Let's just ask the Lord to come and wash us, cleanse us. There's a lot of folks in the room that we get out of rest and we get into this. We see ourselves negative and we don't see ourselves alive to God. We see ourselves under condemnation. The Lord says, do you know my desire is for you? My desire is for you. I love you like the father loves me. I see the budding virtues in your heart. I don't define you by what you're doing wrong. I define you in part by the cry of your heart to be mine. Come and receive my delight, delight in the relationship I have with you. If that's you, you're saying, man, I need more of that. Of course, that's all of us. I need more of that. I need to go down there and have you pray for me, but we all need more of that. But if that's you and you say, I'd like prayer for that, I want to invite you to come up front here, to stand on this front line here, all over the room, if you'd like prayer for this. And I need prayer. I need to be washed in this regularly. It's one thing I love about teaching these subjects. I get to wash my heart in the word of God going, oh, oh, I know this is true. Like I knew I'd go home and tell the Lord on the way home. I really needed that word tonight, Lord. Yes, I know. Thank you. Anyway, I get washed in my own heart by saying these truths that I ask for the revelation of your desire, revelation of your desire. I have the ministry team. Go ahead and come on up if they want. Oh, we love you, Jesus. And I want to hate what you do. The Lord says, I desire you. God, I ask you for the revelation of your desire for love. I'm going to ask any of the spiritual family here. I want to hate what you hate. Lord, come and wash us. We want to feel clean. We want to feel your delight in us. Oh, declare your name. What you love, what you hate. Lord, by the Holy Spirit. I just want closer to you. I just want closer to you. To declare your name. To declare your name. Oh. Oh. Show me the truth. The truth of your love. Do you know the way you move? Give us your heart, Lord. Wash us with the water of your will. Holy Spirit, power. Your power, your desire. Wash over us, wash over us. With your desire. Open the eyes and understand. Let us see what you see. The Lord speaks to our heart. In the secret. The Lord says, I see the counsels of your heart. Where you chose to die. You. We ask for the wind in your spirit. Do you know? Release your glory in this room now, Lord. Do you know? Lord, release the increase of your glory even now. Do you know? You ravish. He says, you ravish my heart with one glance from your eye. He says, you ravish my heart. He says, you ravish my heart with one glance from your eye. He says, do you know? Oh, do you? In the secret. You chose to. He says, do you know? Do you know? In the secret. You chose to be mine. Do you know? Do you? Do you know? Take some of these verses. Take a phrase and thank him for that particular Bible verse. And ask him to show you more. And go to the next truth and say, thank you, Lord. This is true. And ask him to show you more. By doing that, you'll interact with his heart and you'll grow in his truth.