https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWXoaUndeK8;
Marriage Medley
As you listen to the lyrics of these songs, hear the Lord calling to you!
John 21:7 Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him…. And did cast himself into the sea.
Abandon
Abandon. I am not given to this. Abandon means to surrender one’s claim to, right to, or interest in; to give up entirely, to relinquish. Webster defines it this way: to renounce, give up all concern, control, or influence of another person. This is the transitive verb form of this word. The action is tied directly to oneself or another. It is PERSONAL!
For the last few years, I have been learning what it means to worship with yada, open hands. I give all to the Lord and receive all He gives as GOOD even when it HURTS. This is what abandoned to the LORD means. Oswald Chambers calls this a “crisis of will.” Yada in Hebrew is to know. This word is used in saving faith and intimacy. (I Cor. 13:12) Lord, Make Yourself known, has been my breath prayer for many months.
Journey
This journey began nearly a decade ago. I read a book by Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts. This book had a profound impact on my life and the Lord used it to dig me out of the pit of grief I was in and was unable to climb out of on my own. However, in the last chapter of the book, the title she used to describe worship was a bit much! In fact, I put the book down with this attitude: “Well now she has stepped over into fanaticism. I have learned a lot and it was worth the price of the book, but enough!”
The Lord’s Idea
The Lord had other ideas! He would not leave me alone and kept bringing the title to my mind with questions like, “Isn’t this what Hosea is all about? Tell me, do you think I made a mistake putting the Song of Solomon in Scripture? What are you afraid of? Is your Southern prudishness keeping you from truly experiencing ME?” Then, every song I heard on the radio or sermon listened to was about loving with abandon. To love Christ is to give in to complete relinquishment. Even the movies were shouting the same theme even if they were not “holy.” The LORD was making Himself known.
Unprepared
Still, at this moment, it makes me short of breath! I spoke to a couple of confidants and their reaction was “TALK TO THE HAND! We are NOT going there!” I knew I was in over my head in this water. Treading was not going to be sufficient to get out of this. I would have to swim with all my might and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I was afraid!! More afraid than I have ever been in my life. Let someone else have complete control? Trust I would not be hurt? Go this alone. Tears come to my eyes, even as I type, remembering. I was totally unprepared for this marathon swim in shark-infested, and chum-filled waters. I was not swimming in a cage and being pulled by a boat. In the dark, in the deep I was alone ………or so it felt.
God’s Requirement
Abandon is what God wants. He wants all of me. God wants me naked and standing before Him unashamed. He wants my whole heart. Jesus desires my eyes wide open and looking only at HIm. He demands My mind. My strength. My body. He wants IT ALL! No holds barred. Relinquished into His hands to have His way. Abandon is Love. Abandon is required to be His Bride. According to Oswald Chambers, “abandon means to refuse yourself the luxury of asking questions.” If the Holy Spirit has not given you something you are asking for, “it is because you are not abandoned enough to HIM–there is something you will not do.” Lord, have mercy, please!
Experience
I do not live among people who easily abandon control. Control freaks all! But these same people are PASSIONATE people. They are all in, in everything they do! This at first glance seems paradoxical. Passion is love unplugged. Control is really what we use to keep God and others at arm’s length, especially, those we love; because we fear being hurt. We bear the scars of wounded hearts and promise ourselves we will never let anyone hurt us like that again. In doing so, we limit the love we accept. Even worse, we withhold our unbridled love and passion.
Total Abandon
Today, I ask you a question. The one the Lord put to me: “Is intimacy not required in marriage. Can this intimacy be all it was meant to be if you are not willing to abandon yourself into the hands of another?” Intimacy was seen in the Garden: They were naked and unashamed. This is where the Lord is trying to bring us back too. Surrender. Trust. LOVE. Passion. Joy. Peace: Harmony with God and man. NO FEAR! Love with abandon.
Bridegroom Returns by Jennifer Oakley-Delaplante
Used with written permission and blessing of the artist
Are You Willing
Abandon. It is what the disciples did. Abandon is love. The Bride can only be a bride when she is willing to abandon herself, (body, mind, spirit) to the Bridegroom. I still struggle a bit with Ann Voskamp’s wording because of my prudish nature, but Making Love to God is WORSHIP at its highest, purest, and most passionate level. This is intimacy. This is love; the love we promise in wedding vows. The love the Bridegroom will expect from His Bride.
It is not a covenant for those who insist on control. You must be willing to surrender and bring all you are and risk exposure of your deepest secrets before His throne. It is then, you will discover just how much He loves you, accepts you, and cares about your tender, wounded heart. This is the LOVE He requires. He loved you to the cross because He believes in His Bride (YOU!)
Song of Solomon 4:1-15, The Beloved describes the Bride. Hosea 1:2; 3:1-3 the Lord shows us through Hosea how much He loves His less than perfect Bride)
Close your eyes and Hear Jesus speak over you! He believes in you! Believe in HIM!
He Calls You Beautiful
From Dee Bristen’s book, He Calls You Beautiful: This is one-way spiritual marriage differs from an earthly marriage. In earthly marriage, we want to be the only one to intimately know our beloved, but in spiritual marriage, we are eager for others to know Him. This is why the bride in the Song (of Solomon) is portrayed both individually and corporately. We see this in the bride’s eagerness for the virgins to know and love the bridegroom. This would not happen in earthly marriage! But this is what happens when we fall in love with Jesus: because He is so wonderful and the gospel is such good news, we cannot help but tell others…… The phrase “You whom my soul loves” brought to mind the Shema, which they prayed morning and night: “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:4-5) emphasis mine.
Thrust Yourself Into the Sea
All your heart, soul, and might are ABANDON! Pure, holy, and all-consuming. Are you like Simon: all in?
Yvonne Jones
Additional writings by Yvonne
Love is Jesus, Our Bridegroom
