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Day 22: The Pull (SoS 1:4a)

"Draw me away! We will run after you. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you." Song of Songs 1:4

In this verse, the Bride makes another request of the beloved after the initial one in Chapter 1:2.  The fervency of her request is indicated by the exclamation mark. It shows an increase in the intensity of her longing after the fragrance and name of her Beloved delighted her heart. She showed by her outburst here that she now realizes that expressing her desire is not enough, her efforts to draw closer though necessary will never be enough, there must be a drawing on His part. So she cries 'draw me away!' and it perfectly correlates with Jesus' words in John 6:44 TPT

“The only way people come to me is by the Father who sent me—he pulls on their hearts to embrace me...”

When we begin to express our desire and delight our hearts with His fragrance and His name, the first indication of our growing love for Him is that we begin to desire Him more fervently. This later desire is deep-seated, it ceases to be superficial or just a wish. This is because it is a work of the Spirit within us. Paul said in Philippians 2:13:

"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

When we begin to long for what brings pleasure to God's heart, His Spirit within us takes over to help our inadequacies.

I once read a man of God write in his book that no man knows the way into the presence of God. We may know the principles that attract His presence, and we may know the acts that delight His heart, but all that we do we do in faith that He will manifest His presence to us and draw us to Himself.

The Bride here is saying another prayer but this prayer is a heart cry inspired in by the Spirit of God within in response to the love already awakened. We can see by now how crucial prayer is to intimacy. It's because prayer is the way we communicate with God. It's not a means to submit our requests to Him alone but to actually draw closer to Him and walk with Him.

This prayer is a commitment to surrender to the impulses of the Spirit. Every believer experiences these impulses, especially when you begin to wholeheartedly desire intimacy. You suddenly wake up for no reason at an odd hour or have the desire to fast for no reason. A desire to spend extra time praying, to read a larger portion of the Bible, or fellowship with other believers more.

In essence, God's response to desire is more desire. God's response to love is more love. He begins to pull our hearts to Him and what matters most at this stage is to recognize and respond appropriately to this pull.

PRAY WITH ME:
Lord, thank you for your work within me. Thank you for the work of the Spirit on my heart pulling me deeper into your embrace each day. Help me Lord, to recognize when you draw and to respond rightly to the impulses of Your Spirit. Amen.

REFLECT AND ACT:
  • Is there any pull within you to do something outside your norm or the ordinary for God? That is the Holy Spirit working within you to bring you closer to Jesus. Make a decision today to respond promptly to the impulses of the Spirit

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