Are There Shadows in Your Christian Life?
Song of Solomon 4:6 “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.”
When we are born again, we are given the Holy Spirit and a new nature. One that loves God, and wants to please Him.
But we are Spiritual Babes, and often fail the Lord, when called to follow on with Him.
It is the Spiritual growth of our lives that brings us, as babes, to full grown children.
Ephesians 4:13-15 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
To bring us to this point,……the Lord, through His Word, and by the Holy Spirit within us, will bring us to the Light again and again; till we are walking in it, with no Shadows between us. (1 John 1:7)
We fail, often, to fully realize that our own Natural Aversion to all things of God, is a clear manifestation of the ever present Old Nature within us. The old man wants his own will, and rebels at being in subjection to God.
Galatians 5:16-17 “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth (fights) against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to another; so that ye can not do the things that ye would.”
It is the flesh which “attacks” the new nature which is of God within us,….for it still seeks to rule us, with our old habits, attitudes, and affections.
Romans 8:13-14 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
The “flesh”, “old man”, is our old nature; and remains in us, even though we have become born again.
We are to choose to obey the Spirit of God within us, and walk in the Light; so that the old nature is kept in subjection to Christ.
God’s Light, when it is submitted to, yields Power within us to do His Will.
It is a process.
This is an act of the will.
“…If ye do through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
And what a life! A life with the power of the Holy Spirit in us, and helping us, to do and be His Will!
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
Quicken is to make alive, active, and effective. As I said, What a life!
Mortify is to “put to death”.
That is, it is brought to the place where it has no influence in us.
Thus by an act of our wills, willing with the Holy Spirit, we do put to death the natural life, that it might become Christ’s life in us.
Song of Solomon 4:6 “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.”
Where Shadows are in our life, full Light has not come.
Shadows are cast by something between the Light source (Christ’s Life), and that which is lighted (us).
It is a mountain of myrrh (which speaks of death), because it takes a lot of denying ourselves, and yielding to the Holy Spirit.
And then it is, the hill of frankincense (which speaks of reigning authority) comes in.
For when we yield to Him, and get out of the way; it takes very little of the power of God, to empower us for His Will….in anything.
To consider these Shadows, we must go back to our very beginnings, and first consider: “Why hast Thou made me thus?”
Romans 9:20 “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”
It is a point of our rebellious old man, that we were never consulted in our being.
But just brought into being,…with the parents I had,….in these circumstances,…looking as I do;…..and then forced to deal with it.
(How many of these thoughts have we had? The sad thing: we do not bring them to the Lord and deal with them.)
Sadly, many seek meaning in things, or emotions; or in oblivion, and finding it not.
(The death wish the Psychiatrist talk about, is not just a wish to die, but a desire for non-being. To never have been; or to go into nothingness.)
But once we are, we are Eternal beings.
We will exist forever, either in Heaven with God in bliss; or in agony with the Devil.
But God has for us an “expected end”.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Our expected end is Christ, and the joy and peace He has for us, as we walk in His Light.
As the thing formed, we must be reconciled to God, Who formed us…..As we are.
This is a deep thing of the soul, and worked within us by the Holy Spirit in our spirit.
It is not just living because we have to; Or trying to find joy in “things”….but…
We can come to the place where we love who the Lord has made us…..really….and to enter into the life He has for us.
Here is where subjection is real…not just words.
Your spirit, with the Power of the Holy Spirit, by an act of your will, brings your soul (the place of your intelligence, affections, and will) into subjection to God’s Will.
And you do it on that mountain of myrrh.
He begins as soon as you are born again, to encourage you to deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Christ. (Matthew 16:24-25)
Every time you do this, His power works in you; creating in you that image of Christ in you.
Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
God’s Will for you, has had it’s “beginnings” in Eternity past:
2 Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began;”
He thought of you in Christ Jesus before He created the world. And so has made provision for your complete Salvation from sin: the guilt, penalty, and power of sin.
These shadows, are not the sin itself; but are the influences of our sin. They cast a shadow, a darkness over us.
It may be because of self pity because we have done these things: “Oh, how could I do that? How could I be so stupid?” (I have said this to myself)
It may be that the sin is gone; because you know it will cause problems, or because of God’s chastening.
But the desire for that thing, still remains.
And must be removed, before the Shadows will “flee” away.
There is still an element of darkness in your life.
He can do it, keep coming to Him.
So many of these Shadows are of our Adversary, the Devil; deeply implanted within us , down through the years.
Things done by others, to us!
To which he has whispered many angry thoughts: “God should not have let them get by with this.”
Or thoughts of revenge.
Again, let us consider Christ Jesus’ “expected end” for us: Joy and Peace in believing.
Do you have it? Are you obtaining it everyday, by denying yourself and picking up your cross, and following Him into the Light He has for you?
You don’t have to walk in Shadows. Keep coming to Him. Listen to Him, and His Word to you.
Hang on to His Love; and know He is hanging on to you.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 