"Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you." (Song 1:3)
"But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Heb 5:14)When we became born again, we became a new creation. (2 Cor 5:17) This means that we have an aroma of life. You can smell life. When you are around a dead body it has its own smell. There is an aroma of life as well. God invites us to exercise our spiritual senses so that we discern both good and evil. In our natural body we have 5 senses: Touch, Taste, See, Hear, Smell. We also have Spiritual senses of the same kind. (see various scriptures: 1 Peter 2:3) The significance of the book of Song of Songs is that it explodes in it's revelation of the spiritual sense of smell.
If you know anything about smell you will know that if you smell something, it is the most potent sense - that brings back everything of an experience. When we invite God to exercise our spiritual sense of smell we are asking for the most potent revelation of God's glory. Which never goes away. The spiritual experiences we have had have a trade mark to them. Do you remember when you said "Remember when that experience happened at our meeting?" Imagine if you could attach the fragrance to that experience, but not just fragrance, what if the entire experience you engage all your spiritual senses. This is what happens to the four living creatures that gaze on the beauty of God Almighty.
"The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"" (Rev 4:8)Every time they look up at the face of God they have all of their most wonderful pleasures met, this includes smell. Then they collapse on the ground because it is too much, then look back up. We were made to experience God. He is the one who invites us.
Now it says that those who did not respond to Jesus are compared to spiritual gluttons and drunkards. This is because if you know that gluttony is that you can't stop eating, or that you don't know when to stop eating, and drunkinness is that you can't stop drinking, or that you don't know when to stop drinking. This puts a new spin on the idea christians can be gluttons. If you have the Holy Spirit in you, you can't but a glutton or a drunkard, because you know where you stop. Then the beauty is, when you are filled, you realize there's more, and you ask God to fill you up more! So we can't be gluttons or drunkards because that has to do with not knowing when to stop. The Holy Spirit is order. He helps attune our senses. Which means we will never not know when to stop, because He is the one who actually fills us, and knows our limit.
When we followed the course of the world our spiritual senses were darkened (lit. 'asleep') we lived according to the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, and were children of wrath (Eph 2:3) but when God chose us and showed us mercy, to awaken us spiritually, we became discerning of what is good and evil. If a new christian is in doubt, tell them that God wants them to be able to enjoy Him any time and anywhere without limit, because spiritual awakening has to do with awakening our senses to receive more from Him. What joy that we are receiving new bodies. It says in 1 Cor 15: the corruptible will be raised incorruptible, the dishonored will be raised glorious (we were unable to glorify God in our flesh) the weak will be raised in power, and the natural (with all our senses) will be raised spiritual. Then we will have perfect spiritual discernment and enjoy God face to face in contact with Him just like the Angels. However the angels do not have the privileged position we do, because He chose us, and Jesus is superior to the Angels (Heb 1:4) what abundant mercy, what lavish grace, what great love!
So I will always be asking God to attune my spiritual senses (he wants me to ask the question) when I goto read the bible. When was the last time you heard someone say "that passage" (in the bible) "does nothing for me" but then God impacted them reading a passage and they say "when I read this passage it was like I was eating something" But if the only sense we ever use is taste, then it's a gross misrepresentation of what God wants to do. He wants us everywhere, at any time to discern all our senses at once.
I used to think that If I picked up on spiritual smell that when I goto a person who obviously is not alive that the putrid, vile and noxious smell they let off would be too much, but then I remembered the scripture in 2 Cor 2:16 "To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?" So it's not the person but it's my fragrance, it's the fragrance of Christ which exudes from me. Now some might ask a question, do we have the fullness of the fragrance of Christ exuding from us? The answer is, the fragrance of Jesus is made up of infinitely superior and great aromas (when i use these words i mean fragrance as the combined smell of Jesus, and by aroma I mean, the individual smellings of each particular characteristic) We will know these fragrances in eternity. Now what we behold of Jesus is what we exude, the more we behold Him, (the more we are like Him) that fragrance is what exudes from our life. What intoxicating and drawing fragrances are available, his fragrance is unlimited! And actually by our small understanding we are not able to comprehend all the vastness of his fragrances.
That's what attracts people to me, or what repels them from me. My fragrance by being alive is already far more potent than anything that I had when I was dead. Besides, His fragrance to me is by nature so overwhelming. In saying this i am not making smell superior to any other sense. But as the strongest sense you get the greatest dosage of possible revelation and understanding of God. They all work together. Such as "taste and see that the Lord is good" If I were to say that smelling was superior to touching you would look at me strangely because you know they are not at all related except that each is a sense. Then we should be asking God for the full experience of all our senses. This is what He wants to give us anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Regardless of circumstance.
Sin is so inferior to what God has for us. When we sin we are belittling God's glory and His ability to take care of us. Maturity is saying "I can discern spiritual senses" God must be a God of enjoyment, this just gets better and better. Laying down our lives,
"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Php 3:8)Having maturity to say "come what may, spiritual smell is so luxurious to me"
"Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits." (Song 4:16)We have the fruit of the Spirit mentioned, (Gal 5:22) but we have no idea what spiritual fragrances there are that the Holy Spirit knows, in fact our spirit is aware of but can't yet discern. I want the authentic article, I don't want to be saying to people "this is your fragrance" I'm not in it for cheap thrills I'm after the 100% pursuit of God's glory in any place, any time, any how. It's more than filling, this is the sensation. We do not have the ability to train or spiritual discernment, in fact God does give us the added benefit of us being able to use our minds, hearts, souls, and strength, however we cannot tune our spiritual senses. As it is written:
"But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Cor 2:9,10)And He is the revealer, He is the one who takes of what is Gods and declares it to us. So we ask Him to train our discernment, because discernment (revelation) is a product of spiritual awakening.
"Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light."" (Eph 5:14)when God is awakening us to new realities He is inviting us to ask Him for more of who He is. But God has already done that part, He agrees with His own testimony that He will glorify Himself by doing good to us and then He will be glorified by us (because we thank Him)
So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
But some might ask, "Then what use is the body?" The body is the container of what cannot be contained. We are by nature limited (as the created being) When we become born again, the spiritual senses being alive he starts a work of filtering from our spirit into our soul and which ends at the body. If you have one hand facing up and one hand facing down on top of the first hand, the 5 spiritual senses are facing down and the 5 natural senses are facing up, and the filtering goes from the top (the spirit) to the bottom (the body) God wants to filter what is in our spirits into our bodies. and at the end he will give us a new body. Now keeping your hands in this position what happens when you become a new body is the top hand mirrors the bottom hand until the bottom hand is swallowed up by the top hand and then your natural senses will become perfect spiritual senses.
God's master plan for all creation is to reveal himself to them and then them to say, "that's God!" and "can we have some more?"
Corruption which stopped us from knowing what is good for us will be turned into incorruption which will always know what is good for us. Dishonor by which the flesh and blood could not glorify God will be turned into a Glory by which our whole being reflects all of who God is. Weakness, which stopped us from being able to go extended amounts of time in God's presence will be turned into strength, so that we will for eternity never look back. The Natural senses of our body which could not discern or contain the glory of God will be turned into perfect Spiritual senses which are aware and discern all of the amazing characteristics of God's glory. Lets have a party! Discernment is what it takes to encounter all the amazing extravagances of God's glory contained in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. without discernment there's no point of contact. He desires contact with us, to connect with us emotionally, physically, logically, practically and everything else there is.
Rejoice! sometimes you just get filled with laughter because I heard laughter is using everything. If you laugh you are using everything (somehow) Laughter is when its "too much" but I want more.
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