Song of Solomon
This is the first part of a study of Song of Solomon that we are all under here in Ihop AC. There is so much in this one little book. We are going one verse at a time, so this how I am presenting it also. We first started out in Genesis1 & 2 when God created man. It helps to get the picture of man’s relationship with God and mankind. This part is exclusively the Genesis part so that next time I can go into Song of Solomon.
If we look at Genesis 1:26, we find that man is the only thing that God formed. He spoke everything else into existence; but man was not. God got dirty when He created man. That shows intimacy. Proverbs 8:22-31 speaks of us being His delight. We are created out of the overflow of His heart because God desires a companion.
In Genesis 2, Adam was given a job. God had made a garden just for him, a special dwelling. His job was to nurture and cultivate the garden. He had to make the garden a place to encounter God in. From this place of communion with God, Adam could speak things into existence. He named all of the animals, for example.
God made the tree of good and evil because He wanted voluntary love. God will not touch free will. If He had not let us choose, it would be like we were robots. God is jealous for true lovers.
Adam and Eve
God wanted to form a person suitable to Adam but not right away. We see in Genesis 2:18-20, He lets Adam go through the naming of all the animals first and even searching among them someone who could be a companion for him. Adam finds no one. It says, “But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him.”
God had been alone, too. He stamped mankind with that longing and feeling to want to be with someone else comparable. Adam is brought into God’s emotion for partnership. Adam feels what it is to desire and long deeply for something. Longing is not lacking or sinning. It is a God-given emotion.
So in this picture we see God’s desire for His bride. God causes Adam to go into a deep sleep or death so that He can form a women. Romans 5:14 says that Adam was a type of Christ. God took a women from the side of Adam or his rib. Jesus was pierced in the side. God foreshadows His Son’s death and resurrection. Adam gave birth to a wife. Jesus would give birth to a bride.
In John 17:4, Jesus asks the Father for a bride. We do not know if Adam asked for a partner, but he may have. Both scenarios happened in a garden. Jesus prayed in the garden beseeching the Father for His inheritance (bride).
I go back to voluntary love now. The man and women loved God because they knew nothing else. They were essentially like robots. God knew that, and so he had made the tree of good and evil. He desired a people of voluntary love.
The first prophecy happens in Genesis 3:14-19. Satan had now tempted them and prevailed. Now God prophecies against him. He says that since Satan touched His image bearers, He would use them to touch (judge) him.
Satan used to be the top angel, loved by God. But he turned to evil because he wanted power. He also took a thrid of the angels along with him in his rebellion. God could have judged him then, but He didn’t. He does nothing. It is when Satan touches His image bearers that God speaks agains Satan.
More to come,
Sarah Grace
Little Update
I am going to try and make this shorter than the other posts. This is just an update of what we are doing and what God has been teaching us.
We all have been going through Song of Solomon teaching. It is probably the most wonderful thing I have ever studied in my life. It is about romance between God and the bride of Christ, trials, end times, intimacy, and the passion of God’s heart toweard us.
I do not want to write everything down today, but I will eventually get everything down here. I really want everyone that I know to understand this because it is so amazing! This post is to sort of wet your appetites for more to come.
For our Song of Solomon study, we first started out in Genesis chapter 2 because of the paralellism. One thing that really stuck out to me from this study was the concept that we were created out of the overflow of God’s delight because God desires a companion. Another prominent point that absolutely struck me was that Adam is brought into God’s emotion for partnership. He feels what it is to desire and long deeply for something. Longing for a companion is not a sin. It is not lacking on our part. It is a God-given emotion. This revelation is a picture of God’s longing for the body of Christ.
We have been studying the first few chapters in Song of Solomon. It is amazing! The first thing we learn in the first chapter is that our success is not determined by what we do or do not do for the kingdom. It is defined by our love for Jesus and His love for us.
Like I said, this is all to just introduce the study. I will go into depth in a few days. I’m sure by now, after reading those few sentences, you are hungry to learn what I have been learning or at least curious!
We had prayer last night for children, parents, etc. that they would have a hunger for the Lord. I prayed that children would dream dreams of Jesus and that the pleasures of their games, TV shows, movies etc, would grow dim compared to the pleasure of Jesus.
This past Friday, Jordan, John and I led intercessary worship for the Encountering God Service. It was incredible and the Holy Spirit came in our midst. Some of our friends from Liberty came down, and our friend Emaury Wood sang over us. It was beautiful.
I would love some comments on any one of my posts or just let me know that you have read them. I love you all. God bless.
Our Weaknesses, God’s Power, and Singing in the Spirit.
When you spend most of your day before the Lord, you see who you really are in light of who He is. Sometimes it is not very beautiful. That’s what happened to me this week.
This past week, all of my ugliness just came to the surface, and I had some overwhelming moments. Last week, I had prayed a prayer something like this: “Bring out the ugliness in me so that I can sustain your presence. Take out all of the hardness in my heart and give me tenderness. But Lord, I know that it is gonna be hard, so keep me from despairing or letting frustration take over.”
It is humbing to confess your sin to the Lord, but even more to go to the ones you’ve sinned against and confess to them. Another thing I prayed was “Lord, kill me! Heal me! Fill me!” This is a prayer that David Gordan prays.
I realized also that I have to cherish the time of Him killing me (my flesh), and I cannot wish to be anywhere else or skip any part of the process of cleansing. I can only focus on my Bridegroom and Lover.
I found that the biggest thing that tries to stand against me entering into the presence of the Lord is my own mind. Eph. 6:10,11 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
The word “stand” really struck me. I saw myself in all of the armor, but I wasn’t fighting. I was just standing firm and confident. The Lord has already fought, but I have to agree with Him by putting on His armor and standing there in the power of His might.
Harp and Bowl Worship
Today, we learned the worship model called Harp and Bowl Worship. Revelation 5:8 says: “And when he had taken the scroll, the frour living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayes of the saints.”
Harp and Bowl worship are prayers sung spontaneously. It sustains the people for long periods of time and keeps the singers and audience engaged. There is an order to the spontaneousness!
We worked out the model in the prayer room as a part of our teaching time. Jordan, Iain, John, and I took our places on stage. There were parts for each of us. Jordan was the main leader. He played guitar and lead us in a song that we knew. Then Iain was prayer leader. He prayed out loud and led the congregation in corporate prayer. John was chorus leader. He sang right after Iain prayed. He sang a simple line according to the scripture or prayer that Iain spoke. I was prophetic singer number 2. I sang after John sang either repeating what he sang or singing another spontaneous tag. Jesse jumped in to be prophetic singer number 3. He sang after I sang . John and Jordan were the only ones who could actually lead a spontaneous chorus for all of us to sing. We would sing the phrase about 10-12 times each so that the congregation would be able to catch on.
There are also three types of harp and bowl worship. Devotional is singing and playing to give an atmosphere comfortable for personal devotions. Worship with the word is singing and praying scripture. Intercession is when the prayer leader leads the singers and guides them. Intercession is what the five of us did this morning.
With this kind of worship, there is a freeing in your spirit. It releases a freedom in the atmosphere where God’s people can experience prayer and worship, and reading scripture all at the same time. At any time, any of the singers can sing in tongues or sing scripture. Singing in tongues is singing in the spirit.
I am excited about what the Lord has in store for us as we learn this Biblical way to worship. Also, I am looking forward to teaching it to others in the near future.
Grace and Peace,
Sarah Grace Cornelius
People of Agreement
These first three days, I have found myself saying over and over again. “Jesus I long to long for you. Jesus I contend for a desire.”
God is looking for a people of agreement so that He can pour out His spirit in the midst of righteousness, justice, and purity. Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness so He wants a people of that same gladness. (Psalm 45 :7) The presence of the Lord goes where righteousness goes, (Psalm 85:3) and we are the righteousness of God!
In order for us to be a people of righteousness, we must think victoriously, taking every thought captive.
For me, I have realized that I have to stop agreeing with any kind of voice that says anything less than what God says about me. If I want to be someone whom the Lord takes up residence in and is able to rest in, I have to be vulnerable before Him so He can begin to “move His Spirit in”.
Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transfered us to the kingdom of His beloved saints.”
We must comprehend that there is no lingering accusation upon us! We are a people of righteousness. It has been given to us. How could we ever agree with any accusations put on us by ourselves or by the prince of darkness?
Exodus 25: 8 God wants to dwell in our midst!
We learned about the tabernacle. In Hebrews 8:5, it says that what Moses built was just a shadow of what was to come. It was a form and shell. We need to know how to approach the Moses/earthly temple so that we may approach the God/heavenly temple.
So now we are going after God–to know Him. To do that, there must be a consecration. A consecration means a repentance or a washing. Repentance is our best friend. It is a stage of vulnerability and of difficulty because it goes against our deep rooted nature.
There are symbols in the tabernacle. There is only one door symbolizing that Jesus is the only way. The fence around the courts shows that there is a prescribed order of how to proceed into the Lord’s presence. The bronze alter is where God deals with our sin. The bronze laver is where God deals with our “self”.
Consecration–that is where it really begins, and with all that it means, it is the hardest thing. We cannot treat the things of the Lord in a light way.
I find that I am at the Lord’s feet overflowing with tears because there is so much inside of me. He is singing the notes over and over again in my heart. But I want more and more. Though this all may seem like it is such a high price to be before the Lord night and day, it is not. There is no waste, loss, or cost when you are in love. There are no regrets. It is a pursuit that will never end because it is as strong as death and as fierce as the grave. (Song of Solomon 8:6)
In pursuit of Him,
Gracey
Beginning of the Beginning
Hello everyone!
I am thrilled to keep everyone updated on our lives here in North Carolina.
First of all, I want to say that we love all of you at OneCC! Hopefully this will help us keep in touch with you as we share what the Lord is teaching us here. For everyone else, I am excited to begin unfolding to you the mystery of the Father in our lives.
We have stepped into a consecraction, a fast, a difficult time, and yet a joyful time. Jordan, Iain, John, and I are beginning a journey that we do not even comprehend yet. I have already felt the weight of the wilderness which is so common when one sits before the Lord with nothing to do, but to realize their own lowliness and God’s Holiness.
Hosea 2:14,15 “Therefore, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. And therefore, I will give her vineyards and make the valley of Achor a door of hope.”
The wilderness is a place of spiritual poverty where we look at Jesus, and in doing so, we are struck with the reality that in our most desolate times of waiting and wrestling in the prayer room, it is there that we find the most important thing–the One Thing.
The valley of Achor is named after a man, Achan, who took some of the things from the plunder that God commanded him not to after the army of Israel took Jericho under seige. So God made Israel stone him and his family in a valley, afterwhich God turned from His anger. (Joshua 7:26)
So God calls the Valley of Achor a “door of hope”. It is where He burns us and strips us of ourselves to make us something that is satisfying to Him. It is hope. It is beautiful. Yet it is one of the most difficult things to go through.
So here we are…in Burlington North Carolina at Ihop AC! We are throwing ourselves into the mercy of the Lord, spending almost 8 hours a day or more in His presence praying, worshiping, and sitting at His feet. We are learning how to minister to the Lord first and then go and minister to others.
Jordan, Iain, John, and Jesse are living in appartments provided by the internship. They are beginning a children’s ministry there at the appartments and will be doing some after school childcare, and getting to know the parents so they can show Jesus to the families. The boys are very excited.
I am living with Nanette and will continue to work about 30 hours a week for godtube as well as spend 20 hours a week in the prayer room. I am helping out with the kids at the appartments whenever I can and will be leading worship for some of the sessions in the prayer room. My friends Amanda and Allyson are encouraging me already since they both have gone through the internship. Amanda has a her own website called “crying out day and night” She is focusing on a passion toward praying to end abortion. You can check it out at: www.amandaslade.worpress.com
If you would like to help fund the prayer movement through any of us, you may write tax deductbable checks to Ihop AC. The address for the prayer room here is
Ihop AC P.O. Box 3113
Burlington, NC 27215
Gifts that you wish to send to us personally (Jordan Vandebagart, Iain Pilch, John Guetterman, or Gracey Cornelius) may be sent to
1061 Oak Blossom Way
Whitsett, NC 27377
I love all of you and look forward to hearing from you soon.
In Him,
Gracey
