The Five Senses Of Faith. Song Of Solomon 2:3

 THE FIVE SENSES OF FAITH

“His fruit was sweet to my taste”

Solomon 2:3

God uses the five senses that He embodied each of us with to bring His chosen to faith

1. HEARING

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

This verse is talking about spiritual enlightenment. The very

first operation of God on our lives through His divine grace is to give us a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). He then draws us to Him and pairs us with others who know the Word. We cannot comprehend the Word without a measure of faith.   In fact this is an operation involving the Holy Spirit,   1 Corinthian  2:14        says this

 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Romans 10:17

 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, is heard through the word of Christ.

Mark 4:9

9 Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 

Mark 4:9 is the conclusion of the parable of the sower

Good fruit comes from seeds planted in fertile ground

Mark 4:8

 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." 

Let us aim at being fertile ground. How do we become fertile ground?  We submit ourselves to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the teacher who stirs up the mind to receive an understanding of the word

Acts 19:4-6

" 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Faith in the Word empowers us with special gifts for God’s glory.

2. SIGHT

Luke 18:40-43

 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 "What do you want me to do for you?" 

"Lord, I want to see," he replied. 

42 Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."  43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. 

We need spiritual sight to know the difference between light and darkness

We were born in darkness.  It is the undeserved grace of God to bring us

Into the marvelous light

Notice it was the grace of God that the blind man was positioned on the side of the road that Jesus was traveling.  Hearing the noise he called out to Jesus.

The man followed Jesus after receiving his sight. Once you receive your sight, you know the praise of man is foolishness. 

3. SMELL

Genesis 27:27

"Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. 

Song of Solomon 5:5-6

5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

Song of Solomon 1:3-4

3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

Anytime a believer confesses his sins and repents the smell is a pleasing savour to God.

4. TOUCH

Matthew 9:20-22

20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 

Mark 6:56

 And wherever he went — into villages, towns or countryside — they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. 

 To touch is to experience the power of God in a dire circumstance. You tried everything and everybody with no success. At last resort, you laid the problem at the feet of Jesus in faith. 

God allows or even designs our troubles to draw us to Him, thus growing our faith.

5. TASTE

Notice the 4 senses build us to the crescendo of Taste

The full satisfaction of trusting God, JOY, PEACE, 

LOVE,  AND CONFIDENCE.

The first operation of faith is hearing the Word of God

The second operation is seeing what God has done in the lives of others

The third operation is learning the fragrance of His mercies 

The fourth operation is reaching out for ourselves to trust God

The fifth operation is tasting God’s love for us

 Psalms 34:8

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalms 119:103-104

103 How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth! 

104 I gain understanding from your precepts;

therefore I hate every wrong path. 

John 6:56-57

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Tasting is experiencing the work of Christ in your life

Consider baking a cake. It has eggs, flour, milk,  sugar, butter, flavoring, all stirred up to

Make a batter cooked in the oven for a certain time.  You can get a slice of cake. It's not the whole cake, but it has all the ingredients.  Yet a crumb of the cake has all the ingredients Of the cake.   Most of us are living on the crumbs of a life with Christ.  We could have more if we sat at the table trusting God all day long. 

To taste is to trust god with your life. We all start somewhere.  Most of the time it is a problem or issue that we Can’t handle that we finally trust God and taste victory through Him.

Bible Study Series: I Almost Lost It Psalms 73

 I ALMOST LOST IT

PSALMS 73

Psalms 73:1-3

73 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 

2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 

3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 

Asaph was a worship leader assigned by King David to the Tabernacle

In Jerusalem. He may have been a poet and a singer. Being dedicated

To God, he notices those who worship with their lips but not their 

hearts.

As Christians, it is ingrained in us from the moment we accept 

Jesus as our personal savior, that GOD IS GOOD. And from the

“Get Go” we expect God to give us all the good. We expect each day

To be good. Because we got Jesus.

The problem is bad things happen every day. And bad things happen

To us.   And bad things keep happening. When we focus on the bad

We forget the good God is doing.   

God is good to those with a pure heart. The question is what is a pure heart in God’s eyes? It is a person who has all the attributes 

Of Galatians  

Galatians 5:22-24

 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

Notice the Psalmist said he almost lost.  Something stopped him

From going into the lost column.  

But He spends time getting real with us. He gives us the root of

what troubled him.  

3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

He compared himself to others.  They are bad people. They are arrogant. They are wicked, yet good things happen to them

We have all been there. It is not fair Lord. They don’t deserve to be

Blessed. It that age old question, why do bad things happen to

good people?  Why do good things happen to bad people?

Once we get a mindset of envy we are on a slippery slope.

But maybe we don’t think of envy, we just think of the injustice

We feel.  I am better than them yet look at their blessings

Starting in verse 4 the Psalmist continues his observation of 

The easy life of the wicked.  They don’t struggle for life, They

Don’t want for anything, They don’t get sick like normal people.

The more wicked they are, the more they prosper. 

While the righteous suffer violent acts, they prosper in violence.

They oppress others and mock God with their mouth

They knew God, but thought He didn’t care what they did. They continued To be evil and continued to increase in wealth. 

Starting in verse 13, Asaph justifies his position. I am good. I have 

Been good, I got a pure heart. I  am wasting my time. I am done

With this.  

I am troubled all day long. I get punished for what I do, what I say and

How well I treat the children of my opposition. 

In verse 16, Asaph said I tired to understand what bad things happen

To good people and good thing happen to bad people’ It was

Beyond me until I went into God’s santurary.

I considered the Word of God then I knew the good that happen to ban people is just temporary. I know what you are doing Lord. You set them on slippery ground, They will suddenly be swept away

BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE FOR GOOD REASON

Do you know Oprah Winfrey's childhood story?

According to Wikipedia, she was born into poverty in rual Mississippi

To a teenage mother.  They moved to inter city Milwaukee

 She was molested at 14 years old and became pregnant. The child, her son was born prematurely and died.  She was sent to Nashville

Tennessee to live with a man she called her father, Vernon Winfrey.

She landed a job with a radio station while in High School. At 19

She was co anchor for the local evening news 

She was transferred to a daytime talk show where she booted their

Rating to first place.  She launched her own production company

She is one of the black first billionaires. Has given over 400 million dollars to Educational causes.

Her story could have been a tragedy but God  designed  her early childhood  with all the pain of growing up poor to prepare her  for success

Starting in verse 21, Asaph took a look at himself and discovers that

The Pain and frustration with the people he considered evil was do

His ignorance and ungratefulness

He became grieved when he realized that God was always with him

Guiding and counseling him to glory

He concluded in verse 26

Psalms 73:26

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever. 

In verse 2,  Asaph said I ALMOST LOST IT, I ALMOST SLIPPED.

I Believe what stopped him from giving up on God was the Holy Spirit

Reminding him of the promises of God. The Lord can renew a 

Right spirit in us to draw close to Him.

The psalmist was reminded that his purpose and position were to 

Encourage others to follow God. I think Asaph knew how many people he would let down if he gave up on God. 

He understood that his position was not about him but the glory

Of God.

Rev. M. Mitchell

Bible Study Series: Dwelling In The House Of The Lord, Psalms 23:6

 DWELLING WITH THE LORD

PSALMS 23:6

A QUICK REVIEW

VERSE I

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want

• Jesus is the Shepherd

• Believers are the Sheep

• Cannot get to no want unless you are His sheep

VERSE 2

 He makes me lie down in green pastures 

 He leads me beside quiet waters

• The Shepherd provides all provisions

• Rest, food, shelter 

VERSE 3

He restores my soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness

• The shepherd trains us in the Word and restores us to right fellowship with the Father

VERSE 4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil

• The shepherd protects us and provides confidence through trials

VERSE 5

The shepherd prepares a table before me in the presence  of my enemies 

• God has a hedge of protection around us while we dine with Him

• The enemy look on with envy and jealousy but unable to affect our joy

VERSE 6

SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY FOLLOW ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE AND I WILL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER

FROM RECEIVING TO GRATEFULNESS 

This last verse moves from what the Shepherd does to the maturity of the believer. It moves from 

Receiving blessing to reflections and confidence in the shepherd,

This verse represents a state of state of complete faith. King David moved from a state of being fed to a state of confidence,

SURELY GOODNESS

The Hebrew word for surely is ak which means a particle of affirmation. David is confirming his devotion to the Lord.

The verse focuses on the confidence of the believer with his/her life in Christ.

Confidence is derived from experience in troubled times.  He is sure of his shepherd. There is no doubt in his mind of the care of the Lord.

It is good to be sure of your position. Not only are you sure of your position but you are sure of your

Future. 

SURELY GOODNESS

God describes Himself as surely goodness. Jesus

Said that there is no one good but the Father. Luke 18:19

The word good in Hebrew is towb.

The lexicon gives a number of synonyms: beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, joyful, loving, prosperity, sweet, precious, kindness

The Bible speaks all these and more as characteristics of God

Revelation 10:9   The Word is sweet as honey

1 Peter 1:19  The precious blood of Jesus

Titus 3:4    Kindness and loving God

John 15:11  My joy may be in you

2 Corinthians 9:7  God loves a cheerful giver

Matthew 7:17  Every good tree bears good fruit

John 17:25  Righteous Father, I know you

Psalms 129:9  Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity

No one will have all these characteristics all the time.

I would like to think, I am good sometimes. It is

An on and off thing

Malachi 3:6.  I am the Lord,  I change not

The Lord is good all the time. 

Even when your circumstances are bad, God is good.  

Joseph said to his brothers after being sold into slavery and forgotten for 20 years.  You meant it for evil but God meant it for good. God planned Joseph’s Hell on earth, so he could rise to be second in command to the Pharoah of Egypt and

Save many lives

God is surely good, you can count on it. Unlike us

We may be good today but rotten tomorrow. You

may count us today, but you might not find us tomorrow.

MERCY

Mercy is God’s compassion for the miserable. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He showed compassion for those He came in contact with.

He never missed an opportunity to take time to show kindness by healing those who came to Him. 

A widower was on her way to bury her only son.

Jesus stopped the possession and restored his

Life.

The blind received their sight, the lepers were cleaned, and the lame were given the ability to walk.

Demons were cast out of afflicted people.

He feed five thousand families who came to hear

Him teach before he sent them home. 

God’s mercy is infinite and boundless. God’s

Mercy knows no race, color, or nationality,

Position or financial status. God is no respecter

Of person.   

God’s mercy is a source of comfort to all who believe in Him,

God comforts us by the conviction of our sins and the promise of forgiveness. 

God comforts us in our weakness of faith by 

Helping our unbelief

God comforts us doing the process of maturing doing this Christian journey of life with the power of the Holy Spirit

God comforts us through adversity and temptations with refuge in Christ

God comforts us by hearing and answering our prayers

Because we live in the flesh and are constantly in need of Him, He shows mercy,  

All of us can reflect on our lives and see the Hand of God. I can say with certainty; if it had not been for the Lord I would not be here.

Not only does God show mercy to believers, but He commands us to be merciful to others, 

In Matthew 9:13 God said go learn the meaning, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.

The desire to be merciful comes from the heart. 

Mercy requires sacrifices. Mercy requires your time and your kindness.

There is no mercy in seeing a brother in need,

Saying a prayer, but doing nothing to help. What

Good is a prayer if it does not move you to an act

Of kindness?

FOLLOW ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE

This is a personal commitment

Grace and mercy will not follow us unless we are

Committed to being obedient to God's commands

If we want God to favor us, we must show favor to others

If we want God to continue to be merciful to us, we must be merciful to others. 

Mark 4:24.  With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you, and even more.

God’s grace and mercy showed up in our lives before we knew Him 

Jesus died while we were sinners

DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

A decision to make God’s house your residence

Requires a personal daily commitment and devotion.

God already dwells in us with His Holy Spirit

We are the temple of the Lord. How often do

We dishonor the temple with our disobedience.

To dwell in the house of the Lord we must commit ourselves to be submissive to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit

Living in God’s house we are subject to God’s rules. Our agenda must align with God’s agenda

God must be first in all our activities.

Living in God’s house we must become role models for the younger generation

Titus 2:1-3

2 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 

3 Likewise, teach the older women 

WHAT DOES DWELLING IN GOD’S HOUSE LOOK LIKE?

Continual prayer

Glorifying the Lord in all that we do.

Continual  praise and worship

Constant fellowship

Constant thankfulness

Constant gratefulness

Trusting Him with our lives

Faithful to Him

Always doing the right things

Kindness and love

FOREVER

From now forward, eternity future 

A total commitment. Not sometimes but all the time. 

To the end of our days

It is confidence in eternal life