“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

Every time you reach a new peak in your spiritual growth, you need to be prepared for Satan’s renewed attack, and you need to ask for the Lord’s preservation. However, be assured that God will only allow Satan to attack you and test you according to your capacity. (more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

God allows Satan to test every work of His. God allows Satan to attack those whom He has worked on. If your hair isn’t made with gold, then Satan will not seem to notice you. But just when you are willing to go on with the Lord a little, Satan will come to God to accuse you, and suddenly many things will happen. (more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

God doesn’t work while you are sleeping; after waking up you don’t find a gold crown woven into your hair. You will surely feel it when the Lord works on you. (more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

The cross works on you with little sympathy, regardless of your willingness. When God says, “We will make you plaits of gold,” He surely will do it. (more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

It is not wrong to be gifted, and we can’t say that our gift is not needed. When He sees her plaits of ornaments, the Lord doesn’t ask the Shulammite to cut off all of her hair. What God desires is to develop our gift into something genuine, something of ministry, by working Himself into our ability. What God regards is whether or not our gift has been constituted to become a crown. (more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

In fact, we often make plaits using the gift God has given us, so that others would notice our capability to carry out spiritual work or to minister in the church. Such service is superficial. But although we make others think that we are very gifted, this does not bother God. He simply brings us to the cross so that what is really of Him might be worked into us.
(more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

Sometimes you feel that the cross is too heavy to bear and that you are treading the wilderness on barren, thirsty ground. However, after every suffering, a little more of the crown is developed in you. Besides the Lord, others around you can also see this crown, which indicates that you have grown during this period in your life.
(more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

The Triune God will make you plaits of gold with studs of silver. “Plaits of gold” in the original language means something that resembles a crown. It is a ringlet, a crown with golden borders. This means you must let God work His disposition and nature into you. The result of God’s work in you becomes a little crown. (more…)

“We will make you plaits of gold
with studs of silver.”
— Song of Songs 1:11

She had asked the Lord, “Where do You pasture Your flock? Where do You make it lie down at noon?” (verse 7). The Lord’s answer, however, indicates that what she needs in her present condition is not nourishment or rest, but the work of the cross. (more…)

“I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
Your cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments,
Your neck with strings of jewels.”
— Song of Songs 1:9-10

During a prevailing conference, hundreds of saints may declare their consecration to the Lord. For the most part, these declarations are just strings of jewels. Until the day our consecration is tested by the Lord, we won’t realize how hard our neck really is. (more…)

“Your neck is lovely with strings of jewels.”
— Song of Songs 1:10b

“Neck” represents our ability to obey. In the Old Testament, God often said that the Israelites were a stiff-necked people. No one who is just beginning to love the Lord feels that he needs to obey. (more…)

“Your cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments.”
— Song of Songs 1:10a

What does the phrase, “Your cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments,” refer to? It is common for a person who is just beginning to love the Lord to act as if he were more spiritual than he really is for the sake of others’ eyes. This is to try to enhance one’s loveliness with plaits of ornaments. (more…)

“Your cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments.”
— Song of Songs 1:10a

The beauty of our face is partially determined by our cheeks. But hair properly arranged can help our cheeks look good. Verse 10 says that our beauty is due to our ornamentation. (more…)

“I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots”
— Song of Songs 1:9

The Lord compares His lover to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. As for her ability, she is swift. As for her appearance, she is strong. But as for her personality, she is wild. (more…)

“Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a kinsman closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until the morning.”
— Ruth 3:12-13

Our natural man, which is our closest kinsman, is inclined toward these three aspects of the religious world, each of which replaces Christ. (more…)

“Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a kinsman closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until the morning.”
— Ruth 3:12-13

In spite of our behavior, for some reason we are very sure of ourselves. This self-confidence replaces Christ. We trust in our own ability to follow Christ, thinking that we know how to satisfy Him and how to serve Him. We don’t. (more…)

The religious world matches our natural man’s desire for self-confidence and self-development. Religion is very good at encouraging us to develop ourselves, and our natural man yearns for such development. (more…)

It has been made clear to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of the household of Chloe, that there are strifes among you. Now I mean this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
— First Corinthians 1:11-12

We are attracted to religion by the fact that religion provides the natural man with ideology. Christ has given us Himself and so many riches of the truth concerning Himself, yet it is easy for Christians to form all this into an ideology. Once something we have received becomes an ideology, we have departed from Christ. (more…)

Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.
— Romans 6:6

What shall we do if we cannot set legal goals? If we do not serve the Lord practically, we feel we are not doing what we should. What is wrong with our setting a goal to memorize 1,000 verses a year? Nothing. (more…)

In religion, people preach about Christ and talk about Him, but Christ Himself is not there. What is it about religion that inclines our natural man so strongly toward it? What makes it so captivating?

First, religion seems to give the natural man an easy way to please God apart from Christ. (more…)

What is the struggle that will always confront those who have given themselves to Christ? It is the inclination our natural man has toward the things of the religious world. (more…)

The sinful world is a very close friend of the material world, but the religious world seems separate from the sinful and material worlds, at least in appearance. (more…)

Just as our natural man is of three sections— our mind, our emotion, and our will—so the world is also of three sections: the sinful section, the material or physical section, and the religious section. (more…)

“Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a kinsman closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until the morning.”
— Ruth 3:12-13

Christ as the close relative is in our spirit, which surely desires God Himself. Our natural man, however, as our closest kinsman, is in our soul. In our soul is something called the soul-life, which wants both God and the world. (more…)

“Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a kinsman closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until the morning.”
— Ruth 3:12-13

We know our natural man by its desires. What your natural man and my natural man are pursuing may be very different things. We will each pursue what we see as being in our own best interest. (more…)

“Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a kinsman closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until the morning.”
— Ruth 3:12-13

The question now is this: Who does this nearest kinsman represent? Boaz clearly represents Christ, and Ruth represents us. Therefore, it must be significant that, though Ruth’s desire is toward Boaz and she has given herself to him, there is a kinsman more closely related to her than Boaz. (more…)