Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”
– John 4:34 (ESV)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life
– Proverbs 13:12 (ESV)

While the king sat at his table, my spikenard gave forth its fragrance.
– Song of Songs 1:12 (ERV)

Mary… took… [perfume]… and [poured it on] the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair.  The house was file with the fragrance of the perfume
– John 12:3 (ESV, NIV)

What does God feed our hunger with?  Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”  Jesus was fed by His Father with the ability to do His Father’s will and to accomplish His Father’s work.  Jesus wouldn’t have been satisfied or sustained with just the knowledge of the will and the work of His Father; Jesus, having constant access to the desires of HIs Father’s heart, desired to participate to the point of need.  Jesus was sustained by His participation because His Father’s desires were His desires, His Father’s hopes were His hopes, His Father’s hunger was His hunger, and His Father’s hope deferred made His heart sick but, His Father’s desire fulfilled was a tree of life.

Revelation of God’s will and work, of His desires, only releases an opportunity for us to come into alignment with His desires but, that alone doesn’t satisfy because, after we’ve come into alignment with His desire, our hunger actually increases to the point of unbearable need, to the point of lovesickness.  So often I’ve found myself weeping, hopelessly depressed and broken to the point of tears, when I’ve caught another little glimpse of His heart for the lost and broken or another little glimpse of His infinite worthiness and beauty.  I start crying out for Him to return because I feel His hunger and feel so utterly unable to satisfy it.  My hunger, I’ve come to realised, is only satisfied with seeing His will done, HIs work accomplished, HIs desires fulfilled.  I become lovesick for Him, desperate for Him to return and do what only He can do, to satisfy the hunger; however, then I’m reminded and overwhelmed by the thought that we are all also called to participate ourselves.  I’m in need myself for the ability to do His will and to accomplish His work; however, if even Jesus needed to get fed, how much more do I?  I hunger, grow even more lovesick, and begin to desperately cry, “Where can I get fed?”

“When the Lord was on earth, He told His disciples that He had meat that they knew not of; and He added: ‘My meat is to do the will of HIm that sent me.’  Are we letting the will of God be our meat and drink?  Are we gaining strength through this precious provision?  It is only as we get still before Him, that we learn to know and do His will.”

– Cora Harris MacIlray (Christ and His Bride, pg 83)

At His table we are fed, a table only found in the secret closet of communion, the table Mary approached when she came to Jesus and poured forth her perfume.

“The first taste we have of the Lord’s table, is when we enter into our secret closet and close the door; shutting out everybody and everything, all our thoughts and desires, and all sounds from the world.  It is upon the door of this closet of communion that He comes and knocked; it is there He enters; and when we have shut the door, He spread a table before us, and we sup with Him and He with us.  He spreads this table with heavenly viands; and we not only taste of the hidden manna, but we learn to fed upon it continuously, we drank of the living water more abundantly.

We  cannot sit at this table with our voices clattering and every avenue of our being filled with unrest.  We cannot abide at His feet and hear His voice when our opinions are rampant, and our thoughts are wandering to and fro like the tramps in the alley that feed upon the refuse in the garbage cans.  We must yield to Him in quietness and confidence and seek Him diligently.  We must follow every direction He gives us if we would find this table and abide there; for we can only sit at this table when we have commenced to partake of the grace of silence within and without…

We sit at His table when we are alone with Him and meditate upon His word, and our souls are fed and nourished by the deep meanings and truths which He opens up to our hearts.

There is one point we must not overlook if we would find this table of hidden manna, if we would feed upon the Bread of life and drink deeply of the water of life, if we would be strengthened by doing the will of God.  In order to enter into this close relation to the Lord and into all it brings, we must sit at the king’s table.  Only when He is king of our lives can we enter into these privileges and experiences.  We cannot be king of our own lives and expect He will reveal to us His secrets, or take us into His confidence.  If Christ were sitting upon the throne of our lives continually, we would be sitting at His table continually.”

– Cora Harris MacIlravy (Christ and His Bride, pg 83-84)

Mary shuts everybody and everything out, all her own thoughts and desires, all her opinions, all the sounds of the world, and came to His table, the king’s table, completely yielded to Him, silent, ignoring the feast that her sister had set, and chose to eat of the hidden manna that Jesus had for her at His feet.  She enthroned Him upon the throne of her life and, in doing so, consumed the hidden manna at the feet of Jesus and filled the house.  We are fed the hidden manna, the ability to do His will and to accomplish His work at the table set at His feet and the hidden manna is the grace to worship Him and satisfy His deepest desire for laid-down worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth.  His will and His work is the reconciliation of mankind into the full purpose of our existence and the full purpose of worship, relationship with HIm.

Don’t just walk into the room,
come all the way into my heart.
There are praises here in store for you,
my love.

Don’t just pass by, please stop.
Lord, I’m desperate for Your touch.
I don’t want to leave here not transformed

Here, Oh Lord my heart
I’ve built a throne
for You to sit upon

Burn every idol out of our hearts
cause we want our hearts to be
completely Yours

When I started The Swallow’s Nest, I wrote,

“I want to build nests that release a generation of ‘Samuels.’

1 Samuel 3:3 says, ‘Before the lamp of God went out, Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.’

I want to build nests that are so filled with an atmosphere of worship that a pleasing fragrance is released that is so irresistible to God that He comes and dwells in the nest and hearing HIs voice becomes not only normal but, expected.  I want to build nests where orphans come home and the Father’s heart and voice is manifested in such strength that, even without any human influence, the spirit of rejection and the orphan spirit are bound and cast off the moment His children enter the nest.  I want to build nests where orphans causally entering the nest are suddenly confronted with such a powerful manifestation of the Father heart that it transform their hearts and a casual visit ends with them finding home.”

Tonight, during our intercessions set, Father God answered with a major breakthrough in Durga.  Durga came into the Prayer Room as we were singing and crying out for God to come into our hearts, to not just pass by, and to burn every idol out of our hearts.  She’s come into the Prayer Room before; however, tonight was different.  Jesus didn’t just walk into the room and He definitely didn’t just pass by.  There is no way Durga could’ve understood what we were singing, she literally knows zero English; however, when we began singing about burning every idol out of our hearts, Durga burst out laughing and started waving her hand as if she was brushing something away.  Jenny couldn’t contain herself, she burst out laughing with Durga and the joy of the Lord hit the Prayer Room.  I began laughing as well.

Father God is answering my prayer, my desire for the Swallow’s Nest.  The atmosphere of worship drew Durga in and also drew Him in and Durga heard from Father God completely not because of anything we did.  All we did was enthrone Him and seek His face.

Father, fill us more with Your grace to worship You and satisfy Your deepest heart’s desire for laid-down worshippers who will worship You in spirit and truth and do Your will and accomplish Your work, the reconciliation of mankind into the full purpose of our existence and the full purpose of worship, relationship with You.

– CLEMENT CHEN

© Clement Chen