She knows how to read Him. So He trusts her. She knows how to perceive Him. So He confides in her. When she’s close and when she’s not around, His soul will be found by her.

She reads Him. In His heart and in His spirit. In His body and in His words. In His mind and in His worth emanating from the surge of God’s Spirit in Him.

She knows how to see Him. So He lets her come closer than anyone else. He trusts her to soothe Him more than anyone else.

Trust manifests from a Spirit connection with another, where you understand one another deeply.

I trust you because you know how to reach me.

In the Bible, Mary Magdalene knew how to reach Jesus.

John chapter 12 tells the story of Mary’s pursuit and timely affections poured out upon Jesus just when he needed it. She knew how to read Him.

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him.”

John 12:1-2

At this dinner, Many people were gathered together to celebrate Jesus. This dinner takes place shortly after the healing of Lazarus whereby he was raised from the dead by Jesus’ own hands. Now he is “reclining at the table” with Jesus. He goes from reclining in a place of death on a table in a tomb to reclining at a table with Jesus in the richness of an evening party. This is what happens when Jesus walks into your life. Everything in your life also comes to life along with you. 

Jesus delights in the people’s presence so He goes to the dinner. Everywhere you see Jesus, people surround Him. They flock to Him. They love Him. 

Everyone else in the room sees His awe and His power. But Mary sees deeper than the surface level occasion for His presence being there. She knows what really weighs on Him. She sees what really aches Him when nobody else is around. So does something for Him in the middle of the evening celebration, without hesitation. 

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” 
‭‭John‬ ‭12:3‬ ‭

At this time, it would seem Jesus had no need for an anointing of perfume while enjoying the party. He was enjoying the people’s company and reveling in the delectable foods. But Mary knew something that no one else noticed.

Mary saw the cross awaiting Jesus before anyone else did.

So she loved him accordingly.

She lavishes honor and affection on Him right in the middle of the party, as if no one else is watching. 

Verse 3 says Mary uses “pure nard.” This was an expensive fragrance used to anoint those whom were to be buried. But Jesus is still alive… he’s laughing… he’s joking… he’s walking… he’s talking… yet Mary knows that Jesus is bound for the tomb. Jesus isn’t saying it. But she’s acting upon the revelation she knows. Jesus isn’t telling it. But Mary is loving Him as if he is already hanging on the cross en route for the tomb and the ressurection. She also knows He will rise again. The same revelation given to her about his burial is a part of the two-fold revelation of his resurrection following.

Still, Mary lives with this supernatural, Holy Spirit discernment to pick up on Jesus’ inner being and His emotions while carrying such a burden everyday in His ministry. Mary knows Jesus is walking with a high cost to sacrifice His life, and so brings her highest costly sacrifice to lay it at His feet. 

Jesus loves Mary for this…

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.”
‭‭John‬ ‭12:7‬ ‭

Jesus wanted her love. He wanted her to read what was going in on internally. Imagine how known Jesus felt in this moment. Everyone is speaking to him surface level, but Mary is interacting with Him in His Spirit and its not a symbolic Spirit. It’s his literal Spirit. She sees it and she knows it. She reads his emotions like a book. Jesus needed that. To be known and seen for the inner pressure he was carrying around with him every single day. No one knew the full extent of this pressure except for His Father. That’s why Jesus often “withdrew” to be alone. The Father was the One who understood Him. Now, for Jesus to find someone who understood Him at such a deep spiritual level beckoned Him to keep Mary close.

Jesus trusted the one who knew Him.

Jesus trusted Mary to be close to Him because she read Him, and she read Him accurately.

Are you reading your lover accurately?

Do you see the depths of your lover’s soul? The ailments and the pains? The joys and the passions?

God wants you to see it all.

Trust the one who sees it all.

“You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.” Psalm 139:1-3

God sees you for all you are… learn how to read the people in your life on a deeper, spiritual level and your relationships will flourish like the pines. Everyone wants to be known for the inner person, and sometimes they don’t want to have to disclose that information on their own. Read the inner person and meet them in that space, in a way that relates, empathizes, encourages and seeks to be one in spirit and love.

Human beings were made to connect on a spiritual, internal level.

You need to know how to read accurately to know what your lover needs at the right time and give it accordingly.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent Me.” John 17:20-21

Jesus is aware of you.

Did you know that?

He’s aware of you now and He was aware of you over 2000 years ago when He prayed to the Father in John chapter 17.

Jesus said “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me…” That is YOU. And ME. The whole WORLD. EVERYBODY. Jesus literally prayed for you then and it’s recorded in the scriptures. It’s not just a metaphor nor an application stemming from symbolic theology. Jesus really did pray for you and He knows you even now. If Jesus was that aware of you then, how much more aware of you is He now? I love You, Jesus, for thinking about us before we ever came into being. 

God is always thinking about you.

When you know the one you love, you see what they see and feel what they feel because it seeps from their aura.

Trust begins with giving trust first.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.” Psalm 143:8

In the morning, put trust in your lover. Let them go about their day freely with you in their heart and their own autonomy blossoming in tandem with your autonomy. You were meant to exist together. And you need to trust the other person to be able to live independently of you when neccessary without fear that they are gone. 

When you tell me you love me, I trust you. I know you’ll never give your heart to another.

When you tell me you need me, I believe you. I know I need you just as much.

When you tell you want me, I give in to you. I know you’re the only one my soul will crave.

Trust gives freedom to the other and in return experiences deeper intimacy from this freeflow of pursuing one another without added pressure, yet with intentional passionate pursuit. Let it flow like a river. Let the waves roll in with the tide. It’s constant and enduring. You don’t have to doubt it. Trust your lover.

You must be willing to trust your lover without questioning them. If you know them intimately, you won’t have to question them because you will already be able to discern how they feel and where they are. This builds higher trust of communication with one another, and vulnerabilities are unraveled in this safe space of intimacy. 

Trust that your lover wants to be known by you.

I trust the one

who know me

loves me

reads me 

receives me

with arms open wide

I know you do

because its in your eyes

“Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.” Genesis 2:25

There is no shame in intimacy. It’s a free garden of delight, both in the physical and in the spiritual. Hearts intertwine and bodies intertwine. It’s an essential ingredient to a healthy love relationship between lovers God anointed to be together. 

Trust that your lover is on your side.

“When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:2

Intimacy with God increases when you recognize He really loves you and is on your side. He walks with you on the path you’re on. He goes before you to protect you from dangers. He shields you from the elements that threaten your livlihood. He isn’t trying to harm you. Rather, it’s all for Him to elevate you and bless you with deeper love and life abundance.

When you know the one you love is for you 100%, at all times, in all ways, you can trust what they say when they give you exhortation. You can trust what they advise when they give you advice. You can trust in their love when they share their heart. You can trust in their personality when they express themselves. Trust authenticates the other person. It helps you to see them for who they are and receive them for who they are. Trust your lover… and embrace them for all they are, knowing they love you fully in return.

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” Psalm 37:3

I see you, my love… and I love everything I see in you.

I trust you. Because you read me… and I read you. We are one in Spirit’s unity. 

the sun comes up

in the morning

because it trusts 

the moon imploring

it to rise

until it can greet the night

at midnight

 

the stars show up

in the evening

because it trusts 

the sun retreating

where it rises

on the other side

of earth’s horizon

 

I trust you to love

because love is who you are

I trust you to shine

because a light is who you are

a star is who you are