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Bondservant of Jesus Christ; beloved nurturer of His Bride; teacher of the Word; psalmist
with
Great South Land Ministries
Named after The Great South Land of the Holy Spirit
Cheryl McGrath walks with God. Wooed by the Lord, adoring His presence, grounded in the Word, and matured into sound wisdom, Cheryl is passionate about nurturing Christ's love within the Bride. She has been groomed over time and ushered by the Lord into ministry through Great South Land Ministries in Australia (see Bio). They have recently released a CD of anointed worship songs called, "Nothing Can Rob Me of the Cross." Cheryl is known respectfully by several spiritual children as "mama Cheryl." Her insight is like a sweet whisper from the Spirit; you will see that it displays the level of intimacy dawning upon the Bride for our time.
Gemma: Welcome, Cheryl! Could you begin by describing your relationship with the Lord when you are alone with Him?
Cheryl:
Since my early years I have always been given to prayer, and as I grew in the Lord I loved the "coming aside" for refreshment in the Word and for unburdening my heart to Jesus. However, in the early nineties, after I'd been a believer for many years, I guess you could say the Holy Spirit totally apprehended my spiritual walk and I was completely and irreversibly revived. It's impossible for me any longer to think of meeting with the Lord in the secret place as being something separate from every other aspect of my daily life. Jesus began to reveal Himself to me in those quiet "aside" times in a way I had never previously known was possible in this life. We've been deeply immersed in a love affair ever since. As a result of this personal revival, I went through a long season of discovering the unequaled joy of spiritual intimacy with Christ, the Bridegroom and Lover of my soul. So much so that I longed to spend all my time only in that place of intimacy, beholding His beauty and hearing the sweetness of His Voice. I hated coming away from that place to go about my "normal" activities to the point where it hurt. I would often say to Him, "I want to live here, at Your feet", and He would gently reply, "I want you to go out, and return here. You can't spend your life here in seclusion with Me, but I will be with You." At the time I couldn't understand why not, yet at the same time I was learning that you cannot enjoy the deepest intimacy with Christ unless you yield to the work of the Cross in your life and embrace Him even in the fellowship of His sufferings. Now, I have to add that as beautiful and fulfilling as that secret place is, I'm discovering it's more of a beginning than a culmination. For there is a deep communion, an uninterrupted oneness with Jesus, that comes forth from both delighting in Him and suffering with Him, where you can live every hour of every day in the Spirit. The Bible calls it that old-fashioned word "abiding" and I believe we as the church have largely not even begun to grasp what it means to abide in Christ and have Him abide in us. It's more than resting in Him - it's oneness; a single-mindedness in and with Him that overrules all the arguments of flesh and overrides all natural laws and inclinations. It is not constant conversation with Him, because it's far deeper than conversation, though conversation with Him can take place at any time on any level. I would say rather it is a deep unbroken, often-unspoken communion that remains and is totally unrelated to one's surroundings or present circumstances.
This abiding communion doesn't replace those intimate times of "coming aside" to Jesus, rather it complements and enhances those times, because it's a place where you have come aside permanently in the Spirit. Consequently, there is a constant flowing between these two different expressions of communion, one in the secret place and the other wherever I may find myself at any time. That's why I say I find it impossible to separate my spiritual walk into those "coming aside private times" and "the rest of the time". The communion that is continually rediscovered in times of intimate one-on-one time with the Lord continues and remains constantly active as we engage in other activities. And that time of intimacy also becomes the natural outflow of this deep communion that has been taking place in the Spirit before and after coming aside. This means, for me, there is no single "quiet time", but simply a continual movement between these two expressions of intimacy. Though I like to "come aside" privately with the Lord in the morning of each day to make myself available to Him before anything else, it is also understood between us that if He calls, I will come because He is my first love. Many times I may be involved in other activities in home or ministry, and He will call me aside, simply to be with Him. It is not a burden for me to leave whatever I am doing and go and sit with Him, because we are already abiding in unbroken communion. My body and soul are simply responding to what is already happening in the Spirit, where there is a continuous calling of deep to deep. I have become so in-love with the Lover of my soul that I am always on alert for His call, His smile, just the glance of His Eyes, and I will abandon all else to run to meet with Him, even for a few moments. But I no longer fret for those moments, because the sense of His love in me and through me abides constantly, whatever I am engaged in. As He said "He in us, and we in Him."
As a mother of four, I was not always in a position to do this, and I mean to place no burden on others, especially women, who find it very difficult to get any time with the Lord, alone or otherwise. The Shulemite introduced the Beloved in this way: "This is My Beloved, and this is my Friend..." and I think that is probably the best way I can summarize what I am trying to convey. He has become both My Beloved and My Friend. The One who thrills my soul with His beauty, His love and His majesty, and at the same time my trusted faithful Friend whose fellowship I treasure above all else. I love the comfort of resting in His arms or leaning on His breast, but I also am constantly being renewed and invigorated by His companionship. He knows me and yet He loves me and that is the most secure and freest atmosphere one can possibly enjoy in this world. He brings us to His banqueting house of love, and He also leads us forth to the field and the vineyard (SOS 7:11,12). This is our Beloved, and this is also our Friend. You know, the apostle John was given a vision of the Bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21:9). In the original Greek language those two words, "bride" and "wife", are not the same. Bride is "numphe" meaning betrothed, or one newly married, a young wife, while wife in the same verse is "gune", a word used elsewhere in scripture to denote a more mature, established married woman. My point is that John was shown the mature Bride (numphe) who is also referred to as the "wife (gune) of the Lamb". The young passionate Bride must mature into the faithful Wife, without losing any of her passion for the Bridegroom. That's why I believe that the betrothed Bride must grow in relationship with the Bridegroom as her Beloved, but also as her Friend. The Bridegroom desires a Bride who is at ease with Him both in the bedchamber and on the battlefield.
Tessa: To follow on from what you have just said, I'd like to refer readers now to your excellent teaching on the nature of our intimacy with Christ as posted on your website: Letter to a Reluctant Bride. It clearly defines the intensity and the boundaries of our biblical relationship.
Bo: Could you outline your calling and ministry to the Bride of Christ for us?
Cheryl:
I was a believer for many years before I realized that the Bible teaches we all serve the same Lord through different and diverse ministries (1 Cor. 12:4). I was trying to be all things to all people, and thereby hindering the Spirit in growing me in the specific area of ministry to which I was being called. You can begin to identify your calling by the involuntary stirring that rises in you when you think or talk about certain spiritual needs. As I said, it's taken many years, partly due to my own lack of spiritual "parenting" and partly due to other factors, but the Lord has made it abundantly clear to me that I am currently called to equip, strengthen, nurture, and encourage His Bride-Church through the impartation of revelatory teaching and other specific anointing He has given me for that purpose. I suppose the revelation of this calling began to become real to me in the late nineties when I had a night- time visitation from Jesus. He came as the Risen Lamb and I was terrified by this manifestation of His Presence. He spoke with me in a language I did not understand in my natural mind and His Voice sounded like the rushing of many rivers. He reached out and imparted something to me, touching me on my right arm. It wasn't until much later I understood, through the Holy Spirit, what He actually said to me, but from that time on I began to recognize and accept I had a specific, defined call on my life which I believe was always there in a dormant form. During that encounter the Lord activated and released it. He has more closely defined and confirmed my specific calling on several occasions since then - not in spectacular "thunder from Heaven" terms - mostly with His constantly reassuring Voice drawing me and encouraging me, especially at times when I have been less than cooperative (which has been often!).
One of the ways in which the Lord affirmed me in this call was through Matthew 24:45, & 46, which speaks of the wise and faithful steward who gives food to the Master's household in due season. At times I have become a little overwhelmed by my intense awareness of the responsibility of being faithful to this call, which is apostolic in nature. It was at such a time that the Lord quickened that passage to me. After that, it became easier because I could think of myself primarily as a "steward" in the Lord's house. It's a word that combines authority with the essential ingredients of servanthood and humility, and that sits well with me. There is a section in Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church where he speaks of the "field" or "sphere" of ministry that God has appointed him to (2 Cor. 10:13-16). That passage too has been of great help to me in coming to realize I am not expected to have an answer for every question, or to minister effectively in every area of Body-life. I have, as each of us do, a specific field of ministry where I have been called to give my attention, and which in time if I am faithful, will be expanded. The Bride of Christ is my major field of ministry. Of course, I am still growing into my calling, as most of us are, but I have been equipped to minister in that specific field and therefore I am quite passionate about the subject of the Lord's Bride. I am jealous over her with a fervent protection and agonize inwardly over her when I discern her response to the Bridegroom to be less than what He is worthy of. There have been times when I have been led to rebuke the Bride, and times when I have been led to wash her feet. You dare not do the former if you can't do the latter by the way. I was taught for many years that the whole church is the Bride of Christ. I've come to believe the whole Church is CALLED as the Bride of Christ, but only a faithful remnant are attaining that call. Many are called, few are chosen, and those who ride with the Lamb are called, chosen, and most importantly, FAITHFUL (see Rev. 17:14 ). When Mary of Bethany sat at the feet of Jesus the kisses of His mouth (His Word) rained down on her. It was a place she chose though all her tradition, culture, and family's expectations said otherwise. Her family said she should not be idle; her tradition said she should be serving the men; her culture said she should not be taught because she was a woman. But Jesus said "... what she has chosen shall not be taken from her." The place she chose is the place of the adoring Bride - "let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth." All in the church are called to this place, but not all will choose it.
Peter: Can you share any birthing experiences that you have had with the Holy Spirit for us?
Cheryl:
I often feel like I am both giving birth and being birthed simultaneously. There are many individual and separate instances I can think of when the Holy Spirit has enabled me to "birth" something on the earth that had already been decreed in Heaven. This is the essence of prophetic intercession. But in a more general and consistent way, there is an ongoing birthing whereby we are privileged to fellowship with the Spirit in bringing forth the Kingdom here on the earth. For me personally, even over and above any specific intercessory burdens I may receive from the Spirit, there is a constant travail happening in my spirit for the forming of Christ in His church. It ebbs and flows in intensity just as natural labor does. I find I identify very closely with Paul's words to the Galatians when he wrote "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you....." (Gal. 4:19). The outstanding word in that verse for me is "again", because this travailing for Christ's Bride to be totally conformed to His image is very much an ongoing travail that resounds throughout all of Heaven and all of creation. I see my part in it as no more than yielding to the will of Heaven and allowing myself to be a vessel - one of many throughout church history - that will help carry that travail to its completion.
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