MY BRIDE ~ MY BRIDE ~ MY BRIDE
BLOG #31
It was shortly after my husband died when I heard the audible voice, as that of a herald, announcing, “My Bride, My Bride, My Bride.” I immediately awoke to see that it was about 4:00AM and I was alone in the room. Yet the sound and the words continued reverberating in my soul. It was real. Recognizing the call of God, I got to my knees and answered, “Yes, here I am.”
As I continued pondering about this surreal experience, I understood several things about that call. It was not only to me, but to all those who are indeed His Bride, also known as His Church. The time of the call was significant, as it was shortly after I became a widow. He was reminding me that even though I was a recent widow, reeling in shock, engulfed in grief, covered with pain, uncertain about the future, and blinded by the darkness that comes with death, my identity was sealed as His Bride. It was His way of saying, “Your husband may have died, but I didn’t. You are my Bride.”
It’s the same call He is making to His Church today, His global Bride, to those who answer His proposal of marriage, with a resounding YES. That even though we may be in the midst of death, darkness, persecution, pain, shock, disappointment, barrenness, etc., our Bridegroom is not dead. Rather, He comes even closer and seals our identity in Him and heralds it to the world, “This is my Bride.”
As His Bride, He wants to clothe us in bridal attire that readily identifies who and whose we are. Just as an earthly bride is dressed to stand out from everyone else on her wedding day, so He is preparing us to stand out, in full Bridal attire for the world to see. He dresses us, we don’t dress ourselves. Just as Adam and Eve attempted to dress/cover themselves in the garden with fig leaves, we cannot cover ourselves. Any attempt to do so is futile and disqualifies us as His Bride. In other words, this is not about us, it’s about the Groom. Our responsibilities are to have an eternal “YES” in our heart towards Him and our eyes glued on this irresistible Groom.
Once we accept His proposal, unlike the world system, our Bridegroom then prepares everything. He initiates the preparations and partners with us every step of the way. We, therefore, wait on His timing, rest in His wisdom, and revel in His intoxicating love. As in a bridal shower, we allow Him to shower us with His kindness, favor, mercy, grace, unconditional love and surprise gifts that we cannot think of nor imagine. He watches, protects and guards us with ardent jealousy, and will leave everyone else to come after us should our wondering eyes lead us astray. Our Groom sees no darkness in us because He looks at us through the lens of pure, undefiled, and incomprehensible love that outshines any darkness. As His Bride, we bask in the constant stream of His goodness, faithfulness and inconceivable attention, the intensity of which surpasses every external circumstance.
This is no ordinary Groom. Therefore, we are no ordinary Bride. We are dressed differently, inside and out. So fixated are we on our Groom, He becomes the object of every thought, every conversation and the motivation for everything we do. As we draw closer to Him, He draws closer to us. His thoughts become our thoughts. His ways our ways. His likes and dislikes become ours. His joys and weeping become ours and we join in His celebrations and intercession. His voice drowns out the noise and mindsets of this world. Unquestionably, as His Bride, we no longer fit in with the crowd nor the ways of this world.
“My Bride, My Bride, My Bride,” our Bridegroom calls out with fervent delight, zealous excitement and eager anticipation. Are you dressed and ready to partake in His lavish, glorious and eternal wedding feast?
Shalom
(Reference from W.A.Vega ~ Beyond Religion, Incomprehensible)