I was re-reading this book awhile ago, and I had written down this part
the Body of Christ. I just had to share!
[NOTE: This is for everyone, for we are all the bride of Christ…though this example may probably relate just a wee bit more in ways to women.]
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I hope you enjoy it and glean from it as much as I did when I read it. Take this seriously, for real.
Think about it. Ask the Lord to reveal to you anything in your heart that is not right. Repent of whatever that may be. Move forward into knowing new and deeper depths of His love that you have never realized was there. You can always go deeper, always, you have never arrived.
I know for me I've been reassessing my heart, because I so desperately want to be a place of transparency. I want Jesus to so shine through me, that there is nothing of ME left. I just want people to see Him for who He truly is in my life and be radically changed because of Him, nothing more, nothing less.
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"A radiant bride greeted her guests with a brilliant smile as she entered the reception hall after the wedding ceremony. She gracefully moved about the room, the train of her white gown flowing along behind her, her veil cascading down her button-adorned back.
She conversed with each guest one by one, taking the time to mingle and soak up the compliments."You look absolutely lovely." "Your dress is divine." "I've never seen a more beautiful bride." "What a stunning ceremony." The lavish praises rang on and on. The bride couldn't be more proud or more appreciative of the crowd's adoration. She could have listened to them swoon over her all evening. As a matter a fact, she did.
But where was the groom? All the attention was focused on the bride and never once did she call anyone's attention to her husband. She didn't even notice his absence at her side. Scanning the room, I searched for him, wondering, Where could he be?
I finally found him, but not where I expected him to be. The groom stood alone in the corner of the room with his head down. As he stared at his ring, twisting the gold band that his bride had just placed on his finger, tears trickled down his cheeks and onto his hands. That is when I noticed the nail scars. The groom was Jesus.
He waited, but the bride never once turned her face toward her groom.She never held His hand. She never introduced the guests to Him. She operated independently of Him.
I awoke with a sick feeling in my stomach, realizing that I'd been dreaming. "Lord, is this how I made you feel when I was looking for love in all the wrong places?" I wept at the thought of hurting Him so deeply.
Unfortunately, this dream illustrates exactly what is happening between God and millions of His people. He betroths Himself to us, we take His name, and then we go about our lives looking for love, attention, and affection from every source under the sun except from the Son of God, the Lover of our souls.
Oh, how Jesus longs for us to acknowledge Him, to introduce Him to our friends, to withdraw to be alone with Him, to cling to Him for our identity, to gaze longingly into His eyes, to love Him with all our heart and soul."
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He has taken me out of so much- I used to live a life where I endlessly turned to other things looking for satisfaction and acceptance and was consumed by things that had taken hold of me. But He set me FREE from myself, from all other bondage, and has brought me to Himself.
This is our call..this is why this I am embarking on this journey God has led me to go on. He has called me to go and to show others that NOTHING and NO ONE else will ever, EVER, truly satisfy their hearts or their souls besides the invasion of Jesus Christ and being consumed in His everlasting love. This is why I go, this is why I have such urgency in my heart, this is why I am moved to action. So many NEED to know this!
"I'll say goodbye to my Father, my Mother, I'll turn by back on every other lover and I'll press on, yes I'll, press on…"
