the bride

The Bride of the Lamb
11-30-08
The Holy Spirit seemed to highlight “consolation” to me, and He began speaking to my heart . . . He (God) is hurt when we treat His choices as the “consolation prize” instead of being thrilled to know Him better by what He reveals to us. Sometimes His children think that it is a big deal when they move through their trials and come to the point of accepting God’s ultimate outcome. But the acceptance, when not mixed with the joy of walking with God, brings a dampening to the relationship between the people walking through trials and their God. It is as if the people are accepting much less than they wanted for themselves, yet are receiving the “prize” to console themselves for their hard efforts. This does not honor God. It does not honor the heart of One who loves us and walks through trials with us.

The Husband, Jesus, seeks a Bride that thrills to know Him. A selfish bride that only wants to be known and have her way will be discourage when she finds out that her husband wants another way; his own. But a bride that loves her husband also loves to learn her husband’s ways so that she might please him better. The outcome of trials reveals his heart to her, as does the walk through everyday’s joys and hardships. Paul wrote “I want to know Christ.” (Phil 3:10,11). Do we want to know our husband? Of course we do. The rest of this verse is “and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Knowing Jesus as our husband is uniting with Him in suffering as well as good times, sorrow as well as in joy. But it is more; it is accepting His will with the thrill of a new bride who is learning the ways of the One she loves and desires to make happy.