Blessed is the Bride of Christ

The marriage covenant is so important to God that it is woven through the pages of the Bible from the book of Genesis right through to the book of Revelation. The goal of a covenant marriage is to Glorify God and exemplify Christ to the world. Jesus makes it crystal clear that if we are to be His Bride we have to give up this life

Source: We Believe 2016

I was recently praying to Abba Father and I asked Him; ‘what would a service look like if all His children in attendance came with the sole purpose and desire to meet and Glorify His beloved Son Jesus Christ?’ Can you Imagine a service where the future Bride of Jesus Christ turns up with one purpose and one purpose only; to spend intimate time worshipping their beloved, their first love (Revelation 2:4). A gathering of believers, so on fire with passion for Jesus that no water could put the fire out; Song of Solomon 8:7 ‘Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away’. Wow what a service that would be.

Song of Solomon 5 tells us that the Shalamite woman heard a knocking at her door but she was sleepy and slow to get off her bed, when she did eventually get off her bed and open the door her lover was gone. I pray that Holy Spirit will help the Bride of Christ to never be sleepy; Revelation 3:2 ‘Wake up!’ I pray that we will be wide awake and always ready with extreme excitement for when our lover returns. Imagine the excitement of a newly married couple coming together for the first time on their wedding night. I believe that they would be so focused on one another that nothing from the world would distract them from their night of intimacy. What an even greater honour and privilege for the Bride of Christ Jesus, to be in a intimate relationship with the beloved son of God Almighty, to Love Him, to Praise Him and to have fellowship with Him.

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From the beginning to the end of the book Song of Solomon we witness the Shalamite woman growing in confidence and maturity. In Song of Solomon 2:16 she says; ‘My beloved is mine…….’, she lacks confidence and is selfish, she is claiming her lover first but by Song of Solomon 6:3 she says; ‘I am my beloved’s…..’; now we see evidence of less selfish behaviour and she is giving herself to her lover before claiming Him as hers. Then finally in Song of Solomon 7:10 she says; ‘I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me’; now she has matured and confidently knows that her lover claims her as His own. I pray that as the Bride of Jesus Christ there is evidence of us growing in maturity and that the Bride will confidently and boldly claim that she has made herself ready; Revelation 19:7 ‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready’, ready to spend all eternity with her beloved, He whom her soul loves and adores. Just the thought of it makes me want to dance like how King David danced, hallelujah to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

The marriage covenant is so important to God that it is woven through the pages of the Bible from the book of Genesis right through to the book of Revelation. The goal of a covenant marriage is to Glorify God and exemplify Christ to the world. Jesus makes it crystal clear that if we are to be His Bride we have to give up this life; Luke 9:23-24 ‘Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it’. Jesus will not tolerate anything coming before him; Matthew 10:37 ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me’. Jesus even warns us of the cost of following Him where He tells us in Matthew 10:22-23 that we will be hated by this world just like He was hated. We are also warned in Revelation 2:10 that persecution is coming, but we must stay strong and not conform to this world (Romans 12:2). We should know with confidence that we are born again of water and of the Spirit; John 3:5 ‘Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit’.

The Living Holy Word of God warns us so many times that Jesus will return for His bride like a thief in the night; Revelation 3:3 ‘Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you’. It is therefore our responsibility to be ready at a fraction of a moments notice.

Father God in the Name of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit I pray that you will continue to protect your Church on earth so that everything we do brings Glory to your Name.  Help us to always have the oil in our lamps (Matthew 25 1-13). Use us to be the beautiful feet of Jesus that bring the Good News to this world and let the people know that one day soon and very soon we are going to see the King. Thank you God Almighty for loving and protecting your children and thank you for the incredible gift of your beloved son Jesus.  We love and adore you with all our hearts. Amen.

Songs of Solomon 8:6 ‘Place me like a seal over your heart…….’.

God Bless.

Author: Christina O’Neill

May God bless and enrich your life
  
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A Journey of Obedience

Obedience is the highest form of worship. If we love God, we should obey him

Source: Exhortation

Five years ago, this month I packed two suitcases and got on a plane to Burundi having said a big ‘yes’ to Papa God to step out to the unknown of a missionary life overseas. Recently, I was asked to share some of my story and I’ve found myself reflecting on this journey of obedience. I couldn’t have planned or written the story myself, but God has clearly weaved this beautiful, and sometimes painful, journey into existence:

The resignation letter… I clearly remember sitting with my boss, at a big London children’s hospital where I worked as a Pharmacist, with the letter shaking in my hand. I passed it to him and when he read the letter he asked me what I was going to do when I leave. The truth was, I didn’t know. I guessed something to do with mission work, but there was no clear plan, and if you know me I always have a plan. A plan for the day, a plan for the week, a plan for food, a plan for holidays, a plan for gifts, a plan for church activities, a plan for……. and here I was without a clear plan for the next step, post resignation. My boss handed me back the letter and encouraged me to keep the letter until I had plan. We played ‘pass the letter tennis’ for a few minutes as I shared that God had asked me to hand in my resignation, which I was now doing in obedience.

Preparation time… After finishing my job, I moved to All Nations Christian College and did a three month ‘En Route to Mission’ course with an idea I would go to Burundi as a missionary. God was so kind, as amongst the 13 students on the course there was a man from Burundi, which was a little confirmation that I was in the right place at the right time. From there I went to Burundi for a month to visit organisations and then on to Mozambique where I participated in Iris Global Harvest School for the first time. God knew I needed to receive His love and be completely transformed and forever changed so I could serve Him here in Burundi.

Feet on the ground… I arrived in Burundi with a two-week plan to stay with Burundian friends. The two weeks turned into seven months and I not only immersed myself in the culture, but learnt the language, as well as what stepping out in faith looks like. Looking back God gave such a grace for that time. I remember the laughter I caused the family with my screams when the rats (well probably big mice) ran over my face in the bed, the visitors, the different foods and the day I got caught in the floods and had to be carried over a river.

Source: Read My Bible Study - WordPress.com

Overcoming fear… Sometimes our journey requires us to overcome fear. It was a few days after the family first let me out by myself. I came back from town on the bus and as I walked across a dirt school playground I noticed a young man who had followed me from church on numerous occasions, was suddenly alongside me. Fear set in, the real deal fear that chokes at the neck. He had found me. I turned around and half-ran half-tripped back to the main road and just jumped into a passing taxi. The next day I had a choice – do I go out again by myself or let fear control me? I was reminded of a key life verse; Romans 8:15 ‘The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’. So, I decided to not live in fear, but as a Child of God to walk in confidence and knowing my inheritance and that I could ask God to hide me supernaturally if the young man was there.

Angels all around… I will never ever know the number of times angels have protected me here in Burundi. One day clearly sticks in my mind when I drove my good friend and her new baby to the vaccination clinic. They were both in the front passenger seat with no seatbelt. It was a clear good road and I remember driving at about 45mph on the dual carriageway. A bus parked at the side of the road pulled out and started driving across the dual carriageway in front of me to turn the other way. I slammed on the brakes, but knew we were not going to stop in time. My only option was to shout ‘Jesus’, and the next thing I knew the steering wheel had turned and the car came to a stop a finger gap from the turning bus. A miracle.

A move to the mountains… A year later God moved me up into the mountains to serve the beautiful TCOAC (The Cries of a Child) family. I had read many previous blogs about the joys and tears of being on the frontline in a rural Burundian village, especially babies needing milk as their mamas had died in childbirth. Opening a medical clinic and working on logistics such as no fuel for the generator which was needed for the oxygen machine. One of the babies was heavily dependent on oxygen! The journey there was clearly God, but there were days I literally started to pack my suitcase to leave, but I kept hearing God’s gentle whisper, ‘Don’t run away’ and I reluctantly unpacked my bag. That is where I really grew, in character, in using my gifts, in leadership, and in learning to trust and of course, it was in my obedience of staying that I met Claude!

Journey of obedience… So, what is the point of me sharing all this? Well, I think I am so challenged about obedience and continuing to walk on this journey of obedience and want to encourage you on your journey. Obedience is the highest form of worship. If we love God, we should obey him (see John 14:15,21,23). At church yesterday morning, the Preacher spoke about how Abram had to be obedient in Genesis 12:1-2 ‘The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing’.

We often want the blessing and our name to be made great, but obedience comes before the blessing. Please hear me, I can give you many examples of getting it wrong, of being disobedient, of falling short, and messing it up. Pray for me to hear God and to walk in obedience! Pray for Claude and I to hear God and to walk in obedience so we can be a blessing to the Nation of Burundi. May God bless you.

Author: Ruth Baraberewe

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Only God knows who I really am!

When we want to know who we truly are and what we are really worth, we shouldn't be looking to those around us, we should be asking God. When you see yourself through His eyes you find hope and an overwhelming sense of pure love

Source: PInterest

Have you ever felt not good enough, not worthy to be loved by anyone, let alone God!? Have you ever felt like all you do is mess up, make mistakes, unworthy of forgiveness? When I was young I was bullied, and it became a defining moment in my life. For a whole year in school I didn't tell anyone about how I was feeling and it was painful and when I eventually told my parents I cried so hard I couldn't speak and could barely breathe, in fact, I wasn't sure it would ever stop. Ever since then, I think I have always cared too much about what other people think of me, which has had a huge and negative impact on my own self-worth. I have often had little confidence or self-esteem and I have struggled to believe that anyone could really love me, because I'm just not worth that love. However, here is the thing, no matter where I go and who I meet in life, no-one is ever going to know me the way God does, not even me! He is my creator, He knows every part of me, the good and the bad. He knows how I will deal with what life throws at me, He knows how I feel, He knows my inner most thoughts, and incredibly, He loves me completely and unconditionally at all times and in all circumstances! I might not be able to understand it, but it doesn't stop it being true; 1 John 4:16 ‘And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them’.

When we want to know who we truly are and what we are really worth, we shouldn't be looking to those around us, we should be asking God. When you see yourself through His eyes you find hope and an overwhelming sense of pure love. At the end of the day we are human, and we will mess up, but luckily for us, the Lord will always love us and forgive us for our sins if we ask. I look at the bible and it is full of people who can't help but mess up. When I read it I can't help but think 'no, why would you do that?' although I know my life is littered with those moments too. It fills me with hope that even someone like King David wasn't perfect however the Lord said in Acts 13:22 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’. David took another man’s wife and had that man killed! But he repented and the Lord still loved him. In Exodus 3:11 Moses found himself unworthy; ‘But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ Moses didn't believe he could be used by the Lord and yet God used Moses to rescue the Israelites from their misery and slavery. Even Solomon in all his wisdom, eventually followed other Gods - not so wise you may think, but he allowed himself to be led by the love for his numerous wives rather than his God.

Source: Seeds Family Worship

The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, which we see in the new testament when He predicts that Peter will deny Him three times; Matthew 26:31-34 ‘Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee’. Peter replied, ‘Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will’. ‘Truly I tell you’, Jesus answered, ‘this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times’. Peter, who loved the Lord deeply, couldn't imagine ever doing such a thing. I am sure the Lord knew exactly how much Peter loved Him and how He believed he could never do such a thing, but the Lord also knew the situation that Peter would be in when faced with that particular challenge, surrounded by people and being accused....

We aren't perfect, that honour belongs to the Lord alone, but if we are feeling lonely and struggling with who we are and what we are worth, don't look to the world for answers, because you will only find darkness and pain and misery. It is a real challenge because naturally we look to others, especially those close to us for their opinions, validation, love. However, those in the world are human too and will let us down, get it wrong and upset us. I still struggle with it all, but I’m trying to learn that I must spend time seeking out what God thinks of me and to base my identity in that alone. Look to the creator, the one who knitted you together in your mother’s womb and created you just as you are for a reason; Psalm 139:13 ‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb’. Don't be defined by your past anymore. You are, who He says you are and He is who He says He is, in that you can trust!

Author:Rebekah Cronk

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God will never let you down!

By trusting in the Lord in all things and being obedient (even when things are tough), beautiful blessings happen. This is a promise of God mentions all over the bible.

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God has wisdom, hindsight and understanding far more than any of us will ever have, which although at times is frustrating for us as we try to take control of situations ourselves. It is an absolute comfort and reassurance that such a knowledgeable, loving God is in control and knows exactly what must (or must not) happen at exactly the right times in our lives – He will never let us down.

Although we are Christians, we are also humans and it is human nature to feel the need to ‘fix things’. Whether it is work issues, relationships, finances, decisions etc. there is always something in some capacity that we think we can be in control of fixing, changing or swaying in a certain direction. However, sometimes it is necessary for us to lose that something or someone or maybe not to get that job/promotion at that time because God knew that we wouldn’t be able to serve Him, if we went to that place or situation at that specific time. The reality is that by taking control ourselves we are not trusting God.

God loves us with an unconditional, agape love and He has plans to prosper us not harm us; Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’. Sometimes to lose something is to actually gain and draw us closer to Him. For a while now I have felt a calling upon my life, but I have continued comfortably in my day-to-day routine and taken no steps in making that calling a reality. I have recently been experiencing a very challenging time at work, watching my colleagues and friends being bullied and another colleague having a nervous breakdown. Other colleagues have been on long term sick leave. It has been particularly painful time and on a number of occasions I have tried to take control and almost thrown the towel in. I now realize that God has me there and has let me go through this trauma to wake me up, to draw me closer to Him and to get things moving with His calling for me which is now underway. As well as being the only Christian at my workplace I am able to strengthen and witness to others.

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Another example of this in my life is having to say goodbye to someone dear to me, which is never easy and not something at the time that I wanted… but, God knew best. In a moment it is so easy to try and change a situation, however God is in control; Colossians 1:17 ‘He is before all things, and in him all things hold together’. God knows what is and what is not good for us and even although we may not see or feel it at the time, sometimes it is best for things to actually be taken away. By trusting in the Lord in all things and being obedient (even when things are tough), beautiful blessings happen. This is a promise of God mentions all over the bible; Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight’, and Isaiah 43:2 ‘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’.

As Christians we are not exempt from enduring trails and going through difficult seasons, however we have a God who is bigger and stronger than any challenge we face. We need to stay strong through the storm and just do nothing except pray and draw closer and closer to Him, trusting in Him and the promises He gives us. He is the Lion of Judah and is continually fighting our battles - There is nothing that will not work out for good if we hand it over to God and wholly surrender to Him, (as the song below declares) ‘He will NEVER let you down’.

Interestingly just after finishing this blog I read my daily devotion and a part of it seems so fitting to this blog ‘Do you have this spirit in your prayers to God? Are you able to thank him for his divine and sovereign working, even when it crosses your own desires?’. God bless.

Author: Anonymous

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