Prepared Bride (3Ps) = Passion + Purity + Partner

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  • When you got saved, you became a believer. But you also got engaged in a spiritual sense with a bridegroom named Jesus. Throughout the Old and New Testament, the relationship between the church (us) is compared to a marriage. It is a metaphor, so we can only take the analogy so far. But it represents how close Jesus wants to be to us. We want to take a journey from being a believer to a bride. What does this look like? We will discover 3 characteristics of a bride to Jesus.
  • What is a Prepared Bride?
  • We first need to define a prepared bride. I got this phrase from 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.” So the bride – you and I – get ourself ready. It is a continual process, but once we are made ready, we are a prepared bride. Holy Spirit helps us to get ready, but we have to cooperate. So this formula shows us 3 areas he is making us ready in.
  • Pray Guide: Holy Spirit, I submit to you to work with you to make myself ready.
  • Here is the formula for a Prepared Bride. Prepared Bride = Passion + Purity + Partner
  • Passion
  • The first area and most important to make ourself ready is returning to being in love with Jesus. The Bride is changing to want Jesus more than anything else. Holy Spirit is moving us from the things Jesus does for us to He is enough by himself. The Father is drowning out the peripheral and wanting to center us on Jesus again. Question, if we received nothing else from Jesus, would the relationship with him be enough? Ask Holy Spirit to bring you to this place where your passion and love for him is growing.
  • The first measure of success for a church is not the number of people, or the number of programs, it is his presence. Presence means at least one person of the Trinity has shown up. The number one success metric for us as individuals is are we regularly walking with Jesus. Can you sense his presence? Ask Holy Spirit to make you sensitive to the presence of him, Jesus, and the Father. It is an exciting journey. We are designed to walk passionately with the Trinity.
  • Let’s do an exercise to increase our passion for Jesus. Close your eyes and, in your imagination, picture him. Start talking to him like a friend. Don’t ask for anything. You can start by thanking him for the things he has done in your life. For example, saving you, spouse, job, where you live, etc. Thank him for whatever comes to your mind. Gratitude is a great passion starter. Then pause and be quiet. Often you will hear a still small voice inside of you speaking back. When this happens, realize you are conversing with the one who made you! Do this daily, even if just for a few minutes.
  • “Draw me, we will run after thee…”, Song of Solomon 1:4. Jesus wants us to voluntarily follow after him. This is the desire of his heart. No forcing into a relationship. He desires passionate lovers not formulaic ones. It says in Revelation 19:9 that we are blessed when we are called to the marriage supper of the lamb (Jesus). This represents deep relationship. Do you want to be called to depth? You say “I Do” at salvation, but that is like engagement. We can grow in intimacy. Say yes draw me! Call me! I want to run after you.
  • Purity
  • Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. Purity is not just externally doing what is right. It is also having an internal desire to be transparent, authentic, and clear before God. It is saying, “Jesus, I want nothing between you and me.” Ask Holy Spirit to give you the power and self-control to live where there is nothing externally or internally between you and God. The reward for your hard work is in you will see God.
  • When we think of purity, often our minds think of abstinence, sobriety or having a clean, sinless life. Though these things are a part of purity, they are external purities. Jesus says “pure in heart,” which is referring to internal purity, once again showing His concern with our heart’s position. Jesus is transforming our hearts. Our passion and love (1st variable in the formula) for Him translates into a hunger to know Him and a thirst to live like Him. This is a pure heart. A heart that desires nothing more than to be with God.
  • The power of internal purity is when we are honest. We need to stop the perpetual church movement. We move so much we aren’t still. Stop the wearing of masks because we think that is what he wants. Sit down and say, “Jesus, here I am. I love you. This is the what I do and think. I give myself to you. Thank you, that you I will become like you as I sit with you in rest. I can trust you. I want to be vulnerable with you.”
  • Partner
  • What I am about to say seems counter-intuitive. Stop seeking your purpose. I am not a goal setter in the classic sense. There is no way I could have predicted even 5 years ago what I am doing now with him. Focus on loving him with a clear heart. As you do, you become a faithful partner to him. Through this process, he will call you to do things WITH him. This will then be your purpose. Embrace him and he will include you in what he wants to do with you. You have a purpose. We only found it in him. It really is that simple. Relax and enjoy him. He is not concerned about our purpose like we are. He is only looking for partners is what he is doing.
  • I often hear, but I want to do the supernatural. You will if you walk with him. He is supernatural. When we teach people to do the supernatural, let’s make sure that they are passionate and in love with him more than the supernatural. And then when you’re in love with Jesus, eventually you do the supernatural, cause that’s what he’s doing.
  • The supernatural requires power. First, for ourselves to walk in the 9 fruits (Galatians 5:22 & 23). Second, to do the works that Jesus did (9 Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:7-11). Power is a person. That person is Holy Spirit. It is not something mystical that is floating around that we try to grab. It comes through partnering with him. Acts 1:8a spells this out, “But you will receive power WHEN the Holy Spirit comes on you;”. If you stay close to Holy Spirit, he will make sure you have all the power you need to do what he is asking. Ask him daily for power to accomplish inward and outward assignments.
  • This formula represents 3 things Holy Spirit is doing in us to be prepared to walk with Jesus closely. Again, we can’t do any of these on our own. Being a prepared bride is all about living close to the Trinity. They together will guide us into passion, purity, and partnership. Live close and you will be amazed at how you are transformed!
Categories: Bride of Jesus

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