As I sit down to write this it is a very late Monday night.\u00a0 But I had to get out of bed to start writing as my heart once again is burning with a message from the Lord.\u00a0 The Lord is desperately wanting to reveal Himself in a new way in these last days.\u00a0 Christ is wanting desperately for His people to know Him as a lover, for us to be His bride.\u00a0 I know this doesn\u2019t make sense to a lot of people so let me explain. There are many different types of relationships that we can have with God, depending on the person of the Godhead we are referring to (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit).\u00a0 The three relationships being 1) the child of God (knowing God as our father), 2) being the bride of Christ (Knowing Jesus as our lover\/the bridal paradigm), and 3) being a student of the Holy Spirit (knowing the Holy Spirit as our counselor, comforter, and best friend).<\/p>\n
The relationship type burning on my heart at this moment is the one that I think is most neglected, misunderstood, and unfortunately rarely experienced by the church. (and when I say church I mean the body of Christ as a whole).\u00a0 The relationship type I\u2019m referring to is knowing Christ as our lover (being the bride of Christ).\u00a0 Many people get weirded out when they hear that Jesus is supposed to be our lover . . . Especially guys, but it\u2019s not weird at all when you actually begin to understand it.<\/p>\n
The Bible teaches that since Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross that we can now BOLDLY come before the throne of grace.\u00a0 And of course if the Bible says it it\u2019s true.\u00a0 We as the children of God can now boldly come before God even with all our junk, baggage, and sin because Christ has made us righteous.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to change anything to come before God the Father.\u00a0 When we come to Him, being in His presence will change us – not vice versa.\u00a0 That is the first step. That is knowing God as Father, and that will get us to Heaven, but the Father desires for us to also live as the bride of Christ.<\/p>\n
Just like a natural marriage requires faithfulness, loyalty, and devotion to operate properly so does our marriage to Christ.\u00a0 Over and over again through out scripture the Bible references us as being the \u201cBride of Christ\u201d and Ephesians 5 actually paints a picture for us of how natural marriage is to be a picture of the relationship we are to have with Christ.\u00a0 The intimacy that a husband and wife experience with each other is the same kind of intimacy that Christ desires to share with us. There is no greater love than the selfless love experienced in a covenant marriage relationship.\u00a0 It is that depth of relationship that Christ wants to experience with us.<\/p>\n
There is a scripture in the bible that says \u201cFor many are called, but few are chosen.\u201d\u00a0 To really understand the context of that scripture you need to read the first part of Matthew 22.\u00a0 I used to always wonder what that scripture meant until one day I realized it was referring to our marriage to Christ.\u00a0 Paraphrased it means, \u201cMany are called to become the Bride of Christ, but few are chosen because few will first choose Him.\u201d\u00a0 The Message translation actually says, \u201cMany get invited; only a few make it.\u201d When you read in Matthew 22 about\u00a0 the parable of the marriage feast the King is symbolic for God the Father, and the son is of course symbolic of Jesus.\u00a0 Basically its saying that God is hosting the wedding ceremony for Jesus. When a man shows up for the wedding ceremony dressed in the wrong attire the King actually has the man thrown out into the outer darkness. . . . Point being, there is a requirement to be at Christ\u2019s wedding ceremony.<\/p>\n
I know sometimes it may seem like I\u2019m preaching just a lot of do\u2019s and don\u2019ts.\u00a0 A bunch of rules and laws.\u00a0 And many times I\u2019ve been accused of being legalistic.\u00a0 Sometimes men do preach legalism and falsely label it holiness.\u00a0 However, Jesus does require that His bride walks in holiness.\u00a0 For the Bible says, \u201cHe is coming back for a pure and spotless bride.\u201d Some translations say, \u201cA bride without spot or blemish.\u201d Not an unfaithful slut.\u00a0 Men, think about what you want your bride, or future bride to be like.\u00a0 Do you want her to be faithful, do you want her flirting and ogling all over other men?\u00a0 No, of course not!\u00a0 Do you think Christ is any different?\u00a0 Would it hurt you if your bride was unfaithful to you and was cheating on you with someone else?\u00a0 Well it\u2019s hurts Christ even worse when we cheat on Him with the ways of the world because He loves His bride even more than you love yours.\u00a0 This is about loyalty in a romantic relationship.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t pursue purity and holiness because it\u2019s the right thing to do.\u00a0 I pursue purity and holiness because I know that when I sin it hurts Christ.\u00a0 I don\u2019t view it as sinning against a law. I view it as deeply hurting my intimate lover.\u00a0A prophet once said, \u201cWhen you hate sin because it HURTS Christ\u00a0– then it will lose its grip on you. When you hate sin because it\u00a0DISPLEASES\u00a0Christ – its hold diminishes.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m simply trying to point out that holiness is not about rules, it is about relationship.\u00a0 We have to hate sin because it hurts our lover!\u00a0 It\u2019s not about will power, or mere discipline. None of us has the will power to withstand evil.\u00a0 It is about love.\u00a0 Passionate romantic love.\u00a0 The Bible says, \u201cIf you LOVE me than keep my commandments.\u201d It is much easier to sin against a law than it is to sin against our lover. It is only by the grace of God that we can receive the love required to live as the bride of Christ.\u00a0 But if we will simply spend time in His presence than we will receive the grace necessary to be His bride and touch His heart! If you would like to understand\u00a0more about our profound impact on the emotional heart of God\u00a0then please go to\u00a0divine-romance.com\/about<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you are struggling with a habitual sin the greatest advice I can give is to simply start spending quality time with Jesus, even if you\u2019re struggling and bound up in a lot right now.\u00a0 As you spend time with Him you will get to know Him.\u00a0 And to know Him is to love Him, and once you fall in love with Him you will be on the path to freedom as your desire to protect His heart from pain begins to outweigh your desire for sin.\u00a0 His grace is enough.<\/p>\n Living to\u00a0touch God’s heart
\nChris Ulery
\ndivine-romance.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"