It's Personal
We are called to marriage. Did you know that?
The marriage of The Lamb to The Bride (Revelation 19:9).
Jesus speaks of the marriage supper (e.g.: Matthew 22) ...
and John the Baptist spoke of how he was Jesus' best man (John 3:29).
We have a picture of marriage in Genesis, but we are called to the marriage
that Jesus speaks of in John 17, that He and We (the corporate we) may be ONE.
Jesus said He and the Father are One. And Jesus prayed that we may all be One
with Himself and with His and our Father.
To be clear, I am using the capital letter "O" just to signify importance.
But it is easy to see that this can seem like other teachings that are out,
in the world, those other words attempting to make all religions one.
Jesus did not pray for the entire world to be One with Him and the Father.
But He prayed for those that the Father would give Him,
and for those He already had as His.
And so we see that He prayed for Us. You and me.
This is personal for Him. It is a deep heart desire of God and Jesus.
It is The Plan and The Purpose of Father God and Jesus for us.
How can this be?
See Revelation 19:7 where we find The Bride of Christ, who has "made herself ready".
"And to her it was granted..." There seems to be something she has done to arrive ready and she is being granted, which means favor but also means attainment. She has come into something.
See what the prophets spoke in the Old Testament about God's heart wanting a people that
would walk with Him and live with Him, His way. Not their way.
And then re-read Jesus' prayer about wanting us to be One with Him and our Father.
This walking with God is completely about us being changed and transformed, and responding to Jesus.
This is about us being made ready to be married in all ways to Jesus.
Even Paul teaches about how marriage as we know it between a man and woman
is a picture of how Jesus has given
His all
for His bride and how Jesus expects (hopes and yearns for) us to submit to Him
to receive His all.
This is personal. It is a loving, personal thing to submit to Jesus.
I cannot tell you how to do that for yourself, but I can attest to the fact that we all have
the same words of God to consider,
and the same Holy Spirit to work in us.
Three scripture echos:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength..."
"Not everyone that says Lord Lord..."
The Holy Spirit works in us "to will and to do of His good pleasure"...
The following is about my life and what I believe I am to share with you,
in respect to these words, and in the light of Jesus' heart's desire
that I be one with Him and be His.
I was led through a design of teaching, dreams and by scriptures for a week or more,
to clean out my house from unclean things. That is, things that are unclean in God's eyes.
And here is what I have to say about this -
What freedom I now have in my home!!! :)
There is a commandment in the Old Testament that I knew and I took it to heart, and it became a platform of truth to me :
"You shall have no other gods before Me."
Exodus 20:3.
The word for "before" in this scripture is a combination of two words, one that means "spatial and temperal" and the other means "face, appearance, and presence".
If God is in my life and His presence is here, and He sees all things, guess what?
I am by the Holy Spirit not wanting anything in His presence or in His face that is to me a life source or thing I admire, adhere to and hold dear...
Newbrief: This is not something I can decide on my own. Hence all the help I mentioned from the Holy Spirit...
MOUNTAIN
Moses had brought the commandments down from the mountain on tablets of stone,
written by the finger of God,
but the truth is that the people were invited to enter the presence of
God WITH Moses. Yes they were.
This is the same thing as today when we go to church and listen to the sermon
from one person, but have no (find no) need in ourselves for a prayer life in which we seek God for ourselves.
We get second-hand truths. God in His mercy will let you feed off those for awhile,
but there is the calling to come up to the mountain and be with God ourselves.
This is a call to all of us.
Otherwise Jesus would not have taught us to pray. Excuse me, taught those to pray who wanted to learn.
So God wanted to be more personal with His chosen people.
Read it for yourself in Exodus.
He wanted to have a people that wanted to be with Him.
He was not like the gods they had met before in Egypt.
Most of these people were born in Egypt and had not ever worshiped Jehovah themselves.
That all being the picture, God turned out to be an unexpected kind of God to them.
And He is to us, too. There is a mountain to go up.
And it is about relationship with God.
Going to where He is.
There is a call to that mountain still.
Look at Psalm 48, verse 1 -
"Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, HIS HOLY MOUNTAIN" (I removed the italics).
And in Micah 4:2 we find the same call coming to all people, not just Israel...
"And MANY NATIONS shall come, and say,
Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...
and to the house of OUR GOD.
And He will teach us of His ways,
and we will walk in His paths..."
Interesting...
The mountain speaks of a lot of things, many aspects of relationship with Him.
But to focus, the one I am writing of is: holiness.
God's mountain is HOLY.
It is not like other mountains, such as natural mountains.
It is said in Psalm 48:2 that this mountain is -
"Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Mount Zion the sides of the north,
The city of the Great King."
And here is the piece to correlate this to what I am telling you of my own life -
verse 3 - "God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge."
This is exactly the same understanding that Jesus prayed for us in John 17,
that He would be in us and we would be in Him.
And we know that God is our refuge, a very present help
in trouble...
But do we regard that WE ARE PALACES?
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords LIVES WITHIN US!
This makes us ONE with Him, yes, but it makes us a container,
a place where the presence of God IS.
But He is also desirous that we live IN HIM.
This means how I live and walk, must be IN His presence.
It's personal.
How can I draw that conclusion? Is it a leap? No.
Because He dwells IN me. How personal and close is that?
So then if I am ALSO CALLED to live IN Him,
what is then the picture?
It is that I am having a personal experience OF Him,
that His presence is surrounding me personally,
and HE IS PRESENT
surrounding me.
Daily. Hourly. Moment to moment. IN Him.
Can this be done?
Well Peter healed folks by walking past them and his shadow falling on them.
And I know of some who walk this way today.
Do you know that God can be invited to be more with us? To make His presence more known to us?
More time can be offered to Him; We can give Him more room in our lives...
Is He my refuge just when I run to Him?
Or is He here with me and I know this with evidence, and I am respecting His presence?
Amy, you are talking madness! No, I'm not.
The 12 disciples walked with Jesus and had Him with them and Jesus said
He would never leave them.
Amy, you are literal!
Yup. I am.
I am speaking about our calling to an intimate relationship with Jesus.
I want to heed mine. You can choose for yourself what you will do with yours.
There must be a response to His call.
So my testimony here to is to focus on this call with respect - again - to holiness.
For without holiness, we will not see the Lord.
That's Hebrews 12:14.
Like Paul said,
"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit in you,
Whom you have from God,
and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)
And Paul taught us that to take ourselves into sin, because when we do that, we are associating Jesus with that sin because He dwells within us.
So we can't just take ourselves where we please.
And we can't just treat ourselves how we please.
We have been purchased. We owe Jesus our lives.
There is a calling to be separated, to live as God directs. Some sin is obvious. Some is hidden.
It is not just the outside of ourselves that Jesus is after changing.
It is not just what is seen about us by others that He wants to fix up for "ministry" or something...
It is our hearts that He desires to be One with Him, as He was One with His Father.
This is an intimate, loving, moving, living relationship.
And we can't make this up ourselves. (Or make up for it ourselves in our own strength.)
It has to be real. And this is what the Holy Spirit is for, to make Jesus real to us.
For He is REALLY IN US.
So... Psalm 48. (Cutting to the chase...)
This mountain of the Lord is not just where we go, but it IS us. Because it is a "her".
Notice that this mountain is also referred to as Zion. Contact me if you need more evidence... but let's just understand that David's psalm has gone from history of Moses climbing a mountain and meeting God to understanding that spiritually, there is a mountain that God is creating.
It is made of people.
It is a Holy City made of people. We are called "living stones" in 1 Peter 2:4-8 (to do your own studying) just as He is a living stone. He is The Cornerstone of what God is building - His people, His Church.
His Bride has her own husband for the part of the foundation that she rests on - or IN. :)
Here we are with the Holy Spirit within us...
Palaces! Psalm 48 again....
Are we beautiful in elevation?
Are we the joy of the whole earth?
We have before us -
A call to elevation: Colossians 3:2 "Set your affection on things above
not on things of the earth."
A call to walk in His paths: Psalm 25:4 "Shew me thy ways O Lord, teach me thy paths..." and
Micah 4:2 "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
and to the house of our God, and He will teach us of His ways
and we will walk in His paths..."
A call to be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb if we plan to marry Jesus, attend the wedding supper and be One with Him...
Take a look at this love that Paul compares to husbands and wives:
Ephesians 5:25-30 "Husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and
GAVE HIMSELF FOR HER
that He might sanctify and cleanse her
with the washing of water by the word..."
He **might** meaning He created the opportunity for us to be sanctified and cleansed by Him,
pulled from the rubbish heaps of sin and despair and set before Him as the royalty God intended for us to be! ...
verse 27 "...that He might present to Himself a glorious church,"
HEY! Look at that!! We are called to be GLORIOUS! :)
"...not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be HOLY
and without blemish.
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies...
just as the Lord does (love) the Church."
INTENSE!
So that's the calling.
And this we are to RESPOND TO JESUS to ALLOW HIM to do...
And Revelation 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and His wife has made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
of saints."
BUT HOW? - HOW DO WE ANSWER THIS CALL?
Who then makes you righteous and ready for this marriage? Jesus.
This is a specific work that only Jesus can do for us.
But thankfully, He is faithful to us!
Note the word "IF" in the following verses...
1 John 1:7,9 "But IF we walk in the light,
as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Hebrews 4:14 "IF we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Hence, repentance.
MY EXPERIENCE
So, back to me... I was repentant. I was also seeking God over a particular situation.
Jesus is becoming more present in my life as I ask Him to be, so I was speaking my mind about this situation and really kind of complaining, but asking a pointed question, "Lord, why is it that if you are my husband, this situation keeps going on and on?" It was a situation of ongoing near-abuse from a party who resides near to me, who had little respect for me, etc.
I didn't know what this would mean He needed me to allow Him to be more present in my life.
But I am finding out that this did just that. :)
And I was taught, as I said, over the course of a week or more.
I was taught by the Lord Jesus about what He approves of and wants in my life, and what He doesn't.
I was taught about what concerns He has for me.
I was taught what choices I have in His plan for me, but that He loves me so much, He would help me make the choices that please His heart.
For how can I become One with Jesus if I am not open to change? Or if I am not hearing clearly and discerning what is in agreement with Him and what is not?
This is not a doctrine for you, but it is my testimony of HOW God opened my eyes and enlightened my life to understand that there are things that have been connected to me that have brought difficulty and confusion, at best,
and bondage and torment, at worst, to my life.
Am I holy now? No, of course not.
But I am yielding myself to the cleansing of Jesus by being willing to hear, and then becoming obedient to what I have heard.
Please note that I said "becoming obedient". This is not a natural temperament for me. :)
This cleansing for me (for me, not preaching to you) took on the form of outward change - moving things out of my life and out of my home that were connected to strings in my heart.
I would have a vivid (and I mean VIVID) dream and awake and be in conversation with Jesus, and
He would make it clear to me the things that were not holy or pleasing.
I consulted both the Old Testament and New and considered certain passages about entanglements with other religions. I even google'd stuff to study it further so I was convinced and had some facts on the table.
As I said, I dreamed dreams that were both alarming and significant to me.
And I understood what needed to be sorted out and why as I asked to understand,
and AS I OBEYED, even more understanding was given to me.
The word says to "do and hear" in the Old Testament.
I was hearing and doing and doing and hearing...
But I was in the presence of Jesus for about three days straight,
and He instructed and taught me...
and now - again I say -
WHAT FREEDOM!!
There was an object in my home that was key to the removal of this un-holy connection between myself and the person I mentioned above, an object which I was happy to lose. The person had not attachment to it and it was just a channel by which something not of God, something demonic, was moving, to hold an opening...complicated.
And then there were items in my home from that were things another person had worshiped and held particularly dear, however lacking in use that they were...
Family possessions that could not be returned to them; truly adored by this person.
Again, not personal to me, no big deal.
And then - there were items that were revealed to me that came from my family that had occultic symbolism on them. Eye opening, to say the least!
These items were connected to the occult: I did not know that at all! 100% unaware was I!
The Lord even showed me how my family was unknowingly and knowingly involved in certain idolatrous practices. The specifics aren't that important.
But, I have had to reconsider my heart's position on holidays and celebrations that are not rooted in God's ways, for my own portion in God. (Not preaching this.)
I choose because I am led to choose,
and I understand that to die to myself in this, to my own nature to hold onto certain things,
IS gain!
There are many things in this world rooted in practices that God is not involved in.
And / or are also rooted in worship of other gods. As I recognized this, it was as if tentacles were snapped off of my life -
And everything in a high place in my home (walls, shelves, attic) or protected by me as precious -
had to be dismissed as what it REALLY was.
I am talking LIGHTS ON, PLAN OF THE ENEMY REVEALED,
serious understanding flooding my heart and soul and mind.
And the choice before me was LIFE or DEATH.
If we walk in the LIGHT, as He is IN THE LIGHT...
So, repentance from dead works was my pathway.
And Jesus Himself - more of His presence in my life -
is my reward!
I asked for MORE of the Lord's presence in my life and home.
This is HOW He answered me!
He is a holy God, not like other gods.
And HE knows how to speak to my heart!
And He gave me time to sort it out.
And in doing so, I got my heart sorted out too!
Yes, there were tears! Not just of joy... This was a heart wrenching time, but it was only because of Jesus' presence and His love - and His truth revealed to me in scripture, that I was able to do this!
Our God is a jealous God! --What is that about?
It is personal!
He wants us FOR HIMSELF!
I know when I've been in love, I want that guy for ME.
Love has an exclusivity policy attached to it, or it's not all that personal.
Real love requires
commitment and dedication
and
consecration.
Love has that kind of a path.
God IS LOVE.
What else would He expect but a bride who is readied for her wedding day?
And a bride who CAN AND WILL walk WITH Him for Eternity?
Would it be correct and sensible that Jesus would be married to a faulty, perhaps ignorant, childlike bride?
I know I admire those couples who are in harmony and who flow together, who weather hard storms together, protecting and shifting according to the needs that arise.
Really PRESENT aka there for each other.
Should Jesus have less?
Should we shut Him out and HAVE LESS OF HIM?
Not heed His call?
Should Jesus have less than what He died for?
Should I trample His blood afresh by associating Him with idolatry?
And shouldn't we want the beauty of the Lord on and in us?
This mountain of the Lord in Psalm 48 is ZION,
and this beautiful mountain in the earth is prophetically -
US.
So I can add to this Isaiah 52:1-
"AWAKE, AWAKE; PUT ON THY STRENGTH, O ZION
PUT ON YOUR BEAUTIFUL GARMENTS, O Jerusalem,
THE HOLY CITY..."
And there is instruction in here to not touch any unclean thing.
It is the same invitation in both the Old and the New Testament.
Won't we seek our Father and ask for what He has for us?
I am VERY SURE and SECURE that Jesus will provide for you whatever it is that you need
to allow Him into your life further to do HIS work in your life. I trust Jesus for you!
I hear a call. It is MY call - God calls to me.
I hear a call to the mountain of the Lord.
I will respond to Him and say, "Yes, Lord".
My understanding has been enlightened to know more of the hope of my calling. So this is my testimony of that hope.
I will pay my prices. I will bear my cross. I will lay down my life.
For if I do, and as I do, I find my life.
It is hidden.
It is in Christ.
Col 3 "If then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Mat 10:34-39 --Read for yourself and consider what He says.
"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."
The marriage of The Lamb to The Bride (Revelation 19:9).
Jesus speaks of the marriage supper (e.g.: Matthew 22) ...
and John the Baptist spoke of how he was Jesus' best man (John 3:29).
We have a picture of marriage in Genesis, but we are called to the marriage
that Jesus speaks of in John 17, that He and We (the corporate we) may be ONE.
Jesus said He and the Father are One. And Jesus prayed that we may all be One
with Himself and with His and our Father.
To be clear, I am using the capital letter "O" just to signify importance.
But it is easy to see that this can seem like other teachings that are out,
in the world, those other words attempting to make all religions one.
Jesus did not pray for the entire world to be One with Him and the Father.
But He prayed for those that the Father would give Him,
and for those He already had as His.
And so we see that He prayed for Us. You and me.
This is personal for Him. It is a deep heart desire of God and Jesus.
It is The Plan and The Purpose of Father God and Jesus for us.
How can this be?
See Revelation 19:7 where we find The Bride of Christ, who has "made herself ready".
"And to her it was granted..." There seems to be something she has done to arrive ready and she is being granted, which means favor but also means attainment. She has come into something.
See what the prophets spoke in the Old Testament about God's heart wanting a people that
would walk with Him and live with Him, His way. Not their way.
And then re-read Jesus' prayer about wanting us to be One with Him and our Father.
This walking with God is completely about us being changed and transformed, and responding to Jesus.
This is about us being made ready to be married in all ways to Jesus.
Even Paul teaches about how marriage as we know it between a man and woman
is a picture of how Jesus has given
His all
for His bride and how Jesus expects (hopes and yearns for) us to submit to Him
to receive His all.
This is personal. It is a loving, personal thing to submit to Jesus.
I cannot tell you how to do that for yourself, but I can attest to the fact that we all have
the same words of God to consider,
and the same Holy Spirit to work in us.
Three scripture echos:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength..."
"Not everyone that says Lord Lord..."
The Holy Spirit works in us "to will and to do of His good pleasure"...
The following is about my life and what I believe I am to share with you,
in respect to these words, and in the light of Jesus' heart's desire
that I be one with Him and be His.
I was led through a design of teaching, dreams and by scriptures for a week or more,
to clean out my house from unclean things. That is, things that are unclean in God's eyes.
And here is what I have to say about this -
What freedom I now have in my home!!! :)
There is a commandment in the Old Testament that I knew and I took it to heart, and it became a platform of truth to me :
"You shall have no other gods before Me."
Exodus 20:3.
The word for "before" in this scripture is a combination of two words, one that means "spatial and temperal" and the other means "face, appearance, and presence".
If God is in my life and His presence is here, and He sees all things, guess what?
I am by the Holy Spirit not wanting anything in His presence or in His face that is to me a life source or thing I admire, adhere to and hold dear...
Newbrief: This is not something I can decide on my own. Hence all the help I mentioned from the Holy Spirit...
MOUNTAIN
Moses had brought the commandments down from the mountain on tablets of stone,
written by the finger of God,
but the truth is that the people were invited to enter the presence of
God WITH Moses. Yes they were.
This is the same thing as today when we go to church and listen to the sermon
from one person, but have no (find no) need in ourselves for a prayer life in which we seek God for ourselves.
We get second-hand truths. God in His mercy will let you feed off those for awhile,
but there is the calling to come up to the mountain and be with God ourselves.
This is a call to all of us.
Otherwise Jesus would not have taught us to pray. Excuse me, taught those to pray who wanted to learn.
So God wanted to be more personal with His chosen people.
Read it for yourself in Exodus.
He wanted to have a people that wanted to be with Him.
He was not like the gods they had met before in Egypt.
Most of these people were born in Egypt and had not ever worshiped Jehovah themselves.
That all being the picture, God turned out to be an unexpected kind of God to them.
And He is to us, too. There is a mountain to go up.
And it is about relationship with God.
Going to where He is.
There is a call to that mountain still.
Look at Psalm 48, verse 1 -
"Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God, HIS HOLY MOUNTAIN" (I removed the italics).
And in Micah 4:2 we find the same call coming to all people, not just Israel...
"And MANY NATIONS shall come, and say,
Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...
and to the house of OUR GOD.
And He will teach us of His ways,
and we will walk in His paths..."
Interesting...
The mountain speaks of a lot of things, many aspects of relationship with Him.
But to focus, the one I am writing of is: holiness.
God's mountain is HOLY.
It is not like other mountains, such as natural mountains.
It is said in Psalm 48:2 that this mountain is -
"Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Mount Zion the sides of the north,
The city of the Great King."
And here is the piece to correlate this to what I am telling you of my own life -
verse 3 - "God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge."
This is exactly the same understanding that Jesus prayed for us in John 17,
that He would be in us and we would be in Him.
And we know that God is our refuge, a very present help
in trouble...
But do we regard that WE ARE PALACES?
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords LIVES WITHIN US!
This makes us ONE with Him, yes, but it makes us a container,
a place where the presence of God IS.
But He is also desirous that we live IN HIM.
This means how I live and walk, must be IN His presence.
It's personal.
How can I draw that conclusion? Is it a leap? No.
Because He dwells IN me. How personal and close is that?
So then if I am ALSO CALLED to live IN Him,
what is then the picture?
It is that I am having a personal experience OF Him,
that His presence is surrounding me personally,
and HE IS PRESENT
surrounding me.
Daily. Hourly. Moment to moment. IN Him.
Can this be done?
Well Peter healed folks by walking past them and his shadow falling on them.
And I know of some who walk this way today.
Do you know that God can be invited to be more with us? To make His presence more known to us?
More time can be offered to Him; We can give Him more room in our lives...
Is He my refuge just when I run to Him?
Or is He here with me and I know this with evidence, and I am respecting His presence?
Amy, you are talking madness! No, I'm not.
The 12 disciples walked with Jesus and had Him with them and Jesus said
He would never leave them.
Amy, you are literal!
Yup. I am.
I am speaking about our calling to an intimate relationship with Jesus.
I want to heed mine. You can choose for yourself what you will do with yours.
There must be a response to His call.
So my testimony here to is to focus on this call with respect - again - to holiness.
For without holiness, we will not see the Lord.
That's Hebrews 12:14.
Like Paul said,
"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit in you,
Whom you have from God,
and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)
And Paul taught us that to take ourselves into sin, because when we do that, we are associating Jesus with that sin because He dwells within us.
So we can't just take ourselves where we please.
And we can't just treat ourselves how we please.
We have been purchased. We owe Jesus our lives.
There is a calling to be separated, to live as God directs. Some sin is obvious. Some is hidden.
It is not just the outside of ourselves that Jesus is after changing.
It is not just what is seen about us by others that He wants to fix up for "ministry" or something...
It is our hearts that He desires to be One with Him, as He was One with His Father.
This is an intimate, loving, moving, living relationship.
And we can't make this up ourselves. (Or make up for it ourselves in our own strength.)
It has to be real. And this is what the Holy Spirit is for, to make Jesus real to us.
For He is REALLY IN US.
So... Psalm 48. (Cutting to the chase...)
This mountain of the Lord is not just where we go, but it IS us. Because it is a "her".
Notice that this mountain is also referred to as Zion. Contact me if you need more evidence... but let's just understand that David's psalm has gone from history of Moses climbing a mountain and meeting God to understanding that spiritually, there is a mountain that God is creating.
It is made of people.
It is a Holy City made of people. We are called "living stones" in 1 Peter 2:4-8 (to do your own studying) just as He is a living stone. He is The Cornerstone of what God is building - His people, His Church.
His Bride has her own husband for the part of the foundation that she rests on - or IN. :)
Here we are with the Holy Spirit within us...
Palaces! Psalm 48 again....
Are we beautiful in elevation?
Are we the joy of the whole earth?
We have before us -
A call to elevation: Colossians 3:2 "Set your affection on things above
not on things of the earth."
A call to walk in His paths: Psalm 25:4 "Shew me thy ways O Lord, teach me thy paths..." and
Micah 4:2 "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
and to the house of our God, and He will teach us of His ways
and we will walk in His paths..."
A call to be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb if we plan to marry Jesus, attend the wedding supper and be One with Him...
Take a look at this love that Paul compares to husbands and wives:
Ephesians 5:25-30 "Husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and
GAVE HIMSELF FOR HER
that He might sanctify and cleanse her
with the washing of water by the word..."
He **might** meaning He created the opportunity for us to be sanctified and cleansed by Him,
pulled from the rubbish heaps of sin and despair and set before Him as the royalty God intended for us to be! ...
verse 27 "...that He might present to Himself a glorious church,"
HEY! Look at that!! We are called to be GLORIOUS! :)
"...not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be HOLY
and without blemish.
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies...
just as the Lord does (love) the Church."
INTENSE!
So that's the calling.
And this we are to RESPOND TO JESUS to ALLOW HIM to do...
And Revelation 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice,
and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and His wife has made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
of saints."
BUT HOW? - HOW DO WE ANSWER THIS CALL?
Who then makes you righteous and ready for this marriage? Jesus.
This is a specific work that only Jesus can do for us.
But thankfully, He is faithful to us!
Note the word "IF" in the following verses...
1 John 1:7,9 "But IF we walk in the light,
as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Hebrews 4:14 "IF we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Hence, repentance.
MY EXPERIENCE
So, back to me... I was repentant. I was also seeking God over a particular situation.
Jesus is becoming more present in my life as I ask Him to be, so I was speaking my mind about this situation and really kind of complaining, but asking a pointed question, "Lord, why is it that if you are my husband, this situation keeps going on and on?" It was a situation of ongoing near-abuse from a party who resides near to me, who had little respect for me, etc.
I didn't know what this would mean He needed me to allow Him to be more present in my life.
But I am finding out that this did just that. :)
And I was taught, as I said, over the course of a week or more.
I was taught by the Lord Jesus about what He approves of and wants in my life, and what He doesn't.
I was taught about what concerns He has for me.
I was taught what choices I have in His plan for me, but that He loves me so much, He would help me make the choices that please His heart.
For how can I become One with Jesus if I am not open to change? Or if I am not hearing clearly and discerning what is in agreement with Him and what is not?
This is not a doctrine for you, but it is my testimony of HOW God opened my eyes and enlightened my life to understand that there are things that have been connected to me that have brought difficulty and confusion, at best,
and bondage and torment, at worst, to my life.
Am I holy now? No, of course not.
But I am yielding myself to the cleansing of Jesus by being willing to hear, and then becoming obedient to what I have heard.
Please note that I said "becoming obedient". This is not a natural temperament for me. :)
This cleansing for me (for me, not preaching to you) took on the form of outward change - moving things out of my life and out of my home that were connected to strings in my heart.
I would have a vivid (and I mean VIVID) dream and awake and be in conversation with Jesus, and
He would make it clear to me the things that were not holy or pleasing.
I consulted both the Old Testament and New and considered certain passages about entanglements with other religions. I even google'd stuff to study it further so I was convinced and had some facts on the table.
As I said, I dreamed dreams that were both alarming and significant to me.
And I understood what needed to be sorted out and why as I asked to understand,
and AS I OBEYED, even more understanding was given to me.
The word says to "do and hear" in the Old Testament.
I was hearing and doing and doing and hearing...
But I was in the presence of Jesus for about three days straight,
and He instructed and taught me...
and now - again I say -
WHAT FREEDOM!!
There was an object in my home that was key to the removal of this un-holy connection between myself and the person I mentioned above, an object which I was happy to lose. The person had not attachment to it and it was just a channel by which something not of God, something demonic, was moving, to hold an opening...complicated.
And then there were items in my home from that were things another person had worshiped and held particularly dear, however lacking in use that they were...
Family possessions that could not be returned to them; truly adored by this person.
Again, not personal to me, no big deal.
And then - there were items that were revealed to me that came from my family that had occultic symbolism on them. Eye opening, to say the least!
These items were connected to the occult: I did not know that at all! 100% unaware was I!
The Lord even showed me how my family was unknowingly and knowingly involved in certain idolatrous practices. The specifics aren't that important.
But, I have had to reconsider my heart's position on holidays and celebrations that are not rooted in God's ways, for my own portion in God. (Not preaching this.)
I choose because I am led to choose,
and I understand that to die to myself in this, to my own nature to hold onto certain things,
IS gain!
There are many things in this world rooted in practices that God is not involved in.
And / or are also rooted in worship of other gods. As I recognized this, it was as if tentacles were snapped off of my life -
And everything in a high place in my home (walls, shelves, attic) or protected by me as precious -
had to be dismissed as what it REALLY was.
I am talking LIGHTS ON, PLAN OF THE ENEMY REVEALED,
serious understanding flooding my heart and soul and mind.
And the choice before me was LIFE or DEATH.
If we walk in the LIGHT, as He is IN THE LIGHT...
So, repentance from dead works was my pathway.
And Jesus Himself - more of His presence in my life -
is my reward!
I asked for MORE of the Lord's presence in my life and home.
This is HOW He answered me!
He is a holy God, not like other gods.
And HE knows how to speak to my heart!
And He gave me time to sort it out.
And in doing so, I got my heart sorted out too!
Yes, there were tears! Not just of joy... This was a heart wrenching time, but it was only because of Jesus' presence and His love - and His truth revealed to me in scripture, that I was able to do this!
Our God is a jealous God! --What is that about?
It is personal!
He wants us FOR HIMSELF!
I know when I've been in love, I want that guy for ME.
Love has an exclusivity policy attached to it, or it's not all that personal.
Real love requires
commitment and dedication
and
consecration.
Love has that kind of a path.
God IS LOVE.
What else would He expect but a bride who is readied for her wedding day?
And a bride who CAN AND WILL walk WITH Him for Eternity?
Would it be correct and sensible that Jesus would be married to a faulty, perhaps ignorant, childlike bride?
I know I admire those couples who are in harmony and who flow together, who weather hard storms together, protecting and shifting according to the needs that arise.
Really PRESENT aka there for each other.
Should Jesus have less?
Should we shut Him out and HAVE LESS OF HIM?
Not heed His call?
Should Jesus have less than what He died for?
Should I trample His blood afresh by associating Him with idolatry?
And shouldn't we want the beauty of the Lord on and in us?
This mountain of the Lord in Psalm 48 is ZION,
and this beautiful mountain in the earth is prophetically -
US.
So I can add to this Isaiah 52:1-
"AWAKE, AWAKE; PUT ON THY STRENGTH, O ZION
PUT ON YOUR BEAUTIFUL GARMENTS, O Jerusalem,
THE HOLY CITY..."
And there is instruction in here to not touch any unclean thing.
It is the same invitation in both the Old and the New Testament.
Won't we seek our Father and ask for what He has for us?
I am VERY SURE and SECURE that Jesus will provide for you whatever it is that you need
to allow Him into your life further to do HIS work in your life. I trust Jesus for you!
I hear a call. It is MY call - God calls to me.
I hear a call to the mountain of the Lord.
I will respond to Him and say, "Yes, Lord".
My understanding has been enlightened to know more of the hope of my calling. So this is my testimony of that hope.
I will pay my prices. I will bear my cross. I will lay down my life.
For if I do, and as I do, I find my life.
It is hidden.
It is in Christ.
Col 3 "If then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Mat 10:34-39 --Read for yourself and consider what He says.
"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."
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