Tag: God

AMONG LILIES – BLOG #3

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Among Lilies: What Do You Do When?

What do you do when the lilies don’t get you? 

When you are among them and misunderstood at the same time

Can you rest even in uncertainty?

What provides you with comfort and ease? 

Do you care to be understood? 

What grinds your gears in the process?

Are you honest about the things you feel? 

What helps you resolve matters? 

and How do you find the peace it takes to move forward amidst all that seems to want you to remain stuck?

Here’s the thing, some would much rather you remain unsure about you, than for you to bring up uncertainties and specific feelings. 

Some would rather you be confused than accompany you through the uprooting of the traditional conversations motions and jargons. Some would rather sweep the apparent issues of life under a rug and bring attention to what would be found on the side of the shallow end. 

This can all be acceptable, but not at the expense of your clarity and resolving of matters important to you. Sometimes we don’t understand what is needed from others that we are in relationship with, and other times we understand that more may be asked of us or that more is required; and while in these relationships we may or may not be willing to provide the revised requirements or lists of things to the other parties amidst us. We want everyone to feel comfortable and if there are unidentified elephants in the room that can be avoided, we’d rather avoid them. 

Here is your reminder that, at times you may need to address things that others may choose to overlook. You may have to bend what might be considered the status quo in order to get to the root issue of a thing. You may have to be the only one raising a question and asking for clarity. You may also have to ruffle a few feathers in the process of you coming to a settlement within. 

God is not opposed to your questions. He doesn’t look down on your need for more details and pursuits of a sense of reassurance. God responds to your questions with His promises, He responds to your questions with answers. And although, being among the lilies proves to be more peaceful and settling than anywhere else; it is important to note that you can have questions and require more answers in what may appear to be the safest of places. You can be unsure and pursue more or what is greater even among the things you should be “grateful” for, grateful to be part of or, grateful to have witnessed. Here’s your reminder that gratitude and oblivion does not solve every problem or complaint. Here’s a reminder that shooing problems “under the rug” doesn’t automatically check them off as being resolved. Here’s a reminder that you can question and remain amidst what is safe and secure at the same time. Here’s is your reminder that transparency and honesty can prove to be “just what the doctor ordered” so to speak and, you don’t need everyone else to approve of it first and before you get to decide upon and, choose your own feelings.

You are entitled to be on a different page of the book entirely; without presuming that their blank stares and lack of a response to your unsettling spirit are acceptable enough a reason for you to just move on. Here is a reminder that it is perfectly acceptable to think differently regarding a matter than others do and, agree to disagree in the process of transformation and the time it takes to arrive at the appropriate realizations. 

What do you do when, God is not annoyed with you but, others might be? 

You address it other ways. You exist more than quietly in and amidst uncertainties anyway. You address responsibly and appropriately what others choose to ignore anyways. 

You were made to pursue God in peace. We weren’t just made to know God, we were made to experience Him, but it isn’t supposed to be complicated…

Song of Songs 8:7

A huge torrent cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot sweep it away…

life #amonglilies

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AMONG LILIES – BLOG #2

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Among Lilies: It’s Holy Week & Something Feels Off

I’d consider it a God wink of some sort if things do. If for some reason Holy Week feels a bit off to you, it might be, because it should.

Maybe there’s some sort of fog over you spiritually. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you are not your usual self. Maybe there are things pulling you in a million and one directions and you’d like nothing more than to just be still with God.

Maybe there are pressing matters that need to be dealt with and you are the decision maker; you are the one who moves the needle and everything is depending on the moves that you make next. How coincidental? The week where there is so much mystery, and so many things that are up in the air for the disciples and Christ followers of Jesus’s day. How coincidental, that things would be in sorts of a disarray for you too; not at the place of disaster but definitely on the brinks of, or possibly coasting.

How convenient. When all you want to do is curl up under the One who created you or throw the covers right back over your head each morning. You are deciding to go with the motions of not completely understanding, and also being willing to be misunderstood.

”It’s completely ok!” or at least it will be, are the words you repeat over and over, and over to yourself each day. The devil seems to be on a rampage this week but who’s keeping score? You are. Are you?

Here’s one thing I know, the score board has already been marked up with a resounding “WON!” via the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords side. There is nothing that can be done to convince you of any truer fact and footing. You have already won, you already have what is, the victory. There isn’t a thing left to be done or left undone that would assure this any further.

It’s time that you not wait until Easter Sunday to act like it. You have all of the victory that you will ever have, today. Holy Week isn’t some morbid reminder of a man’s death, it is, a remembrance of what has already been done.

So whether or not you have the luxury of roaming among the lilies or you find yourself drenched in the mundane’s of life, for you. Here is your reminder that Holy Week and its feelings are necessary and valid. Here is a reminder that there should already be a relative pep in your step because the outcome is that “JESUS WON!” so “YOU WIN!” both now and forever.

Here is your reminder that it is normal for the believer to be fully trusting even amidst uncertainty. It is important to remember that you aren’t living, moving or having your being from a place of striving. There is a form of cruise control that accompanies the believer and the one who has decided to place their full trust in Jesus. Even in uncertainty or what seems to be a fog, don’t apologize for it. You can live assured and unsure at the same time.

You were made to pursue God in peace. We weren’t just made to know God, we were made to experience Him, but it isn’t supposed to be complicated…

Song of Songs 8:7

A huge torrent cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot sweep it away…

life #amonglilies

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #52

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NAMES OF GOD:

JEHOVAH-NISSI:

THE LORD IS MY BANNER

(Exodus 17:15)

Exodus 17:15

And Moses built an altar and named it, “The LORD Is My Banner.”

Exodus 17:13-16

Building an altar in your life. As the bride of Christ, our altars are key. They represent sacrifice, covenant, connection and commitment. They symbolize the root, origin and starting place of things like memorials, worship, surrender, consecration, safety and a refuge.

The words that accompany the building up of an altar are of equal importance. Every altar that is erected in the Bible is typically done so with words of revelation attached to them.

We want to erect an altar either because of what God has already done or because of something He is doing that is already underway.

The words that accompanied Moses after defeating an opposing army in battle were:

“The LORD Is My Banner.”

When you think about a banner what are the first things that are brought to mind?

I’d have to say that bold writings, making a statement and nothing being in hiding would be the things brought to my mind. I want to say that similar to several large flags raised and flapping by the wind is something that I also think about.

I imagine Moses saying while building the altar:

“The Lord is who I raise when my enemies think I am defeated.”

“The Lord is who I raise when my strength is depleted.”

“The Lord is who I depend on when others believe that my friends are no more and my defenses are weakened.”

“The Lord is who all of this is raised to in the end.”

“The Lord is who encourages others to raise my hands.”

“The Lord is who we stand in representation of.”

‘…and The Lord is the One I am solely dependent on;

and doing things His way produces the reward.”

Here is Your reminder that building an altar is, at times, the only reasonable response for some instances in life.

Here is your reminder the altars you build up within your lifetime towards your bridegroom will speak for you today and into the generations to come. They correct and uproot what was done before you and they serve your children’s children.

Here is your reminder that as the bride of Christ you are equipped to build altars at every milestone and monumental experience in and throughout your lifetime. Here is another reminder that personal relationship with God is also key as you build these altars.

I can only imagine the feelings that Moses had while being the leader of God’s people in this specific story and instance. I can imagine the pit in His stomach when He approached God with the complaints and the testings of God’s people. I could only imagine His desire to come to solutions that only God could provide. I imagine his demeanor and disposition as they came to him with complaint after complaint.

I can also imagine his confidence and clarity when he gave Joshua charge against the people of Israels enemies. I can imagine Moses possible dread of having to go up to a hill. You may wonder why the choice of words? Why would you say the word “dread”?

I’d have to say that if you’ve been walking, running, striving, contending or surrendering to and with the Lord for any specific amount of time you’ll know that some things He ask or requires of you; you don’t generally or even necessarily want to do.

There are moments you can feel and be sure in your thoughts that as much as you really love God you’d rather not take the next step of obedience because of what may be required of you. So as Moses goes up that hill he does so out of covenant and commitment, but what keeps him there isn’t that same thing.

He is there because God’s people are dependent on him. He is there out of the duty and because as long as his hands are raised everything that they are fighting for will also be raised and remain as well. He is there because of something bigger than himself.

He is there because Arron and Hur are committed to him, as well.

It is important for you to know that every altar that surrounds your life will be, or has been erected by your climb; of some metaphoric or literal hill you’ve climbed and remained on until…

Here’s your reminder not to minimize your own altars as His bride.

xoxo,

His Bride, By Design

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #51

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NAMES OF GOD:

HE IS OUR FOUNDATION (1 CORINTHIANS 3:11) 

1 Corinthians 3:11

For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.

Is there a foundation better? 

That is the question I’d like to pose to you in today’s blog. 

Is there a better foundation than that of Jesus Christ? Is there a foundation more suitable than Him? 

I’ll answer it for me and, in part speak for the portion of The Bride, I’d hope to influence. 

There is no better foundation, no surer hope than that found in Christ The King, His Name is Jesus. 

Jesus is, His Name. He is who the entire guarantee of the Christian faith and hope is built upon. He is who we proclaim and profess as our very own. He is who we are fully and unequivocally unashamed of. He is The Messish, The Promised Deliverer, The True and Living God, The Coming King, The One True God and there is no other. 

And if He is not who He says He is or, who The Bride says He is; then we, as in the Christian Body and The Bride of Christ are in big trouble. 

We know Him as many Names. We know Him as many things as well. 

It is a really big claim to say the following words:

For no one can lay ANY foundation other than what has been laid down. THAT foundation is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ has been laid down, in the natural, He gave His natural body so that you and I could pick up the life He predestined for us to have and to live. 

No one took His life but He, laid it down so that we could take up a life built on a foundation greater than any gold, silver or costly stone. Now, with those materials we have been tasked with the assignment of building on the foundation. 

The writer in First Corinthians states that “each one is to be careful how he builds on it” and that no one can lay any other foundation. The days disclose of what is being built in each of our lives, it is the brides job to build carefully and appropriately. You have been given one life in the body, in order to do just that. Don’t squander your gifts, skills, talents or abilities  that have been given so graciously, to you. Don’t be shy about using and exhausting the purposes of God towards you here on earth. You have eternity to ponder but only one physical life, here on earth.  

Build on the foundation that is Jesus. He has authorized you to know Him and to know the will that He has for your life. He has promised to be the most precious and the most trusted cornerstone of your building. He has promised to be with you always, as you are building. 

He promised the Apostle Peter the following words: 

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Matthew 16:18

Peter’s name means Rock and on his name, God promised. What does your name mean? What is the symbolism behind it? Does your name or the story of it have meaning? Has God changed your name like He has of some in the Bible? 

No matter your name, you have a life,  and Jesus is dedicated to building on and up your life and your name. Here’s the deal, He, as in Jesus has The Name that is above every name and even with that great claim; He isn’t opposed to making a name for you and of you. He wants to build on the lives who and, that are wholeheartedly devoted to Him. He wants you to shine for His glory and His honor. God is not embarrassed by you, He absolutely and positively wants for you to live a life that hades, as in, the gates of hell can not and will not prevail over. He wants you to live successfully out all that He has predestined for, on and, over your life. 

What other foundation wants you to shine as brightly or even greater than it, possibly,  not many. 

Here is your reminder that God wants to lead you and guide you into all truth about you and, about Him. God is after you walking and living in your fullest potential. 

To you, who believe then, Jesus is precious, more precious than anything that could ever be possessed. Build on this, build on this truth.

1 Peter 2:7

So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected — this one has become the cornerstone,

His Bride, By Design

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #50

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NAMES OF GOD:

THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER (COLOSSIANS 2:10) 

Colossians 2:10

and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 

For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ. 

At the beginning of these blog post the purpose established was to recall the Names of God and to express to you, the bride, how these names relate, apply to and, involve you. 

What is the bride of Christ without her bridegroom? Who is she without Christ? 

At best she is longing, at best she is hopeful. At best she awaits, and at best she is in wonder over His arrival. 

Christ is the very essence, breath and embodiment of God. Everything that God is dwells in Christ, He is the very nature of God. 

I found myself reciting similar words that mimic the expression of these words. I was going back and forth in thought about a few things and while doing so I kept on reciting to myself the truth of the matter; and the truth is that “I know the nature of God…” 

His very nature. 

The nature of God that says:

“God’s nature would do this.” and that also says “God’s nature wouldn’t do that.” 

What is the Bride of Christ without her Bridegroom? She is one who is void of the nature of God. Her very lifeline is the nature of God in bodily form. The reason she exist and the reason she is alive is so that His nature could reside and abide in Her. Every bit of fullness in and of God dwells in the bridegroom. She needs Him to live, she also needs Him to survive and, to thrive. 

The bride of Christ was never meant to exist outside of Him. For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ. Portions of God’s nature does not, ALL of God’s nature is found completely and fully in Christ, bodily. 

This makes scriptures like: 

Isaiah 53:5

“but he was pierced because of our rebellion,  crushed because of our iniquities;  punishment  for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.”

more meaningful and potent to you as His bride. He bore bodily anything that would ever stop you from sharing in God’s nature through Him. All of Him is the exact fullness of God’s nature and all of Him took care of completely, and fully any and everything that would ever stand in the way of you being filled by Him. 

He is the head over EVERY ruler and authority. He has always been this ruler; but took on a bodily form so that you could fully be aided and resourced through His first coming. 

He knew that you would need Him in bodily form just as much as you do spiritually. You have been filled by Him, the head over every ruler and authority. Being now raised with Him you also get to reap, because of what He has sown. He disgraced and disarmed publicly the rulers and authorities that stood in the way of your life in Christ. He triumphed over them in Him. (Colossians 2:13-15)

What is the bride without the bridegroom? 

The bridegroom is Christ and He is the substance. What is a bride without her bridegroom. She is one lacking substance. Thank God, that this isn’t you and I because we both know, have chosen, and have decided to grab ahold of the bridegroom for all that He is and all that He promises to be.  

substance: 

sub•stance

a: essential nature : ESSENCE

b: a fundamental or characteristic part or quality

: ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change

: practical importance

: physical material from which something is made or which has discrete existence

Jesus Christ is the essential nature to the Bride. He is necessary to her character and quality. He is the filling of the bride. Similar to a jelly donut without the jelly and a layered cake without its layers; a bride without her bridegroom is simply undone. 

Jesus Christ has come and exists to fill every void and to properly supply and assemble His bride. Are you a bride without her bridegroom? 

His Bride, By Design

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #48

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NAMES OF GOD:

THE LAST ADAM (1 CORINTHIANS 15:45) 

1 Corinthians 15:45

So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

What are your thoughts on the first Adam? What is the mind that you have towards the story of Adam and Eve? An elementary story, I know, but what are your feelings towards it? 

Are you one of those people who frequently recite the words “If it weren’t for the fall of Adam and Eve…”? Are you a person with compassion and empathy towards their story? Do you fully blame the influence of the enemy for their sin? Do you think that they had things completely made and just messed it up for the rest of humankind? 

What are your thoughts towards their story and example; strategically placed within the Bible for the Bride’s meditation, review, study and application? 

Have you ever heard that there is a second Adam? What is your relationship to the story of the second Adam? Did you know or did you really not know? If you already knew that there, is a second Adam what is your relationship to Him? What is your relationship to His story? What is your relationship and understanding of who He is and what He has done? What are your thoughts towards His reputation? Have you found Him as the Adam He is, or are you so jaded by the first Adam that you can’t fathom a second Adam with the qualities that the second Adam claims to have and possess?

The chapter that this scripture is taken from begins to describe the nature of the resurrection body: 

It reminds the reader that in order for something sown to live, it has to die. It reminds the reader that what is sown is also not, what will be. “But God gives it a body as he wants…” 1 Corinthians 15:38. If that was a bit confusing to you, continue reading…

It goes on to discuss and inform the reader more on the order of nature. It defines what is natural and what is spiritual. The passage expresses that the natural must precede the spiritual. It describes seeds of corruption, dishonor, weakness and the natural being sown through death; and by way of the resurrection they are raised in incorruption, glory, power and a spiritual body. It assures the Bride that if there is a natural body there is also a spiritual one. “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 15:46

Yes, the first Adam and His wife Eve, messed up big time. They were the natural to the promise, they gave you and I hope of our existence. They allowed you to have a blueprint of the purest and most holiest intentions of God towards humankind. They show you why you are here and God perfect motive behind ever having created you in the first place. They were the first to be felt, they were also the first to be fully known by God. God’s natural design for humankind, bottled up in two perfect people, two perfect individuals, called Adam and Eve; but He wasn’t finished. We are referring to the God who knows the end from the beginning, the One who wrote the entire story before anyone could ever retell it. He knew Adam and Eve, through and through, and yet, He made them. He designed them, fashioned them, woven them together and breathed His breath of life into, on, and over them. He decided that they were the best of all His good, the best of all that He had created, but He still was not through. 

God knew their fall, just as much as He knew every detail of their design. He also knew that they had to come first, they had to precede what not yet was to the natural what He had always been to the spiritual. If the natural of it’s kind did not show up in Adam and Eve, no one would have known that there was a need for another, the spiritual, which the first Adam was of His kind. Jesus, is the second Adam. The life of the first Adam can often times cause the mind to wonder how the second could ever be better. But, what if the second came and was revealed to let you know that you had need of Him. Just as we have need of heaven and have not the slightest idea why we do. In the same way, you can be in your physical “home” and have a longing for (what is true, your true) home at the exact same time and in the exact same moments of being in bliss and in comfort. 

In the same way, you, much like Adam and Eve would never truly appreciate the second Adam if you didn’t know the effects of sin on the earth through the first. 

It is important to understand that the first Adam was never the Adam you were called to put your hope in; which is why the turn of events in his life may be a bit disheartening to you, as Christ Bride. Here is your reminder that the second Adam never misses, it is impossible for Him to. He won’t ever get your hopes up and leave you over promised and under delivered. He won’t ever disappoint you. He won’t ever be what the first Adam was in the best of ways; because He is fully of the right parts. “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:47

I don’t know about you, but the latter part of this scripture completely reassures me. The implication of the second man being of and from heaven, as the Bride; it refreshes my soul and is like a fresh breath of wind washing over me when I read them. It is my confidence for letting out the hugest of sighs, knowing that the second Adam is from somewhere much deeper. He is more pure, and of the best intentions, and I can rest assured in that truth. He is of the spirit and my future is secure in Him. He is from heaven and nothing formed Him, “so are those who are of heaven” 1 Corinthians 15:48. There is an order to the things from above, there is an order to the things that are of God. There is a difference between what is of and from God, and what is not. And with this truth, my heart can rest assured; that what and the One who is of the Spirit of God is of heaven and we can put our whole hope in Him. 

His Bride, By Design

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #47

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NAMES OF GOD:

A CHIEF CORNERSTONE (1 PETER 2:6)

A LIVING STONE (1 PETER 2:4)

vs6

For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

vs4

As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—

It is easy to put our trust in the things we can see. It is easy to put our trust in a friend, it is also easy to put one’s trust in the hands of a foe.

It is easy to think that all the provision of and throughout the earth is greater than God, The Almighty’s provision. It is easy to think that the trillions of dollars on the earth is all the provisions that there will ever be. It is easy to assume that only what you see is available to you…

But in the same way that the chief cornerstone holds everything together without being visible to all; 

God, the Creator of the universe holds it all together oftentimes without the acknowledgment or understanding of all that He has created. 

There is One God, heaven is His home and earth, His footstool. Such an obscene claim, but what is even more mind boggling is that it is true. 

“A chosen and honored stone…”

But, how could it be so chosen and honored if not everyone acknowledges it? 

Here’s a lesson for your entire existence: 

Whether what was created ever acknowledges who you are and all you are created to do…

it isn’t really any of your business.

Who, the Creator of the universe says you are and what He has fully known and designed you for and to do, that, yes that is your business. 

Imagine Jesus arriving here on earth whether it be His first or second coming, looking for the validation of what has been created to do what the Lord, God sent Him to this earth to do. 

Imagine the sky parting in two, heralds accompanying, and angels singing to THE King of Kings and Him, waiting on the applause of all that have been created in order for Him to act, in orders for Him to move, or in order for Him to setup and establish His Kingdom, a new heaven and a new earth, here on earth. 

Imagine the one who has been assigned, the One who is trustworthy and who is accomplished asking the confused for an ounce of recognition before continuing on in His assignment which had been assigned before the beginning of time. 

Imagine the tested and approved being questioned by the one too cowardly to even show up to be assigned and given instruction. Imagine the blind leading the blind when there is an entire King of glory to follow. 

Imagine the One who knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end, being instructed by the likes of you and I. Imagine the One who spoke and there, was the whole universe that humans are currently discovering and, rediscovering being told what to do by one out of billions that He has created and will continue to create. It just isn’t, it isn’t imaginable and it isn’t fathomable because, simply put, it would be evidently preposterous. 

“and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

But, I can imagine myself laughing an unreasonably obnoxious laugh while reading the latter part of this scripture. And in addition to, “the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame…”

I mean the one who believes in His ability, one who believes in His resume, one who believes in His track record. One who believes in who He has been and one who believes in who His is. The one whose belief is hidden in Him, the one whose whole hope and trust is in the God of the Bible. 

The woman searching His scriptures, claiming and reclaiming promises and ground because her belief is in Him. The woman waiting in anticipation, the woman who has not lost heart, the woman who knows where her help and strength comes from. The woman, when she is low and I mean really low; musters up courage and strength to present herself to the day like she knows the One who placed the Sun in the sky and hung the stars and moon there every night too. 

Knowing that she is but a vessel on this earth but that didn’t stop her Creator from knowing every freckle, ever scar and every major and minor detail about her; 

like that chicken pox scar on your forehead that only you and those closest to you would know about. 

Yes, her, she will never be put to shame. The devil will never get the satisfaction of seeing her quit, or back out, or down because the Lord her God is within her she will not be moved. The chief cornerstone, the One holding it all together, holds her steadily and securely in the center of His will and in the palm of His hand. 

“as you come to him,”

But He isn’t just for her, He is for you too. He wants to be this to you too, the One you run to, the One you cling to, and the One you desire. 

“ a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—“

The only living stone you’ll ever know, the only living stone able to breathe life in you and what you are going through. He is the living stone, rejected by unbelief but chosen and honored by God. 

A living stone, He isn’t dead He is alive. He can be intertwined and interwoven into every detail of your life if you want Him to be. He can be your blueprint. 

Jesus is the Living Stone and He calls and is calling for a Holy People. 

Fortunate for you, that you have been called to be His bride. To the most intimate of relationships; to know Him and Him you. To be called His Holy People and He, your Cornerstone. 

1 Peter 2:5

you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

“but for the unbelieving”: 

the one who couldn’t fathom this truth, and for the one who has rejected it. The stone becomes more of a burden than a blessing. The truth becomes something to stumble over rather than to be embraced. The truth becomes something that the “unbeliever” who has rejected the cornerstone as its source to build on and from, becomes something they run from, due to their inability to believe. 

Proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light, through the miracle of His glory, mercies and grace towards you. 

His Bride, By Design 

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #46

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NAMES OF GOD:

THE BUILDER

(HEBREWS 3:3) 

For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.

Jesus, is more worthy. Jesus the One who made you, is worthy of more glory. Moses has been accredited in the Bible for many things. You can look to Moses’ life and draw encouragement out of it. “If it wasn’t for the life of Moses…” can easily be the words spoken from the mouth of many. After all, Moses was the one who lead God’s people out of Israel, Moses was the One who received the 10 commandments and wrote them on the tablets of stone. Moses was the One who went up and down a mountain in order to inquire of the Lord on behalf of God’s people. Moses was the One receiving instruction regarding the path God’s people should take, and so on and so forth. Moses had been responsible for so much regarding the people of God and their entry into their Promised Land. 

And although this is the truth, the Bible still mentions that Jesus is greater and deserving of more honor. 

Why is that? Shouldn’t everyone get the same glory? Wouldn’t God distribute His glory evenly among all He created? 

Here’s the thing: 

Jesus is in a league of His own and, all by Himself. Here’s the thing, nothing created Him, He created everything and still chose humility. He was here since the beginning and will be here into and until the end; and God still chose Him to deliver all people. Jesus was there when God formed the earth and everything in it, an onlooker so to speak. Fully present, and a full participant, just waiting for the moment of His specified role in all of humanity’s redemption and God’s complete rescue plan. 

The Bible says that the builder is worthy of more glory than the house. You see, Moses was and is, in all of his excellence still, just a vessel, a picture of God’s presence, an image bearer, a house and, the created. Now although, his participation has been, extremely important and providential in God’s rescue plan it could not and, had no chance in, comparing with Jesus’s impact and role within yours and my deliverance from the grips of hell. 

From the beginning, there has always been a plan of rescue. From the fall of Adam and Eve into a life lead and governed by a through the Spirit; there was a will deposited in the Son of Man to accomplish what no other man could. 

No matter the impact of the man in history, their impact could not and cannot compare to the impact of Jesus. Firstly, on all of humanity and; secondly on all those who received the free gift offered by Him. A gift that cost Him more than anyone would be willing to pay for the redemption of another. Jesus paid the high price of all who cover the earth’s salvation, so that you could walk, live and dwell freely in the plan and purpose of God for your life, and this includes, living in freedom. He is the price paid, the builder of yours and my salvation, the builder of yours and my life; spiritually, physically and emotionally. He is the foundation of the best start that anyone could ever have in life. He is the starting place of a solid and full life set apart for God. He is the author of that house and the finisher of it as well. 

You see, Moses and all of the greats in the Bible were made by Someone; that Someone fashioned them together and knitted them in a specific womb before even that womb (and person), had a chance to speak into and over the future of that life. The Someone who created every individual, predestined the purpose of every individual according to His good and perfect will for their life. That individual had two options in their position of that will; to cooperate with their Maker who is God the Creator or, not to. If that individual chooses to operate in accordance with God’s will for their lives they become the house built on the rock. If you are familiar with scripture you’ll know this one: 

Matthew 7:24-26

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

Psalm 118:22

The stone the builders rejected is the now Chief Cornerstone. 

Every builder before is and was a thief and a robber (John 10:1-2); but this builder, the One the builders rejected. He is the true builder, and the shepherd of the sheep. He is the much needed stone in the establishment and maintaining of that structure and that house. He was rejected so that you, as a house could be accepted. He went through, so that you could be carried and brought through safely and unharmed. He has always wanted to be your covering, your redemption, your deliverance; if you’d let Him. He is the First and the Last consultant concerning the will of God for your life. He is the One who gets to take you by the hand and ride off into the clouds or into the sunset with you, in this life and in the next. He is the One orchestrating it all. He is the One approving and disapproving things as well as the right way over your life. No one gets to take part in the establishment of His plan for your life because it is His will and not yours or anyone else’s that stands forever and throughout all of eternity. Everyone else is a thief and a liar concerning the building of your life. He is the builder, the true builder; rejected in order for you to be accepted. A necessary piece of every puzzle, that is your life. He’s known it from the beginning and nothing and no one can snatch you and the will of God for you, out of His hands. He won the purposes of God for and over your life fairly and without rival. He has redeemed you once for all time to be the house that He has willed for you to be and, because of this He is deserving of the greatest glory. Greater glory than any other “house” because He created and establishes them all anyway. Your job is to accept the finished work of His cross and to accept the price He has paid for your life, livelihood, and journey on this side of life. A fully glorified life, house and body awaits you at the end of it all. But as you are here, wait on the Lord who is already fully glorified and in the greatest glory, because of His willingness to go the distance of choice to redeem yours and my, soul and destiny from its fallen nature and into His marvelous light. 

John 15:14,15

the Vine and the branches 

No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends…

-Jesus

His Bride, By Design 

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #45

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NAMES OF GOD:

THE ROCK OF MY SALVATION 

(2 SAMUEL 22:47)

The LORD lives—blessed be my rock! God, the rock of my salvation, is exalted.

PSALM 91:14-16

Because he has his heart set on me, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls out to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and give him honor. I will satisfy him with a long life and show him my salvation.

“Because he has his heart set on me…”

In a previous blog I wrote that: 

“I’d imagine that the LORD being a rock, to anyone who called on Him would be an entirely good thing. No one could sway Him to be against you, and no one could convince Him not to allow you to lean on Him…”

God wants yours and my affection in such a way that He’d leverages your entire salvation on it. He has such great plans for you that He’d risk it on your “No”, Jesus Christ “Yes” and death on a cross, and on the fact of the matter; that He has given you the free will to choose. 

If you would choose Him…

He goes: 

because you have chosen me…

“I will.” “I will.” “I will.”

God is so sure that He is right about the plans that He has towards you that He is willing to risk it all on you. 

He is willing to go out into the deepest of deeps to secure your love, trust and dependency on Him;

“I will deliver him.”

“I will protect him.”

“Because he knows my name…”

“I will answer him.”

“I will be with him in trouble.”

“I will rescue him and give him honor.”

“I will satisfy him with long life and show him my salvation.”

show him

satisfy him

rescue him

give him honor

be with him

answer him

he knows my name

protect him

deliver him

God is so sure of His own ability to save, His ability to satisfy, to rescue, to honor, to be with, to answer, to protect and to deliver that He would encourage you to set your whole hearts affection and devotion towards Him. God is so sure of His ability to care for you, mind, body, soul and spirit; in the here and now that He encourages you in this. He encourages you to set your heart on Him entirely, and without reservation. 

God knows that He is the One fully able to be the Rock of your salvation and truly mean it. He knows that He is the One who, if given your whole trust, could show you what a desire for Him could truly produce within you and throughout your life. 

God is certain that the proof, the way He satisfies, His rescue, the answer, protection, deliverance, honor, His presence, long life, salvation and satisfaction all belong to Him. It is all at His disposal, and He without sparing anything gives (it) to the one whose heart is set on Him.

To be continued…

His Bride, By Design 

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THE BRIDES CLUB BLOG – #44

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NAMES OF GOD:

THE ROCK 

(PSALM 18:2) 

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

How could it be? A question that I ask you, as well as myself, often? How could it be that the God of the universe, who just so happens to be the same God of The Brides Club Live be all of this, all at once? 

I don’t ask these words to annoy or to antagonize you, but in order to get you to be  sure. 

The Bible says that you should always have an answer to defend what you believe as well as the reason for your hope. Questions help to sharpen those answers. They help you to be sure of that hope and to converse within, the responses to the reason for your hope. 

(1 Peter 3:15)

the LORD is my rock

my fortress

my deliverer 

my God

my rock where, 

my rock where I seek refuge

my shield

and the horn of my salvation 

my stronghold 

what is the first word that comes to mind when you think of the word ROCK? 

“Immovable”, would have to be the word that I choose. Immovable, steady, steadfast, constant, consistent and tough; would be among the words that I’d ascribe to, in order to complement and sum up my thoughts on the word, ROCK. I’d imagine one who is steady and not easily swayed. I imagine someone who is constant and consistent in the retrieval of my pursuit. I’d imagine that the LORD being a rock, to anyone who called on Him would be an entirely good thing. 

No one could sway Him to be against you, and no one could convince Him not to allow you to lean on Him. And even like Jacob, He’d allow you to take a stone, rest your head on it, and remind yourself that the LORD was in this place (Genesis 28:16). He’d let you rest on the ROCK, which is Him and allow you to defy all reasonable logic. The logic that says, that a rock would not serve as something to rest your head on that you should expect to still find comfort in. The logic that says that a rock could, prove to be a sure thing but, not to get your hopes up. 

He is steady in your life, steadfast and consistent for the reason of proving your faith right. He wants you to know that you can boast in His goodness without the expectation of disappointment. Because not only is He your ROCK and your redeemer. He is also your deliverer, your God and a true source of location. 

He is “my God, where”, my God where I find strength, my God where I find hope. My God where I find trust, and truth, and, so much more. He is the God of the Bible and we run to Him as our hope, as our deliverance and as our shield. He is our exceedingly great reward and we praise Him for His faithfulness towards us. 

A ROCK is faithful; and after going through the ringers of the seasons of life, the ROCK maintains its structure, its essence and it’s dependability in and on this side of life.

His Bride, By Design 

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