“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance, to seek him the greatest adventure, to find him, the greatest human achievement.” -St. Augustine of Hippo
~The following teaching devotional was taken from my portion in the bestselling book, The Runaway Bride of Christ, Overcoming Church Hurt.
The Lord gave me another message. He said, “Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says: “I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness… This is what the Lord says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols only to become worthless themselves.– Jeremiah 2:1-2, 5 NLT
The Bride of Christ is the most precious, beautiful, and valuable treasure Jesus owns. His church is his bride. To touch the natural bride of a king evokes severe punishment, for her stature is elevated by the love of her king. She is guarded by the power and authority of her kingly husband. If men, throughout history were punished because they touched a king’s bride, can you imagine the consequences of those who willfully harm, defile, or seduce the bride of Christ? To touch the bride of the King of kings and Lord of lords…the co-ruler of heaven and earth…is infinitely more dangerous. For our King is eternally devoted and sacrificially given over to his bride. You are a part of the precious bride of Christ.
This great and mighty King acts with justice and has a heart perfumed with sweet mercy. This glorious King is chief among ten thousand (Song of Solomon 5:10). He is perfect in beauty, grace, wisdom, power, and holiness. He walks on transparent gold, and His gates are made of pearls (Revelation 21:21). He is worshipped and adored by majestic angels, and creation heralds his praises. He is incomparable and everything the bride could ever want. As omnipotent as He is, He doesn’t force Himself on his bride even though He created her for Himself. He has given her one of the loftiest gifts—free will. He asks his bride to respond to his call for a covenantal relationship, leaving it up to her to say “yes.” He has everything prepared, everything she needs for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He loves his bride with an undying, selfless love that is wholehearted. But this King has an enemy his bride is unfamiliar with.
Now, picture a husband on his wedding day, dressed up in finery, as he watches the aisle anxiously to see his bride. I’ve seen husbands so overcome at weddings that they cry or almost jolt back in surprise when they see their beautiful bride. Some men jump with joy or break out into a spontaneous little dance. There’s always a special kind of smile on their faces, a smile reserved only for their bride. Now, what would you suppose would happen if some crook came running down the aisle and grabbed the bride’s arm and attempted to drag her away? I bet the groom would start swinging his fists, giving that criminal a good beating until he released the bride. I imagine Jesus has more protective instincts for his bride than a natural husband who would readily defend his bride. Unfortunately, the enemy of the bride of Christ is a lot cleverer than that. He doesn’t often use physical force.
This pretentious swindler has one goal, and that’s to steal from his bride, destroy everything good in her life (including her relationship with the One who loves her most), and kill her. It’s the only way he knows how to hurt the holy Bridegroom.
This villain is running rampant on earth today using an excellent reconnaissance strategy. He has studied humanity since its inception. He knows humans were originally created with a spirit made for connection with the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), but we were separated from our core relationship through the sin he inspired—this has left mankind thirsty for spiritual life. So, he maliciously disguises himself as Christ, the only One who can connect us again to God; without this unity, we can’t be whole. We are hopelessly incomplete with Jesus.
For such men are false apostles [spurious, counterfeits], deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles (special messengers) of Christ (the Messiah). And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light; So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. [But] their end will correspond with their deeds. -2 Corinthians 11:13-15 AMPC
He has many evil demon minions who do his dark bidding through knowing or unknowing humans. This swindler has made his way through countless churches and stolen the bride of Christ from her Bridegroom in the most surreptitious way. He comes dressed like her groom. He has known her groom for thousands of years longer than she has. He can quote the bridegroom’s words with such minute subtleties that unless the bride knows her groom closely, she can be fooled by him. Imagine how the King must feel when his prized bride is seduced and deceived by an imposter who claims to be the king she loves?
Lucifer has envied the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for eons. He has tried his best shot to usurp God and be like the Most High…but he failed miserably (Isaiah 14: 13-15).
However, he appears to be consumed with jealousy, for he has not stopped trying to be like Jesus (antichrist). One of his favorite cloaks is religion. He often uses religious spirits to leaven the faith of countless believers. He loves to pervert scripture with a forked tongue. He has been corrupting the Word of God since the garden, where he beguiled Eve. And he’s been slowly choking the bride with suffocating dead works, legalism, condemnation and an assortment of other traps in his cache. The religious spirit has abused the bride and made her believe that the inflicted pain was from God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). He has criminalized God’s reputation in her heart. He has acted like a masterful prosecutor as he defames Christ and the believer he’s influencing. His accusations are calculated. He has successfully smoldered the fire of first love that once burned brightly in her heart. He has left her inner soul a wasteland of bitterness, unforgiveness, shame, anger, guilt, and has loaded her down with unbearable burdens…
~To read the full chapter and purchase the book, click here.
The Sacred Wooing: A Novel based on the Bridegroom Love of Jesus
~I am currently in the process of publishing The Sacred Wooing, a novel based on the scriptural truth that Jesus is our heavenly Bridegroom. To find out more about this project and learn how you can become a part of this journey, click here!
~To join, The Sacred Wooing Facebook group, click here. My intent for this page is to share reminders, teaching, and short devotionals on God’s love with others, using snippets from the book and scripture.
Synopsis:
Heaven is prepared for the most joyful wedding feast, but only one thing is missing—the bride. Noelani, a mortal woman with the divine spark of eternity inside her, is troubled by a cohort of evil spiritual beings plotting her downfall. Battle-worn, she begins to lose her only connection to her kingly groom, her faith.
All seems lost until her powerful groom knocks on her door and invites her to take his hand on a journey that will bring out her deepest fears and cause her enemies to double their attacks. Will her faith endure to the end?
Video Teaching on Being a Prepared Bride for Jesus
You are loved more than you can imagine by someone who died to make his love known to you. 
Have you ever thought about this, the Bible begins with a marriage relationship in a beautiful garden between Adam and Eve, and it ends with a divine marriage feast in Heaven between Christ and the church?
I was blessed to be teach at Freedom Community Church on the sacred topic of being a “prepared bride.” I pray that as you listen to this, that your heart may be warmed, encouraged and uplifted by the personal knowledge of the love of Jesus. May my testimony of the way Jesus came for my heart and won me over, be an invitation to allow him to pursue your heart.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready. -Revelation 19:7