The
Reluctant Bridegroom
shared by Suzin
McNeill
Activities
always increase before a wedding. The smallest details are assigned and
entrusted to those who
will faith-
fully serve to make this one day all that it is called to be for both
the
Bride and the
Bridegroom. From
the day the Bride is born to the day she marries, she anticipates all
during her life what
this special day will be
like. When the
dawning of this day comes, she is ready, prepared and dressed to walk
the
isle towards her Bridegroom.
WORD Of THE LORD
Oh, that My people would
rouse themselves from their complacency. I have called early, prepare. I
have called and called, prepare your hearts. I have extended the
invitation to holiness. I have set the table before you. I have
given My name to bring deliverance, cleansing, and restoration to
My Father. I have given you the very blood of MY Son
JESUS to cover and eradicate any stains upon your hearts and stains upon
your garments. I have cried and sent My prophets declaring, prepare the
way of The LORD. I have sent a dowry to My people and yet, they are
impoverished and weak.
They
have used their dowries to obtain things,
rather
than holiness before Me. My Bride, you have heard the call to know Me
intimately.
It is the third day before the wedding. Are
you looking unto Me or are Your eyes upon
your
own
self? Are you readied to walk in My Holy Spirit,
or
are you still dancing in the dust of the streets of this world?
Yes,
your temples are built with worldly
grandeur
and stand
tall and proud on every corner. They have been used for many
marriages,
but as The Bridegroom, I am rarely there, nor invited. Weddings
go
on as planned without noticing that
The
Bridegroom
is absent. All eyes are upon the Bride named SELF.
It is the second day before the
wedding.
Caterers
are busy, busy, busy preparing their sweet delicacies,
and in each one, the message is engraved, we shall fly away in
the
rapture, and we will be present in
the glory.
These
delicacies may be sweet upon your lips, but they yield few nutrients
for the growth and strengthening of the body.
As
The
Bridegroom, I come to you in both glory and in judgment. Will you meet
Me with the stains of the world and
your loves
within
the world still upon your skirts? What shall you say when your
skirts are lifted and what shall I say as
I
look upon
thee? Will your inner garments be as white as your
outward appearing? You appear chaste in your white dress, but the scent
of your other loves is very evident.
Will the
dirt
from the world be upon Your inner garments?
How
pure is your heart towards Me? I have
called come
close, and closer still. I have desired intimacy
with
you, but you have chosen other things instead of My will and My love for
you. Now, without forethought, you
say, I’m
ready
as a bride to fly away to the arms of my Bridegroom. I am mature and prepared for my walk,
the walk of
the
Bride.
It is
the day of the wedding and the
Bride is anxious.
So many important people have been invited. The
soft seated, velvet pews are filled. The church is adorned with flowers
that will fade in a day but
not adorned with My glory. Three notes are sounded from the organ
and all heads turn. All eyes are upon the Bride who stands in the
doorway.
She walks with an upraised head. She is
cloaked and hidden behind her
lacy
veil of
white. Step by step she slowly walks down the aisle. She walks alone,
without her Father.
She knows
that all
eyes are upon her and seems to relish in the slowness
of her own stepping. She has waited a lifetime for this single
day. Slowly she steps,
not noticing that The
Groom is
not standing in front of the pastor, nor behind him. She
keeps her eyes fixed toward the
pulpit.
She is almost at the end of the isle now, and still all eyes are upon her.
Few have
noticed that The FATHER of the
Bride is
missing. Fewer still, have noticed that The Groom is
not present. It is “her day,”
and she is
having it “her way.” She will utter vows but they are only words unto her self. She will
speak of the
marriage union and fidelity but, she will return from
the walk of the church
aisle to walk
again in
the ways of the world. She has forgotten the one true vow unto Me, says The LORD. I have vowed but have not been heard. I
have spoken
but few have followed My words to walk.
In Gethsemane I vowed the vow. My
heart was
torn for
the weight of it, and My body was pierced. No golden ring was placed upon My finger,
but a thorn
crown was upon My brow. I have vowed unto
My FATHER the tender words from a
heart torn
from love. I vowed, Father, I will do Your will. From this vow the marriage in
oneness is consummate.
From this vow spoken from the altar of
your heart, I become one with you. Oh, My
remnant
Bride, we shall go out and compel new guests
to come unto this wedding union, where
all eyes will
be not just upon the Bride, but also upon Me, as I walk down the aisles of your
churches. We will
stand and all shall see.
We shall walk and dance
and sing
as you grow intimately in love with Me, for I am truly, the Bridegroom Who calls longing for My
Bride in
oneness. I AM The Bridegroom, and I call to you to prepare for the holiness that comes
through our
union of oneness. Prepare Your heart, for "surely I come
quickly".
Psalm 51
Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy loving
kindness according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies
blot out my
transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse
me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions:
and my sin
is ever before me against thee, thee only, have I
sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight: that thou might
be
justified when thou speaks, and be
clear when
thou judgest. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and
in sin did
my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desires truth in the
inward parts:
and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to
know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that
the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot
out all mine
iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew
a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take
not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation; and
uphold me with thy free spirit.
Yet
My people have
forgotten ME,
days without number.