Knowing You See Things Imperfectly

Paul wrote,  "When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child.  But when I grew up. I put away childish things.  Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me complete." 1 Corinthians 13:11-12

Can you trust your eyes? Can you trust your ears? Can you trust your understanding?

Was Jesus ever accused for things he was not? Can you think of when he might of been accused of being a cannibal, a liar, a false prophet, or being the prince of demons?  How about being guilty of something he was not guilty of because he spent time with Samaritans, drunks, and tax collectors?
People perceived him guilty by association, what they saw, what they heard and in how they understood?

Have your eyes and understanding ever let you presume something that was untrue? Have you ever jumped to conclusions?  Have you ever not heeded the Lord's warnings and did what you thought was right and/or justified? What fruit came of those actions?

Scripture says... "Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him."  Isaiah 64:4

 

.... Let me suggest a bit of caution to the idea of knowing enough of a situation or going it alone in your own understanding and suggest a bit of caution on any zealous acts - acts that come from any aspect of impatience, personal pride and prejudice.   Wait and be surrendered to God in thought and see how God directs and intercedes for you.

I remember before I was a Christian there were a couple Christians that didn't treat me with respect.  I didn't need their respect to  "agree" with me but I needed their  respect that I was a person no better then they were yet they acted as if they were better then me.   I saw pride and prejudice in their actions instead of the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  

Jesus said the flesh profits what...?

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63

We should not claim to know all there is to know of God, His Word or a situation but seek God for discernment, wisdom, direction, and emotional stability in many of the opportunities presented to us in this life. Yet I feel this is not always taught or maybe it's not matured in our spiritual coverings.

"And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes." Galatians 3:27

We are to "put on Christ".  How did Jesus speak and interact with people?  

Yes let there be a confidence but not a confidence with ourselves but with God.
"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit.  For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  2 Corinthians 3:4-6

We are to be as children, but not children of ignorance, but children of our Heavenly Father.

The Word of God is a double-edged sword- you want to use it and use it to heal then let the Spirit of God direct you in "how" to use through your actions.     
     
Some may say being "persecuted, hated, resented, bullied, disregarded, and called haters and worse" are causes and effects in walking in pretentious ways but that is not necessarily true.

We could just as easily receive the same treatment for doing right and living a wholesome lifestyle then doing wrong.  And why might this be a problem?  Why might this offend others?  Why do those in the world want to force us to agree with things that go against God's word?  Why do they want to change us?  It's odd how conviction of sin comes in many ways and forms.  

Just a comparison of lifestyle can make one envious and feel guilty.   If everyone agreed with their sinful behavior- then they would not feel guilty but as God's representatives living in truth - this makes them feel convicted.   Just the goodness of God's Spirit working in our lives is conviction enough.  It's like a little song bird chirping on a tree branch in the morning and because a few want to sleep, those who want to sleep despise the little song bird.  The song bird did nothing to deserve such resentment.  It was just doing what it was created to do by God.    Ever notice how guilty people have to justify themselves causing them to fall deeper into sin?  They live in the law of sin/ law of their understanding.  They are trapped and they will do anything in their power to try to feel not trapped resulting to childish things as put downs, lies, manipulations, violence, curses, and name calling.  And because the world works in the same faulty understanding, the world agrees with them and makes laws and regulations against those who choose to live by the word of God.            

No surprise there.... Jesus said we would be hated because for our allegiance to him. 

Mark 13:13 “And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

We must speak the truth but be careful however to be sure we speak and act according to the Spirit in love not in some stuck up fashion that is not humble and does not remember where he/she stands- for we all have sinned and come short to the glory of God.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 2:23

"Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." Colossians 4:6

We must be "approachable" people that know what it means to have all the short comings of being human...  we have all had trouble, failed, hurt, won, lost, loved, been betrayed, doubted, been angered, fallen, not been understood, been enslaved and so on... but in these things we are to weave what it means to have Christ in those situations and share that with others in gracious speech.

 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

"... I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."  Note: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." Philippians 2:3
 
"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas world grief produces death." 2 Corinthians 7:10

Let us not just look at grief but other aspects of life as well.

We have all grieved...
We have all been angered...
We have all loved...
we have all... fallen short of the glory of God....

But it is in "how" we do those things that ends in life or death and it's "in" who or WHO we turn to that leads to life or death.  When we look to ourselves and the world, grief can turn to prideful self-pity ... anger can turn to resentment and unforgiveness and... love to ignorant shallowness, empty lust.   All which are sin in God's eyes.

 We find reasons to stay away and reject God because we want to stay in sin.  These sins become like shards of glass in the veins of our blood stream and we stay away from the very ONE who can give us LIFE.... GOD.

But when we look to God, grief can become things like hope and a stronger dependence upon God.  Anger can turn to godly resolve, living justly and putting God above all things and people.    Love becomes unselfish and a want to build up and encourage those around us and to love our spouse more deeply.

Again.... If we turn to just ourselves and our understanding of grief, anger and love- these things turn to darkness and death.  If we turn to God in our grief, anger and understanding of what love really is, it leads to life.

GOD is the strong thread that keeps all our life from coming all unraveled.
       
Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament said: "I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect.  I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above."

We should always strive to live for and as Christ, as we have the opportunity to share the love of Christ with others.  You and I can't be all that God wants us to be without Jesus flowing through our spiritual veins. 

How imaginative and undisciplined our minds are and how our thoughts float in all different directions.  How presumptuous they can be and how these very thoughts fade to judgments. 

In life, I could easily fill up the pages of my thoughts but to leave the pages as simple humble surrendered prayers of mediation upon God, I find God filling them and I can easily find what he has written on them.

Ever heard the saying, "You are the only bible some people will ever read"?

I am not saying to become so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good but how can one do the kind of good that survives the testings of fire if you are not heavenly minded, clothed and directed?

 What will stand when our works are tested by God?  Our salvation will still be there but if our works are not done in a manner that honor God in Spirit and truth what will stand when the flames touch them?  How might your actions towards others honor God or dishonor God?

"If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." 1 Corinthians 3:14-15

From where does your inner compass start?  From where is it drawn?  From where is it pointed?  From where might it go?

We come upon situations and circumstances that present themselves as bitter water.   And anyone who drinks and partakes of this bitter water comes down with side affects of that bitter water but those who drink from Jesus the living water can speak into that bitter situation and help people taste what it means to drink God's sweet water- by your graceful actions and words seasoned by salt.

Serenity Prayer "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
 
So yes there will be those who still want to drink from the bitter water but let God grant us the wisdom to see what we can change and not change and not be discouraged by.

For Jesus said, "... but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil." John 3:19

 

"But to you who are listening I say:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6:27-28

Note: This doesn't mean to intentionally get walked all over but you turn the other cheek and not give pearls to swine because you know your value is not in your circumstances or in people but in God.

So do not cling onto these experiences too tightly but onto God who is your life of faith and allows you to give grace, have peace, know hope, be secured in love and have the mindset of Christ. 
  
Knowing all these things will help you become a better representative of Christ Jesus.

Ponder these things with the Lord as you watch this clip.

   

AND IN DOING, - Spirit and Truth

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-->Jesus said, “But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.  The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” John 4:23

So what does this mean to you to worship God in Spirit and truth?

One of the ways to help us define what is living in Spirit and truth is to see what God considers the opposite of living and worshiping God in Spirit and truth is. 

“And the Lord said, ‘Because the people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,” Isaiah 29:13-14

“They fear the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.  To this day they do according to the earlier customs; they do not fear the LORD, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD command the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel.” 2 Kings 17:33-34

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…” 2 Timothy 3:5

“Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7

So living and worshiping God in Spirit and truth is NOT:

1.             Head knowledge alone.

2.            Religious tradition

3.             Repetitious prayers or words.  

4.             A complacent or false love for God.

5.             Denying the Holy Spirit in one’s life.

6.             Disregarding a personal relationship with the True and Living GOD.

7.             (What did the Spirit point out to you in these scriptures?)

Spirit and truth.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Think…. This ever-growing revelation of Jesus being “the way, the truth and the life” didn’t come until the Holy Spirit came upon us and resided within us.

For the truth to become “active” in our soul the Holy Spirit must make it “living” in our soul.  For instance scriptures on a page are just words until God’s Spirit awakens them in our soul with meaning, insight, assurance, confidence and ability.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:13

Do we hear God?  Do we hear God some of the time?  How much do we hear God?

We shut off God by denying him within our daily lives either consciously or unintentionally.  We can get carried away in daily tasks that we leave God behind instead of Him having him central amongst the tasks of life.  We tend to follow the path of least resistance (our own humanness) if we aren’t mindful, and that path is our ignorance, imagination, our insecurities, our pride, our perceptions, our feeling, our routines, our order of things, our orthodox reasoning, our experiences and even those we surround ourselves by.  We limit God when we think we have God all figured out and know it all.  We shut God off when we think we know His Word in all its richness and fullness.  We shut God off when we think we have “arrived” in some kind of spiritual self-sufficiency.  In such cases God’s Spirit becomes minimized, dormant, and even irrelevant in our lives.

I love this these verse...

“Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” Psalm 23:7

How of often does our human intellect and understanding become gates separating us from God?  Where we try to figure out everything on our own.  I find even in the best of intentions in seeking or pursuing God in our ways, we miss God because it’s about us and not us surrendering us to God.  But God’s word says, “Lift up your heads, O gates and be lifted up- that the King of Glory may come in!”      

If we build and base our day on just our self what do you have in the end? Have we gained any greater mindset or heart? Has our relationship with God grown?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.  Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.  Instead fear the LORD and turn your back on evil.  Then you will gain renewed health and vitality.” Proverbs 3:5

For as long as I have lived I have never known anyone to gain renewed health and vitality in themselves.   How could anyone gain renewed health and vitality without living in Spirit and truth of God?  How could anyone the catch the fire of God when God isn’t allowed in any and all aspects? For this LIFE giving principle of trusting in the LORD and not depending on our own understanding makes us persist and endure in all things!  It’s where we cease and where God’s loving, comforting and encouraging Spirit takes over!

I am reminded of what Jesus said to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2

“I know all the things you do.  I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance.  I know you don’t tolerate evil people.  You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not.  You have discovered they are liars.  You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.  But I have this complaint against you.  You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!  Look how far you have fallen from you first love!  Turn back to me again and work as you did at first.  If you don’t, I will remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.” Revelation 2: 2-5   

For those who have ever fallen in love, I want you to think on what it meant and felt like to be “in love”. What was that glow?  What was that want to be near that person?  How you threw yourself at that person with a special trust.  You seemed to want to do just about anything for that special person of the opposite sex.  It was no burden or hassle at all.  You seem to be almost floating…  You seem to have this renewed health and vitality about you, did you not as you walked in this unexplainable thing called “love”.  Now put God in that place… Do you see this?.

A. W. Tower wrote: “Behind the veil is God, that God after Whom the world, with strange inconsistency, has felt, ‘If haply they might find Him.’ He has discovered Himself to some extent in nature, but more perfectly in the Incarnation; now He waits to show Himself in ravishing fullness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart.  The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of his Presence.  The instant cure of the most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us.  This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged.  This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.”

Jesus said, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’” Matthew 22:37

How quickly we dismiss such words out of familiarity not realizing they are the key out of cage of ourselves and everything else that chips and nags at us.  We don’t necessary see them as what we are to build and pour our life into but just orders and commands.  But God gives us these words to liberate us from the monotony of close-minded themes that keep us captive within the world’s ideals and ourselves.   Instead God says, “Come to ME, LOVE ME with all your heart soul and mind and I will show you what it means to LIVE.  Take a moment to think how this pertains to living Spirit and truth.

God wants us to develop, grow, endure and mature in the supernatural grace and the glorious unfolding of His daily invigorating love.

Paul writes with great and humbling admiration:

“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you might inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into God’s marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s peoples should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and the power that comes from God.  Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” Ephesians 3:16-20

I don’t know about you but my soul says, “Wow!”  Staying in Spirit and truth, which is to stay in the ‘knowing of God’s love’ brings about the fullness of life and the power that comes from being in His Love.

Is this an easy task? Of course not, for the things of self, love to be our obstacle.   They like to barge to the front of the line and make their demands and in the process redirect our focus away from God.

As A.W. Tozer so eloquently points out, “Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us.  It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction.” 

Realizing this we must make a personal effort to live a circumcised life in Spirit in order to enjoy the encompassing elements of God.  For we were meant to have such a wonderful outlook as Paul speaks yet many times we find ourselves settling for far less.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

How many times has Christ Jesus overcome for us and shown us His goodness?  Why has he continually made a way where their seems to be no way?  Why has he kept the path clear for us?  This path we love to discover and walk upon but somehow… forget throughout our day.  But Jesus calls to us… Can you hear Him? “Let me be LORD OVER ALL THINGS!”

Isaiah 55:8-9 “My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”

Is this not REFRESHING!!!  God’s thoughts and ways are HIGHER then our thoughts and ways!  Some may ask, “Why is this a good thing?”  This is a good thing because we who have been born-again in Christ Jesus can live in, by HIS SPIRIT, in God’s thoughts and ways. We can be in-tuned with God.

“Who can know the LORD’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16

This morning’s scripture verse reads,

“Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to the Him;  He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”  Proverbs 16:3

And this is what the Spirit said to me, “Your thoughts of the day’s tasks are transformed when you give and entrust them to the Lord and they become satisfying and liberated because they are in His will which is perfect, pleasing and good for the soul.”

You don’t just see natural contexts of life but in the contexts of life you walk in the spiritual contexts as well -instead of just the tendencies or leanings of our selves.

As we digest these things, “What is established and success in God’s eyes?”  Is it being materially rich? I don’t remember my Jesus ever being materially rich.  And I have seen many who are materially rich who are yet unsatisfied.  So that is not being established or a success in God’s eyes.  Is it having a degree?  Did Jesus have a degree?  How about the completion of many tasks and worldly successes?  We can complete many tasks yet still feel unsatisfied…  God has shown me what is established and a success is those things God put’s His hands to.  It’s allowing God to work in us as his holy priest.

“And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple.  What’s more you are God’s holy priest, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that pleas him because of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5

What is established and a success is how we go about those tasks in life by His Spirit.  I am reminded that everyone’s life’s work will be tested by fire.   Are we doing those tasks in the ways and thoughts of God (Spirit and truth) or are we doing them with burden, only as obligation, self-sufficiency, self-promotion, egotism, etc?  These things neglect the Spirit’s love, counsel and encouragement and without the Spirit there is no “edible” fruit to partake from for us or anyone else.  For the good fruit is our witness of God working in us and manifesting Himself in us.

“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Here there is no conflict with the law.” Galatians 5:22-23

“If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” Galatians 5:25

“But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law- the law that sets you free- and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” James 1:25

Anyone can accomplish something but it’s in how we accomplish that something that matters most to God.

GOD who inspired the words, “We walk by faith not by sight,” wants to graciously bestow upon us a new perspective daily and hourly.  A perspective only He can give.   No wonder why the Word of God states nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Note Romans 8:39

  Acts 17:28 says “For in Him we live, and move and have our being; as also certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”

Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.…” John 15:4

To quietly and humbly surrender to the Spirit and truth is to pass through the veil of our stumbling and burdening understanding and have every need… want… thirst… hunger… thought … circumstance… and experience to be “spoken to” and satisfied!

“And God spoke ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

God wants us to know that in Him we lack nothing….

Romans 8:37 says… “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

I find in many experiences in life we find ourselves out of our league.  We live in this world but we are not of this world.   Most of us are aware of our moment-by-moment need and if we are cognoscenti of WHO can hold and carry us and encourage us through our need we are the most lucky and blessed individuals on the planet. 

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

And it becomes overwhelmingly clear we can’t have this unless we give our life to the son- Jesus Christ, who is God’s most greatest gift of love.

 ^“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us” 1 John 4:9-19

As I was writing the early parts of these pages a song came on.  I don’t think this was by accident.  Here are the lyrics to “You are my Vision”

You are my vision, O King of my heart
Nothing else satisfies, only You Lord
You are my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Your presence my light

You are my wisdom, You are my true word
I ever with You, and You with me Lord
You're my great Father, and I'm Your true son
You dwell inside me, together we're one

You are my battle-shield, sword for the fight
You are my dignity, You're my delight
You're my soul's shelter and You're my high tower
Come raise me heavenward, O power of my power

I don't want riches or man's empty praise
You're my inheritance, now and always
You and You only, the first in my heart
High king of Heaven, my treasure You are

High king of Heaven, when victory's won
May I reach Heaven's joy, O bright Heaven's Son
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all

 

Jesus said, “But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.  The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” John 4:23

Dream

On the first month of the 26^th day of the year twenty fifteen I was given a dream…

I had never experienced a dream quite like this before.  In my dreams I have always been myself, at least I believe it to be so, but this time I experienced the position of someone else's point of view.  And after the dream I had to ask if this dream was from God and if it was... "What did it all mean?"  He directed me to Song of Songs.  I will do my best to reference these illustrations with biblical texts.
      

In this dream I was put in the position of the groom.   The groom had been away and was returning from afar.  Jesus is the groom/bridegroom.  (John 3:29-36)

References

“Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness like a cloud of smoke along the ground? Who is it that smells of myrrh and frankincense and every other spice?” Song of Songs 3:6

“Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her lover?” Song of Songs 8:5

When the groom enters the house “He” sees his bride and her father.  The father is dressing her in white. The Father (God) tells the groom, the bride’s dress is modest and conservative where not even the backing of the dress shows the skin on her lower back.  Her blond straight hair is made up into a bun on the back of her head.

(There is something beautiful about a modestly dressed woman with her hair up.  A woman who has saved all the enticing attributes of her physical body for her husband.  Now think about this in a spiritual sense as our bodies are the temple of God.)
 

The bride is an illustration of the Christian church.

 References:

“For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.” Isaiah 54:5

“And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church.  He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the baptism of God’s word.  He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead she is holy and without fault.” Ephesians 5:26-27

“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; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Revelation 19:7-9

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelation 21:2

And let us not forget the verse “first love” in Revelation 2:4

I noticed a label on the dress that read “Infinity”. Think about what a label represents... When you think of a label you think of the maker of the label.  You think of the designer.  You think of the person who owns it.  The label is a seal.

References

The “seal” has nothing to do with us but Jesus to whom we belong and those who belong to Jesus have been given the Holy Spirit.

^“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  2 Corinthians 1:21-22

The groom kisses his bride’s warm moist lips that were full of passion for her soon to be husband.  She has been waiting for Him with anticipation.  She loves Him with all her heart, mind, body and soul. 

References

“Your lips, my bride, are as sweet as honey.  Yes, honey and cream are under your tongue.” Song of Songs 4:11

“May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine, smooth and sweet, flowing gently over lips and teeth.” Song of Songs 6:9

“As the deer pants for the streams of water, so I long for you, O God.  I thirst for God, the living God.  When can I come and stand before him?” Psalm 42:1-2

“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’.” Matthew 22:37

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11

“You are like a private garden, my treasure, my bride!  You are like a spring that no one else can drink from, a fountain of my own.”  Song of Songs 4:12

These last two verses reminds me of our "personal" relationship with the Lord.   It seems no matter how well we may verbally or inscribe that content we receive from the God it is not to the depth and meaning in which we received it.   It's personal....  and with anything personal- no words can accurately convey it's meaning.   It is a "spring" and "fountain" with the Lord that we only can fully enjoy.  


It is as Proverbs 14:10 states: "Each heart knows it own bitterness and no one else can fully share it's joy."
   

It is spiritual matrimony of sorts because it is an intimate partnership.   God invented marriage to illustrate this truth as well.  Our relationship with our spouse is like a fountain no one else can drink from.  It is meant to be an intimate partnership just as our relationship with the Lord is to be.  And in that partnership precious spiritual fruit is grown.

“You are like a private garden, my treasure, my bride! You are like a spring that no one else can drink from, a fountain of my own.  You are like a lovely orchard bearing precious fruit, with the rarest of perfumes: nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, myrrh and aloes, and perfume from every incense tree, and every other lovely spice.   You are a garden fountain, a well of living water, as refreshing as the streams from the Lebanon mountains.”   Song of Songs 4:12-15
  

"He who believes in Me (Jesus), as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"  John 7:38

The “family” shared a satisfying filling meal with the groom.

References

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20

“I am the bread of life.  No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again.   Those who believe in me will never thirst” John 6:35

The Father then asked the bride’s mother to dance with the groom and that she did gracefully with no utterance.


This dance, reminds me Jeremiah 31.

"This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt.  They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife," says the LORD.  But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days," says the LORD. "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.  I will be their God and they will be my people.  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying 'You should know the LORD.'  For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already," says the LORD.  And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins." Jeremiah 31:32-34


For how could God not remember their sin? A sacrificial animal offering was to cover skin but it wasn't forgotten but to be forgotten they must put their faith in God's Son, Jesus Christ who was the sin offering for all humanity and of all the ages of man.  For not only would their sin not be remembered by God, but they too would be given the Holy Spirit who puts God's instructions deep with them and they we know the LORD. 


It is as it is written: "And I will give you a new obedient heart.  And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command."  Ezekiel 36:26-27


In dream the groom gently took hold of the wife's soft hand and put his other hand around her petite frame.  The mother exuded warmth, peace, purity and unfading beauty in her quiet persona, which I cannot accurately describe..... For one would have to dance with her to experience such things. And this experience has encouraged me to seek God to take on some of her honorable attributes in Spirit.  She did not wear fancy clothes but a simple dress and long sleeve blouse or shirt.  She was of natural beauty.  She was earthy in the good sense.  She wore no jewelry and had her long straight auburn hair tied back in a simple ponytail.

The mother is probably Judaism.  Judaism is where Christianity comes forth from- for Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews and Gentiles.  Jesus is the Savior.

For Jesus said, "You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews."  John 4:22 

The mother, petite, is like Israel who small but beautiful and precious in God’s sight.  And those who listen to God will “dance” with the Son of God- Jesus Christ who is the lasting covenant with God's people.
   

References

The mother was all that 1 Peter 3:1-4 speaks of:

“Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.  Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

 “As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.” Ephesians 5:24

At the end of the dream there was no wedding. There was no banquet of great celebration. The groom did not sleep with the bride.  He loves the bride and she loves Him.  The groom did not sleep in the family’s house but stayed right outside on some high platform were He kept watch- for a sign perhaps.

Reference

“Before the dawn comes and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.  You are so beautiful, my beloved, so perfect in every part.” Song of Songs 4:6

The dream ends there.  Bride of Christ is waiting for her Lord to come with anticipation and every ounce of her being.  She is looking forward to being united with her Lord but as she does so, she is also waiting for the God's will to be done.

 
It reminds me of these verses:

“First I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire.   This will be their argument: ‘Jesus promised to come back, did he?  Then where is he?  Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created’. They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water.  Then he used the water to destroy the world with a mighty flood.  And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the day of judgment when ungodly people will perish.  But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgment.” 2 Peter 3:3-10

And then we know why Spirit emphasizes this verse…

“Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the swift gazelles and the deer of the wild, not to awaken love until the time is right.”  Song of Songs 3:7

May God be given praise.