...Are You A Bride, Would I Lay Down My Life For You?... November 5, 2013 Todays Prayer Dear Jesus the mediator to the Father in Heaven, I desire to do as Your Word instructs, and let no corrupt word proceed from my mouth, but only what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. I do not want to grieve the Holy Ghost, by whom I was sealed for the day of redemption. I pray that I will let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from me. And I want to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as You in Christ Jesus forgave me. Oh that I would always be an imitator of You as a dear child. May I walk in love, as a child of light, finding what is acceptable to You. Please forgive me of my failures in these areas and help me to do better. I want to please You and be more like Jesus. Within this day Jesus, lead...guide... and direct me that I will make and be the change NOW! Thank You for the lessons I have learned. Most of all, thank You for being there with me through it all and for carrying me all the way. Thank You for hearing my prayer and for working in all of our lives. In Jesus name I pray and praise You. Amen November 5, 2013 Todays Devotional Morning All, Laying Down Our Life for the Bride... John10:14-21 (topic using verses 17-21 KJV) 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. 20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? Jesus was called to lay down His life for His bride, the Church. Men are called to emulate this same laying down our lives for our wives - our earthly brides. Men are to be a physical representation of what Christ has done for each of us. As we men do this, we experience the love of the Father. Wives will experience the love of the Father as husbands, (house bands-keeper), do this. Most of us men fight this process due to our own insecurities, independence, pride and ego. However, it is the very laying down our lives that allows us to connect to the Father just as Jesus connected to His Father. It is in the sacrificial, free will act that this occurs. This activates in the woman a response of love that allows the man to experience a deep love that is rooted in the Father but channeled from the wife, the one we lay our lives down for. Jesus did not feel something was being taken from Him because He chose to give it willingly. Conversely, if husbands lay down willingly their lives, they will not feel something is being taken. It is when husbands defend, negotiate and withdraw from the need of a woman that it negates this process. When we think we are being used or manipulated against our will, we believe others are trying to control us and we resist. Jesus did not do this. He gave willingly. Men must realize they are the initiators called to lay down their lives for their wives. Women respond to this sacrificial act by giving their heart and physical love to their husbands. Both husband and wife experience the love of the Father when this happens. Giving up our lives for our wives feels like just that; giving up our life. We give up rights, privileges, and desires. We focus on them. When we become dead, God loves us by giving us the desires of our heart. We give up life, in order to gain it. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 16:25 KJV). This is what it means when Jesus laid down His life for His bride. This is what it means when Paul said: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. (Ephesians 5:25-28 KJV). This principle is key to impacting the marketplace for Jesus Christ. The family has been greatly wounded by a failure to understand this principle. This has also led men and women to become slaves instead of sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Today, if you are a husband, commit yourself to laying down your life for your bride. Be Blessed...
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 12:01:05 +0000
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