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| Jilted Bridegroom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 The prayer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jilted Bridegroom - The thought | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jesus � You are the perfect Bridegroom, in all respects. You deserve the perfect Bride, the bride price that You paid for Your Bride was over and above the bride price paid by any other. For it �was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of a lamb without spot or stain, namely Christ � You paid for Your bride with Your own suffering. You have held nothing back in demonstrating Your love towards us. (1Peter 1:18-19) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You haven�t withheld one thing from us, Your betrothed, You gave up absolutely everything for us. Your state was divine, yet You did not cling to Your equality with God but emptied Yourself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as all men are; and being as all men are You were humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I cannot even imagine how anyone could offer more for a betrothal � You are the ultimate in all things, and wow, a happier betrothed Bride has never been seen. There was such an overflowing of rejoicing in that first flush of love for You. We were open to the Spirit that You breathed onto us, we took delight in learning Your ways of love; our gratitude for being chosen to be Your Bride, knew no bounds, and the cry was �Maranatha� � Come! (1Corinthians 16:22) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yet we, the Bride were too young, we were not grown enough to be wed, the Bridegroom was taken from us. We were left not without comfort, but with the precious Spirit whom the Father sent in Your name to teach us everything, and remind us of all. (Mark 2:20, John 14:26) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You made very provision for us to grow and blossom into a beautiful Bride, one that would truly bring honour to You; one that would truly ravish Your heart with a single one of her glances. You anointed us with that precious anointing, the anointing You gave teaches everything; we were anointed with truth and not with a lie, and what it has taught was � that we should remain in You � so when You appear, we may have full confidence and not turn from You in shame at Your coming. (Songs 6:9, 1John 2:27-28) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| But we have been foolish, when the Bridegroom appeared late, we grew drowsy and fell asleep. We ignored what Your Spirit has been saying to us. Our concern has been not with remaining faithful to You, but only in what else You are going to give us. We have demanded more blessings for our flesh desires, we have wanted to see any little favours that we have done for You and through Your enabling to be rewarded with more honour and riches for ourselves. (Matthew 25:5) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How tolerant You have been with us as we have done this, You have indeed rewarded Your Bride with great riches and honour, she has become powerful. We have become arrogant, we have seen our riches and said: �I am rich and have everything I want, because what I am doing is right and being blest by the Lord.� We never realise that we have become wretched, pitiably poor, and blind and naked too, because we have forgotten Your example of gracious sharing. (Revelation 3:17) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| But we have added pride onto our ingratitude, we received the proposal to be betrothed at no cost to ourselves, and now we act as if it is our right to be the Bride. We have done nothing to prepare ourselves for the wedding. We have not taken the months with your oil of myrrh, and your spices and lotions to make ourselves beautiful. (Esther 2:12) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We have become content with how we are, and seem surprised that everyone else doesn�t want to listen to us. The surprise should be that they listen at all! We are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with our eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on our ankles. We can�t even see how we have become, doing detestable things before You. (Isaiah 3:16 Ezekiel 16:50) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How is it that we look and see the purposes that You have for the peoples around us, and we know the promise that You have said that You will reach them through us. � We think You no longer have to power to do it, and it is left to us! We think that means that the arm of the LORD is too short to save, or his ear too dull to hear. But our iniquities have separated us from You; our sins have hidden Your face from us, so that You will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We imagine that we can reach a hurting world, that our strength and our might can accomplish this! And when we fail, we blame You for letting us down. We have forgotten that we must remain in You, with You in us, to bear fruit in plenty, but cut off from You we can do nothing. (John 15:5) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oh how faithless we have become, trying to �help You out�, by doing it ourselves, when we see the task ahead. � We have failed to recognise that we were stealing the glory from the living Lord, we fail to see that You are Yahweh; that is Your name! That You will not give Your glory to another or Your praise to our idols of self importance. (Isaiah 42:8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oh Lord, how we have become satisfied with deciding for ourselves how we should behave, never stopping to ask You? We never listen to hear what You have to say, never wait patiently for You, always worrying over the ways of the men around us. Instead of talking to You, our precious master, we have relied on listening to others to find out what You think. We have become those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. (Psalm 37:7, Isaiah 5:21) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We make excuses for those who reject the Word of the Lord, and say �Peace will be yours� and to those who only follow the dictates of a hardened heart, �No misfortune will touch you�. But who among us have been present at Your council Lord? Who among us have seen it and heard Your word? Which of us has paid attention to Your word in order to proclaim it faithfully? (Jeremiah 23:16-18) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oh Lord You have poured out Your precious blood for us, yet we are rationalising sin; instead of turning to You. In repentance and rest lies our salvation; in quietness and trust is our strength, but we would have none of it. How cold we have been towards You. You called us out of bondage, but as You call more, we have gone further away from You. You taught us to walk, You took us tenderly in Your arms � Yet we didn�t see that it was You caring for us. You led with reins of kindness, with leading strings of love. You were like someone who lifts an infant close against His cheek; stooping down You gave us our nourishment. (Isaiah 30:15, Hosea 11:1, 3-4). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yet we have spurned Your affection, seeking the pleasures of the flesh instead, we have built our multi-faith alliances, we have tolerated and courted the Jezebel religions, who by their teaching are luring Your precious ones away to commit the adultery of eating food sacrificed to idols. We have been rebelling since our youth, we have sinned against heaven and against You; we are no longer worthy to be called Your children. We are no longer worthy to attend the wedding of the Lamb, let alone to be that Bride (Revelation 2:20, Luke 15:21, Revelation 19:9) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We have become worse yet Lord, not content with turning away from You, we have flaunted our sins we have made ourselves of worse reputation than those around us. We have appointed leaders, who embrace sexual sin, our daughters show no restraint, or desire for purity. How this must break Your tender heart. Our words and our deeds affront You Lord, our insolent airs bear witness against us. We parade our sin like Sodom. To our own undoing, we no longer hide it. ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What has happened to our hearts Lord? The heart of Your Bride has grown coarse, our ears are dull of hearing, and we have shut our eyes. We have become afraid that we might see with our eyes, hear with our ears, understand with our heart, and be turned back and healed by You. You have longed to pour that healing out on us. How you have longed to gather our children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and we refused! We simply refused that total sacrificial love, because it would mean letting go of the filth that we were holding onto to be made clean. How could we be so short sighted? (Matthew 13:15, 23:37) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You have called us to sow integrity for ourselves to reap a harvest of kindness. You have called us to break up our fallow ground; it is time to go seeking the Lord, until You come to rain salvation upon us. � But we have chosen to plough iniquity, to reap injustice, and eaten the produce � lies. Oh Jesus, we have trusted in our own strength, we have not come to You crying out for Your ways, we have wanted strategies and schemes but not humility and holiness. (Hosea 10:12-13) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LORD, Your people are wounded and near death. We are justly accused of crime with no one to defend us, and you are covered with sores that no medicine can cure. Our friends have forgotten us; they don't care anymore. The ones we made such sickly compromising overtures to, they have only despised us for our lack of integrity � they see it for what it is. (Jeremiah 30:12-14) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yet even so You have promised that we are Your heart�s desire, You have declared of Your promised Bride that, if our enemies try to rob or destroy us, You will rob and destroy them, and they will be led as captives to foreign lands. No one wants us as a friend or cares what happens to us. But You will heal our injuries, and we will get well. (Jeremiah 30:16-17) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lord most holy � You are tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving; Your indignation does not last for ever, and Your resentment exists a short time only; You never treat us, never punish us as our guilt and sins deserve. (Psalm 103:8-9) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our Lord, you are a great and fearsome God, and you faithfully keep your agreement with those who love and obey you. But we have sinned terribly by rebelling against you and rejecting your laws and teachings. We have ignored the message your servants the prophets spoke to our leaders, our ancestors, and everyone else. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Everything you do is right, our Lord. But still we suffer public disgrace because we have been unfaithful and have sinned against you. This includes all of us, both far and near � the people of every denomination, as well as those away in foreign lands, and even our pastors, our officials, and our ancestors. LORD God, you are merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against you and rejected your teachings that came to us from your servants the prophets. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Everyone amongst us have stubbornly refused to obey your laws, and yet we have refused to beg you for mercy and to remind ourselves of how faithful you have always been. Whatever horrible disaster You wreak upon us, that would be the right thing to do, because we deserve it so much. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our Lord God, with your own mighty arm you rescued us from sin and death and made yourself famous to this very day, but we have sinned terribly. In the past, you treated us with such kindness, that we now beg you to stop being so terribly angry with Your Church. After all, it is your chosen Bride built on your holy mountain, although it has suffered public disgrace because of our sins and those of our ancestors. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I am your servant, Lord God, and I beg you to answer my prayers and bring honour to yourself by having pity on your temple that lies in ruins. Please show mercy to your chosen people, not because we deserve it, but because of your great kindness. Forgive us! Hurry and do something, not only for your Church and your chosen people, but to bring honour to yourself. (Daniel 9:4-19) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send His angels and they will gather out of His Kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Listen who has ears. Lord we seek that refining, we desire that You burn up everything in us that is not worthy, everything that provokes offence, we only desire that we should be pleasing to You. (Matthew 13:40-43) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our heart is a divided heart, and we should pay for it. Lord break our false altars down, and destroy our �sacred� images. Lord kill those sacred cows that we have held onto, the traditions that we have used as an excuse to ignore Your unwavering laws of love. (Hosea 10:2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lord You have promised that we will be Your people, and You will be our God. We know that You, the LORD, have spoken. You are furious! And like a violent storm, will strike those who do wrong. Lord we know You have said that You will not be calm until You have finished what You have decreed. Someday, we will understand what You mean. Lord we have no idea the depth of that, but we truly desire to be purified of all that offends You in us. (Jeremiah 30:22-24) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The day of reckoning has come, the day of reprisals are here. �The prophet is mad,� Your people protest, �this inspired fellow is raving.� � Ah yes, but only because our iniquity is so great, our apostasy so grave. Lord let that fire come, let it burn away all the dross in our lives, we invite You to come and burn, and if that hurts so be it; but we no longer want to be a shameful dishonour to Your name. (Hosea 9:7) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We say �How rich we have become! � We have amassed a fortune.� But we will keep nothing of all the profits because of the guilt that we have brought on ourselves. We see finances as a sign of blessing, and popularity as an indicator of our spiritual state; but Lord there is yet a remnant in our hearts that truly does desire You, Lord � desiring nothing of the profits of popularity or finances. Lord have mercy, stir up the embers that look cold, and re-light that fire in our hearts. (Hosea 12:8-9) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jesus � Please accept the humble cry and restore Your precious Bride. You alone are able to bring such a depth of forgiveness and restoration. You alone are able to restore our childhood innocence. For you are the one in whom the orphans find compassion � You can heal disloyalty, You can love again with all Your heart, and turn Your anger from us. You can make Your dew fall afresh on us, and make us bloom like the lily, and thrust out roots like the poplar, with shoots spreading afar. You can give us the beauty of the olive, and the fragrance of Lebanon. Lord we do desire to come back to live in Your shade, to grow a harvest for You � to run with new wine. What do we want with idols any more? It is You who hear our prayer, You alone care for us. (Hosea 14:4-9) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lord we need You � we need to walk in Your ways. You alone are the Holy one, You alone are the one worthy of the love of the Bride. Lead us Lord, in Your mercy. Amen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jilted Bridegroom - The thought | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back to Bear Thoughts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||