Passionate for your Bridegroom

How passionate are you for Jesus, your bridegroom? We must passionately pursue Christ. He is longing for His bride to seek Him. He wants to be our focus, and He should be our goal. We, as the bride of Christ, must seek Him with all our heart. When we become passionate about seeking Him, then He becomes our all in all. We often hear that there is a place in our heart meant only for God; however, the reverse is also true, there is a place in God’s heart meant only for you. He (God) longs to be loved by YOU. A.W. Tozer puts it this way, “God waits to be wanted.” Can you picture that? The God of the universe is waiting to be wanted by you. So, how does he know that you want Him? For those who are married, how does your husband know that you love him? Mom, how do your children know that you love them? You show them. It’s not just saying the words. It’s following those words with actions that back them up. It’s easy to say "I love Jesus", but how do I show Him that he really is my everything? I show him, by passionately pursuing Him, by seeking His will above my own, by spending time with Him in prayer and reading His Word. Those are just a few practical ways I can show Him that I love him. Part of passionately pursuing Christ is to give yourself to prayer and the Word daily. Just like the bride–to-be relishes spending time talking with her fiancé, so we should relish spending time talking with our fiancé, Jesus. We all know that for any relationship to be meaningful, there must be communication. As a mom, a wife, a woman, your role is too important to not spend time in prayer. Make time for it. With prayer, make time to read your lover’s letter to you. Get in his Word; it is his love letter to you. He wants to speak to you - will you be willing to listen? He wants to show you new insights in his word - will you take time to study? Are you willing to tarry with Him? Will you walk through the valley with Him? Will you endure the fire with Him?
I Peter 1:3-7 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Ladies, the bride of Christ must learn perseverence! Life is not a bed of roses, was it for Christ? Was it for Peter? Was it for Paul? I think the modern church is sadly lacking in the ability to simply persevere. The New Testament is full of Scriptures exhorting us to develop perseverance. Romans 5:3-4; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:3 -4 are just a few. In ministry, I see evidence of this lack of perseverance often -- a woman is really pushing into Christ with passion and fervor. Then something happens - be it tragic or just sad and immediately she is off track. She stops pushing into God, and becomes lazy, apathetic, and discouraged. At the first sign of trouble, what do you do? Please don't become lazy! Now is not the time for laziness. The Bible mentions nothing about Christ coming back for a lazy bride. (See the parable of the ten virgins if you need confirmation - five were ready and five were lazy - the lazy ones didn't make it to the ceremony.) Twice in Revelation, John is instructed to praise the church for its perseverance – the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:2) and the church in Thyatira (Rev. 2:19). Perseverance is obviously something that God highly prizes. He has even attached a crown to it according to James 1:12.
So what will fuel our passion and our ability to persevere? Our sincere, deep, intimate love for our bridegroom. When we truly love our Lord with ALL that is within us then we will want to pursue Him, and we will be willing to persevere through life's circumstances no matter what. Maybe we just need to fall in love with Christ all over again. If you find your passion for Him is waning and your ability to persevere is lacking, ask God to stir up the flames of love that once burned hot in your life. Dear sisters, be passionate for Him because I promise you He is definitely passionate for you!