Making Room for the Coming of the Bridegroom 2

Matthew 25:11-13

¹¹ “Later the others also came, and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open [the door] for us.’ ¹² But He replied, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, I do not know you [we have no relationship].’ ¹³ Therefore, be on the alert [be prepared and ready], for you do not know the day nor the hour [when the Son of Man will come].” AMP

Are you using the name of Jesus for name-dropping purposes only, or does He really know you?

I was at the local library the other day and a lady came in and when I saw her I thought to myself, “That lady looks familiar, where do I know her from? I usually remember faces, so the thought became persistent in my mind to the point that I could not shake it. I started thinking if I had met her at church, or perhaps ran into her when my son was in high school, or if I know her from my neighborhood. I did this until I finally got my boldness on and approached her to ask her hoping she could give me the clues I was not coming up with on my own. But when I said to her that she looked familiar to me, her response was of being puzzled because she did not know me from Adam.

Sometime later I remember the awkward encounter and the Lord used it to say to me that many people claim to know Him or that He knows them but they have no relationship with Him. They only use His name for name-dropping purposes, but they do not know Him as their God, their source of everything they need, and much less do they come to spend time with Him so they can get to know Him. Yet, many of these people claim to know Him. Sadly, the day will come when in their time of need they will come to Him expecting answers from a God they only know by hearsay or only from former encounters in which they used His name and He responded, and have the audacity to say, “Jo! Big J!! This is your friend, so and so over here. Remember me? We used to kick it back in the day.” but He will say to them, “I beg your pardon! I do not know you.”

First of all, we do not dishonor our God by using His name in vain. Neither is He the man upstairs. His name is Jesus and His name is to be in our mouths with reverential worship and praise because of the sacrifice of the shedding of His blood for our sakes which reconciled us to our Father after Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. His name should also be in our mouths for us to exalt and declare His fame for He is the only door and way to salvation. He is the only one that can lead us to learn the truth through His Holy Spirit. And He is the only one who can shed light in our darkness to help us live the life of abundance He died for us to have.

Second of all, we must not treat Jesus only as a celebrity and use His name to remember only the things of the past when we have forsaken His ways in the now. This happens when we refuse to be changed from the old wineskin and still pretend to be used by God when in reality, our old condition not in age but in mindset, gets in the way of being used of Him when He comes to visit His church. Intimacy with Him has become a thing of the past for many Christians and reading His word is done just as a routine, to put a check in our daily activities instead of looking to have encounters with His Spirit that bring transformation by the renewing of our mind.

Welcoming the new that He wants to bring is rejected by many who are set in traditions and allow fear to keep them from experiencing in ways they have not known before but that is the requirement that will help us fulfill our calling and be relevant I these end-times. We cannot resort to the old things He has done in our lives and through our lives and say that we are still walking in relevance with His Spirit. This relevance happens every time the logos of His Word becomes a Rhema which helps us see Him in a new way and helps us advance toward our destiny in Him. Without these revelations, we are only feeding ourselves with historical information. The dangerous thing about this is that these are signs that the presence of God has departed from someone or from an entire group and serving Him becomes a chore rather than a joyous privilege.

Another sad thing I have witnessed is when I have been around some people who behaved in immature ways. Even people in positions of leadership. But after not being around them for a year or two and being with them again, nothing had changed and they were still acting and reacting to circumstances in the same immature way and treating people that do not agree with their carnality in ways that are contrary with what the word says. These people thought and behaved like they were better than others and treated the situations they were involved in more like three-year-old children who hoard their toys or candy away from others and still expect God to promote them in the next season. Luke 12:48 says,

“But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” NKJV

We must also remember that God is not mocked and whatever we have sown in the past season is what will be ripped. Galatians 6:7 reminds us, “ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. 8 For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” AMP

A measuring ruler has also been brought to measure us against the truth of His word in Galatians 5:22-26 which says, ²² “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the [l]sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.

²⁵ If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. ²⁶ We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.” AMP

Those who have been found not measuring up because of emotional and spiritual immaturity, especially those who occupy positions of leadership or aspire to, are being instead sent to a period of decontamination from the influence of the spirit of this world which involves a pressing in the wilderness of testing where they will know their God and cling to Him to make sure He knows them. In this place, they will also be reduced to Christ and learn to esteem others more highly than they think of themselves. Romans 12:3 says,

“For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service].” AMP

Part of the shortcomings found in these people has been that they give themselves easily to slander, gossip, pointing of fingers, and to become stumbling blocks to the advancement of others. God in His grace and mercy, has tried to lure them to Him in order to heal them from the wounds in their soul that have blinded them to their mindset and behavior so they are able to become emotionally mature, but they continually ran from Him and His healing. We have mentioned before that the problem with emotional immaturity is that it gets in the way of spiritual maturity. But we are called to reach oneness in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. A mature believer is one who reaches the measure of the the fullness of Christ which enables him or her to work in unity with others a expressed in Ephesians 4:13,

^“until we all reach oneness in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, [growing spiritually] to become a mature believer, reaching to the measure of the fullness of Christ [manifesting His spiritual completeness and exercising our spiritual gifts in unity].” AMP

When we allow the Lord to give us His healing touch that resurrects those areas that have died in our souls because of sin and hurts as well as traumas, we can be set free to experience more of Him and know Him not only in the fellowship of His suffering, but also as we share in His glory that brings us to having life more abundantly because His presence is dwelling among us. On the other hand, when we run from our problems, and instead try to solve them with our own understanding and bring man-made solutions instead of the divine solutions we receive from our times of intimacy with the Holy Spirit, we are taking steps to go around the mountain of despair and challenges once again because we have not learned that overcoming the enemy of our souls is done when we cling to the lover of our souls. This happens when we do what Romans 12:1-2 says,

1-2 “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” MSG

We are in times when what is expected of us is our preparation by partnering with God and clinging to Him to learn who He is in our circumstances, and spend times in His word, in worship, fasting, and obeying every command which comes out of His mouth (Matthew 4:4) which brings transformation. This transformation is important because we are called to become His image and likeness more and more each day. If we come to Him and He sees Himself in us, then we will be told that He knows us. When we avoid the process every time and look more like the world He is trying to get us to come out of by the renewing of our mind, we will find that just like it happened with the ill-prepared virgins, the door will also be shut for us.

We cannot continue to avoid going through the process that crushes us to bring the oil of anointing out of us like an olive is crushed to bring the pure olive oil. The process of crushing is not pleasant, but it will ensure that our lamp will be full of oil and we will be ready to meet our bridegroom. Remember that He is looking for Himself in us and if He can find Himself, we will hear “well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.” 

2 Corinthians 3:18 reveals to us, "So all of us who have had the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into is glorious image."

To God alone be all the glory. ■

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Making Room for the Coming of the Bridegroom (Jesus) by His Spirit (Prophetic Message)

Matthew 25:10-13

¹⁰ “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

¹¹ ‘Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

¹³ ‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

I went to a store today and noticed that several of their aisles had totally empty shelves. When I got to the cashier, I asked her if they were getting ready to put next season’s items on the shelves. But she responded instead with a no, and continued to share that they had new shipments coming in and were making room for them. Right there the Lord spoke to me about getting ready for the next move of His Spirit that is approaching next month (These are the times of the Feasts of God which start in the month of September 2018) and to make room for it.

The next feasts are as follows:  

Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets) (High Sabbath) – sundown September 10 to sundown September 11, 2018

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) (High Sabbath) – sundown September 19 to sundown September 20, 2018

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) – (first day – High Sabbath) sundown September 24 to sundown September 30, 2018 ¹

Not only has the Lord been speaking to me about this for the past few months, but He has also given me to speak into the lives of leaders around me about the same thing. Some of the warnings God has given me for these leaders have been to seek healing from the Lord prior to this move. I myself am seeking healing from past wounds and for that I have been spending time speaking in tongues for God to search me and show me whatever things He sees that I need to correct or that He is healing me from. For example, I’m seeking him about whether it is relationships where I needed to right any wrongs I may have unknowingly done to others and He wants the relationship restored or wounds He is healing me from things done against me so in my healing, I can make room for the new wine He wants to pour down on me in all areas of my life.

There are other areas in which He is giving me an urgency to pay attention to prior to this move. One of them is the area of finances and for that He has me making sure that my tithes and offerings are taken care of as He leads me. In addition, He has heightened my praying in the spirit and worship in thanksgiving for the manifestation of His promises to me. As I also declare them and use my authority to remind the devil I know my rights as a child of God and co-heir with Christ, I command him to take his hands of what is mine.

I am mentioning all of this to say that these are some of the ways God is leading many of His people to make room for the move of His Spirit that is approaching. We do not know exactly when He is coming, but we can prepare and be ready for when He finally shows up as the bridegroom of the Church and pours out what He is bringing for her. 

We do not want to be counted among the ill-prepared virgins that when they finally decided to get up and pay the necessary price for the oil (the anointing of Jesus Christ the Messiah and His authority delegated to us as priests and kings for we are called to act as His peculiar people), it was too late for them and the door of opportunity was shut before them. These type of opportunities do not come again and unfortunately, many will see that this door will remain shut for them. That is why God is warning us to prepare and make sure this does not happen to us.

It is also important for us to focus and pay attention to the signs of the times and if possible, get together with people we know hear God and can identify the signs of the times and respond accordingly. We need to watch and make sure that we are not deceived, and instead seek to have the oil God is asking us to have enough of if we want to be told that He knows us. One way He may say to some that He does not know them is if they are doing things in His name, but He is not doing them with them perhaps because they are not done by His wisdom, in His timing and in His way.

We do not want to do these things following the wisdom of the world, but by spending time of intimacy with Him and seeking Him to show us how to make room for what He is bringing by His Spirit. As we act on the responsibility He is giving to us at this time, we are demonstrating to Him our faith in Him which will be rewarded for He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

For many of us, this is also a time of taking risks if we want to see the benefits of experiencing the Kingdom of God at a higher level. This will entail that we come out of the boat and choose to walk on the water that we see Jesus walking on, knowing that He is right there waiting for us to take our steps of faith, and if we do not faint or grow weary in well doing, we will see the reward of our patient and obedient endurance.

Another thing to mention about this move is that Jesus is not coming as the Lamb, but as the Lion of the tribe of Judah for He will come by His Holy Spirit in a strong way to judge the spirit of the world. Nobody knows exactly when He is coming but we are being enlightened of how He intends to come. Acts 1:7 says,

“And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”

John 16:8-10 explains,

⁸ “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Isaiah 26:9 also says,

“With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”

What is more about this move of the Spirit of God is that He is coming in His glory to shake everything that can be shaken so that the unshakable things, the things that are counted for eternity and that can be passed to the next generations will remain. This is also an explanation of what God intends to do with His millennial Kingdom. In other words, this move is going to highlight the work He wants to do with and through the millennial generation.

An example of what will be seen as a result of this strong manifestation of the glory of God in the Church is mentioned in a Spanish song by Puertorican Pastor Janet Aponte. In her song “La Gloria del Cielo” (“The Glory of Heaven”) she sings, “Wherever the presence of the Lord comes by His Spirit, everything starts changing. Lukewarmness leaves and fire falls.  The lame leaves jumping up and down, the mute starts praising. When the glory comes nobody can stop it…” 2

One other effect will be what Malachi 4:4-6 tells us,

⁴ “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments.
⁵ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
⁶ And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

The Law of Moses mentioned in verse 4 is the Ten Commandments that summed up in the New Testament is the Law of Love which states in Luke 10:27, “So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”

Likewise, with this move of the Spirit of the Lord, the Bridegroom of the Church, everything that violates this law of love will be shaken and the wrong foundations influenced by the spirit of this world, as mentioned will be shaken so that people can be healed and learn to love one another as Christ has loved us. John 13:34-35 asserts,

34”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So let’s get ready and expect this glorious move of God that will change things for God’s people and cause us to look more like His image and likeness in all areas of our life. Let’s pray:

Heavenly and glorious Father, we humble ourselves before you to seek your face and ask that you show us any wickedness you want us to turn from. Show us any wrong you want us to make right and every relationship you want us to seek restoration. We also come to seek the healing of every wound in our soul.  We want to be conformed to your image and likeness more and more each day and choose to not be conformed to the patterns of this world. Instead, we choose to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may live acceptable lives that please you. Help us to make room for what your Holy Spirit wants to pour out on us as you have been announcing His coming during the next feasts of God and during times we may not know of.

For this, we seek to have more times of intimacy with you and of prayer and praise to you. We do not want to be counted among the ill-prepared virgins, so we ask you to help us move everything in us and outside of us that may be in the way of our receiving the new wine you will be pouring out on your church and through her. Help us to walk on the water you are walking on as we fix our eyes on you so that as we take these new risks, we reap the benefits and rewards of our obedience to your commands. We ask this with thanksgiving for answering us and in the name of your Holy Son Jesus, the Messiah. Amen.

To God alone be all the glory.■

1. A Rood Awakening International. Biblical Feast Dates.

1   2. La Gloria del Cielo

Scriptures taken from the New King James Version.

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