Drink My Bride...

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.  

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” - Psalms 63:1-4

“I’m simply done with life.  57, not terminal or depressed. I was going to use the plastic bag, but too many failed attempt stories.  I live in an apartment bldg, in

California USA & if someone hears me moaning inside the bag & calls the police, it’s BAD news for me. I’ve tried dehydration 4 times & have always failed & had water. ...

... I’m on another attempt at dehydration. Something always came up to deter my plan. It’s going much better this time. After 3 days of no food, I have no more hunger. Having no liquids is a lot tougher, but I’ve built up my courage & determination. I’m more willing to suffer dry-mouth, & I won’t “cheat” by eating frozen grapes (they contain enough liquid to delay death). I’ve lost 50 pounds so there’s not much for my body to live on itself. Some people might find this an agonizing way to die. It suits me. ... I’m very much at peace. I’ve made amends to all my friends & family. I’ve been an Atheist, but talked w/ several religious people about death. I believe I’ll go to a nice place, & I’ll recognize those I knew in some way. The dry-mouth is the hardest part of this method. At times it’s really hard to swallow. So I go to sleep for a while. ...” – From the Suicide Project - http://suicideproject.org

When I first read those words it broke my heart. I found myself praying for her, asking God to give her living water, to show up and pour out his Spirit and open her eyes to the beauty of life in Christ. I’m sorry; I don’t know the outcome of the writer. I pray she is still alive. She posted her journey on the Suicide Project website. That is all there was, two paragraphs of death, despair, and defeat. I pray someone at Suicide Project found a way to reach her - so very sad.

I found this story by accident. I was searching for stories about dehydration. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes I was in a state of dehydration. The sugar level in my body was in killing me. I was constantly thirsty due to frequent urination. My mouth was dry. I experienced nausea, cramping, fatigue, confusion, sleepiness, and blurred vision. However, unlike the person above, I wasn’t trying to kill myself. When my wife finely took me to the doctor’s office, my blood sugar was 530. Thank God we caught it before I went into a coma. It’s been five years, and I have had to make a lot of life style changes – but all is good.

What really troubles me about the story above is that it does not have to be that way. We, the body of Christ, have the answer that this lady is searching for. We carry in us Kingdom life. Why, did she want to die? Why wasn’t someone there to give her hope?  Where were the anointed ones? Sometimes I feel we, the church, are a bit dehydrated. I think we have gotten so used to running on empty that we don’t realize we’re drying out.  Are we truly equipped to really make a difference? Have we reached our full potential in Christ? 

Unlike dehydration in the natural, spiritual dehydration may be harder to detect. In the natural our bodies tell us we need water and instantly we move to fulfill that need. In the spirit realm, it’s not as easy.

Signs like sexual immorality, impurity, and witchcraft, are obvious. It’s the subtle signs of spiritual dehydration like complacency, jealously, fear, anger, selfish ambition, dissention, and discord that we often miss. Or worse, we blame or “quirks” on our personality or cultural upbringing. I think the number one sign so often missed is the lack of true thirst, that heart aching hunger for intimacy with Jesus. This is the one that is so easily brushed off. If we aren’t in blatant sin and are living a pretty good and decent life, then all is good, right? Not quite.  Good and decent is a really good thing. But many unsaved folks live good and decent lives. I believe the real test is our love meter with Jesus. How hungry are we for him? Without an intimate relationship with Jesus, one that is constantly thirsting for more, we are like the old story of the frog in the water. If you throw a frog into boiling water he will instinctively jump out to save its life. If, on the other hand, you drop him in ambient water, then slowly turn up the heat, the frog will swim around until it boils to death.

In the book of Revelation, to the church at Ephesus, one of the greatest churches of the New Testament era, Jesus said this:

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.  Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”  Revelation 2:2-5 (NKJV)

We know the truth of this in the natural. Ask anyone who is married, what their relationship would be like if their spouse was not madly in love with them, if they were complacent and took their mate for granted, if they never showed affection, or never showered them with love and attention. They would tell you the marriage is doomed, it’s on the rocks. Sadly, it will either end in divorce or in the prison of unloving routine, two people trapped and separated by the invisible wall of hurt, hate, pride, and self will.

Let me ask you a question: Are you personally, at this time in your life, at a deep and agonizing level, hungry for more of the Lord? Are you so thirsty for him that, like the heart beat of the Song of Solomon, if you can’t find him, you’re incomplete? Does your thirst cause you to growl and groan for Him? Do you dig and search for him, not stopping  until he comes?

You see Jesus is looking for a bride that truly craves him, one that is so in love with him she will do anything, just to be in his presence. The good news is we don’t have to stay in that dry place. We don’t have to live that way. But we do have to repent. We do have to change the way we think about Jesus. We have to change the way we approach him. Jesus is so eager to embrace us and fill us with his presence. He is in fact, chomping at the bit to do so. He is standing at the door, ready to fill us again, and again, and again. And that filling is pure bliss. So much so, that Peter, in the book of Acts responded to the crowed  like this...

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ...

... Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, What does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them and said, They have had too much wine. Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!” – Acts 2:1-4, 12-14

These folks were so filled with new heavenly wine they appeared to be drunk! Living water changes us. Being filled with the presence of Jesus rocks our world. We become undone. The good news is, when we drink and are full, we thirst even more.... That is the way the kingdom works. No wonder the first miracle recorded in the book of John was the wedding feast at Cana, where he turned water into wine to reveal his glory.

A few weeks back during worship, I saw a vision of Jesus. He was leaning against an ancient well, like Jacob’s well,  with a cup in his hand. He looked at me, with a smile on his face, and said:

“Drink! – Come! All who are thirsty, come to the living waters and drink..., drink until your cup is overflowing. Drink until you are so full it flows into the streets. Drink until the land is saturated with my presence. Drink, my bride. Drink that I might shower you with my love. Drink that I might fill you with my presence, and endow you with my power and my passion. Drink my bride to overflowing and my glory shall rest upon you.”

I looked around at church and saw some folks really craving for more of Jesus, but others were not. It could have been fear or just uneasiness, but at the end of the day, the presence of Jesus was there to fill his children. I think that is the key, “being children, being child like.” Jesus wants us to come to him like a child. When we abandon all, and just want to seek his face like a child – the windows of heaven open up and the rain begins to fall – the flood waters start to raise and the wonder and beauty of the lover of our souls, rushes in. You see children know how to dream. They aren’t shackled by duty. They aren’t preoccupied to fill a series of repetitive tasks and projects. They just want to play with their poppa. They just want to soak in the waters of life. They just want to be held by daddy.

Sometimes folks feel the Lord’s presence or listen to a word from the Lord and it really resonates in their hearts, but that resonation soon dissipates, and is replaced with another activity. That encounter moment is taken away, they have robbed themselves of the true purpose of resonation: to draw them in and closer to Jesus; to be filled with the healing work of his hand; to be immersed into the living water – and be changed. Instead of allowing time to baste in the moment through worship, or quietness, or meditation, or simply waiting, they rush off to the next task and that Holy Spirit moment of filling, passes them by. They miss the rich blessing that only comes through marination and patiently waiting on the gentile grace-fullness of Holy Spirit. The modern demands of our cultural and the rigidness of tight schedules can kill off the move of God as much as anything else. 

Yet, Jesus still needs to go to Samaria. He still stands at Jacob’s well looking for someone to take the drink from his hand. Jesus told the woman at the well in the forth chapter of John:

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ... “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - John 4:10, 13-14

And in John chapter 7 in desperation, he cried out...

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” – John 7:37

This burning desire to drink and be filled with the presence Jesus is unstoppable. Everywhere I turn the Lord keeps saying the same thing. I can’t shake it. Three weeks ago, I saw the following:

In the vision I saw myself standing backstage, as it were. I was peering at the side of the stage looking at a soft cream-white curtain. I approached the curtain and reached out to touch it. As I touched it, I was struck by its softness. I looked up to see how high the curtain was and saw the curtain shoot straight up into the heavens. As I was peering into the heavens I realized it wasn’t a curtain at all..., it was the robe of Jesus. I was holding the hem of his garment. I was overcome with the Holy Spirit, and I heard the voice of Isaiah:

”In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple...” – Isaiah 6:1

And like Isaiah, I was undone.  Then I heard the Lord say, “The stage has been set. The time has arrived. My Spirit yearns to fill my temple, and I shall fill my temple, until the whole earth is filled with my Glory. Don’t you know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit? Open up your hearts and let me in..., open up your hearts and let me in. Open the doors of your hearts and let ME IN.”

And I cried out in my spirit – have your way God, have your way!!!! Fill us God, fill us to overflowing. And I looked around again and knew the Spirit of the living God was there to fill his bride to overflowing.... I wanted to shout it out – wake up oh bride – be filled with his glory, be filled with His fullness, be filled and see the glory of the Lord! But the time wasn’t right, so I sat there, filled, yet sad inside. The heart cry of Jesus hovered over that place like the Shekinah glory, but the bride was still sleeping.

Moments later the Lord showed me the oceans of the world and on the surface of the ocean were farmers plowing. They were in a row, all plowing in unison. As I watched the farmer were transformed into people riding wave-runners riding the wake of his presence.  Instantly I understood the riders were His last days messengers, preparing the way of his coming, preparing for the next great wave of His presence. They were the sent out ones. They were the voices of those crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. They were the forerunners on wave-runners, riding the wave of his Glory, a wave so big will flooded the land like a tsunami.  

You see the Lord’s cry is no different than what He spoke to the prophet Malachi...

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.” - Malachi 3:1-2

The Lord is getting us ready, but this season requires a bride whose lamps are full and lit and whose cups are over flowing.

While I was praying about this I saw the Lord standing in heaven. His head was bent down towards the earth. His mouth opened and water came gushing out like a waterfall. I looked at the waterfall and saw salmon swimming upstream, towards Jesus. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Swim to me my children, swim and spawn a new generation, span life.” And I knew that Jesus was birthing something that has generational impact, and this move will reach generations to come.

”For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” - Psalms 36:9

Jesus is calling us into a new level of oneness that will have everlasting impact....

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.” - John 17:20-23

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.  They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.” – Isaiah 44:3-4

After this the Lord showed me trees weeping golden sap, and I knew that all, “...creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  …   We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” - Romans 8:19, 22

Then I saw the wooden floors of an old shack. I looked at the floor with all its grain exposed, and saw that even the floors were weeping. Then I saw the walls of the shack, and I saw the grain in the wood, and I knew that the grain was revealing years of brokenness. It was revealing a people bound by a structure of pain and fear. Then I saw Jesus peering through a knot hole in the wall. Outside was the wondrous beauty of his presence. It lit up the sky.  I knew that the Lord had come to bring healing and restoration. I knew that they Lord was releasing healing and restoration to His church. I knew that he was breaking the walls that bound and shaking the wooden foundation that is stopping His children for obtaining their potential. I understood that He was peering inside our hearts and asking us to open up to him and trade the shack of shackles for a mansion on a hill.

Then I saw Jesus walking quietly on a green hill, dressed in a simple cream-white robe, like a monk would wear, only cream white, no gold, common, and simple. He removed his hood revealing His crown, it too was soft and simple, almost understated like a whisper. It had the words faithful and true inscribed on it. Large red rubies were studded between the words and around the crown.

As I was looking, I felt that the Lord was coming in quietness, almost like he was coming in secret. And the Lord brought this scripture to my mind:

“You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come." After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.” – John 7:8-10

And I knew that this season was also a season of the quietness of Christ. Jesus is coming to us quietly and in secret. He will whisper in our ears, and He will share with us His secret things. He will show up when we least expect it. He will enter situations that we think he has no interest in. He, himself will spy out the land. He, himself, will ride the wind like a whisper and invade our hearts in a new intimate way. He will show us a side of His nature that we have never seen before. We will look upon Him, and see a whole new revelation of His presence. Know this:

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29

And

“I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” – Isaiah 45:3 

This experience will be like that of John in the book of Revelation. John was the beloved. John was the youngest of the disciples; he had walked with Jesus for three years. He was there when Jesus was transfigured. He had his head on the breast of Jesus at the last supper. He stayed by him at the foot of the cross, and raced Peter to the tomb on that Easter morning. He was there at Pentecost, and served Him for nearly 70 years, as a church father, until his exile on the isle of Patmos. Yet, as a man who knew Jesus so well, who walked with him so long, he was about to encounter Jesus like he never did before. Check it out...

 “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said:  "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches:  to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,  Thyatira,  Sardis,  Philadelphia  and Laodicea." I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword.  His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said:  "Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades.  "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”  – Revelation 1:9-19

We are moving towards a new encounter with Christ. We shall see him like we have never seen him before, Get ready church.

After this I saw cream white sheets hanging on a clothes line and the wind was blowing them dry.... spring aroma filled the air... and then I saw the face of a bride behind a cream-white veil... She was getting ready to step out from behind the veil.

And I understood the Lord was drying out our garments, getting them ready to wear – his bride is at the door and in his heart He is crying out...

”Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.” - Joel 2:16

”Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” - Revelation 19:7

And we shall join Him in His cry...

“The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”  – Revelation 22:17

And He will rejoice over us...

”For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord 's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah ; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” - Isaiah 62:1-5

Be filled dear children. Drink till you’re full and overflowing. Let him whisper in your ear. Let him heal the brokenness in your heart. Let him rebuild the foundations of your life. Let him drape you with clean white garments and give you a bridle moment. It’s your destiny.