
Dearly Beloved,
Dearly Beloved,
We’ve gathered here today,
just the two of us,
you, the Bride, and Me, your Heavenly Father,
to join together in Holy union before your wedding day.
Dearly Beloved, YOU are going to be a Beautiful Bride! Why don’t you believe Me when I tell you that??
Dearly Beloved, this wedding day that you are preparing for is so much more than Pinterest pins about “153 Things to Remember On Your Wedding Day” or matching napkins to tablecloths and flower petals to bridesmaid dresses. This day is more than the table arrangements or the photography or how exactly you’ll wear your hair. This day is even more than what dress you’ll wear and what the scale will read that day when you walk down the aisle arm-in-arm with your earthly father.
Dearly Beloved, being a bride is so much more than all of those things because it is about none of those things! Being a bride is about preparing yourself, not worrying over frivolous details that will mean nothing against the backdrop of eternity. Your wedding day is about blessing those who attend, the people who have poured into you and your husband and whom you love so much in return.
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb ‘” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”
Revelation 19:7-9
Dearly Beloved, you have been so, so hard on yourself. You don’t think you deserve fine linen, or good things. You don’t believe that it is all I want to do to adorn you with My blessings, to clothe you with salvation from sin, from darkness and evil and temptation, and to wrap you with My very own robe of righteousness, My robe of Worthiness and Blamelessness and Light. I want to show you My favor over you, My desire to make you radiant before Me and everyone else on your wedding day.
“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Isaiah 61:10
Dearly Beloved, despite what you think you have done to lessen your worth, you have been bought at the highest of prices. (My wedding budget to have you as my Bride was the greatest in history!!) Just as Hosea purchased Gomer (who was already his wife) in spite of her adultery, so I paid for you with the life of My own Son, in spite of any sin you have done, will do, or even are capable of committing. I wanted you as My Bride, as my Beloved, because I love you with an everlasting and jealous love.
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.”
2 Corinthians 11:2a
Your sin does not make you worth less to Me. Your sin only hurts Me because it shows how you’ve turned away from Me to pursue other gods, other values, other things that you’ve deemed more important or pleasing to you than Me. Your sin also hurts you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t heal you or make you whole again, My Beloved.
“The Lord said to me, “Go. Show your love to your wife again. She is loved by another man. And she has committed adultery. But I want you to love her just as I love the people of Israel. They turn to other gods. And they love to offer raisin cakes to Baal and eat them. In spite of that, I love my people.”
2 So I bought Gomer for six ounces of silver and 430 pounds of barley.”
Hosea 3:1-2
Dearly Beloved, you were not made to be a Bridezilla, to worry constantly over details outside of your control in the hopes that you might have perfectly altered photos of your wedding day to post on Facebook and Instagram and get approximately 126 ‘likes’ from people who, no offense Valerie Lynn, don’t care about your wedding day even a tenth as much as you do.
“Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as for the Lord, not for men.”
Colossians 3:23
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
Dearly Beloved, you were made to be a Bride who is preparing to become a Wife of Noble Character, a Wife who is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs because she is filled with hope, a Wife who speaks wisdom and faithful instruction rather than wasteful words with meaningless value for others.
“A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life…
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.”Proverbs 31: 10-12, 25-26
Dearly Beloved, this world does not understand what it means to be a Bride or a Wife. They think it is about becoming a man’s servant, or even a man’s ruler. This world thinks a godly wife lacks a backbone, lacks an intelligent mind of her own, and lacks leadership. This world thinks godly wives only bake casseroles and crochet scriptures and gather together to gossip about other godly wives.
But you, My Beloved, were meant to be a Godly Bride to become a Godly Wife for your Beloved. You were made to be loved from this day forward by your future husband, to be continuously sacrificed for, to be sanctified from your past, to be cleansed by My words of truth on a daily basis, to be presented with glory as holy and blameless and BEAUTIFUL.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Ephesians 5:25-27
Dearly Beloved, do not lose sight of what it means to be a Bride. Prepare yourself with excitement and anticipation, not with stress and anxiety. You will be a Beautiful Bride because I have made you to be one. No Pinterest pin can help you do what I have already done and set into motion for you, so TRUST ME to provide and help you prepare.
LOVE always,
Your first BrideGroom