Modern Psalms: Show Me How to Be Your Bride

“Only fear the Lord [with awe and profound reverence] and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.” (1 Samuel 12:24, AMP)

Hey Pops,

I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about wanting to really understand what it means to be the Bride of Christ. Maybe it’s because I can look on the sentiment with my own experiential sentimentality, but I want to truly realize what it is to be your bride.

Because now I know in the physical what it is to be one. I know the anticipation of a wedding celebration where everyone in attendance is there to look upon and witness a love great enough to don its very best and meet at an altar to profess that love. I know the absolutely ethereal and sacred feeling of committing your life to your groom, making and receiving vows that are as precious as rubies to the heart. I know the deep joy that you feel that day– one of the best days of your life– where everything seems to be made of liquid gold and sparkling crystal and life itself feels full to bursting.

I know the intimacy that is unmatched through a union like that– the soul-bearing relationship that can only be achieved in the confines of a marriage. The mature and unconditional love that creeps in and establishes itself between two people that come home to each other every day and share their lives.

I know there are other facets of marriage and the human experience I’ve yet to unlock in my everyday life, but over the past year, the phrase “Bride of Christ” has become more real to me. It’s far more than just words… it’s a role and a choice. 

A woman must be asked into deeper intimacy before she becomes a bride. And that same woman must accept the invitation. I know that to be the moment of salvation, where the Holy Spirit whispers to my soul and my soul turns to the One who beckons me to come. 

I think, in my small human nature, I sometimes forget the weighty importance of being in love with Jesus and waiting for Him to come for me, waiting for Him to come for us all as a bride. 

Lord, I want to connect those experiences to you. I need your help remembering what it was to be a fiancé and a bride and attaching that with how I walk with you in the spiritual. Give me a fresh realization of how deeply you love me and help me to love you back the way a bride loves her groom on the day of their wedding. Help me to wake up each morning to anticipate you freshly. Help me to walk throughout my day excited to be with you and spend time with you. Let me know you deeper. Help me to lay down every other desire in my heart so that I can turn more fully towards you. 

I want to be overjoyed to turn away from those things that don’t please you. I want to make my heart ready for the day that we become one. Help me to leave behind the idols that fill my mind so that I can set my mind on you.

Jesus, you are wonderful, and you gave your all to love me. Help me to come to a place in my heart where I would give my all, including my life, to prove my love for you. Refine my heart and my mind to be a better instrument– a better testimony– to your beautiful gospel. Ready me to be your wife, your lover, and your best friend. 

Help me to still myself before you so that I can really live a life that is in full submission to you. Make me a bride that is worthy of you, pure and holy and reverent of her groom. Connect my earthly experiences of my wedding and being a bride to how I approach you.

I love you, Jesus, and I never want a day in my life to be found lacking in the sheer awe and wonder you deserve. 

Talk to you soon,
Cortney