The Bride of Christ

Monday 14 December
READ: Eph 5: 22 - 32
MORE LESSON: Matt 25: 1 - 12

The Church is called the Bride of Christ in the Bible. Jesus is the groom and the Church is the Bride. The relationship between husband and wife is a type of the relationship between Christ and the Church. In other words, every believer, male or female, is a wife and Jesus the husband. When we get to Heaven, this husband wife relationship between Jesus and the Church will be fully consummated. I suppose that women are going to find it easier to settle into this wife position with Christ; it is like they have been practising on earth what we all are going to be in Heaven! Being a wife here on earth is glorious; it is a foretaste of the role of every believer in Heaven. Jesus has paid the 'dowry' for the Church with His precious Blood. This is why you cannot live and do as you please anymore. You are under the authority of your Husband and you have to do His will. 1 Cor 6:20 says, For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

You will notice that there is no wedding service where the bride needs to be introduced among all the ladies present because in every wedding service, there is no confusion as to who the bride is. You automatically know the bride because she is distinguished by dressing, different in attitude and specially seated. The Church should not need introduction in the world; as part of the Church, you should be so different and distinct in living that everyone around you knows that you are the bride of Christ. The bride sits in a wedding service with all her thought and attention on the bridegroom. In fact, if the father or mother is not around, the wedding can still proceed but if the bridegroom is absent, the wedding cannot be done. The Church is the bride of Christ, we must not forget that Jesus is coming. Our whole attention and focus in life should be on His coming. If He comes today, will He find you ready? In Matt 25: 1 -12, we see some virgins that were not ready for the bridegroom's coming, they missed their eternal home. Jesus is coming back for His bride, only those who are ready will go with Him. I pray you will not miss Jesus' coming.

Finally the Bible says, therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing: Eph 5: 24. The wife should be submissive and obedient to the husband; as a part of the Church which is the Bride of Christ, you should obey every instruction of the Lord. You should give diligence to do whatever Jesus, the husband of the Church, assigns you to do.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you will live a distinct, exemplary Christian life among your peers.
* Pray that you will not be distracted in preparing for the Lord’s coming.
* Pray that you will be a faithful bride of Jesus from this earth to Heaven.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
December will not close without divine assistance and connections that will turn my life around for good, in the name of Jesus.