Where is My Bride: Ep 2: Stains and Salvation: Preparing the Bride for Jesus

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Music.

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host,

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Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent.

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Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed.

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Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought

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was possible. Enlarge her territory.

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Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment.

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Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent

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to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

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This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast, episode two,

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aims on the dress and uncovered.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we're continuing our series,

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where is my bride wow

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this series is just melting my heart i don't

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know about yours but we're not going to spend a lot

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of time dialoguing i just want to get right into the series so that's how we

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talked about the cry of the bridegroom the difference between being busy for

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god and actually being prepared for him i ended it with mary and martha if you

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get a chance to read that story,

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go ahead and take time out to read that story.

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I don't have a devotional on that one, but like you saw at the end of that episode,

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God kind of pricked my heart to talk about performance versus service and how the bride was not ready.

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I mean, we can't always be last minute.

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I mean, sometimes I know we always have friends who are last minute,

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who is always late. I'm the early friend.

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If you ever get to meet me, I'm the early friend. Like, hey, are you ready?

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And then I will always be there 15 minutes early.

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And it's really, if we got to be somewhere, I'm about 30 or 40 minutes early.

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Cause I, I have this thing about being late to anything. If I'm invited to somewhere,

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I want to be at least on time.

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And my on time is 15 minutes early. Even if I have to wait in the parking lot

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to the doors open, that's just, that's just me. I don't like being the second

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one on the buffet. I like to be the first one on the buffet.

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So there's different things about me, right? That you don't know, but now you know.

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And so if Jesus said he is coming and he's looking for his bride,

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we learned that last episode that even if you have a spot or wrinkle on your

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dress, he does not see you.

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Because you have an opportunity right now to prepare for his coming.

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And so if you're going to be last minute, you might be like the foolish and

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the wise versions and might get left behind because you're not ready.

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They are wanting so you can get ready, so you can get prepared.

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You ever had to prepare for a wedding, prepare for an event, a birthday party.

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I mean, you do not, even the people who make the cakes are not making your,

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the cake is not coming out the oven when you go pick up the cake.

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Otherwise, you'll be upset. You want that cake ready with the frosting on it,

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with the happy birthday or whatever slogan you want on that cake.

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You want that cake ready.

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So Jesus has said, I need you to get ready. And so we're going to cover the

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stains on the dress because I want Jesus to see me.

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I don't want him to be, I don't want to stand in front of him as his bride and

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he's still calling out, there is my bride.

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I want him to recognize it's me, honey.

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It's your bride. I don't have a spot or wrinkle on me. I am ready. I have my oil.

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I am the wise version. I'm waiting for you.

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So we want to understand today, how do we get if he stains out of our dress,

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how do we become prepared brides for Jesus? Amen.

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And so we talked about the last time that we had the, that the cry of the bridegroom,

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the difference between being busy for God and actually prepared for him.

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We know the people who even at our job, even at our church, that they look busy

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about doing stuff, but nothing seems to get done when they're on the project.

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You know, you ever notice that they're busy about it, but ain't nothing getting

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done. I'm using eight, but nothing is getting done.

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So today we're going to look at something that we don't usually talk about.

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We're talking about the stains.

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On the bride's dress. Now imagine this. It's your wedding day.

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You're walking down the aisle. All eyes are on you, but suddenly someone notices

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the stain. It could be coffee. It could be mud.

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It can be kind of a red stain from your communion because you might've did communion

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before you went down the aisle.

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Or if you want, if you're out there drinking, it could be some wine,

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but you know, red don't come out of that white right away. It needs to soak.

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And so that kind of throw you off right there. But no matter how beautiful that

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dress is, everyone sees that spot.

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If you ever wore white before and you get one little stain on that white,

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maybe no one sees it, but you know that that's a spot on that pretty white outfit, right?

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You know it's a spot. So whether everybody see it or nobody sees it,

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you know that you have sinned. You know what you have done.

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But you know that either everyone sees it or no one sees it.

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We already know that God sees it.

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So what sin does in our life, it leaves marks that can't be hidden.

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And just like a bride would never ignore the stain of her gown,

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Christ is not and will not ignore the stains of sin on his church.

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But here's the good news. He's already made a way.

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He's already made a way for every stain to be washed, cleansed, clean.

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To be washed white as snow. Go with me to Isaiah chapter one, verse 18.

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It says, come now and let us reason together, says the Lord.

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Though your sins are like scarlet, they should be as white as snow.

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Though they are red like crimson, they should be like wool.

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First John 1, 7 tells us, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light,

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we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son,

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purifies us from all sin.

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We see God has already made a way out so that we can walk in spotless,

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sinless before our Jesus, before our Yeshua, Jesus. Amen.

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These verses remind us of two powerful truths.

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First, sin stains. It marks us. it separates us.

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And second, the blood of Jesus cleanses us fully, completely,

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without exception. So here's the problem.

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Many of us in church don't like to admit that we have a stain.

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We cover them up with good works. We excuse them with, that's just how I am.

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We pretend they're not there.

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But the truth is, sin always leaves a mark.

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The stain of unforgiveness shows up when we can't let go when someone did to us.

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The stain of gossip shows up when we tear others down instead of building them up.

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The stain of pride shows up when we resist correction.

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The stain of hypocrisy shows up when our public life doesn't match our private life.

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Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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That means every one of us has stains, But the hope is this.

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Jesus doesn't just point out the stain.

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He washes it away.

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His blood is strong enough to remove that shame that says it's permanent.

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And so we talked about being prepared for Jesus. If we know this,

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that Jesus has the power to wash away every stain, why haven't we done that?

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Why are some of us waiting to the last minute, right? So Christ was looking

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for a bride without spots.

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These spots are sins we tolerate, the habits we excuse, and the compromises we hide.

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The counterfeit church often tries to mask these things.

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We dress them up in good deeds or hide them behind religious activity,

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but the true bride doesn't cover her spots.

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She brings them into the light of Christ. And here's the difference.

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It's not about whether we sin because we all have.

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It's about whether we allow Jesus to cleanse us. The prepared bride says.

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Lord, here I am. Wash me, purify me, make me new. That's just so powerful.

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Purify a prepared bride. Remember we talked about being prepared, not a last minute bride.

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We talk about a wise bride here saying we know Jesus is coming.

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So let's get this stuff cleansed out.

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Let's not go back and wallow in it, but let's get cleansed. Let's get purified.

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Let's get made new so that when the groom comes, when the bridegroom,

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sick groom comes, we are ready.

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And the Galatians says, when you get ready, stay ready.

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So don't go back wallowing in what you've been purified from. So let's talk about it.

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What spots might be hidden in your life that you may need to confess to God?

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Do that. Do that. Don't wait last minute.

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Am I trying to cover up my stain with excuses or am I allowing Christ to watch me clean?

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Excuses is just like rubbing, taking your wedding dress, right?

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It's got a red stain on it, but now you have a cloth that's red or some other

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stain and you're rubbing that red stain with a dirty cloth.

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You're just making a mess of it. And you know, when we try to cover it up,

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excuses are making a mess out of your own sin.

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Instead of just giving it to God, you layer it with more lies,

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more excuses, and it's just making it a hot mess.

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Go ahead and just give it to Jesus, right?

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Do I truly believe his blood is powerful enough to make me completely clean? Give it a try.

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Give it a try. You know, I just have kind of a simple example.

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In Nebraska, we have hard water.

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And so in hard water places, you have to find different solutions that are from

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Michigan versus Nebraska.

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The same cleaning solutions that you had in Michigan will not work in Nebraska.

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So you got an old school way that you did it in Michigan and you try that same

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school method in Nebraska. It wasn't working for me.

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And you're buying all these different chemicals and not chemicals,

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but different products to clean, I will say the toilet.

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And on one particular day, I was watching a YouTube video about how to clean

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this ring around my toilet because it was really, you know, bugging me because

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I like everything like shiny and sparkly.

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And I found an old school method and I was like,

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oh my gosh, I've been buying all these products that promises this cleaning

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that will cure this, this dirty ring, but it did not do it.

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But this product is just one product and a simple tool, cleanse it. It didn't take all day.

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I didn't have to soak it overnight. It's just a matter of about 15 minutes and I was done.

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And so that's, that's kind of how we do it. We were trying to use the worldly method.

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That we used to do to clean out spiritual sin.

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And all God is saying is like, hey, my son Jesus died for this.

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My son Jesus will purify you.

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Can you just give him a try and see if it works? You know, just give it a try.

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Like I said, I've been scrubbing, buying all this product, wasting a whole lot

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of money, and then found out one product with a simple tool,

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bam, it worked. And I'm like, oh my gosh.

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And I was taking pictures, sending it to my kids. My kids are like,

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why is my mom making a big deal?

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Because we don't realize how much time and effort we waste trying to do things

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the old way. We have to go to Jesus.

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We must go to Jesus. We must go to Jesus. There's no shortcut.

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People are coming on with all these different shortcuts about how you can get

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to, you don't need to do this. You don't need to do that.

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Yes, you do. You need to go to Jesus for purification.

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Remember I told you, Jesus coming back for a bride without spot or wrinkle.

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When you have a spot or wrinkle on you, and I had this vision,

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he was still calling out, where's my bride?

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And the bride was standing there with her spot or wrinkle on.

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Because she did not confess her sins, Jesus couldn't see her. She couldn't see him.

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And so we don't want that to happen. We want you to be seen by God.

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And so just remind yourself that don't try to shortcut way. Go straight to Jesus.

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It works every single time. Let's close out and pray.

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Father, I come to you. We come to you honestly. We confess that we have stains

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we cannot remove on our own. Wash us with your blood.

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Wash us with the blood of Jesus. Purify our thoughts, our words,

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our actions, and make us white as snow and teach us to walk in the light.

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Free from shame, guilt, and hypocrisy.

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And we thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Let's decree. We decree that every stain of sin is washed by the blood of Jesus.

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We will not live in shame or hide behind excuses.

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Our life is being made clean, right, and ready for our bridegroom.

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And we will not miss him.

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We are the wise versions. Amen.

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So we thank you. I thank you for joining me on the Diary of Black Women podcast.

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This was episode two of our series, Where Is My Bride?

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Next time, we will talk about the wrinkles in the garment, the subtle compromises

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and neglect that weakens our walk with Christ.

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Remember, stains can be washed, wrinkles can be pressed out, and shame can be lifted.

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Until then, stay washed, stay ready, always stay ready, and keep your eyes on

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the bridegroom because he is coming soon.

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And I'll see you on the next episode.

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Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out,

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I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14.

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Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper

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you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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So today, we receive that truth.

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You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray.

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You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found.

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So we pursue. You said you will restore us from captivity.

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So we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small.

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Thank you for always drawing near when we show up and faith. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Music.