Where is My Bride: Ep 6: Clothed in Righteousness: Ready for the Groom

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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. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and we're almost at the end of our series, Where Is My Bride?

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Today, episode six, The Bride Made Ready.

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One thing I love about Jesus is that he will not leave you hanging if you really

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want to connect with him.

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He will always make a way of escape. He will always get you ready for him if you just ask.

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We've covered so many different topics for the last two months about where is my bride.

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And so hopefully you are getting prepared for your groom.

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And so I just want you to know that God will not leave you alone.

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He will not ever leave you forsaken. He will not leave you with your mouth hanging

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open like, why did he leave me?

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He gives us enough chances to get ready, to get ready.

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And so today's episode is titled The Bride Made Ready. So let us get ready for our groom.

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So let's do a quick review. So, so far we looked at the stains of sin,

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the wrinkles of compromise, the danger of counterfeit coverings.

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We've seen the shame of being exposed when the bridegroom arrives and we're not ready.

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But today I want to just shift our focus because the vision of the wrinkled

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stained bride is not the end of the story.

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Scripture gives us another picture, a radiant bride clothed in fine linen.

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Right and clean and ready for her groom.

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This is the hope of gospel.

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This is the destiny of the true

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church. And this is what we are called to become, the bride made ready.

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So let's go to some scripture as always.

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Revelations chapter 19, verses 7 through 8.

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It says, let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the

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lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

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Fine linen, bright and clean, given he has given her to wear.

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Come on now. God might see this bride dressed into

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and wrinkle, but he said, come on, let's get ready.

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I got some new clothes for you, some linen for you, bright and clean for you to wear.

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Philippians 2, 13, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order

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to fulfill his good purpose.

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So it's God in us working in us to fulfill this purpose.

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So we're never doing this alone. Isn't that some good news, right?

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So these verses hold a beautiful balance. Revelation says the bride made herself ready.

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This tells us preparation is intentional. It's not passive.

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It means choosing holiness, saying yes to intimacy, allowing the spirit to refine us.

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So even if you say, whoa, Lord, I'm doing all I can, you know,

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and then he shows up with the beautiful gown, bam, you're ready,

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the fine linen, bam, you are in it.

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I've been watching you. The Lord is saying, I've been watching you.

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You are doing everything to prepare. We also see in Philippians,

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it reminds us that we are not left to do this on our own.

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Fine linen was given to her to wear.

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Righteousness is a gift. The desire to prepare, the strength to prepare, the readiness itself.

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It all comes from God.

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Come on now, what a bridegroom is he.

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So being made holy, being made ready is a partnership.

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He provides a garment we choose to wear. Where else is that found?

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You know, he gives us the armor of God in Ephesians 6.10.

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God always has our back. You hang out with Jesus, you ain't not going naked.

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You're going in righteousness, you're going in linen, fine linen,

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and you're also going in your armor.

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So being made ready is a partnership.

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He provides the garment. We choose to wear it.

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He provides the oil. We choose to keep our lamps filled. He provides the word.

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We choose to obey it. Our role is cooperative, cooperation.

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His role is empowerment. The bride made ready is not flawless in herself.

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She is radiant because she is clothed in Christ.

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Her stains have been washed. Her wrinkles have been pressed out,

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her shame has been lifted.

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Readiness is not achieved through human effort alone. It's a partnership with

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God. The Spirit works in us daily.

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Earning our compromise, cleansing us from sin, filling us with oil.

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Our role is to yield, to surrender, to say yes to his process.

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And here's the good news. When the bridegroom comes, we don't have to stream back in fear.

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We don't have to wonder if we're enough.

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We will stand radiant, holy, and prepared, not because of our strength,

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but because of his strength.

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How energizing and empowering is

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that so let's go to some self-reflection questions

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questions am i actually preparing my heart daily

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or waiting for that quote someday that may never come so we can go to jesus

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anytime he gives us the waiting gown how cool is that when i got married my

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husband helped my before we weren't married but the guy i was marrying he said

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what go find a dress, I'll pay for it. Now that's the bridegroom, right?

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A lot of times we have to, I don't know how weddings go. You know, you never get married.

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He said, what kind of dress you want? Go pick it out. Tell me what it costs and I'll pay for it.

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How good is that? That's the bridegroom for you, right? That's what Jesus said.

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I will take care of the dress. I just need you to stay holy.

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I need you to stay pure, but I'm going to give you the tools for your success.

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Can you do that for him? Can you do that for him?

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If he gives you the tools for your success and he said, I'm gonna buy you the

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dress, can you do that for him?

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Number two, do I believe that Christ himself provides a garment of righteousness for me to wear?

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Either you believe it or you don't, but that's what bridegrooms do.

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They buy the dress. How powerful is that? They buy the clothing.

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And a good bridegroom even pays for the wedding. Hello, hello, hello, right?

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And number three, in what practical ways Can I make myself ready this week?

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Can we start this week? Can we start today?

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Through prayer, the word, repentance, and obedience.

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You have a bridegroom that says, I just need you to get ready.

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I'm going to give you the tools to prepare for this wedding.

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I'm going to even buy you the dress. But can you stay holy?

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Can you wear this righteous garment?

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Can you not sin? Because something else you got to do on your own.

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He can't keep you from sinning.

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You know, he can give you the conviction of the Holy Spirit,

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but you have the right to choose.

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So he'd give you your, you're not going to take away your will,

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but you have to have that will to obey, that will to want to stay from sinning,

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that will to read the word, right? But he said, you can do all that.

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When it comes time for me to come and get you as a bridegroom,

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to come get my bride, I will get the dress for you.

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Ooh, I just need you to stay ready. How do you like that one?

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How do you like that one? So you need to stay ready.

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Galatians said, get ready so you don't have to. Stay ready so you don't have to get ready. Amen.

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Let's pray. Father, I just thank you in the name of Jesus that we,

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you have not left us to prepare alone.

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That you have given us clothing of righteousness and the oil of your spirit.

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Teach us to live every day with readiness. Not in fear, but with a joyful expectation.

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Make us radiant, holy, and prepared for Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Let's decree. We decree that we are clothed in fine linen, bright and clean.

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We are washed, renewed, and made ready by the Spirit of God.

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We are not waiting passionately. We are preparing daily.

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When my bridegroom comes, I will be found ready, radiant, and rejoicing. Amen. Amen.

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Thank you. Thank you. This was good. More exciting. So we are a bride made ready.

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We just have to stay ready. And let's not compromise.

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Let's be proud. Let's be bold that Jesus doesn't leave us out to fend for ourselves.

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But we do have to make the right decision to stay holy, to seek after him in

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intimacy, and to have only eyes for him.

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But I also want to thank you for joining me on this episode of Diary of a Black

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Woman Podcast. This was episode six of our series, Where Is My Bride?

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And we're going to continue with episode seven is the wedding feast of the Lamb.

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No more shame, no more stain, no more wrinkles. There's everlasting union and

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joy with our bridegroom.

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Until then, keep preparing, keep rejoicing, and remember, Jesus 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. so we pursue.

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You said you will restore us from captivity, so we declare freedom over every

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place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small.

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

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Music.