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

0:00 Music. Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent. Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought was possible. Enlarge her territory. Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment. Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

0:49 This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen. Welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we're almost at the end of our series, Where Is My Bride? Today, episode six, The Bride Made Ready. One thing I love about Jesus is that he will not leave you hanging if you really want to connect with him. He will always make a way of escape. He will always get you ready for him if you just ask. We've covered so many different topics for the last two months about where is my bride. And so hopefully you are getting prepared for your groom.

1:31 And so I just want you to know that God will not leave you alone. He will not ever leave you forsaken. He will not leave you with your mouth hanging open like, why did he leave me? He gives us enough chances to get ready, to get ready. And so today's episode is titled The Bride Made Ready. So let us get ready for our groom. So let's do a quick review. So, so far we looked at the stains of sin, the wrinkles of compromise, the danger of counterfeit coverings. We've seen the shame of being exposed when the bridegroom arrives and we're not ready.

2:11 But today I want to just shift our focus because the vision of the wrinkled stained bride is not the end of the story. Scripture gives us another picture, a radiant bride clothed in fine linen. Right and clean and ready for her groom. This is the hope of gospel. This is the destiny of the true church. And this is what we are called to become, the bride made ready. So let's go to some scripture as always. Revelations chapter 19, verses 7 through 8. It says, let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

2:55 Fine linen, bright and clean, given he has given her to wear. Come on now. God might see this bride dressed into and wrinkle, but he said, come on, let's get ready. I got some new clothes for you, some linen for you, bright and clean for you to wear. Philippians 2, 13, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. So it's God in us working in us to fulfill this purpose. So we're never doing this alone. Isn't that some good news, right? So these verses hold a beautiful balance. Revelation says the bride made herself ready.

3:41 This tells us preparation is intentional. It's not passive. It means choosing holiness, saying yes to intimacy, allowing the spirit to refine us. So even if you say, whoa, Lord, I'm doing all I can, you know, and then he shows up with the beautiful gown, bam, you're ready, the fine linen, bam, you are in it. I've been watching you. The Lord is saying, I've been watching you. You are doing everything to prepare. We also see in Philippians, it reminds us that we are not left to do this on our own. Fine linen was given to her to wear. Righteousness is a gift. The desire to prepare, the strength to prepare, the readiness itself.

4:25 It all comes from God. Come on now, what a bridegroom is he. So being made holy, being made ready is a partnership. He provides a garment we choose to wear. Where else is that found? You know, he gives us the armor of God in Ephesians 6.10. God always has our back. You hang out with Jesus, you ain't not going naked. You're going in righteousness, you're going in linen, fine linen, and you're also going in your armor. So being made ready is a partnership. He provides the garment. We choose to wear it. He provides the oil. We choose to keep our lamps filled. He provides the word.

5:08 We choose to obey it. Our role is cooperative, cooperation. His role is empowerment. The bride made ready is not flawless in herself. She is radiant because she is clothed in Christ. Her stains have been washed. Her wrinkles have been pressed out, her shame has been lifted. Readiness is not achieved through human effort alone. It's a partnership with God. The Spirit works in us daily. Earning our compromise, cleansing us from sin, filling us with oil. Our role is to yield, to surrender, to say yes to his process.

5:49 And here's the good news. When the bridegroom comes, we don't have to stream back in fear. We don't have to wonder if we're enough. We will stand radiant, holy, and prepared, not because of our strength, but because of his strength. How energizing and empowering is that so let's go to some self-reflection questions questions am i actually preparing my heart daily or waiting for that quote someday that may never come so we can go to jesus anytime he gives us the waiting gown how cool is that when i got married my husband helped my before we weren't married but the guy i was marrying he said what go find a dress, I'll pay for it. Now that's the bridegroom, right?

6:35 A lot of times we have to, I don't know how weddings go. You know, you never get married. He said, what kind of dress you want? Go pick it out. Tell me what it costs and I'll pay for it. How good is that? That's the bridegroom for you, right? That's what Jesus said. I will take care of the dress. I just need you to stay holy. I need you to stay pure, but I'm going to give you the tools for your success. Can you do that for him? Can you do that for him? If he gives you the tools for your success and he said, I'm gonna buy you the dress, can you do that for him? Number two, do I believe that Christ himself provides a garment of righteousness for me to wear? Either you believe it or you don't, but that's what bridegrooms do.

7:16 They buy the dress. How powerful is that? They buy the clothing. And a good bridegroom even pays for the wedding. Hello, hello, hello, right? And number three, in what practical ways Can I make myself ready this week? Can we start this week? Can we start today? Through prayer, the word, repentance, and obedience. You have a bridegroom that says, I just need you to get ready. I'm going to give you the tools to prepare for this wedding. I'm going to even buy you the dress. But can you stay holy? Can you wear this righteous garment? Can you not sin? Because something else you got to do on your own. He can't keep you from sinning. You know, he can give you the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but you have the right to choose.

7:57 So he'd give you your, you're not going to take away your will, but you have to have that will to obey, that will to want to stay from sinning, that will to read the word, right? But he said, you can do all that. When it comes time for me to come and get you as a bridegroom, to come get my bride, I will get the dress for you. Ooh, I just need you to stay ready. How do you like that one? How do you like that one? So you need to stay ready. Galatians said, get ready so you don't have to. Stay ready so you don't have to get ready. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you in the name of Jesus that we, you have not left us to prepare alone.

8:38 That you have given us clothing of righteousness and the oil of your spirit. Teach us to live every day with readiness. Not in fear, but with a joyful expectation. Make us radiant, holy, and prepared for Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's decree. We decree that we are clothed in fine linen, bright and clean. We are washed, renewed, and made ready by the Spirit of God. We are not waiting passionately. We are preparing daily. When my bridegroom comes, I will be found ready, radiant, and rejoicing. Amen. Amen.

9:20 Thank you. Thank you. This was good. More exciting. So we are a bride made ready. We just have to stay ready. And let's not compromise. Let's be proud. Let's be bold that Jesus doesn't leave us out to fend for ourselves. But we do have to make the right decision to stay holy, to seek after him in intimacy, and to have only eyes for him. But I also want to thank you for joining me on this episode of Diary of a Black Woman Podcast. This was episode six of our series, Where Is My Bride? And we're going to continue with episode seven is the wedding feast of the Lamb. No more shame, no more stain, no more wrinkles. There's everlasting union and joy with our bridegroom.

10:05 Until then, keep preparing, keep rejoicing, and remember, Jesus is coming soon. And I'll see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out, I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14. Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray. You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. so we pursue.

10:48 You said you will restore us from captivity, so we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small. Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Music.