Prophetic Word: The Bride Shall Make Herself Ready
For the last ten years, I have been primarily teaching the body of Christ in the USA and parts of the world the specific subject matter of consecration.
The need for consecration burns in me like a fresh fire shut up in my bones. The honest truth is that in many circles, the very reason why I am even invited to come speak and minister is because the church or conference host knows that I love to preach on this specific subject found in the Word of God.
With this background and some years of experience in mind, I sat down to write The Power of Consecration, believing that with hundreds of sermons and hours’ worth of notes, I could easily lay out a very clear path to the power of consecration and what God was saying to the Church. My, how wrong I was!
I quickly realized that God was actually inviting me into a fresh encounter concerning the power of consecration and that I needed to put quite a bit more prayer and fasting into writing this book. Through many tears and fresh revelation, I suddenly realized that I have been teaching the power of consecration with limited understanding! I myself needed a serious upgrade before I could share God’s heart concerning this subject.
As I began to dialogue with God about what He wanted to say to us, I was made aware that more than diving into the mechanics of what it looks like to be fully consecrated unto Him, He wanted to reveal the “why” behind this subject matter. In other words, why consecrate ourselves as believers?
Again, I admit that this was a unique question and journey for me personally because as I have been preaching and teaching holiness and consecration all over the world for a focused period of time, I have honestly never considered this question. I have certainly labored to preach on clear biblical standards for holiness and also our biblical identity of who we are in Christ. But never have I taught a message on “why” we should give ourselves to being a consecrated people. Could there actually be more than just telling people to be holy because God is holy?
I suddenly began to wonder if I had actually missed preaching the eternal storyline that links our personal and present commitment to consecration to the future and ultimate day where we shall be fully consecrated before our Bridegroom King? Sadly and with great tears, I confess that I have. However, I believe this is why I have written this book and why God now wants to release a prophetic word to His Church. Here is what He spoke to my heart in the place of prayer over this manuscript:
“For many years, My Bride has sought to consecrate herself before Me without My eternal storyline in mind. They have sought to fast, pray, and separate themselves from the world with only present hopes and desires of revival and awakening. However, in this generation I am releasing the 'why' behind the 'what': namely the Wedding Day. See, I am releasing a revelation of My pure and spotless Bride that will stand before Me one day so that My people might not grow weary and lose heart on their journey to become like Me. While a present focus on personal holiness and consecration will only last for a time, a vision of the Wedding Day will be the power behind My consecrated ones in the days ahead. There is a lovesickness that shall come upon My Bride that will give Her doves’ eyes. Pure and simple devotion to Me will be the mark of a consecrated people that will stand before Me.”
As God whispered this prophetic word to my heart on the power of consecration, I wept and wept. He began to say to me over and over again in the secret place, “And the Bride shall make herself ready.”
