THE WORLD AWAITS THE UNVEILING OF THE BRIDE

"... and many nations shall come, and say:  Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths." Micah 4:2

MARRIAGE IS A GOD-IDEA NOT THE WORLD'S IDEA

"Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb". Rev 21:9

Marriage is so sacred to God that He chose to use it in reference to His Son, Jesus Christ and the church.  We, as the church, are in a constant process of being prepared as the Bride of Christ and we have the promise, that the Bridegroom Jesus will return to fetch His Bride.

Therefor, every wedding is a prophetic action reminding the devil and the whole world that there is a wedding being planned in heaven for Jesus, the Bridegroom and His Bride, the church!  It should not be surprising that the enemy try to steal the desire to marry from the hearts of men and women who love one another, because He hates being reminded of this awesome event that will make the universe reverberate with Love and Life Himself and unite heaven and earth!

There is one mistake we make:  we think our wedding and marriage is a very personal issue and we try to deal with it on a very personal level, while it speaks and points to the greatest global event of all time that will take place!

Let me explain how God revealed this to me.  While I was in relationship with Danie and started thinking of marriage, fear gripped my heart and thoughts of, 'what if he changes after the wedding', 'what if he is unfaithful', 'what if we struggle to serve God together'.  And I felt that I will not be able to make a commitment for life.  Because I still saw marriage as a personal issue and I was afraid that I will not be able to deal with the challenges of marriage.

Then the Lord spoke to me and said: "Don't think that your marriage and union with Danie is because you have been single for a long time and you and him deserve love.  This union is for My Kingdom to advance.  Seek first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you!"

That pulled me out of my personal level and positioned me back onto the global/kingdom level God gave us!  While I thought about my own happiness, God was thinking of the corporate anointing and the power of two to advance His kingdom!  One let one thousand fall and two let TEN thousand fall!

I was immediately aligned with the kingdom of God and I knew that I will be with Danie until the time comes that the Lord takes us home!  And when we have a disagreement, we will have to work through it until we reach unity ... for the sake of the Kingdom of God!  That means laying down our pride and desire to be right and fighting for what God fights for:  Love, unity, humility!  That means that I am not fighting for myself but for the Kingdom of God!

OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE

While planning my wedding in Pretoria, I once again made the mistake to plan it on a personal level!  We would get married in Pretoria because it made sense: our church is there, most of our friends are there and there is enough place to accommodate the family...  Yet it felt like such a struggle in my spirit until I thought to ask the Lord why I felt this way. Something I should have done right from the beginning!  The Lord simply answered: 'You know where you should get married'.

Approximately eight years ago I ministered in Zurich and during my time there the pastor, a friend of mine, took a group of us up a mountain in Switzerland and pointed out that you can see 6 countries from that mountain: Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, France and Liechtenstein.  I responded without thinking with the words 'If I ever get married, I want to get married on this mountain because I want a man with vision!'

Sometimes we say these things not realizing that it is God speaking through you and that you are prophesying over your own life!  

So, when the Lord spoke to me I, of course knew He was speaking about that mountain.  I was shocked and surprised but I could feel an excitement flooding my spirit!  My immediate thoughts were 'Oh my goodness, how are we going to organize this!  How much is this going to cost!  How is Danie going to respond to this! And the worst of all, my friend is not in Zurich anymore, but in Germany!  Who is going to help us organize this?'  In spite of all these questions I felt excitement flooding my spirit!

After we prayed about it together the Lord clearly said: 'Go and get married in the spring of Europe and bring the spring back into the autumn of South Africa'.  Of course there is a mandate for South Africa hidden in these words!

After the Lord told us to get married in May, I discovered that the flower for the month of May is the 'LILY OF THE VALLEY'! My friends prepared a bridal bouquet for me made up of roses and the lily of the valley!

To make a long story short:  I contacted my friend in Germany and my friends in Switzerland and the Spirit of the Lord came on all of us and He used these precious sons and daughters of God to help organize this wedding and make it special beyond words!


As you might remember, our engagement on the Red Square was a prophetic action declaring that as I, as a Bride accepts Danie's request for betrothal, Russia, as the Bride of Christ will return to Jesus, her Bridegroom God and be betrothed to Him again!  

So I asked the Lord why He really wants us to get married on that mountain?  The Lord said that our wedding must be a declaration that the European Union was the world's strategy for unity in Europe but the Lord will raise up His One Bride in Europe to establish true unity!  Therefore, I asked the Lord for the representation of the seven nations at our wedding.  Our wedding guests represented people from Russia, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa and Romania!

It was glorious to stand on that mountain as a Bride and Bridegroom, knowing that our wedding is not only about us but it declared God's heart for the nations as we stood together, praised an worship, and Jonee blowing the shofar!

It was glorious!  The moment I chose God's way for our wedding, everything came alive in us!  I praise God for the amazing friends in Switzerland who heard the heart of God and immediately came in line with His heart with so much energy, love, joy and support!  We were overwhelmed by their hospitality and passion for the Lord and what He wanted to do!

I could have missed it so easily if I get thinking of it as 'my wedding'.  

Col 1:16 says "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

THE WORLD'S REACTION TO THE BRIDE

One of the greatest revelations God gave me on our wedding day, was the reaction of the people when they saw a bride where they did not expect to see one.  Santis Mountain attract quite a lot of international tourists in spring and summer because of the spectacular view.

When I arrived at the bottom I could see people wandering around, looking up at the majesty of the mountain taking photographs.  The moment they saw me their faces would change.  I saw surprise on their faces as they saw the bride.  It changed into excitement as they would turn to the others in their company urging them to look, getting in position to steal a photograph of the bride!  As I got closer to them they would join in the celebration shouting congratulations.  For a moment they would forget about their surroundings and even their purpose for being there because they were captivated by the bride!

As this continued to happen as I went up the mountain, walking around on top, walking through a restaurant to our event room, I realized God was trying to get my attention.

As I waited for the signal to enter the wedding room, the Holy Spirit gently spoke to me and said 'That is how the world will respond when they see the Bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle, glorious and ready to meet her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ!  The Bride of Christ will capture the attention of the world, they will forget what they are busy with and they will become part of the wedding celebration!

This was once again demonstrated when we arrived at the guest house after the wedding.  They had an open market in the streets right in front of our guest house that day which ended at 14:00.  But the people still sat around wooden tables, enjoying themselves and laughing aloud.  When we arrived and I got out of the car, once again the bride caught their attention and they shouted, whistled and clapped hands as they congratulated us and celebrated with us!

God is busy raising up His One Bride all over the world and when He reveals her in her beauty and bridal array to the world, she will captivate the hearts and the attention of the world inviting them to become part of the greatest wedding feast of all ages!

WE ARE HIS BRIDE!

I pray that the Lord will captivate our hearts first, the heart of His Bride, until our focus is entirely on Him and Him alone. 
May our hearts, desires, dreams and expectations be for Him!  
May we choose to believe in the future He has planned for us, His Bride!  
May we have the boldness to allow the Holy Spirit to remove all wrong mantles (pride, self-importance, inferiority, fear, poverty, sickness) from us!  
May He undress us from every filthy rag of lies and deception and may He clothe us with His LOVE, TRUTH, HOLINESS, JOY and PEACE.  
May we become the beautiful, glorious Bride He intended us to be!

May the world look at us, His Bride, and be captivated by her beauty and holiness and by her love for Jesus!

I bless you, beautiful Bride of Christ, to arise in His beauty and love, in the Name of Jesus!