The Intimacy the Bridegroom God Desires to Have With His Bride

Before I start I need to give a little bit of background on myself regarding this subject. For a long time it was really hard for me to relate to God as His bride, especially since I’m a guy. However, a very good friend of mine encouraged me to press into that aspect of my relationship with Christ a little over a year and a half ago so I took his advice and started to press into a bridal relationship. As a result, this past year and a half of my life in Christ has been the most fulfilling and rewarding time and I know that it will continue to increase. Allowing myself to be loved as a bride by God has brought me to a new understanding of who He is and who I am, and my intimacy with Yeshua has exponentially increased. In fact, there were about two months where I was seriously considering celibacy because I was so in love with Jesus! The vision that I’m about to share is an outflow of my bridal relationship with God. I hope you are blessed by it.
On April 22, 2010 I was soaking in the presence of the Lord while listening to the song “Do You Know The Way You Move Me?” by Cory Asbury, which is a prophetic song straight from the IHOP Prayer Room. It’s basically an expression of God’s heart toward His bride (us) and is extremely intimate. While I was listening to this song, the Lord gave me a vision where I was standing in a field. Jesus was sitting on the ground next to me and the bride was laying on the ground resting her head in His lap. While she lay there, He was stroking her hair with His hand and they were looking deep into each others eyes. As I watched this I had a deep longing to be the bride, laying there in that intimate communion with my Bridegroom. After about 3 minutes of watching I was suddenly in the place of the bride, looking up at my Bridegroom. The relational intimacy that I was experiencing is far beyond any that I’ve ever experienced. I was my Beloved’s and He was mine! I knew that right there was where I belonged and I was drawn into more love for my Bridegroom. After a little while of lying there in silence I was back to standing next to them. I kept switching between the two places for the entire duration of the song, which is about 23 minutes. There was never a word spoken between Jesus and the bride, they simply sat there in complete adoration for each other! I truly felt that I was watching and experiencing a relationship between two people who were absolutely, completely in love with each other.
After the vision ended Jesus started to speak to me about it. He said that His bride understands the doctrine of the “Bride of Christ,” but she doesn’t apply it to her relationship with Him. What I was experiencing was both sides; while standing to the side I was the majority of the church, while lying down I was the part of the church that has pressed into the bridal relationship with Jesus.
The doctrine of the “Bride of Christ” is laid out most clearly in Ephesians 5:25-33. Paul is talking about husbands loving their wives with selflessness. In verse 32 Paul clearly states that this is referring to Christ and the church. In Second Corinthians 11:2 Paul says to the Corinthian church that he “betrothed [them] to one husband, to present [them] as a pure virgin to Christ” (2Cor.11:2 ESV). It is clear that we are His bride but do we really understand what this means? We are the Queen of Heaven! We have authority and influence that we don’t even comprehend yet!
Kris Vallotton, the senior associate pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, says a statement that captures this idea perfectly: “What the queen whispers on the pillow at night, the King accomplishes the next day.” Jesus longs for our input. He longs for bridal partnership. He wants to know what’s in our hearts. Children sit in the backseat and have little say about the vacation, the bride sits in the front seat and helps plan the vacation. She co-labors and co-reigns with the King. She knows His heart and acts according to it because as she has drawn closer to Him her heart has come into alignment with His. She doesn’t need to be led by the hand, she helps to lead.
A bridal partnership with God is a high level of spiritual maturity, because when we enter into that relationship we are given the privilege to help raise the children of God. We have influence in their lives. Not only that, we have the authority to do things as if we were our Husband, Jesus, because we are one flesh with Him. In John 17 Jesus prayed that we would be one with Him and the Father multiple times. He wants us to be so close to Him that we truly are one. This will only happen through bridal intimacy. The bride has direct access to every emotion and thought that her Bridegroom feels and thinks, not just on an intellectual level but on an emotional one. We get to know His heart completely and join our hearts to His.
I believe that if the church stepped into this bridal intimacy with Christ we would turn the world upside-down. As we proclaim Heaven’s decrees on earth and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth in every situation of life the world would see a powerful people who will not back down in their commitment to a loving God. Press into a new level of intimacy with your Bridegroom God. Seek Him with all you are.
Blessings!