Special Conference: Preparing the Bride for His Coming

Every man lives to himself. From the moment we wake until the moment we sleep, SELF is on my mind. Right after we wake, we start to think of ways that we can make our SELF look good to others. As children we do things that are fun and that make us feel good!(SELF) Our toys get bigger as we get older, but they still have one main purpose: to give us a good feeling and to have fun! (SELF).

Now, it’s time to go to school (6-18 yrs). We try our best to be liked the most, to have the most friends, to look the best and have the most people (including teachers) to admire us (SELF). Now, we contemplate the spouse that will make ME feel good, that will cause others to notice me (SELF). That will give me the greatest joy. (SELF). I start to wonder how big will MY house be? How will MY yard look? What will MY children look like? (SELF).

Now, I have caught MY spouse. I continue to live my life for one major person (MYSELF). Therefore, if my spouse or children cause ME problems, I start to meditate on how to alleviate the situation in a manner that will of course benefit ME. If my family and marriage are very successful , then I secretly want others to acknowledge how well I (SELF) have done so far in life. If my friends don’t acknowledge ME and make me feel good about MYSELF, then I start to discover others that can facilitate a more productive atmosphere for this person that I love so dearly: MYSELF!

SELF continues to govern my thoughts, my actions, my decisions and my life. One special day, I discover that God Almighty sent His Son to die for ME! I am thrilled and excited about a God that loves ME so much that HE deeply desires that I would spend eternity in His pure and Holy Presence! I feel so very special about MYSELF; that I want to do something special for this ONE that has died for ME. So I decide to go to Bible School and study to show MYSELF as a workman that does not need to be ashamed of HIMSELF. While I am studying in Bible School, I continue to think secretively about this one very special person: ME. Even while studying the Bible, I am imagining how much I am learning and how many people will be blessed by ME. Next, I dream about how MY life has come so far: I look younger than my age and physically exercise because this is a good opportunity to behold the goodness of God in my body (SELF), and besides, I appreciate the compliments that others give ME about my appearance!
My mind is very keen and therefore I rejoice in the many ways that I have been blessed. Every time the Lord uses ME, I consider afresh how good my life is and how much I (self) have to be thankful for in MY life.

Now, I continue to seek how I can get more of God in me, but secretly I only desire to be a better SELF! All of my desires are hidden away in the secret places of my heart and everything I do is really just to be a greater blessing to this one major person in my life; which is ME! I will even help others and do works of service with a secret intention of receiving special blessings for ME.

If I was ever to lose this one very special person, my entire life and purpose would be devastated and I don’t think I would be able to go on. I have such a deep secret love for this very special person, that whenever someone speaks against him, I am offended. Whenever someone grieves him, I feel sorry for him. When he is rejected, I have a pain deep inside of me. Whenever somebody wounds him, I immediately bandage his wounds and put ointment on his cuts. I am so intimately joined to this dear one, that I would give my life for him and if he ever died, I would not be able to go on with living; therefore I am determined to keep him very close to my heart as long as I am alive and to always keep a secret admiration and appreciation for this ONE that I secretly love so much!!

Job 2:4 “and satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man has will he give for his OWN LIFE.” (emphasis mine)

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
John 12:25 The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life.
Rev 12:11 But they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

Tags: denying self, self, Teaching