The beautiful Princess

A beautiful woman from a small village dreamt of meeting a Prince who was said to be passing through her province and was in search of His bride. The announcement also was conveyed by His servants with a wedding garment. The garment was even given to her to try on and to wear for the time that the Prince would pass by. She said: I hope to have a smart, reliable, faithful, and wonderful life partner, a knight in shining armor.  A romantic and passionate, affectionate and supportive man, a sensual lover.

To live in a kingdom of love together. The glaring problem was the thought, to begin with, was I want rather than not what I will be or become ….

One day by chance that person came but He was not dressed nor behaved/ understood to be that prince of her dreams because her thoughts and perceptions misjudged him so they met but she never realized that her happiness had been. The young woman had many of her own beautiful dresses and was dressed in beautiful apparel which she admired more than the dress she had been given. She was not dressed at the time in the wedding garment and He also came in common apparel. She mistook her prince because of how he was dressed and his mannerisms and so the opportunity passed by….

He was humble, meek, and mild and seemed not to be the man of her dreams. She was looking for someone to suit her own thoughts and feelings but that someone never came…

The princes’ servants were again sent into the village to find a suitable princess. This time they found a young woman that was also beautiful but felt inadequate and declined. So here was the deal. The King would provide everything.   All the necessary tutoring and help were at her disposal but she felt inadequate and refused the proposal. Not just once but by many requests did she refuse the princess’s request on the part of his servants. She could never get past her inadequacy and what was in her mind made it a reality.

The royal court was in dismay they were dumbfounded that such opportunities were treated this way.

But the prince did marry and lived happily ever after with a young girl who though looked nothing, to begin with, was fashioned and dressed in the loom of heaven and so was ever grateful as she realized what might have been had it not been for the work of the Prince to secure her love.

On her wedding day, she was

beautiful to behold past anything others could have imagined

Radiant as the sun to behold

The garment Christ offers is seamless, pure white recognized of heaven and is composed of this: ‘Those who deny self to do others good, and who devote themselves and all they have to the happiness of others (whether in a relationship or in the church or in Christ’s service), will realize the happiness which the selfish one seeks for in vain. Charity or love “seeketh not her own.” This is the fruit of that disinterested love and benevolence which characterized the life of Christ.’

God invites you to come as you are. By the grace of the King who invites you to the wedding feast. There is nothing that you can offer. But you can and must surrender yourself so that God’s righteousness becomes your own. The nature of good and evil is who we are and its laden with sins. A mixture of good and evil. The walk maybe a struggle and seem imperfect but that’s not what matters its about being in touch with God.

‘It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour.’ You don’t have to wait to receive this because you performed one day better than another- this is so important to believe and understand. But you do have to enter into a relationship with Him.

Learn of me and follow me. The Prince and His graces and how He deals with life circumstances is something we are to appreciate and imitate. God is imparting His spirit to change the heart but only according to your heart’s desires.

Many times, over we may ask God to forgive us and we ask of others the same but let us go forward. At the very point of despair often when we think this is not working God takes over. We need to take the invitation to lay our burdens on Him but how many do this?  We are carrying an unnecessary weight which we are to take to God to unload and rest in Him. Our decisions that we sweat upon on our own, our worries are to be the burden that we share and He takes.

Enter into a relationship with God. Personal prayer conversations with God. It is God’s part to change the nature, yours to enter into the relationship that God invites you to join. Examine your relationship so you are not serving two masters. That could require turning off some of the things around you. Here is where the struggle lies with what is engrained in our nature and participation in sin is like a monkey on the back. Anything from bad influences to the TV, to your environment which may well have been instilled from a child.

Believe that God is your Father and holds you as precious, someone every unique and valuable.

Each day your love for God is tested. Each day you are to have time aside in your daily experience with Him. Your good works or evil deeds shall be seen. Most of all there should be a change in the home. The change comes as rapidly or as slowly as the heart allows.

Some things that you want to change will be like digging a shovel into the hard ground because that’s the state of your heart- hard ground. Imperfect love.

Learn of Him, behold Him, and become changed. The change could in a moment or it could be years in the making. Again, to stress the point- It’s all according to the desires of the heart. You need to want it, to own it! Repeated persistent prayer, meaningful prayer- this cannot be overemphasized.

It is to be a morning and daily experience in which we pattern our life with that of Jesus. The book of John is a wonderful place to start.

When we do not follow Him, we are not following the commandments, surrendering ourselves, and having faith in God. So, ask yourself am I keeping all of the commandments of God? Am I exercising the fruits of the Spirit?

Jesus says to be as my Father in heaven and He is perfect. The more we distrust our abilities and our heart and trust the Lord the more we attain to what God would have us to be in thoughts and feelings. As we move closer to God in patterning His thoughts and feelings the happier, we shall be. Self-distrust and trusting God is often a point of failure and turnaround where instead of just asking God to bless we ask Him to forgive our foolishness and direct our lives and give us wisdom in life choices that we do not have. The more we head in God’s plan for us the more happiness we experience.

A false gospel embraces nearly the whole world,—those who would be saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins.  On one hand, the false gospel relies on the merits of Christ but the life is not fashioned after Him. They are not keeping the commandments of God or have the faith of Jesus- there is no oil in the vessel. On the other hand, people naturally want to contribute to their own salvation when God is the one that needs to first change the heart by which a perfect response will naturally flow.