Follow along with this daily journal as it guides you on your path to spiritual awakening. Nurture your relationship with the divine and awaken your soul.
The sky darkens as ominous clouds move in. The trees bend as the intensity of the wind increases. Thunder roars. Lightning flashes. The signs of an impending storm are clear.
Weather forecasters can predict the weather. But people in general, and the church in particular, cannot correctly interpret the “signs of the times” as Jesus declared in the scriptures.
That’s the message of “Awaken, Oh Bride,” a nonfiction, motivational book described by its author, Rochelle Butler, as a “toolbox” loaded with the Lord’s word for members of the Body of Christ – the church – to be prepared by developing a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the Almighty, and to discern what’s going on in their lives personally, what’s going on around them as well as what’s to come.
The Church as the Bride, as referenced in Ephesians 5:22-33, describes the Church as the Bride of Christ, and Christ is declared the Head of the Church, His Bride. It’s that “intimate relationship with Christ” is what “Awaken Oh Bride” is all about.
Butler calls her book, a daily journal of awakening.
“Too many people are doing emergency prayers,” Butler says. “If you walk daily with Christ, you don’t have to do all that. He can tell you along the way.”
It is time for the church and for individual Christians, to wake up Butler declares.
“Have you been in the wilderness as far as your relationship with Christ is concerned? Butler explains. “Then awaken and read this message God has for you (the church aka His Bride). The beauty of owning a toolbox is that you may not need or use every tool, but they are there if you need them.”
This personal collection of journals will be a call for the church to awaken and arise. Arise to the new day dawning of Isaiah 60:1: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”
“The church has been in the shadows far too long, shadows caused by sin and selfishness, which has dimmed our brightness, Butler writes on the back cover of her book. “The Lord’s intentions for the penning of these journals were for the purposes of them not only becoming just reading information but for light and truth that prayerfully will lead to a transformation of change.”
The Lord has plans for His Bride and wants to make her ready, but there is a process of returning and refining that will be needed to make us a church without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
In her book, Butler relates the story of the childhood tale, The Gingerbread Man, to our journey with Christ. Below is an excerpt:
I am sure most of us as children grew up hearing or reading the story of the gingerbread man. He gave the little baker lady a run for her life. Once she had cooked him and opened up the oven door to take him out, Poof! Out he went chanting “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.” Boy don’t! know that story. When the Lord opens up the oven door of life’s circumstances in my life for my good, many times I have taken out running. The furnace of affliction is part of the process where we become complete and mature. It’s merely a part of the works and doings of God. Isaiah 48:10 says, “Behold I have refined thee but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction”.
Fire both refines and purifies us of self-toxins, sin-toxins, and all else that defiles us. The Word of God says He is coming back for a bride without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. With that in mind, understand why we encounter tests and trials along our journey in life. Having come through the furnace a few times, I came to realize the furnace was not my destruction but for my construction
The gingerbread man is an excellent example of what happens when we don’t wait to go through the refining process because refining helps us prepare for what God has for us.”
“Awaken Oh Bride” just didn’t happen. Here pastor once told her that she was to “pen a book.” Seven years later, “the Lord told me to pen.” With much prayer and supplication to God, it took another year to write. Her book is published by Million Words Publishing.
“I write because the Lord has something to say to his people. He uses me as his mouthpiece,” she says. “I’m a Christian writer but this is a universal message,” she says. “There’s only one God who made us.”
Additionally, Butler is the founder of Sound the Trumpet Outreach, teaches an online Bible Study titled, “Warrior Alley Bible Study, and has a website: www.TimeToSoundTheTrumpet.com.
#Awakening, #Bride, #Spirituality
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