Fully Engaged

As a REST family, we are getting ready to enter an extended season of focusing on The Bride. We are the Bride of Christ! Before the wedding comes the engagement, however, so as we prepare to receive more revelation on what it means to be His Bride in the months and years ahead, let’s first consider what it means to be FULLY ENGAGED.

The Engagement of Betrothal

One definition of engaged is to formally agree to marry someone. In the Jewish tradition of marriage that we read about in the Bible, there are three phases: the betrothal phase, the wedding phase, and the celebration phase. When we said YES to Jesus’ invitation and acknowledged Him as our Lord and Savior, we accepted His proposal and agreed to an eternal covenant with Him. We also entered that betrothal, or engagement, stage with Him.

In betrothal, we receive God’s Love and express ours back to Him. In betrothal, God says that He has chosen us, and we declare that we choose Him. In betrothal, the Bridegroom says, “I have paid the bride price, and I have laid down My life for you,” and the Bride, in response, says, “I lay down and give my life to You.” In betrothal, the Bridegroom gives us gifts, and we love and honor Him by receiving and using those gifts.

In the betrothal of being fully engaged, we are brought into a covenant relationship of love with Love Himself. Have you taken the step to say YES to God’s proposal of Love? Or perhaps you recognize that it’s time for you to renew your commitment. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice of death on the cross, sin no longer separates us from God! We can be in relationship with Him! We simply need to accept the gift of His Love and say YES to Jesus, acknowledging what He has done and inviting Him to journey with and lead us in our daily lives.

The Engagement of Fellowship

Deep down, all of us yearn to know and be known. This is a continual process of deepening relationship through fellowship—with God and with others. Definitions of engaged, in this sense, include: 1) to attract someone’s attention, 2) to participate with and become involved with someone, and 3) to establish a meaningful contact or connection with someone. Once we are in covenant relationship with God, we are meant to deepen our engagement with Him through fellowship.

As the Bride of Christ, we are called to engage His eyes, engage His heart, and engage His ways. We do this through spending time with Him in prayer, in worship, and in His Word. Times like this not only help us to learn more about God, but to come to know God more intimately. I heard someone say once that the word “intimacy” speaks of “in-to-me-see”. We invite God to know the deepest places of our hearts…and God invites us to know the depths of His heart, too. It is a two-way, shared relationship. Such intimacy comes best through personal, face-to-face encounter with Him.

Part of that encounter comes through our experiencing God through fellowship with one another, as well. So, in these months ahead, like Paul says in Philippians 3:10 (AMPC), let our determined purpose be to know God and to progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving, and recognizing, and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly. But let us also remember Hebrews 10:24-25 and think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works; not neglecting our meeting together, as some people do, but encouraging one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. He is returning for His Bride!

The Engagement of Purpose

Motivating each other to acts of love and good works speaks to our purpose, and this is the final aspect of living fully engaged that I want to encourage you about today. In addition to what has already been shared, the dictionary definition of engage can also be described as 1) employing or hiring someone and 2) moving into position to begin operating as designed.

Being fully engaged means being activated and released into the giftings, callings, and purposes God has created you for. We are co-laborers with Christ. He wants to employ us for His purposes and to deploy us into the world as Seed-Sowers and Harvesters for His Kingdom. He has given each of us unique gifts and abilities to do so, too. But just as we had to say “yes” to His proposal and to receive His salvation, we must also say “yes” to His empowering graces and to receive His gifts.

Have you received the gift of the infilling of the Holy Spirit? (John 7:38-39, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1-4) Are you sowing seeds by giving expression to the Fruit of the Spirit in your life? (Galatians 5:22-23) Are you living out the unique, God-given design and purpose for your life? (Ephesians 2:10) Take a moment, right now, and ask God to freshly activate His purposes in your life for this season. Express your desire to Him to be FULLY ENGAGED in every area of your life...and then...expect to be prepared and made ready for the coming of your Bridegroom King!