Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 5

There is eternally more to know of our Bridegroom King. In this present moment, the dream I was given means we get Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 5.

 The gown and the veil of white roses

Part of the gasp-worthy beauty of the white rose veil, and the similar gown, was the way in which it was designed. It puzzled me for a bit as to what the other flora represented until, once again as I simply held it before the Lord, scripture came forward.

Given the manner the Lord has led me through Vineyard Days up to this dream, I believe the whole chapter of Ephesians 4, divided into two parts, describes the body of Christ (the Church) and the Shulamite-Bride. In reading Ephesians 4 yet again, I saw the potential for Christ’s life weaving unity throughout His body; and I saw the propensity for Molid to be high and lifted up. The opposite of the same Jesus who said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all to Myself.” (John 12:32) 

the gown

The ‘shrub as tall as a headless woman, planted long ago…’, you’ll remember, was in the form of a white rose and flora gown (like the veil). A 3-D shell that was empty and needing to be filled with Christ himself in order to be alive.

In the first 16 verses of Ephesians 4, I see a noteworthy description of this growing up ‘gown body’ – planted long ago. Verses 14-16 describe the actively working outcome of the body of Christ when it has attained to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Not full of ourselves, but the fullness of Christ. It may be a beautiful, growing body, but its beauty comes only from our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Any glory of the body of Christ reflects the triumph of our King of Glory!

The flora represented every supporting ligament that joins and holds together the whole body. It means to touch one another in the proper working (NASB) of each individual part, which in turn causes the growth of the body for building itself up in love. No one functions well and cohesively as an island. We may touch one or a multitude. Together, the proper working of each individual part adds to the beautiful body of love, the body of Christ. In Him, there are no gaps.

Growing (from infancy and out of a Molid mindset) to become in every respect the mature body of Christ, of which He is its head, is the unmistakable theme of Ephesians 4:1-16. No wonder in my dream I heard His emphatic, “I AM the head!”

the veil continued

Recall the veil was attached to the entwined wood vine, designed to perfectly fit the God-head over the body. Two seemingly small details in the dream began to speak volumes.

First, the veil was handed to me; a gift befitting a bride, meant to be worn. Secondly, the fact that I was holding it spoke of it being in my possession, but incomplete until attached to the (rightful) head. It was clear in the dream and afterward that the Bride’s veil is attached firmly to the Vine. It will not find its permanent home on any other head or mindset. (see verses 20-24)

Well, if that doesn’t describe in a snapshot seven laborious years of tending this ‘vineyard’, beginning with my own long before. The revelation of Molid* was given to me while writing Vineyard Days. It has been a seven-year-long cycle of proving and proclaiming who Christ is in relation to the generations of His body, without which there can be no Bride.

It is one thing to receive insight and revelation. It’s another to experience the narrow way of putting one hind’s foot in front of another and learning to walk it out. It requires a decision that either He the Word is trustworthy, or He isn’t. I attest to why multitudes do not want to go that way, because it involves being tempered with white-hot fire that cleanses and purifies. But it is the only way that leads to tried and found true, abundant resurrection life that flows from Christ.

There is nothing that presences our lives – past, present, or future – where God was not there first.

A word about Molid

*As a point of clarity regarding Molid, I am not advocating dishonor and disrespect of our generations. Most of our generational lines are a blend of God’s faithful righteous blessing and not so lovely family history. Inherent in the Molid mindset are the very areas of wounding and pain that result in judgments, inner vows, unforgiveness, and legitimacy lies (effects of the sin that brings consequences and incubates futility). Molid remains entrenched unless and until we tell the Lord we want His full Lordship in our life. De-throning the Molid mindset is not casting off the blessing side of the generational gifts we have received, but identifying and dealing with the non-redemptive patterns at the root of living life from our wounding rather than our God-given design. We start with our own three to four foot-long veil, and let Holy Spirit diligently bring about the promised transformation that comes from a loved, truth-renewed mind.

The second half of Ephesians 4

In my Bible, the subheading over verses 17-32 is entitled The New Life. The Gentiles had a problem, clearly stated in the first two verses of the second half of Ephesians 4. This time emphatically by Paul who, sequestered with Holy Spirit in his wilderness years, came to understand that he, as a proud Jew, had the same problem. He was Saul of Tarsus before he was transformed and renamed Paul, ‘an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God’.¹

Who were you and I before? And who are we still in ways that call for ongoing transformation – from glory to glory? We can decide to stop at any point. What is not ours to decide is who is muted, who is the gown, who is the veil, or who is the Bride. To the degree that any of us respond to Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire that draws us on with cords of love, we become and we grow. As expressed in Christ’s Eden, He knows fully; we know in part. Each time we focus on Him, what is not ours to control grows dim. And we receive fresh illumination and a peace only He gives.

The second half of Ephesians 4 flies in the face of Molid. Put off the old self, put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

With only one true Head, Christ’s Bride will find it requires commitment to see Molid decapitated – just as in my dream.

~ Gracefully Free

¹ Romans 12:1-2
² Ephesians 1:1
* It is in my heart to write in-depth about Molid one day – not in Vineyard Days, but in a format fitting the revelation. Abba knows.

(You may read the dream here: Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride;
and post-dream Part 2: Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 2;
and post-dream Part 3: Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 3);
and post-dream Part 4: Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 4).