God Believes in You!

God gave Himself to you because He loves you and He desires you to partner with Him in recapturing the earth for His namesake. God has plenty to say about you. One of the greatest messages in all of scripture speaking of us as the bride to Jesus, is the bridal paradigm message from Song of Solomon 1:15. How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. (NIV).

Jesus declares that we have “dove eyes”. 

A fascinating aspect of doves is they are single-minded; a dove has no peripheral vision. It only sees straight ahead. It is not distracted by what is happening at its right or left. An additional aspect of doves is that they are very loyal. A dove will mate once in their life. If their mate dies, they never mate again. This speaks symbolically of loyalty. God claims this about you! To Him you are focused on Him and Him alone and you are loyal. Your commitment to Him as a voluntary lover is sealed. The revelation of being loved and beautiful to God is to see with dove’s eyes. God’s eternal message to each of us is that we are glorious and full of power to Him.

 

The Old Man and His Son

An old man and his beloved son lived together in a beautiful home. Their home was adorned with priceless paintings that would fetch millions of dollars. They hosted paintings from some of the most famous painters in history—Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keefe, and many others. The man and his son had a great love for these paintings and they would sit around the house admiring these priceless works of art on a daily basis.

One spring day, the son was drafted by their nation’s military. While the father would miss his son, he was very proud of him. Early in December, the father received word from the military that his son had died serving his country. Additional words came that the Enemy had killed his son as he rescued men from the front line. His life was given for the lives of his comrades.

One day shortly before Christmas, as the father was sitting in the living room flanked by his priceless array of paintings, he began to weep. The father knew he would never again be with his son and they would never celebrate Christmas together again.

Later, there was a knock at the door. As the father opened the door, a tall slender young man stood at the doorway. The young man introduced himself as one of his son’s military friends. The father invited the young man in and noticed the young man carrying a rather large, wrapped package. As the father and the young man were enjoying a cup of tea, the visitor told the father that he was one of the survivors his son had given his life for.

The young man added, “As a matter a fact, your son saved multiple lives; his life was not given in vain. I brought this gift for you in remembrance of your son. I am a painter and a great lover of art, and your son shared that you both loved art.”

As the father opened the package, it revealed a stunning painting of his son’s face. The likeness was striking. The young man told the father that he was not the best painter, but that his son meant everything to him.

The father commented, “This painting is glorious, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This means everything to me, and I will display it with love and honor.”

As the father and the young man finished their time together, and after an emotional goodbye, the father placed the painting of his son in the most prominent place in the house. He removed the most valuable and famous of the paintings from above the fireplace and hung the painting of his son there instead. This was now his most prized painting.

Shortly after the first of the year, the father took ill and passed away. Art collectors from all over the world were eager because the man had no other heirs and these priceless works of art would now be auctioned off. Art dealers from around the world were ecstatic.

The day of the auction finally arrived, and the auction room was full of buzz. Finally these art collectors would have opportunity to bid on these fine works of art.

As the auction began, the auctioneer lifted up the first piece of art to be bid on. All of the art collectors realized that this was not one of the famous pieces.

Someone in the crowd shouted out, “What is this painting? What is this? This is not what we have come to bid on!”

The auctioneer moved out onto the auction floor and replied:

“Who will bid on this piece of art?”

There was no response.

The auctioneer repeated, “Who will bid on this piece of art?”

The auctioneer continued, “Who will give $100.00 for this piece of art?”

Still there was no response.

The auctioneer stated, “Who will give me $75.00?”

Still, there was no response.

The auctioneer was stunned but said, “Who will give me $50.00?”

The crowd was stirring with wonderment.

Then a shout from the crowd came, “Why this painting first?”

Finally someone in the crowd shouted out “I know who the subject of that painting is. That is the owner’s son who died in the war.”

All of the art collectors were stunned and remained silent for a few moments.

The man who recognized the painting shouted out, “I only have $10.00 for the painting, will you take that?”

The auctioneer shouted, “Will anyone go higher?” The auctioneer waited a moment before he said, “Going once. Going twice. Sold to this man for $10.00.”

Then the auctioneer calmly stated: “The auction is now over.”

Bellows could be heard throughout the auction hall.

“Hey! We did not come here to purchase some cheap painting!”

Others clamored: “There are millions of dollars of paintings yet to be auctioned! What do you mean the auction is now over?”

The auctioneer replied: “It’s simple. According to the father’s will, whoever who takes the portrait of the son gets it all!”

We Get It All

God believes in you so much that you get the entire kingdom because you are His beloved sons and daughters. You have received Jesus’ eternal sacrifice. He gave himself to you because He loves you and He desires you to partner with Him in recapturing the earth for His namesake! Our Father has placed you at His banqueting table. All of the gifts are resident at the banqueting table: all the anointing, power, and strength of heaven. There is hope, purpose for life, water that will never let you be thirsty again, and eternal food that will sustain you; in fact, the entire kingdom of God is resident at the table of God.

After hearing the bridal paradigm teaching multiple times, Kari, a leader at the Chico YWAM Discipleship Training School, said:

“Ken, each time I hear you teach Bridal Paradigm I am re-energized and reminded one more time that I am His beloved. But every time you begin to teach the banqueting table part of Bridal Paradigm I get a little confused.”

I replied, “What is it that is confusing?”

Kari said, “Well, all of your teaching is right from Scripture and it tells me that I am already holy, and that I am already and always will be at the banqueting table. Yet, you teach that we need to remember who we are, and if we forget who we are, we need to come back to the banqueting table.”

I responded, “Well, yes, that is true”.

Kari said, “No. That is not true.”

This of course provided me with a great moment to remember who I am. Kari was challenging the teacher!

I carefully said, “Kari, tell me how my teaching is not true concerning the banqueting table?”

Kari gently stated, “Well, if I am already holy, righteous, redeemed, a saint, and a new creation then I am always at the banqueting table. The new me, my new spirit, who you and the Scriptures say that I am, am always at the banqueting table. You need to remind people that they are already, and always will be, there! We just need to remember this truth!”

I said, “Wow! You are right. We are always there; we simply forget that we are there. It’s like when we sin: we simply forgot who we are and we need to remember that we are always His saints and that we are always at His table.”

So God gave the both of us fresh revelation on who we are and where we reside!

Scripture backs up the banqueting table reality:

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20 NKJV).

We are citizens of heaven: our home is now and forever in heaven. As a matter of fact, Scripture tells us that we are currently seated in heavenly places.

…and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6 NASB).