What I heard

wow. I feel overwhelmed. I'm still processing all I heard, but what I heard was amazing. I heard 3 things. This is what I heard.
1)  Gods goal is to sanctify those who are his own
   --> sanctification equals transformation. Its not just an outward transformation, its transformation of the heart. It is being transformed into the character of God
   --> Ephesians 5:25-27: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,so that he might present the church to himself in splendour,without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish"
     -- so here is the thing, God is looking for his bride! He looks down and he sees all the people, the beautiful ones that are prepared and shiny and clean and waiting... He should pick from them, He should make them His bride, but He doesn't. why? I dont get it. God looks past them, He sees the messy, the dirty, the broken the weak, the ugly smeared in filth and grime and he picks them up and He looks at them and He sees nothing of himself! Nothing! In the bearer of His very own image Christ sees nothing that looks like him. So He sets us down and starts transforming us into something that looks more like him. like His image. He cuts our nails, that hurts. He brushes out our tangled hair, ow. He wipes the sand and dirt of our faces, that leaves us exposed and vulnerable. It hurts all of this hurts. Sanctification hurts, it is a breaking of ourselves. But here is the thing, He is doing this so we can be presentable to Christ!! We, US, we're to be His bride!
2) God uses confrontation with those who are his own 
   --> In the story of Jacob and Rachel and Leah (Gen 29:15-30) Jacob is decieved. He has just run, literally run from his brother who was trying to kill him because Jacob deceived him! And here Jacob is deceived. He has worked and slaved and in the end he has been utterly and totally deceived. This hurts. Jacob hurts, he feels. Feeling hurts but it means transformation.
   --> In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 it says  "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,that the man of God may be complete,equipped for every good work." 
     - - this means that when we read the bible we should feel rebuff, we should feel correction. I am not the image bearer of Christ right now in my life, when I come to scripture, the authority of it should ruin me, taking away all my pretences leaving me with nothing but Christ. It should. In Romans 8:29 it says "those he forknew he predestined"! He predestined us to look like Him, and we dont. We don't look anything like him. Jesus it tough, all through the New testament Jesus is more tough then tender to his disciples and the people he was teaching. He is tough because he looked at them... He looks at me, and he doesn't see himself, He doesn't see his image. So he sets us down and starts transforming us to his image  and that hurts.Member? sanctification hurts.  
3) If you are a child of God your suffering is purposeful 
  --> There is a purpose!! our suffering , like I have been getting at the whole time, has a purpose!! God is moulding and transforming! His purpose is to sanctify us and **whether we are clay or Iron we. will. be. moulded!!!! we just need to hold on and see the purpose. God is sanctifying us to be his bride! He is sanctifying me... 


** Hebrews 12:7-11: "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."


Here is the crunch people God is tearing Idols out of my hands! He is turing over tax tables in my heart! He is taking away everything that I may have SO much more! *there is only one way* We cannot be transformed any other way. To quote the verse above, God says, "for the moment" people... it hurts "for the moment" friends....its painful "For the moment" Becca...you.will.hurt. "For the moment" it will be excruciating. "but later" ahhh "later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." There is a purpose people, and the painful part will not go on forever. We are being sanctified, we are to be Christ's bride, we are image bearers! This is gunna hurt, "but later" it will worth it.


That is what I heard.