First Love Between the Bridegroom and His Bride: Falling Deeply in Love with Jesus, Our Bridegroom

By Andrea A. McFarlane

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:30

First Love between the Bridegroom and His Bride was inspired by the precious Holy Spirit; therefore, all Glory goes to Jesus Christ.

First Love between the Bridegroom and His Brides intent is to draw you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the most beautiful King you have and will ever meet. His name is Jesus, the Son of the Living God.

The Holy Bible is used to point you to the importance of an intimate relationship with your Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) as well as maintaining daily fellowship with the wonderful Holy Spirit.

I pray the blessed Holy Spirit will impart a deep longing, hunger, and thirst for that relationship and fellowship for all who reads this book. Amen!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449793845

Andrea A. McFarlane

Andrea McFarlane is known for her intense love for Jesus and the overwhelming influence the Holy Spirit has on her life. Having encountered the deepness of the love of God in her heart, Andrea is now passionate about sharing this love with everyone. Her concern for the heart of Jesus now motivates her to impart the message of “First Love” to whomever she comes in contact with. She has three sons, is a graduate of Strayer University with a degree in information technology concentrating in programming, and currently lives in Paterson, New Jersey.

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Copyright © 2013 Andrea A. McFarlane.

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Unless otherwise specified, all Scriptures are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9385-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9386-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9384-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013907835

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/1/2013

Table of Contents

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Acknowledgments

Appreciation

Preface

Chapter 1    Jesus Our Bridegroom

Chapter 2    A Call to Seclusion

Chapter 3    All I Need Is You Lord

Chapter 4    Adoring the Suffering Jesus

Chapter 5    Loving Others As Jesus Loves Us

Chapter 6    Love Endure All Things

Chapter 7    The Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit

Chapter 8    He gave It All at the Cross

Chapter 9    Jesus Does Not Give Love He is Love

Chapter 10  Seeking The Abiding Presence of The Lord

Chapter 11  Word of Life

Chapter 12  Jesus! The I Am

Chapter 13  The Path of Righteousness

Chapter 14  First Love for Jesus

Chapter 15  The Four-Way Road

Chapter 16  More Than a Conqueror

Chapter 17  When Jesus Is All You Have!

Chapter 18  The Brides’ Love for Her Bridegroom

Nothing Can Separate Me From My First Love

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E ach chapter gives you an insight on the love of Jesus Christ (your heavenly Bridegroom) for His Bride (the Church) and how we should love Him. First love between the Bridegroom and His bride (loving Jesus above all) is the main focus here. I pray we will all hungry for that Divine Love for Jesus.

Acknowledgments

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I want to acknowledge my former Pastors Rev. Delroy and Evan Chambers; God has used them in my life as an encouragement in the time of my deepest emotional and spiritual needs. I also want to acknowledge my spiritual father Pastor Benny Hinn; our Lord God had placed him in my life in 2006 so that I can see what true dedication to Jesus Christ looks like. Pastor Benny has introduced me to the precious Holy Spirit unknowingly and my life was transform. I also want to acknowledge Kathryn Kuhlman, Mother Basilea Schlink, Andrew Murray, Bilquis Sheikh, D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, Corrie Ten Boom, and Madame Jeanne-Marie Guyon. These unique individual left an impact on my spiritual walk with Jesus my Bridegroom and I thank God for leading me to the legacy they all left behind. For all this I give God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all the Glory and Honor. Amen!

Appreciation

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I want to thank my spiritual mother Iceletta Maxwell, who went home to be with the Lord February 2011. She allowed the Lord to use her in my life both spiritually and naturally. I also want to thank God for my mother, Dorothy Wallace, who prayed continually with the saints for the Lord to save me. My mother never gave up on me no matter what and for that I give God thanks. I want to appreciate my three boys Jovane, Jovaune, and Jomar for who they are and for taking care of me when I was sick. I am truly blessed to have children of such young age as a tower of strength to me. I also want to appreciate my Pastor and his wife, Reverend Roger Weller and Missionary Sandra Weller and my brothers and sisters, Missionary Pansy McFarlane, Missionary Lena Williams, and so much more, who have prayed fervently on my behave. For all this I give God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all the Glory and Honor. Amen!

Preface

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F irst Love Between The Bridegroom and His Bride demonstrates the importance of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Bridegroom, through the Holy Spirit. It give us keys on how to keep the commandment of Jesus Christ, which is to love each other as He loves us (John 13:34). God through His Spirit took me through a series of testing that caused me to fall deeper in love with Jesus my Bridegroom. I believe reading First Love Between The Bridegroom and His Bride will not only enhance your First Love relationship with Jesus but also motives you in your own personal relationships; whether it be with an earthly bride, bridegroom or perhaps with someone you do not get along with. My All For Him by Sis. Basilea Schlink motivated me to begin writing about the love for Jesus Christ. While reading Sis. Schlink book, I realized she felt the same as I did, and it was encouraging to know that I am not alone.

Genesis 11:1-9 tells us of how the whole earth was in perfect unity-speaking one language. In these particular scriptures, it tells us they wanted to build a city and a tower that sits on heaven. God saw that they could have done just that because they were all united working together as one; therefore, He confused them by giving them different languages. The early church in the book of Acts was quite similar, as they too were in perfect unity causing them to work many miracles through the Holy Spirit. Somewhere along the years the devil has crept in and somehow we, the church, started speaking different languages. These different languages have caused division in the Body of our Savior; therefore, we no longer do the work of Jesus Christ because we are not on one accord. Some believes that their denominations are the true church whereas some has changed their language to a man-made organization. We should never get to a point where we believe our church is the best; no church is better than another because it is the same Spirit that reign within Jesus body and the same Spirit that birth each ministry. First Love Between The Bridegroom and His Bride take us into a realm of the true language of a Christian. I pray these words will become spirit and change the language of our heart to First Love For Jesus Christ.

Andrea A. McFarlane

Paterson, New Jersey

Chapter 1

Jesus Our Bridegroom

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Matthew 25:6

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J esus addressed the topic of first love when He responded to the question of a lawyer in Matthew 22:37-38. He again made reference to this first love in Revelation 2:2-5 when He told the church in Ephesus to return to it or He would move her from her place. The Bridegroom in this book requires first love; therefore, we will also call it bridal love. This Bridegroom is Jesus Christ and according to the Bible, we receive bridal love only through the Holy Spirit. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Romans 5:5).

Bridal love is the only love that will help us endure sufferings. We should desire it more than anything or anyone on this earth or in heaven. Loving Jesus with bridal love is like being a bride who gives herself to her bridegroom and who desires nothing and no one else but him. When Jesus comes, He will come as a Bridegroom looking for His bride who has given Him her all. He will seek for the bride who has made His beautiful heart her first priority. Therefore, we must love our heavenly Bridegroom with an undivided heart.

We know that Jesus has bridal love for His bride, the church because it is only this special love that could have convinced Him to suffer for us. My fellow bride, it is this same love that will take us through our sufferings in this world. We should not desire anything else in our life of faith as much as we desire this first love because it is for this reason that we were created and redeemed. Jesus is waiting for us to love Him with this bridal love. Jesus Himself is this first love, and He is given to us only through the Holy Spirit.

One Sunday evening while I was waiting for