Learning to Bloom: Experience the Journey toward Spiritual Maturity

By Debra Burns

God wants you to know that His love is limitless.

 

Learning to Bloom reveals the unconditional love God has for broken, yet sincere believers. This journey will inspire you to partner with Jesus to live out your purpose to b

• Language: English
• Publisher: Debra Burns
• Release date: Apr 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985987416

Debra Burns

President of Bloom with Deb, LLC, Debra Burns currently mentors, inspires, and counsels women of all ages nationwide. As an author, she skillfully translates her personal experiences into her writings and collaborates with other young women who speak to this generation. She is a John Maxwell Team Certified Coach, Speaker, and Trainer. Available for conferences, retreats, and women's groups. Born in Rochester, NY and raised in Central Florida, graduated from UCF with a degree in communications and served with CRU ministering to teenagers and college students internationally. Check out her YouTube channel at Bloom with Deb for interviews with women who are Blooming in a variety of ways. Follow her on Instagram @BloomwithDeb.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Becoming the Bride

Scandalous! The Song of Songs is the most scandalous book in the Bible. That’s what my husband’s Bible professor at Cincinnati Bible College said over twenty years ago. He would not even teach it in mixed c ompany!

Have you ever read Song of Songs also known as Song of Solomon before? Different Bibles have different titles for this Old Testament book. The Song of Songs can seem a bit confusing if you don’t know the meaning behind the words. There are three main interpretations of the book, but for this study, we are going to focus on how it applies to Jesus and His Bride. The general purpose of this book is to fully capture your heart to fall deeply in love with Jesus Christ and to experience and receive His unconditional love for you.

The Bible introduces us to Jesus and helps us know Him and love Him. This book of the Bible accomplishes this by giving insight into the beauty of Jesus, specifically as the Bridegroom King. I will reveal the unique, unconditional love God has for immature, new believers, and the journey we go through to partner with Jesus to fulfill our mission in life.

Let me clarify the term immature believers. It’s not a judgment on the condition of your faith. It is simply describing how we view ourselves as we struggle to obey God in our own strength. He sees us as broken, yet sincere believers. As we progressively surrender more and more areas of our lives to God, we experience more breakthroughs and victories. Remember it is a journey. Not just to become a better Christ-follower, but to become who He created you to be.

During the first eight years of serving as a missionary with CRU, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ, I ministered to high school students on public school campuses in Central Florida. I started studying Song of Songs for my own personal growth. What transpired was so life-changing that I believe it has played a vital role in shaping who I am today. Throughout this book I will be sharing stories to bring you real life examples from my past and from other young women who are also partnering with Jesus in ministry and learning how to bloom.

This book of the Bible focuses on the relationship between Jesus and the individual believer, describing the progression of spiritual development to maturity. The Bride represents the Church. The Church is making itself ready for Christ’s return and doing the kingdom work of sharing the Gospel to anyone who will listen. Everyone represents the Bride presenting herself to Christ, the King. The Shulamite woman represents you and me as she goes through the journey to make herself ready for the wedding. My hope is that her journey throughout Song of Songs will resonate with your own personal journey too.

When you think of a bride, you might think white dress, pure, spotless, set apart, perfect hair and makeup, etc. If you can’t relate to that image, it’s okay. Neither do men or the Church at this point in history. The fact that we don’t feel like a pure and blameless bride is to be expected, but this is the image God is using to show us that we all make up the Bride of Christ.

We each have unique gifts that complete the Bride. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent (2 Corinthians 11:2–3). Even the Corinthians were lacking pure and undivided devotion. They were weak yet sincere believers who became corrupted by the world. The whole theme of Song of Songs is the revelation that Jesus has a deep affection for weak yet sincere believers.

So why would God choose to call His Church the Bride? Have you ever been to a wedding and watched the groom when the bride is walking down the aisle? I’ve been a bridesmaid in more than a dozen weddings over the years and watching the groom’s reaction is always my favorite part. My favorite memory was watching my brother’s face on his wedding day. For the first time, I saw the power of love transform a person. When he saw his bride, Robin, come down the aisle, his tears of joy and love filled the room. Seeing him receive her unconditional love and admiration made me cry out of happiness for him.

The beautiful thing about a wedding is the fact that the groom chose her to be his, and she chose him to be hers. The two of them can’t wait to spend forever together. I believe God loves us and wants to spend eternity with us. Despite our flaws, He loves us. He chose to love us forever. Maybe because we can relate to wanting to be loved like a bride on her wedding day, God chose to call His Church the Bride.

That may be a new concept to some of you. We are the church, not the building. If we make up the church and the church is the Bride, then we are the Bride too. Here is what scripture says.

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.

—Ephesians 5:25–27

For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.

—2 Corinthians 11:2

Let us be glad and rejoice and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.

—Revelation 19:7

Learning to bloom is all about making ourselves ready for Christ’s return. We want to help each other be holy, without blemish or fault. One of my mentors, Nancy Wilson, always signs off her letters as the Bride with Boots On. She is running her race with style, inspiring others to follow her example as she follows Christ.

Let me introduce you to the three main characters in the book of Song of Songs. First is King Solomon, the author, who wrote it in approximately 900–950 BC, before his spiritual decline. In his early years, he had a fresh and dynamic walk with God. Then one night God visited him in a dream and tested him. The story begins, Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David . . . That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, ‘What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!’ Solomon replied, ‘. . . Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?’ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, ‘Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life’ (1 Kings 3:3, 5,