Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Revelations 19:7
Christ Jesus is not coming for a bride that is preparing; He is coming for a bride that is prepared. …and His wife hath made herself ready. She is not in the process of preparing; she is prepared already. In the story of the ten virgins, the five wise virgins were prepared before the arrival of the Groom whereas the five foolish ones were still in the process of preparing themselves; and so they were not allowed into the marriage feast.
Like we have established in previous editions of this article, the Bride is the prepared part of the Church that will be raptured;  the unprepared members of the Church will be left behind to go through the Great tribulation.
In Revelation 12:1-6a, we see a revelation shown to John that once again shows the difference between the Bride of Christ and His Church:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travelling in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tall drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness…
The pregnant woman in that revelation represents the Church, whereas the baby that was born represents the Bride. The devil was waiting to swallow the Bride, but as soon as the Bride was born, she was caught up unto God (rapture). Now take note that
whereas the Bride was caught up unto God, the woman fled into the wilderness. This clearly reveals that whereas the Bride will be caught up by rapture, the Church will go through the Great Tribulation.
Last week, we looked at three characteristics of the Bride of Christ. This week, we will take a look at two more characteristics of the Bride of Christ.
You MUST BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Genesis 24:11- And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
Water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in John 7:38- He that believeth on me,  as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Rebekah was in the habit of going to draw water from the well regularly. She had access the water in the well. This is symbolic of having the Holy Spirit.
It is one thing to be born again; it is another to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is not complete without in-filling with the Holy Spirit. The disciples of Jesus remained ordinary, fearful, powerless men even after Jesus had ascended to heaven. But when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were turned into bold and powerful men. The Holy Spirit is the God of the present dispensation and so no Christian can live a successful Christian life without Him. If you despise the Holy Spirit, then you will not be innocent. See Hebrews 10:28-29-
He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who …hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Also see these two scriptures:
John 3:3- Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:5- Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
The key words in the above scriptures are see and Enter. There is therefore a difference between seeing and entering. As punishment for dishonouring Him before the people, God told Moses, you will see the Promised Land, but you will not enter into it. Being born again qualifies you to see the Kingdom of God, but for you to enter into it by rapture, you must have the Holy Spirit in you.
The Bride of Christ must be filled with the Holy Spirit; and the clearest manifestation of the in-filling of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. If indeed you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then you will be able to pray in the language of the Holy Spirit. If you are not speaking in tongues, you may not make the rapture.
The Bible says in Romans 8:11- But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
The Holy Spirit is the quickener. He is the one that quickens for rapture. And so, if you do not have Him living inside you, then there is no way you can be quickened for rapture.
INTIMACY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
It is one thing to be filled with the Holy Spirit; it is another thing to have a relationship with Him. In our story, the well was available to the whole family, but only Rebekah came to the well. Rebekah not only had access to the well, she daily fetched water from the well. She had the well of water and also interacted with it. Many have the well, but they do not relate with the well. To qualify as a Bride of Christ, you just be intimate and acquainted with the well (The Holy Spirit). It does not must end at receiving the Holy Spirit; it is to be a friend of the Holy Ghost with constant acquaintance and communion with Him. It is not to have the well, but to use the well.
The Bride of Christ must daily commune/interact with the Holy Spirit. Rebekah fetched water for Eliezer and his camels. One camel can drink up several gallons of water. And Eliezer had ten Camels with him. Yet Rebekah fetched water for the Camels till they were satisfied. For Rebekah to have fetched water for Eliezer and his Camels till they were satisfied, then it means she had to fetch water from the well several times. She was busy interacting with the well.
If you have the Holy Spirit and you do not interact with Him, then you will not be acquainted with the Groom. Jesus said to the five foolish virgins, “I solemnly declare to you, I do not know you [I am not acquainted with your. Matthew 25:12 (Amp)
There are six ways to be acquainted with the Holy Spirit:
1. By acknowledging the reality of His presence in you by being conscious of Him in your heart. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1Corinthians 3:16 )  What? know ye not  that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not own? (1 Corinthians 6:19). In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:6).
2. By always appreciating Him, by communicating to him the reality of his activity e.g
Letting Him know that He is your teacher and that you depend on Him for knowledge.
3. By getting Him involved in all that you do, by talking with him e.g. Holy Spirit I am
going out, lets go together
4. By asking Him questions for which you are expecting an answer
5. By deliberately listening quietly with an intention to hear from Him thoughts that could light up your mind. If you are used to His thoughts, before you know it, you will be able to hear His voice.
6. By praying in tongues with a mindset that you are talking to Him in your heart. He that speaketh in unknown tongues speaketh unto God (1Corinthians 14:2). This must be done with a strong consciousness of the indwelling presence of God. (Pray in tongues with your mind focused on who God is, what He has done and what He can do).