Battles for the Married

Married couples, 

Do you want to know victory?

Fight your battles back to back, not facing each other. Even better, take this stance and renew your invitation of the LORD God Almighty into your married life — as a strong, binding reminder of your covenant  and His power.

Let’s look at today’s scripture and then dig in together:

How many of us are foolishly standing alone, facing others with our unreasonable expectations of their meeting “our standards”? How many of us use this very thing as the basis for justifying our own falling short of how we know we should be serving and loving one another? 
You see, many of us are confused about who the enemy really is. Many of us would rather battle against the person we see in front of us  — who can take all of our pouring out of the stress, anxiety, bitterness, unforgiveness, etc that we have let pile up inside of us — instead of standing together,  back to back,  against the one pouring all of that filth into us in the first place. 
But we have to open our eyes to what really needs to be seen. We must see with discerning eyes what is really taking place in the heart and where the real battle is being waged. We must see that the enemy is not our spouse, but the enemy is the one who would tear down, steal and destroy if we would allow it. 
And this destruction isn’t possible where there is the triple-braided cord. Defeat doesn’t come easy when a victorious couple is back to back against the real enemy. But divided and alone — opposing one another — confused about who the real enemy is — proudly standing upon our expectations of “what I deserve” and “what they should be doing” — that’s exactly where the real enemy wants us standing. 
I pray that we don’t hear this warning from Ecclesiastes as a heartfelt reminder of our wedding ceremony nearly as much as we hear it as a wake up call for the battle that lies ahead. Not as a frightening and  foreboding expectation of defeat, but as a promise of victory when we recognize the true enemy and prepare ourselves — as a call to arms for those who will be bound together as one in Christ in Spirit and in Truth.

So do not deny Truth. Do not walk according to the lies of the enemy. See the Truth in the Word of God, and choose today who you will resist,  who you will follow, who is your friend and who is your enemy. Amen.

WHEN TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT

My mom shared a great picture on Facebook this morning:

WHEN TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT

DON’T OPEN YOUR MOUTH:

• In the heat of anger. Proverbs 14:17
• When you don’t have all the facts Proverbs 18:13
• When you haven’t verified the story. Deuteronomy 17:6
• If your words will offend a weaker brother. 1 Corinthians 8:11
• If your words will be a poor reflection of the Lord or your friends and family. Peter 2:21-23
• When you are tempted to joke about sin. Proverbs 14:9
• When you would be ashamed of your words later. Proverbs 8:8
• When you’re tempted to make light of holy things. Ecclesiastes 5:2
• If your words would convey a wrong impression. Proverbs 17:27
• If the issue is none of your business. Proverbs 14:10
• When you are tempted to tell an outright lie. Proverbs 4:24
• If your words will damage someone’s reputation. Proverbs 16:27
• If your words will destroy a friendship. Proverbs 25:28
• When you are feeling critical. James 3:9
• If you can’t speak without yelling. Proverbs 25:28
• When it is time to listen. Proverbs 13:1
• If you may have to eat your words later. Proverbs 18:21
• If you have already said it more than one time (then it becomes nagging) Proverbs 19:13
• When you are tempted to flatter a wicked person. Proverbs 24:24
• When you are suppose to be working instead. Proverbs 14:23

Proverbs 21:23 “Whosoever keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from trouble.”

Chasing? or Following? Blind and meaningless, or Seeing with purpose?

As the critic examines this life from a purely humanistic point of reference,  can’t we are how hopeless a life without meaning past ourselves proves to be? If there is nothing more than self,  if I have made myself more important than all, if I have set myself upon the throne of my own life, where will my vanity end but in my own death? And what will even my own death accomplish? 
Yes, there is more to this life,  this c wield, this existence than what can be seen, touch, tasted, measured and contemplated. There are thoughts and concepts and forces at work that are beyond the neat little box I would like to fit everything into. 
I look upon the undeniable hand of Good in all this and I am humbled and see myself foolish in whatever wisdom I think that I have gathered into my shopping cart to buy with my time and effort when He offers it freely to those who will listen and receive, to those who have ears to hear. Tune your ears to His guidance, to His leading, to the touch of His Good News as He reveals Himself to you, friend. For in Him and in Him alone will you find Truth,  will you find the way,  and will you live the life set before you. 

This is godly wisdom. Follow Christ who is trustworthy, instead of chasing the wind which is meaningless. 

Studying “for Living”  instead of “for Knowing”

Practical science, math, physics, chemistry, biology, history, social studies, art – I could go on for hours just naming the various areas of study in which man, by man’s own wisdom,  examines the world and examines each other. One could dedicate their whole lives to study and education,  earning many titles and honors and placards – but what good is study if not applied? Does it do anything but inflate their own imaginations if this knowledge does not produce any benefit or result in their life or offer any useful product that aids his fellow man? 

If a man studies natural science and learns about all kinds of animals but when removed from his books and his many writings — still picks up the poisonous snake that bites him, and he dies from the bite — how miserable, burdensome, and useless was his task? 
If a man is a great mathematician, knowing how to solve complex equations, but when removed from his chalk and chalk board or from his pencil and pen he doesn’t understand the application of this knowledge to his finances and finds himself destitute and in great need — how miserable, burdensome, and useless was his task? 

But even moreso, if a man is a great theologian,  who studies and recites and preaches upon the wonders of God – but who never knows God, who never sees God alive in his every day, who never lives a life walking in spirit and not in flesh — how truly horrible an existence could this be? 

Or a pew warmer that never steps into the calling and purpose that God has for their lives — that never takes hold of the teaching that leads us to a personal, abiding,  active relationship with Almighty God through our faith and hope found in Jesus Christ — how burdensome and miserable to sit through repeated empty religious pomp and ceremony that they have not yet seen past?

Without vision, without purpose, without direction, the people perish – and they perish from a lack of wisdom and understanding. Understand your purpose today, Christian. His call is the same as it ever was. Believe and follow. Draw close to Him and He will draw close to you. Resist, evil,  see it flee,  and watch Him step in and overflow into every crevice of your life, even into every heart that you touch with your service and your sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Rest in Him, and you will, “Arise and Go!” not in burdensome work but in grateful response. If any of it looks to others like sacrifice and burden, tell them it just isn’t so, and show them how much of a joy it is to share in the ministry of Jesus Christ. 

No matter any apparent cost, the prize is greater, because everything here is dust – whether we have much or little, let us be sure that we don’t just study Christ, but that “He lives, He lives inside my heart!”

Two Ladies call out, “Come in with me”

Proverbs chapter 9 has us contrasting two, very different ladies. Both call out from the heights overlooking the city, and both urge the simple, “Come in with me.”
But one lady in verses 1-9 is Wisdom and the other in verses 13-18 is Folly. One leads to benefit, while the other one leads to suffering. And in the chasm of verses 10-12 between these two “ladies” are verses about correction, and how the presence (or lack) of fear of the LORD will influence a man’s reaction to correction. 

Take away fear of the LORD and a man will think himself wise even as He is a mocker dining with the dead. A mocker has no interest in learning more, because for him in his mind it is finished and there is nothing more left to be done in him at all – he is quite satisfied where he is and he has no need for correction, examination, or learning. He is a fool caught in a trap that he doesn’t even have eyes to see. 

A fool thinks himself wise, but this says the LORD God Almighty:

Receive correction. Don’t just hear it, receive it. Learn. Or if you won’t, you will forget that both are crying out to the simple.

Easy to Love

I thought it would be easy to love God when I saw how wonderful He is, then He said, “love me by loving your neighbor”. 
I thought it would be comfortable to love God when I remembered my neighbor that is friendly and wealthy and doesn’t need much at all, then He said, “love me by loving those in need”. 
I thought it wouldn’t be that challenging to love God when I remembered my friendly neighbor that has so many kids that they barely get by, in fact,  I even thought that I was doing a pretty fair job by sharing and sacrificing without grumbling about it at all. But then He said,  love me by loving even your enemies. 
And I wondered to myself, does He really mean them? They hate me. They cause me trouble and grief. They steal from me. They lie about me. They are even mean to the ones that I love.  
That’s when He interrupted my train of thought and He asked, “Haven’t you hated and disobeyed my commands? Haven’t you stood in opposition to wisdom and truth? Haven’t you stolen from me the time and gifts and blessings you were entrusted with to steward wisely? Haven’t you lied about me? Aren’t you slow to share the same mercy towards others that I showed towards you on the cross?”
Yes, this is love, that He loved me first – and that by that love I am being taught to love.

What would be impossible for man alone is quite possible for God (for Christ who lives in me) to do even through me. Because it isn’t about loving others to prove that I love God. No, I love God, and He will prove to me that I do by His love poured out, showing me how to love even my enemies.