Devotions - Prayer
MATTHEW 27:18 (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)
Many problems arise from envy.
James said, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (Jas. 3:16).
Envy and strife go hand in hand and open the door to the devil to do anything he desires, in our life.
Some people would never give place to the devil through confessing the wrong things, yet through envy, they give the enemy freedom to do his worst.
God’s kind of love is not envious or jealous because it doesn’t seek it’s own, but seeks the welfare of others.
Envy is an indication of self-centeredness.
The Lord has united every born-again Christian by baptizing us all into the body of Christ. This is already a reality. Like it or not, want it or not, every Christian is completely one in spirit with every other Christian.
Failure to function as one, in our relationships with other believers means someone is not flowing in the Spirit.
Our flesh is the part of us that gets in strife with other believers.
As we operate in the Spirit more and more, we will come more and more into unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29
By staying positive and speaking words of kindness and encouragement, we will gain more ground in the war against Satan. We will build each other up and not tear each other down.
Like my mom told me, at least weekly, when I was young: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.
Paul gives a great tip on how to accomplish this in 2 Corinthians 10:5:“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Dear Lord, help me to be a man after Your own heart, one who speaks only what is helpful for building others up. And when I am tempted to speak unwholesome or critical words, help me to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Thank You that in Your strength I will be successful because I can do all things through You Who strengthens me. AMEN!
Living in the Light
1 John 1:7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Read More“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
What if there were two doors to choose from;
1. Behind one door was the complete will of God for your life.
2. Behind the other door was how life could be according to your own preference.
Which door would you choose?
The struggle for most lies in the Desire to follow God completely and the Fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender.
*Most of us desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost.
*We do not really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.
If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it will be a life that will have adversity.
The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken.
*This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change.
The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.
If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why?
Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call.
*He has much invested in you on behalf of others.
*He may want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through another.
The events of your life would become the frame for the message
*He wants to speak through you.
Jesus did much more than just obtain eternal life for us, He also paid all the wages of our sins (Rom. 6:23).
* God literally placed the condemnation, or judgment, that was against us upon His own Son. Jesus’ perfect flesh was condemned so our defiled flesh could go free. (Read Romans 8)
*What a trade! What Love! Since Jesus bore our sentence (condemnation), we don’t have to bear it. The debt has already been paid.
Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your inheritance.
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).
Lord, I surrender All. Increase my Faith so I really believe and know that You love me to the degree that I am willing to surrender and give You complete permission to do as You will in me. Come and take all of me for Your Glory! Thank You for Your Love. Amen
When we allow God to love others through us, it’s God they see in us and not ourselves.
* “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”Galatians 2:20
How can we lay down our lives for God if we’re not really sure He loves us?
* “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ…” Ephesians 2:4-5
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13b-14
Our PAST can be a hindrance or a help in moving forward toward God’s purposes for each of us.
*For some, the past has meant pain and heartache, and grace is required so that we do not let our past dictate our responses to the future.
*If we allow our past to make us a victim, then we have not entered into the grace that God has for us.
*If we live on memories of past successes and fail to raise our vision for new things, we again are victims of our past.
Our past should only be viewed for what we can learn from it.
We must move forward and avoid viewing the negative or the positive for more than what we can learn.
Many have allowed their past to dictate their future.
God is always about doing new things in our lives. He gives fresh revelation of His purposes in our lives.
*Do not live in the past.
*Do not hold onto bitterness that may hinder God from doing new and exciting things in your life.
Put aside such thoughts and allow God to do a new thing in your life. Ask Him to help you see the new things He wants to do in and through you today.
“When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you’re headed for the grave” [Author unknown]
You can do nothing about the past, but you can be strengthened and encouraged in the present with the Lord.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
God, regardless of what’s happened in the past, help me to look up from where I am now. I thank You for Your new beginning for me. I will boldly step into it and walk out Your calling for Your Glory and my Joy. Amen
Read MorePsalm 40:6–8 Sacrifice and meal offering Thou hast not desired; my ears Thou hast opened; burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do Thy will, O my God.”
When the psalmist speaks there about burnt offering and meal offering and sin offering and so on, he’s speaking about the externals of religion and he’s saying, in essence, “That isn’t what God is really after. We may give all the externals and yet miss the real point.”
He says, “My ears Thou hast opened.”
We need to be able to hear God speaking to us personally.
It’s the voice of God that we need to hear and for that our ears need to be opened.
When we hear the voice of God, it reveals the will of God.
The psalmist says, “In the scroll of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will.”
I believe that’s true for every person that turns to God.
There’s something written there in the scroll of the book which is God’s will in each of our individual lives.
And when God opens our ears and we turn to Him and surrender our lives to Him, we’ll make the amazing and glorious discovery that God has got a special plan for each one of us – something that’s written in God’s eternal book. Something that’s in the scroll for each one of us individually.
God never makes one person a carbon copy of another.
God has a specific, individual plan for each one of His children.
If He can but open our ears and we turn to Him and yield to Him, He’ll reveal it to us.
Read Psalms 139 this day to see how special you really are!
Lord, open my ears that I may hear Your perfect loving will for my life. Direct me daily and keep me on the path of everlasting life. Amen
Read MoreBy John Piper
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)
Here are two great incentives from Jesus to become a World Christian and to dedicate yourself to the cause of Frontier Missions.
Every impossibility with men is possible with God (Mark 10:27). The conversion of hardened sinners will be the work of God and will accord with his sovereign plan. We need not fear or fret over our weakness. The battle is the Lord’s, and he will give the victory.
Christ promises to work for us and to be for us so much that when our missionary life is over, we will not be able to say we’ve sacrificed anything (Mark 10:29–30).
When we follow his missionary prescription, we discover that even the painful side effects work to improve our condition. Our spiritual health, our joy, improves a hundredfold. And when we die, we do not die. We gain eternal life.
- I do not appeal to you to screw up your courage and sacrifice for Christ.
- I appeal to you to renounce all you have to obtain life that satisfies your deepest longings.
- I appeal to you to count all things as rubbish for the surpassing value of standing in service of the King of kings.
- I appeal to you to take off your store bought rags and put on the garments of God’s ambassadors.
I promise you persecutions and privations — but “remember the joy”! “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
On January 8, 1956, five Auca Indians of Ecuador killed Jim Elliot and his four missionary companions as they were trying to bring the gospel to the Auca tribe of sixty people.
Four young wives lost husbands and nine children lost their fathers. Elisabeth Elliot wrote that the world called it a nightmare of tragedy. Then she added, “The world did not recognize the truth of the second clause in Jim Elliot’s credo: ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’”
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11 – Acts 21:11-12
Paul understood his personal mission, which should be the personal mission of every believer in Jesus Christ. It is the one summary statement that best describes the purpose of our existence on earth and the goal of our Christian experience. It can be reduced to three important characteristics.
- To know Christ.
- To know and experience His power.
- To identify with His sufferings.
All that flows from these three objectives becomes a by-product.
- Salvation is a by-product.
- Miracles are a by-product.
- Christ likeness is a by-product.
Paul’s focus was on relationship. He understood that the deeper the relationship, the more power he would experience. He also understood that as he grew in this relationship, there would be suffering.
Whenever the Kingdom of Light confronts the kingdom of darkness, there is a battle, and this often results in casualties.
Christ confronted these earthly kingdoms and suffered for it. Hebrews 5:8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.
If we are living at this level of obedience, we, too, will face similar battles; it simply comes with the territory.
Matthew 5:11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
- Does this sound like your personal mission statement?
- Is your focus in life centered on knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection?
- If not, press into Him today in order to begin experiencing Christ more intimately.
Lord thank you for persecution because it takes our eyes of earthly rewards, it strips away superficial belief, it strengthens the faith of us who endure and our attitude through it serves as an example to others who follow. What a testimony it can be to bring YOU the Glory! Amen
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“Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. It will be poured into your hands — more than you can hold. You will be given so much that it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.” (Luke 6:38 )
To reap a great harvest, you must plant generously in faith.
To plant generously in faith, you need to remember two promises of Jesus.
Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. It will be poured into your hands — more than you can hold. You will be given so much that it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you”.
The way you give to others is the way God will give to you. You need to start being generous in planting seeds in this life to harvest in the next.
Then in Mark 10:29-30 Jesus gives a guarantee about anything you give up for his sake. He says, “There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time … and in the age to come eternal life” (ESV).
God says that anything that you give up of value for his sake, anything you sacrifice for his Kingdom will be returned a hundredfold.
You know how much a hundredfold is? That’s 10,000 percent interest. Do you know any stockbroker that will guarantee that? Only God and his Son can do that. They’ve been doing business with people like you and me for 2,000 years.
Jesus also in the verse above, emphasized persecution to make sure that people do not selfishly follow him only for the rewards.
These are the promises of God. You can believe them or not. But if you don’t believe God’s promises, I have to ask you this: Why do you believe Jesus will save you and take you to Heaven? That’s the same Jesus. Why do some people trust God with their eternal salvation, but they don’t trust God with their finances?
It only makes sense to trust him for both and to plant generously in faith so that you can reap a harvest.
Read MoreSo now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life union with Jesus the anointed. Romans 8:1
We each have moments when we start feeling overwhelmed by condemnation. Thoughts run through our heads like, “I wish I hadn’t done that,” or, “I could have done that better.”
You know, sometimes, after you’ve gone through the process of prayer, repentance, forgiveness, release, and so on, you have to choose to just shake it off.
If satan can’t keep you from repenting, he’ll try to trap you with a worldly sorrow that is non-productive; it paralyzes you with feeling terrible about yourself and a sense that you’ll never be anything significant.
But this is not God’s desire for you. Godly sorrow leads to repentance, and repentance leads to redemption.
When something like this happens, there are steps we can and should take – we forgive ourselves, we forgive others, we make things right if we need to. But then there comes a point where we simply have to shake it off. We can’t walk around dragging garbage and baggage.
We have one Justifier; we have a Redeemer. If we wallow in the mess we were caught in or a past situation, then we hinder the Redeemer’s anointing from activating in our lives. When we release it, God silences the accusing voice of condemnation, just as our opening verse says. “There remains no accusing voice”.
A little further in the Romans 8 passage, we read these amazing words: “You have received the spirit of full acceptance, enfolding you into the family of God, and you will never feel orphaned; for as He rises up within us, our spirits join in saying the words of tender affection, ‘Beloved Father.’ For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as He whispers into our inner most being.”
God wants to root out the orphan spirit in you and in the entire Body of Christ. He wants you to recognize that you are not a victim and that you don’t need to get caught in the trap of victimizing yourself. You are called to be whole, and you are unconditionally loved.
Father, I thank You that today we will feel totally accepted. Help us to reach a place where we feel accepted by You and by others. Thank You for uprooting the orphan spirit from our hearts. I thank You for this movement of the Holy Spirit bringing renewed passion for God as we recognize that we can feel close to Him, that we are 100% accepted. Help us remember that we are never alone and that God has never left us. We decree that we are not orphans; we belong to our heavenly Father. Amen.
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We live in the world, but Christ has overcome the world. While we’re here, we have to deal with some stuff of the world.
Very often we struggle with what goes on in our own minds. We emphasize spiritual warfare, but many of our battles are internal.
If we can win the battle between our ears, the rest of it will be easy.
In spiritual warfare of the mind is the literally the battle ground.
The mind is the control center that establish the direction of our lives. What goes on in our mind determines the course of every other part of our lives.
It effects the decision we make.
Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
* Focus on God; His will to understand the true purpose one has when placed here.
We have weapons to fight the good fight.
The first weapon available to us is truth. The Christian is given an insight into life and reality that others do not have. We know what is behind the forces at work in our society today, and we ought to know how to go about overcoming them.
Truth is realism. That is why it is so important that we understand the Scriptures, that we refresh our minds with them all the time, for we are constantly bombarded with illusion and error every day, and it is easy to drift back into thinking the way everybody around us thinks.
Love is also a powerful weapon, and in Scripture, the Word of God links truth with love.
Along with truth and love in Scripture is Faith.
Faith is the recognition that God is present in history.
God has not left us alone to stumble on our own way. The Lord Jesus sits in control of all the nations of earth.
Another powerful weapon for the Christian, proceeding from faith, is prayer.
The power of prayer is held before us throughout Scripture.
Lord, help me from here on to begin to use the weapons of truth, love, faith, and prayer for Your Glory. Amen
“Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” – Exodus 14:15
Moses had brought the whole nation of Israel, approximately 600,000, to a dead end in the desert.
The only thing between Israel and Pharaoh’s pursuing army was the Red Sea.
Panic set in. The defenseless Israelites cried out,
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?…It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Ex. 14:11b-12)
God sometimes brings each of us to a “Red Sea” in our life.
*It may be a work problem that can’t be solved.
*It may be a marriage that seems to be failing.
*It may be a debilitating disease.
**Whatever your Red Sea, God tells us one thing: Keep moving forward.
The Red Sea was before them, yet God was angered at Moses and told him to “Keep moving.”
“But Lord, the Red Sea is before me.” “Keep moving.”
When we live by sight, we act on what we see. God sets this stage in dramatic fashion. God is into the dramatic. There is no way out without God here. That is just the way He wants it. No one will get glory except God.
There is great healing when we look past our own problems and seek to invest ourselves in others for the sake of Christ.
This is when our own Red Seas become parted.
*We begin to walk to freedom. But we will never experience the miracle of the Red Sea in our lives if we don’t first “Keep moving forward.
There is an issue that you must settle in your own mind and heart. There are just some things that you cannot fix or make different. You can only make decisions about the things that are yours to deal with, and that does not include other people and their choices.
Psalms 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Amen
Matthew 17:20 “You do not have enough faith, Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as a small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”
If we are facing a problem that seems as big and immovable as a mountain, turn our eyes from the mountain and look to Christ for more faith.
Only then will we be able to overcome the obstacles that may stand in our way.
- There is great potential in even a little faith when we trust in God’s power to act.
- We need to trust in God’s power not our own ability to produce results.
Acts 1:8 But you(apostles) will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
We can always look around and find plenty of Christians who are not using this power, but 2 Corinthians 10:12 says that comparing ourselves among ourselves is not wise.
Most Christians are living so far below what God intended for them that when someone begins to live a normal Christian life (according to God’s standard), then everyone thinks he’s abnormal.
We will be successful when we not only build our faith but destroy our doubts.
One reason we are so prone to doubt is that we fail to see God at work in our circumstances.
- We asked, and nothing happened.
- But the Lord is not some cosmic bellhop who jumps in response to our requests.
- He sees past, present, and future and knows the right time for every answer.
- His invisible hand is already at work on our behalf—arranging situations to accomplish His will, opening hearts, and preparing us to receive what He wants to give.
If we don’t know God’s ways, we will be disappointed in His response. (see Hosea 4:6)
All too often our prayers are accompanied by expectations of how He will work. When He fails to intervene according to our timetable or anticipated method, we start to doubt.
But placing our faith in the Lord and trusting in His good and perfect ways gives us stability as we wait for His answer.
To overcome doubts, spend time in the Word to learn God’s principles and ways. Then you’ll begin to grasp what He wants to achieve in your life and how He goes about it.
Thank You Jesus for all the answered prayers of the past that I just took for granted. Amen
Read MoreWho is called to be a minister? According to these verses below, we are all called to be ministers.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
I am persuaded that many of our goals and dreams fail simply because we place limitations upon ourselves. This is true for the church as well—Christ’s command to share the gospeL.
Jesus gave us the vision to tell all nations about His salvation, and as His followers, we should make this our aim.
Many Christians, however, are not working to fulfill this “Great Commission”—at least not fervently and purposefully.
Often, what holds us back are the “Boundaries” we place upon ourselves.
“Fear“ is one of the biggest self-erected barriers to success.
*For instance, if evangelizing means traveling overseas, lack of safety might worry us.
*We may also feel concern about how family and friends will react to our decision and whether people will react negatively to our message.
Another hindrance might be conditional obedience—that is, a willingness to serve as long as God keeps us in a particular location or has us minister in a country where we don’t have to learn a new language.
There are many barriers that can keep us from sharing the gospel. *But when we’re willing to tear those down, we’ll be amazed at what God can accomplish through us.
Are you passionately sharing the gospel?
*If not, identify the obstruction that stands in your way, and pray.
*Refocus by reading the Word and remembering the mission that Jesus gave you.
*God’s love covers the whole world, and He therefore intends that everyone hear the good news.
* We are to share the good news of the Gospel. We are to speak about Christ giving up His life on the cross as redemption of our sins.
*We are to let others know about the grace, love, and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Without it we would be hopeless. With It we can do all things.
Release yourself from the thoughts, worries, fears and concerns that keep you earthbound.
For, you must rise above all that keeps you from absolute faith in the Lord. We cannot operate in the realm of faith and be in fear at the same time.
Pay attention to your thoughts and make the necessary adjustments to demonstrate faith.
2 Corinthians 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
God, I ask You to help me proclaim boldly what You have taught me in Your Word. I pray for the strength to rest in Jesus to overcome my shortcomings. I need hope that God really will keep working in me and change my heart daily and give You Lord all the Glory. Amen
Paul testified, “It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb,and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him” (Galatians 1:15-16).
Paul was saying, “I have within me much more than some doctrine somebody thought up, more than just a head knowledge of Christ.
*I have a revelation of who Christ is—
*A revelation of His grace, mercy and love.
**And this revelation has become the very source of all I am and do.
**It’s the very essence of my life!”
The revelation of God’s glory is indeed wondrous. Yet many have turned that very revelation into a license to sin.
Jude describes people “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).
According to Paul, such people sin “that grace may abound” (Romans 6:1).
*They are saying, in essence, “If God loves to express Himself through mercy and forgiveness, then I’m going to give Him every opportunity. I’m going to sin and let Him keep loving me, so that grace will flow.
What a testimony to the world that will be. I Will(see the I) be an object of all that love coming down from heaven.”
Such people are easy to spot. Their expression gives them away.
*Whatever is in your heart is going to reveal itself in your countenance.”
Proverbs 19:22a, says, “What a person desires is unfailing love.”
*Unfailing love is mentioned over 30 times in the Bible, and not once is it attributed to a person. It is only attributed to God.
God gave us a desire for unfailing love because He knew it would lead us back to Him.
His love draws us to Him. Only we can stop God from reaching the deep and hidden parts within us that need Him most.
Thank You Jesus!!!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!
*My Testimony is that I’m already paid for by the blood of Jesus!
Freedom in Christ!
1. “ANY trial is just a test for my promotion. After my manifestation of the “win” I’m STRONGER!!!”
2. God’s financial plan is the only plan that won’t fail!
3. STOP pushing the panic button! The panic button takes God out of the equation.
4. *A lie can stop my freedom
5. The Truth is not a saying, but Truth is a person– John 14:6 Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Amen
Always be on the lookout for anything that takes your “peace” away, and then ask God to reveal what’s going on inside the hidden chambers of your soul.
* “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.” Psalm 42:5
*You must have peace with God– to have peace of God.
The more sensitive we become to the Holy Spirit’s leading, the better we are able to walk in the world with peace and assurance as true sons of God.
JOHN 20:21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
The dictionary states that to reconcile means to re-establish friendship between; to settle or resolve, as a dispute.
The key to reconciliation is to effectively deal with the enmity, ill will, hatred, or hostility that caused the dispute, etc.
2 Corinthians 5:18 -19
*May we be quick to forgive and reconcile with those we are at odds with.
The enmity between man and God was SIN.
*God took the initiative to remove this barrier through the means and agency of Jesus Christ, thus leaving man and God as friends once again.
We have received the ministry of reconciliation.
*That means we are in the ministry of reconciling people to God.
Imputing people’s sins unto them was not the way God used Jesus to reconcile the world unto Himself.
**We should not focus on the problem of sin, but on the answer of God’s grace (Rom. 5:20).
Our real job as ministers of reconciliation is to announce the good NEWS, which is an accomplished fact – that sin has already been dealt with through the person of Christ.
No matter how far you have wandered, as long as you still draw breathe, it is never too late to go back to God.
*Come, put down your pride and accept the gift of grace and love He has poured out for you and me.
Ephesians 2:16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
Lord, help me see each day that-Peace comes from the relationship I have with You! Lord, help me to stop worrying about others and start worrying about me and my relationship with You. Amen
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“Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself.”
Ephesians 5:33
To properly define the God‐ordained role of husbands, there’s no better place to turn than Scripture. The apostle Paul instructs: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy. . . . In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:25–28).
Paul also tells us “the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:23).
Here’s the bottom line of your responsibility as a husband:
- You are charged with the holy, loving leadership of your wife. There is nothing dictatorial or selfish in this prescription!
- Your love is to be so strong that it mirrors Christ’s love for the church, so committed that you would unquestioningly die to save her, and so powerful that it is indistinguishable from love of your self.
What a challenge! And what a privilege to join with God and your wife in this holy partnership! For as you fulfill your role as head of the house, you’ll encounter blessings you never imagined.
Ask yourselves . . .
• (husband) What has been my most “shining moment” as your husband?
• (husband) Do you feel my love for you meets this scriptural ideal?
• (wife) How do you feel about the responsibility God gives husbands?
• (wife) How can I encourage you in this role?
“Husbands, in the same way [be submissive] as you live together with your wives . . .” be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble”. 1 Peter 3:7-8
The NLT captures this meaning in their translation:. . . you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. 1 Peter 3:7
Heavenly Father, You have given me an awesome and holy responsibility to love my wife just as Christ loved the church. Help me to follow Christ’s perfect example as I learn to increase my love for my mate. Amen
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