Monthly Archives: January 2012

Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>What’s Your Name

>

“…Now they may say to me,
‘What is His name?’
What shall I say to them?”
Exodus 3:13
For four generations the Israelites had been in Egypt. Egypt was a polytheistic nation. They worshipped many gods, all who had a name. In all honesty if Moses had announced to the Israelites that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and appeared to him, most all of Israel would have been satisfied with this name. I believe Moses was still searching for more strength to be obedient. He was trying to cover all the angles and answer all the possible questions.Which can be a good thing when it comes with the attitude of obedience.
God answers Moses with “…I AM WHO I AM…” (Exodus 3:14). I heard a pastor preach on this glorious name of God and he shared that God could not look around at anything or anyone and say “I am like that” or “I am like him.” God is incomparable.
I AM WHO I AM translates in Hebrew to YHWH and appears in Scripture as LORD. When God gives Moses this name He does not remove the part of His name that designates Him in this time of the sons of Israel. Exodus 3:15 declares, “God, furthermore, said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.”
Why did God continue to include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
He included them because of covenant. God is in covenant with Abraham and his descendants and this covenant still holds. This covenant is what distinguishes Him for us from all other gods. Many claim that they serve the same God as Jews and Christians. Many say it is the same God just a different name. The Word of God, however, is very clear, any god is not God. The One True Living God is the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In John 4:22 Jesus is speaking with a Samaritan woman and He tells her, “You worship what you do not know: we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”
Now as we take this memorial-name of God and we remember that there was no one to whom God could compare Himself, we go through the time of man, through the generations, through the covenants, and we stop at the birth of Christ. “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” (Matthew 1:23) Finally God would look down from heaven and say I AM like HIM. Jesus, God in the flesh, God with us.
Jesus first appeared to His own, to those who should know His name. He said “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)
Jesus went on to say to them in John 8:58, “…Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” The Jews knew that Jesus was declaring Himself the I AM because they picked up stones to throw at Him.
He used God’s memorial-name to all generations and attached it to Himself. He could because He was and is God.
And He is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power.
When He had made purification for sins,
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Hebrews 1:3
Oh Father,
I bless Your name. I bless Your holy name. I thank You my LORD, for You have revealed yourself to me. You have revealed Yourself to the world. You have revealed Yourself through Your creation, Your Law, Your Word, Your covenants, Your prophets, and finally through Jesus Christ. You have left us without excuse to claim ignorance. My Jesus You are the I AM. I believe that You are God with us and I believe that You made purification for my sins by Your blood. I believe that You rose again and that You now sit at the right hand of the Majesty on high, interceding on my behalf. I believe and therefore I know that I will not die in my sins, but I too will rise again and join You for all eternity. Oh Father, in this I rejoice and in this I praise Your name, for You are forever my LORD.
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Who Am I

>

But Moses said to God,
‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharoah,
and that I should bring the sons of Israel
out of Egypt?
Exodus 3:11
Who am I?
Have you ever responded to God with this same question?
Oh I have. I did so with these very devotions that I am writing. God said to me “Write a book.” I replied, “No, God I can’t do that…who am I to do that…no one would want to read it.” For two years I argued with God, asking “who am I.” As you can see from Devotions From Genesis, God won the argument, as He also did with Moses, as He also will with you.
I read this part of the Scriptures and it brings tears to my eyes and a knot to my chest, because I truly can place myself in Moses bare feet. I stand in those feet asking “who am I” not only when God has called me to a task, but also always when I think about the cross. I continually ask, “who am I” that God would send His Son to die in my place. How could He love me so much, when He knows who I am.
I have walked as a redeemed child of God for a decade and still I am amazed. I am humbled even more as I grow in my knowledge of God and His grace. As I begin to get a better grasp of His holiness I understand even more the greatness of my sin. I see how far He had to humble himself to meet me in my wilderness and I weep tears of joy and thanksgiving because He was willing to go the distance.
Now I ask myself am I willing to go the distance for others as Christ went the distance for me?
God told Moses that He would be with him. God does not ask us to go the distance and then send us out alone, unarmed, and unprotected. God always goes with us (Hebrews 13:5-6). He has prepared our armor (Ephesians 6:10-17). God always sends us out fully equipped through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:21).
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that we are adequate in ourselves
to consider anything as coming from ourselves,
but our adequacy is from God,
who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant,
not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
It doesn’t matter who we are or who we were. Our ability does not come from within ourselves it comes through Christ. God is well able to accomplish whatever He wills through us. If God has come to the wilderness to seek you out, if He has called you to go and be His instrument, then you can trust that He knows how to play.
You know, an instrument has no purpose on its own, yet when someone comes, a musician, and breathes their breathe into it; beautiful music that can move the world comes out of it. My friend, when we are without Christ, we have no purpose. We are instruments of sin and Satan is the conductor, but oh precious one, when the Master Musician takes hold of us, when we are instruments of righteousness and the Spirit is our conductor, the music we play is life-changing to all who hear.
Oh Father,
How I praise You for Your grace. I can only grasp Your glory in small increments of time and even then I am overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with Your love for me. Overwhelmed with Your provision for me. Overwhelmed with Your blessings upon me. You are God and there is no other. You are the only God who laid aside His glory to come to save His children. You sought me, and bought me, and called me Your own. I now call You “Abba Father” and what a privilege that is to be able to say. My Abba, may I be a willing instrument in Your hands. Forgive me when I forget and believe that Your calling is dependant on my own strength. Quickly bring me into remembrance of the truth. The truth that if You have called me, You will go with me, care for me, and fully equip me. Your Word tells me that I can do all things through Christ, and I trust Your Word.
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Uncategorized

>Not Fearing Any Man

>

Men of God, women of God… look in his eyes… he means what he says and he says what he means… he was willing to lay down his life for the will of God… are you?

I can honestly tell you that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would have walked beside this man. I feel it in the core of my being. Because he stood for the truth of his convictions. He was not swayed by a gallop poll. He did not take back a word he said and re-word it to make people happy.

He wasn’t doing what he did, or saying what he said to make someone happy. He was obeying what he believed to the core of his being to be truth and knew God was with him.

Did you notice the end of the video. Dr King walked away and those gathered around grabbed him and were all smiles and reached out to slap him on his back with a “good speech” kind of slap, but Dr King did not return this. His arms remained stiff at his side and he stood firm, solid in his words. He did not say them for the accolades of those around him. He said them because they simply were to be said.

This my dear friends is the picture and the example of a man.

This was not our politicians of today who will only speak what their party tells them too. The ones that don’t have the backbone to tell you what they really think. They will not share their own personal stance but will only regurgitate their parties platform. The ones that stand behind a podium with a stupid arrogant grin on their faces making empty promises and speaking flattering lies…

I watch this man, Dr Martin Luther King Jr… and my stomach churns when I see those who claim to be the leaders of our country today. They simply cannot compare.

So I look at him and I wonder is there anyone out there who is willing to stand up and lead us as a nation with as much strength and boldness as this man. Where are the men who are willing to stand up and say that you will not legislate God our Creator out of our nation… because if you legislate Him out then how can the rest of our constitutional rights stand since they are based on the fact that they are endowed to us by our Creator and entitled to us by God?

So men and women of God are we really more worried about losing our 401K rather than our country? Do we really value our paychecks more than our freedom? Our houses more than our homes? Our immediate relief more than our children’s future sufferings?

I was in a store once several years ago on MLK day, a store I used to shop in quite often, it was a small antique shop, and there was a group of 4 or 5 people standing there, one of them being the owner. They were discussing Dr King and how he was just a “trouble maker”. I was younger then, not a believer, and not quite as bold as I am today. But I loudly placed down my items for purchase and turned and walked out of that store and have not set foot in it again, nor will I ever.

All I can say is we need some “trouble makers” like Dr King in our day. 

If God called you to stand and it meant your job, your house, your comfort, your very life… would you be willing to stand for the will of God?

Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Holy Fire

>

“The angel of the LORD appeared to him
in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush;
and he looked, and behold,
the bush was burning with fire,
yet the bush was not consumed.” 
Exodus 3:2
The angel of the LORD, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, He has always been, always is, and always will be. It was God who called Moses. Moses had already given up, he tried in his own strength to be his people’s deliverer. When he failed he ran and thought he had began a new life. What Moses did not yet know was that “…the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29).
It was now time for Moses’ part in history, or His story, to be put into action. What we see in these first few verses of Exodus 3 is evidence once again that it is God who seeks us. Moses did not flee out into the wilderness to seek God. God however did come to the wilderness to seek Moses.
In Romans 3:11 we read an excerpt from Psalm 14 that declares that there is none who seeks for God. Jesus tells us in John 6:65 “…no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” Jesus also declares in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you…”
Oh precious one, if you are seeking God know that it is because He has already sought you. Know that you have been chosen, appointed by Him. God had appointed Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt, and this appointment Moses would keep.
God gets Moses’ attention through a burning bush. This bush, burning yet not being consumed by the fire, is a picture of God’s people. Both the nation of Israel and those who are His according to the promise, according to Christ. Many nations throughout time have tried to consume and destroy Israel, but they have not succeeded.
You see Hebrews 12:29 declares that “our God is a consuming fire.” In Isaiah 33:14 we read the questions “…Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?”
Fire is an interesting thing. It destroys what is worthless, but it refines precious things. In 1 Corin 3:13 we read that our work will be made evident and the truth of our deeds will be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality of our works, in the fire do our works burn up, do they go up in smoke, or do they remain as gold and silver and precious jewels?
Friend, this fire does not test our works until it has first tested us. Isaiah 48:10 states “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” God tests us with His holy fire.

If we have been redeemed, called by His name, then we are precious in His sight, honored and loved by Him. If you are His, when you pass through the fire, like this bush that Moses beheld, you will not be consumed. You will not be scorched and the flame will not burn you (Isaiah 43:1-7).

Oh Father,
You are holy and You require me to be holy. This is what I can know, that when I am in the midst of the furnace of affliction, it is for my holiness. You are refining me, cleaning out the dead works, and preparing me to bear good fruit. My God, I can trust that You have not left me alone. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego where thrown into the furnace, they were not consumed. They were not left alone. When they exited they did not even have the smell of smoke on their clothes. Oh Father, they trusted in You whole heartedly. This is my desire, to trust You without wavering. To never curse You when the fire is surrounding me. To know to the very depths of my soul that You are in control and the outcome will always be Your glory shining in and through me.
My Jesus it is in Your name that I pray,

Amen

Uncategorized

>Something’s Missing

>My husband works a swing shift. He swings from days to nights. Before the swing shift he worked nights or second shift. I have to keep his work schedule in the kitchen to keep up with when he works and what shift and if he is working overtime or swapping with somebody and he also travels a good bit with his job. So obviously we have never been a family of routines or perfectly kept tight schedules. We don’t know if we are coming or going half the time.

With this crazy life we have there is nothing strange about me going to bed alone or waking up alone. On day shift he is up and out the door before I am awake and on night shift he is in the car and gone before most families are even beginning to cook supper. I say all this to share my moment this morning.

It happens to be an out of town time for my husband {so our Amos is going to get to sleep out tonight even though the stupid (this was a bad word in our house until Amos moved in… there is no other word accurate enough to describe him) dog decided he would sneek on the couch a few days ago after we went to bed and then when my husband caught him early the next morning and told him to get down, the dog chose to mark his territory on the couch cushion. I shall brave the possibility of a peed on couch for peace of mind as I sleep and trust the ferocious, yet stupid, beast to pee on any intruders}. Anyway, I woke this morning enough to tell my man goodbye and that I loved him… and then I rolled over to catch my last hour of sleep before my alarm went off.

Then my alarm went off and I rolled over and started my day, I was up and fixing my coffee, and gathering my stuff for church, and considering my plans for the day… and then I realized I had went back to sleep and was dreaming all of this. (Yep, I do that.)

So now I am fully awake, feet on the cold floor, socks in my hand, and heading to the bathroom. I turn on the light and look to the sink and then my heart falls. I see it. I see the evidence. I see my reminder, my sign, that my husband is gone out of town not just to work. His toothbrush is missing. Who would have ever thought that a toothbrush could do that?

For some reason I saw my sign and then my mind went to my grandparents. You see I remember when my Papaw Harris went to be with the Lord. My Mamaw Lola could not sleep in their bed. She had slept on her side with her back up against my Papaw’s back since she became his wife close to sixty years earlier at the age of fifteen. Now his back was missing. She chose to sleep on the couch because she could put her back to the couch and when she closed her eyes… she could imagine it was him.

So I saw my sign, my husband’s missing toothbrush, and I thought… I will never throw it away. Sixty years from now if the Lord calls my man home before He calls me… don’t you dare touch his toothbrush. It will stay in its place and my heart will leap with joy each morning because at least for a moment, before I fully awake I would forget that he was gone. It may seem silly… but it is what it is.

So what’s your sign that something’s missing to remind you that someone’s missing?

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

>You Were Made To Be Courageous

>My youngest always wants to know what a song means. We never get to just listen to a song. I have to explain the meaning behind every chorus (thank God we only listen to Christian music on a regular basis. I really would hate to have to explain the chorus to one of today’s mainstream songs).

Well the other day we were on our way home from somewhere and this song came on the radio and my seven year old, says “Oh he just sang that they were made to lead the way, just like Jesus leads the way, like Daddy leads us… that’s what that song’s about… that’s what that movie was about!”

That’s right man of this generation… even a child knows that you were created to lead them like Jesus…

Are you ready?

Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>God’s Got Your Back

>

“Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian;…” 
Exodus 3:1  
 
Moses fled to the land of Midian. We can look back to Genesis 25:2 and we can see that Keturah, Abraham’s wife after the death of Sarah, bore Abraham a son named Midian. The people of the land of Midian were distant relatives of Moses. Quite possibly, at this time, this people also followed the God of their father Abraham. However, I do not believe they were of the circumcision and you will see why as we get further into Exodus.
 
Moses fled to the wilderness more from the hurt and frustration coming from his brethren than from the fear of death by Pharoah. In Acts 7:26-28 we read of Moses attempt to bring peace between the brethren who were fighting. At his intervention the response was “YOU DO NOT PLAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?” In Acts 7:29 we read that “At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons.” I believe Moses was ready to face the wrath of Pharoah, but when his brethren turned against him, he fled.
 
We can fight a battle as long as we know we have someone in our corner, someone to get our back. We can fight a battle when we know we are fighting to rescue someone who wants to be rescued, but when we feel alone and when we are mocked by those we are trying to save, it can destroy our strength to fight. What Moses had yet to realize, what we, a lot of the time, have yet to realize, is that God is in our corner. His Holy Spirit has our back.
 
When Jesus spoke with His disciples after the Passover meal He said to them, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” (John 15:19) What I love is the fact that before Jesus shared this sobering truth with His disciples, He first shared with them about the Helper who was with them and would be in them forever (John 14:16-17). Then after He shared this sobering truth, He again reminded them of the Helper (John 15:26).
 
God has never once in His Word said that following Him was easy. He tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, but even in that it shows the existence of the yoke and the burden. Oh precious one, have you heard it said that God does not call the equipped, He equips the called? Know that this is true.
 
Moses fled because he was trying to save his brethren according to his own strength. He was attempting to do things according to his own way. However, God’s ways are not our ways. According to Acts 7:30 Moses dwelled in the land of Midian for at least forty years.
 
Was this wasted time?
Absolutely not.
 
This was more training time. This was more equipping time. Forty years in the palace and forty years in the wilderness was no coincidence. It was the sovereign plan of God, working according to His will and His way at all times.
 
So my friend, whether you are in the palace or the wilderness, stay in obedience. Seek Him and trust Him. If you are in the wilderness having fled because you were rejected by those you came to help, remember you are not alone. Seek the will of God, the help of the Holy Spirit, make sure you are where you need to be, then precious one, press on, and return and fight when God says it is time.                                             
 
At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me;
may it not be counted against them.
But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished,
and that all the Gentiles might hear;
and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed,
and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom,
to Him be the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
2 Timothy 4:16-18
 
Oh Father,
 
I know that I am weak. I also know that Your strength is perfected in my weakness. I know that You have said that the world will hate me. I also know that You came to save this same world. So in this knowledge, I ask that You help me in my weakness and that You surround me in Your love. I pray that You give me sustaining strength as I commit to share You with those who hate me simply because I am Yours. I know that they hate only because they do not understand. Oh Father, may I persevere, strengthened by Your glorious might, so that what You have purposed shall be accomplished in and through me. If I flee, stop me. If I fear, comfort me. If I fall, lift me. If I am deserted, remind me that You are with me. To You my God, be the victory.
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name that I pray,

Amen   

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Gabby Mom Posts, Proven Path Ministries

>Be A Woman

11 Comments

>It’s time for me to share about one of my Eternal Encouragement experiences. I received the January newsletter in my inbox and opened it up to read. In this first newsletter of 2012 I read an encouraging word about being all that I could be.

Be all you can be! If you are a mother, BE a mother! If you are a wife, BE a wife! You are a woman, BE one all the way. Don’t be half a one, wanting to do half a man’s role. BE a lady and be one all the way!  
~ Lorrie Flem

I loved this.

The other day as I was watching tv there was a commercial for the show Dr Quinn Medicine Woman and in the commercial Dr Quinn says something like never hide behind the fact that you are a girl. Have you ever found yourself saying, or thinking, along these lines? Thinking that you will not be taken seriously simply because you are a girl, so why bother? Thinking you could not do or become what God has placed in your heart because you are a girl? Thinking you had to walk and talk like a man to get the job done?

Believe me… your womanness is enough. You don’t have to forsake your femininity to accomplish what God has called you to do. You don’t have to forsake your womanhood to survive in the workplace. Nor do you have to become the b**ch to be taken seriously. Nor do you have to play the seduction card… it’s only degrading you.

There was a day when my motto was that the only thing a man could do that I could not was pee standing up and if I practiced long enough I could probably do that too. I was under the delusions of the lies that were being fed to me by the world. I somehow felt I needed to prove my worth by showing I could measure up to a man.

How backwards that thinking is. It is absolutely crazy to me now… but I guarantee that this thought still continues to thrive in the minds of females all across our nation. Today I realize that there is only one man who can define my worth and who I should be measuring myself by… and His name is Jesus.

It wasn’t until I came to know Him, that I began to truly understand what it meant to be a woman. In Him I learned that I am not less because I am female. I am not weak because I am a girl. Precious one, listen, you don’t have to earn your place in the world by trying to do things like a man… this is not a man’s world… the world belongs to God. It’s His and all that’s in it.

  For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
Psalm 50:12
 
Just be a woman of God.
Keep your head held high and your back straight and your integrity strong.
Just be real.
There is a huge lack of authenticity in our current day.
 
“Behold, I have discovered this,”
says the Preacher,
“adding one thing to another to find an explanation, 
which I am still seeking but have not found.
I have found one man among a thousand,
but I have not found a woman among all these.
Ecclesiastes 7:27-28
 
God created you female and He created you to display His image in your femininity. He created you to bear His likeness as a woman surrendered to His will and bathed in His beauty and grace. Be a woman that God calls a woman worthy of praise.
 
 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. 
 Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.
Proverbs 31:30-31
 
********************************************************** 
 
The thoughts from this post began from the encouraging word I read in my EE newsletter. If you would like to also receive these words of encouragement just go to http://eternalencouragement.com/ to get your free newsletter.
 
Disclaimer: I post for EE magazine and receive products from EE in return for an honest review.
Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>My Deliverer Is Coming

>

“So God heard their groaning;
and God remembered His covenant
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  
Exodus 2:24
When we say we remember something, it is usually after having forgotten it first. We can read this verse and possibly get a picture of God up in heaven taking care of business and then looking down upon earth and saying with surprise, “oh my I forgot all about that covenant I made with Abraham, look down there at the mess they are in!”
Friend, God is not a man that He should forget. When God says He remembers, it just simply means that it is now the time to put His Word into action.
In Genesis 15:13-14 before God cut His covenant with Abram, He told Abram that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land and that they would be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. God also said that He would judge the nation who had enslaved them, and Abram’s descendants would walk out of that nation with many possessions.
What God says, God accomplishes.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower
and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11                                      
When God says that He has remembered His covenant with Abraham, He means it is time for His Word to be fulfilled. He means that the enslavement time is accomplished and now it is time for the deliverance. The judgment of the nation is at hand. We have the privilege to be able to look back and see that God does in fact, judge this nation.
We will look at this judgment, this deliverance of Abraham’s descendants, as we walk through Exodus together. My prayer dear friend is that you get a firm grasp on this truth: God doesn’t change. Malachi 3:6 says “For I, the LORD, do not change:…” Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
We can trust that if God fulfilled His covenant, His Word to Abraham, He will fulfill His Word to us. God does not pick and choose which promises He is going to keep. His Word is solid and true.
Oh precious one there is another great and mighty judgment to come. A spiritual nation that that has held the people of God in bondage and oppressed them since the beginning. This nation that has at times controlled other nations through “…the world forces of this darkness…” (Ephesians 6:12).
This nation will one day manifest itself on this earth, and quickly after it does, this nation will be destroyed and all who willingly serve in her. In Revelation 18:4-5 the Word declares, “…Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”
We are all born into this nation, this domain of darkness. We are natural descendants of her, but glory and praise be to God, in and through Christ, we are rescued from this domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13).
As citizens of heaven and followers of Christ, “Therefore, ‘COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE’, says the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 6:17)
Oh Father,
How thankful I am for Your deliverance. How thankful I am that in a world that is constantly changing You remain the same. How thankful I am that I can take You at Your Word, that I can, with confidence, cling to Your promises.
Oh Father as You made a promise to Abram, that one day his descendants would be free from their enslavement and they would live in the land that You had designated for them, so You too have promised those who are Abraham’s descendants through faith in Christ. We are first delivered from this earthly domain of darkness and one day we will be delivered from this domain of flesh. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory…” (Philippians 3:20-21).
In 1 John 3:2 I read “…We know that when He appears,we will be like Him…” Oh Father how I long for the day that I will be like Him. Free now from sin’s power, free then from sin’s presence. Yes, that will be a day of great deliverance. Until that day, as I have this hope fixed on Christ, may I purify myself as He is pure (1 John 3:3).
May I come out from this domain of darkness and not live according to this domain of flesh. May I abide in Christ and live according to the Holy Spirit within me so that when He appears I may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame (1 John 2:28).
My Jesus I love You,
It is in Your name I pray,
Amen
Confessions of a Christian Wife

Man of My Dreams

2 Comments

confessions

The evidence of a man who loves Jesus is not found in conquering a specific sin struggle, but rather in his endurance in the fight.

Don’t look for the perfectly healed champion.  He’s already waiting for you in Heaven.

Look for they guy who is covered with scars from the fight.  Look for the guy who is bloody and bleeding with this huge grin on his face because he’s confident that the war is already won.  Don’t stare at each other too long.  Link arms or get back-to-back so you can make each other stronger before the next attack.
Then fight your way home to your true Hero.

~ thoughts from fabs

*********************************************************************

I read this and I was reminded of a poem I wrote on October 14, 1998. This poem I wrote about my husband when he was still just my boyfriend 🙂

I feel myself falling
I feel myself letting go
I feel myself trusting in a way that I’ve never trusted before
I feel myself loving
I feel it deep in my soul
I feel my heart completed in a way that I’ve never known
I feel strong hands
I feel strong arms
I feel I now have a shoulder I can rely and lean on
I feel complete
I feel whole
I feel I have finally found what I’ve always searched for.

When I penned this little poem as a head-over-heels-in-love young girl I thought I knew what love was… but in truth… I had a lot to learn… and my God has been faithful to teach me. 

I can truly say that I still feel this same way about my husband today. However there have been moments when I have not always felt that way. Our marriage has been a roller coaster ride… but we were both thrill seekers when we met and I guess we just carried that adrenaline junkie mess right into our marriage somehow.  

We didn’t start out as friends either… we just… well started out. So it has taken a while to build the friendship area of our marriage… because I didn’t really make friends easy… I could make acquaintances all day but friends, that was a different story. Really letting someone in is scary.So our marriage has been a roller coaster ride of emotion at times… something I have chosen to call passion. My husband thinks that is quite funny. So he says that from now on whenever we have a “heated discussion” he is just going to look at me and say “it’s passion, baby” and well who could keep a straight face at that? I believe love comes with passion.

Not the Hollywood movie rated X (or pg-13 theses days) passion… but the suffering of Christ passion.
Love is about sacrifice… and suffering… and salvation.

My husband was used by God to bring me unto salvation. I have no doubt about that. Had I not have met this man and been swept off my feet by him… I cannot even imagine the depths of depravity I might have entered into. I was wide open to Satan himself because I was convinced God would never want me again.

One of my God’s steps in opening my eyes to His love for me was sending me this man.At the same time, had this man managed to be able to meet all my needs, and comfort me at all times, and never leave in me want, hungering from something deeper, and even more real… well I don’t think I would have responded to the calling of my Savior. I would have been comfortable in my temporary pleasures.As I was wrapped up in this man’s arms and resting in his strength and warmth about me last night, he had work early the next morning and was heading to bed early, and I still had rippin’ and rompin’ kids to get settled and in bed, but he said, “You know we had to be meant for each other because I still am not tired of holding you, You know sometimes you just get tired of being around people when you have been around them alot, but I am not tired of you.”

Yes, I still love this man.
No, life has not been perfect… but it’s been “passion” packed 🙂

When I look at him and think about our marriage I sit at the feet of my Christ in an utter amazement at the beauty He was able to make out of the mess of us.

Two messed up souls… doing things all wrong… but some how God’s grace poured out on us and His divine intervention came down in floods of mercy and we are choosing to trust Christ to keep it all running somehow.

We are far from perfect.
Our marriage is far from perfect.
But it truly gets sweeter and sweeter with each leap of faith of saying “I do” again one more day…

We do life together.
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health…
We both carry our battle scars but we both have chosen to stay and stand and fight.
Remembering that we battle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of darkness.

This is my man.
The man of my dreams.
And each day He becomes more and more what I was always searching for because with each day he becomes more and more like my Jesus.