Learning to be Thankful

We're coming up on the holiday of Thanksgiving, where we usually get together with friends and family to fellowship and eat...and we might say one or two things that we're thankful for.  But instead of saving our one or two things for that day, we need to have an ATTITUDE of thanksgiving as well as an EXPRESSION of thanksgiving throughout every day of the year!  

God tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 that part of His will for every believer is to give thanks in everything.  I don't know about you, but I know that it is very easy for me to become complacent and ungrateful.  After all, we live in America and are growing up in the "microwave" generation where if we have to wait for something for more than 60 seconds we complain.  We need to shake that off and develop the characteristic of a thankful attitude.  I believe that some people may be born with a more positive outlook on life while others aren't, but no matter which category we fall under, a thankful attitude is something that requires work to obtain...but it is well worth it!

In addition to having a thankful attitude, we also need to express our gratefulness.  Someone probably won't ever know that you are thankful for something unless you express it, whether that is through words or a card or a hug or some other kind of gesture.  People long to feel appreciated...I know I love to hear "thank you" and I bet there is someone in each of our lives that needs to hear it today too.

Let's not just let this time of year come and go and leave all of our "thank yous" in November...let's work hard to develop an attitude of gratitude and let's show it!

God Desires YOU

I just wanted to share something that God shared with
me this morning. We all know that God loves us and
that His love is perfect. He loves us
unconditionally, which is unlike anything we will
experience from anyone else. But it doesn't stop
there! Not only does God love us perfectly, but He
also desires to be with us and for us to come to know
Him intimately.

If we think about it, there are probably people in all
of our lives who we love but who we don't always want
to be around, so in our limiting human minds, we tend
to see God that way too. But that's not how He
is...not only does He love us, He ALWAYS wants to be
around us! He longs for us. He longs for our
company, and He also longs for us to know Him deeply.

Be encouraged that God loves you, and He wants to be
with you all the time - in good times and not so good
times!

Psalms 18:33,36

I was just reading this morning and came across these
verses that I thought I'd share. They are Psalms
18:33,36 (AMP):

:33 He makes my feet like hinds' feet [able to stand
firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of
testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high
places.
:36 You have given plenty of room for my steps under
me, that my feet would not slip.

I love the Amplified version, especially with these
verses. It's great to know that even in our hard
times, which there will most likely always being
something hard going on in our lives, God is not only
ordering our steps but He is making our way plain with
a firm footing AND helping us to make progress at the
same time!

I just wanted to encourage everyone (myself included!)
that God is ordering our steps as we trust in
Him...and He's not just ordering our "big" steps.
He's ordering the "little" steps of our daily routines
too. Just know that as you're walking out whatever
steps you're taking today, you're walking in God's
plan for your life...and He only has GOOD things in
store for us.

How To Be More Like God

What must we do in order to be more like God?  That’s a big question but also one that has an answer.  Part of that answer can be found in Ephesians 4:22-24:

:22 Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; :23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], :24 And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

Let’s look at these verses one by one.  First, we are told to strip ourselves of our former nature.  Something that is obvious from these words but could be easily overlooked is that this is OUR job, not God’s job.  It is up to us to take off our old nature.  God can and will do many things for us, but He also expects us to do some things for ourselves, including this. 

My word picture for this first verse is that when we come to God, whether it’s when we are first giving our life to Him or whether it’s in our time of repentance, we must take off our old self, just like we take off our “old” clothes at the end of each day.  Nobody likes to wear the same clothes day after day, partly because after a while they will start to stink!  The same is true of us when we don’t go to God on a daily basis to take off our old self. 

This verse tells us not only to take off our old self but also to “discard” it!  That means that when we go to God and repent of our sins, we are to throw those things away forever.  The word “repent” means to whole-heartedly apologize, to make a 180 degree turn, and to go in the opposite direction of that sin.  With God’s help and our determination, we should not be purposefully going back to our old self; we should be throwing that away.

Second, we are told constantly renew our minds.  This is not a one time deal; it is a lifelong process!  How do we renew our minds?  We can only do this by getting in God’s presence and by getting in His Word.  I know personally that my mind can VERY quickly go off the deep end when I don’t renew it! 

Following on with my word picture, after we have taken off our old clothes (our old self) then we need to take a shower.  It is only when we have stripped ourselves down to our natural state that we can then “get clean”.  We need to wash our minds with the water of His Word, and only then can we get rid of all the contamination of the world.  Again, this cleaning process is up to us.

Third, we are told to put on our new nature, the one that looks and acts more like God.  The only way we will know how to look and act like God is to read His Word.  When we take off our old self and wash up with the Word, only then can we look and act more like God. 

It is in this last step that we go to our closet and put on our new clothes (our new self).  God wants the best for us in every area of our lives; the Bible says that He daily loads us with His benefits.  He doesn’t want you to take off your old self, get all clean through His Word, and then go back and put on old, dirty clothes.  He wants you to put on your best self everyday, something new and fresh.  If you’ve had a problem with gossip, for instance, then He wants you to put on your new self today which doesn’t gossip!  If you’ve had a problem with lust, then He wants you to put on your new self today which resists that temptation and takes the way out.  This is how we can be more like God.  Just give it a try and see how great you feel wearing your new self!

Guaranteed Prosperity

Psalm 1:1-3 is a powerful portion of scripture! I want to take a few minutes to go through these three verses and share what I’ve learned. First, let’s read them:

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The Hebrew word for “blessed” in verse one means a state of prosperity resulting from a superior bestowing his favor (blessing) on one. This word is not to be taken lightly! The person that God is referring to in this scripture is a “champion” (the Hebrew meaning of “man” in verse one which tells us that God is not just talking to the male sex). So in the first four words of this passage, we know what we can become if we follow the instructions in the following verses: a champion who is in a constant state of prosperity because of God bestowing His blessing on them! And don’t be deceived into thinking that prosperity only relates to finances; prosperity means God’s wholeness in every area of your life: relationally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, financially, etc.

Let’s move on to the second part of verse one. There are three requirements in this section that you need to adhere to if you want to be blessed. One, don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly. The word “walketh” here denotes behavior, and the word “counsel” means advice or plans. In other words, your behavior should not be dictated by the advice or recommendations of the ungodly! Two, don’t stand in the way of sinners. The word “standeth” here means to remain stationary, and the word “way” means the activities that control a person, one’s lifestyle; destiny. You never want to become stationary in a place with people whose lifestyle (and ultimately destiny) don’t line up with the Word of God. And three, don’t sit in the seat of the scornful. The word “sitteth” here means to dwell, remain, settle, marry, inhabit, and the word “seat” means the dwelling place or habitation. The word “scornful” means mocker. While you don’t want to do either of the first two, you definitely don’t want to get caught living in the dwelling place of mockers!

We see the natural progression here from walking to standing to sitting, and this is just another reminder from God of how it is you can get caught up in sin. No one backslides overnight. A well-meaning husband or wife doesn’t just fall into an affair. These things happen after a progression of events. If you’re walking with the ungodly (anyone who is not going in the same direction as you are trying to go with God), then eventually you’ll get tired and want to stop for a minute, and then you’ll probably want to sit down and take a rest. Before you know it, you’re somewhere that you never intended to be, and it was all because you started walking (behaving) in the same direction as the ungodly!

Verse one tells us what this blessed champion does not do, but in verses two and three, we find out what he does do. “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” The word “delight” here means desire, and the word “law” means direction, teaching, and instruction. The word “day” simply means daily while the word “night” means the period of time in which it is dark; deep calamity without the comforting presence and guidance of God. Wow! We see that this person loves God’s Word and His direction, teaching, and instruction, and they are pondering and studying His Word daily, even in the toughest of times. Even when they can’t feel God or hear God, they are mature enough to trust that He is real, that He is faithful, and that He is constantly working on their behalf!

Verse three continues to describe who this person is. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” A tree does not pop up overnight. It takes years and years for a tree to go from a simple seed to something that kids can climb on. During this growth process, the tree must form roots that go deep down into the ground. It’s from these deep roots that the tree can then gain nourishment and stability. If the tree’s roots are never allowed to go down then it will never be able to live. The champion described in these verses is someone who is staying in one spot long enough to put down their roots in God; they’re not flaky and shallow. They recognize that every time they pray, every time they read God’s Word, every time they go to church, they are allowing their roots (their livelihood and stability) to go down deeper and deeper into God. It is this person who will then have the ability to produce the right fruit in the right season, according to God’s plan for their life. Whatever this person does is going to prosper! The word “prosper” here means success with God as the source. You will never truly be prosperous until God is the source of all that you do. If you do things your way, you’ll get man’s limited results, but when you do things God’s way, you’ll get His supernaturally successful results!

I love this passage because it encourages me that when I do what I know I should be doing in my walk with God then I can lean completely on Him for my success. I don’t have to worry and try to make things happen for myself; when I am walking with God, my prosperity is guaranteed!

To All the Servants...

Did you ever dream of becoming a servant? Probably not, but once you entered the kingdom of God, that became your new title. No one is above serving. Jesus is referred to as a servant in the New Testament on many different occasions. But serving is not just about your actions – it’s more about your attitude than anything else!

There are many lessons that God wants you to learn throughout your life, but while He will provide the circumstances for you to learn them in, He won’t force you to learn them. That’s up to you. When God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, they had what should have been an 11 day trip before they reached the Promised Land. But just because that trip should’ve taken only 11 days obviously didn’t mean it did. They circled the mountain for 40 years before they got to where they were going. Forty years! That just goes to show that God will provide the way, but it’s up to you how and when you get there. My point is that one of these lessons to be learned is how to be a servant, and for most of us, we stretch out that “11 day trip” into something much longer because we don’t get it the first time.

Many people are spiritually immature, and they don’t do something they know they should because they don’t feel like it. I can tell you right now that if you live your life based on your feelings, you’re in for one long roller coaster! One rough definition of spiritual maturity is doing what you know is right, even when you don’t feel like it. I don’t always feel like being Suzy Homemaker and taking care of things around the house, but I do it, not just for my husband and myself but for God. God is a God of order, and when your house is a mess and out of order, that can be an indicator that other areas may be out of order in your life as well.

Don’t be misled; serving is not just taking care of the two-year-olds one Sunday a month at church or being an usher every other weekend. Serving most often takes place outside of the four walls of your church. You can serve by putting the grocery cart away in the right spot in the parking lot or by putting your clothes back on the rack after you’ve tried them on at the store instead of piling them onto the already busy worker. You can serve by picking up trash in your neighborhood or by doing what your husband asks without that big sigh that says “I’m too busy to be bothered with this right now, but since I’m such a good, Christian wife, I’ll do it.” And just because “they have people who take car of that” doesn’t mean that you can’t give them a break and do it yourself.

Once you graduate from “doing nothing because you don’t feel like it” to getting into action serving, then you must look at your attitude. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Are you doing it to be seen by someone in hopes of gaining some kind of promotion? Are you doing it to gain social status or acceptance or are you doing it because you know that God is watching and would be pleased?

Colossians 3:23, 24 says, “Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily from the soul, as something done for the Lord and not for men, Knowing with all certainty that it is from the Lord and not from men that you will receive the inheritance which is your real reward. The One Whom you are actually serving is the Lord Christ the Messiah.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling unappreciated when you’re serving, and that’s why it’s so important to remember that even if no one ever gives you a pat on the back for all of your hard work, God does. He sees every time you serve with a right heart, and He appreciates you! If you’ve fallen into the “woe is me, no one appreciates me” trap, climb out of it fast. Realize that your promotion and your reward ultimately come from God and God alone!
Becoming a true servant is a life-long process. If you’ve mastered serving in one area, tackle another that might not be so easy for you. You can always find a way to grow when it comes to serving!

Sow the Seed of YOU

1 Corinthians 15:36-38 AMP
36…Every time you plant seed, you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up, and growing] unless it dies first. 37Nor is the seed you sow then the body which it is going to have [later], but it is a naked kernel... 38But God gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body of its own.

What is a seed? In its purest form, a seed can be described as a source or beginning. YOU are a seed, and it’s up to you in what soil you will plant yourself. In general, most seeds look the same, and the same is true for people who are away from God. While they may not all choose the same sins to partake of, they all sin – and look basically the same: searching, empty, and lonely. It’s not until you make the choice to plant the seed of YOU into God’s soil that you will see who you really are!

If you had a bowl of seeds, you probably couldn’t tell the different between a seed that would produce a flower and a seed that would produce a vegetable. Why? Because as seeds in a bowl, you can’t see their full potential or destiny. It’s not until you plant a seed, in the right environment, with the right conditions and the right amount of food, water and sunlight, that you slowly begin to see what it was meant to produce. The same is true for you. It’s not until you come to know Jesus as your personal LORD and SAVIOR, you immerse yourself in the Word of God, and you commit yourself to learning God’s will for your life that you will begin to see what you were meant to produce.

And notice how God’s kingdom (His way of doing things) works: most of this process is up to YOU. Yes, God is there helping you in your weaknesses, giving you the strength and desire to press on, but ultimately if you don’t do the work in your life, it won’t get done. As my Pastor says, “Anything significant that happens in your life will be initiated by you.” No one can get saved for you, no one can go to heaven or hell for you, and no one can fulfill your destiny for you.

What is the first step in planting the seed of you in God’s soil? Death. Death to your flesh and your way of doing things. Death is not such a bad thing. If Jesus never died, He could never have been glorified, and if you never make the choice to die daily to your self, you’ll never experience the true glory of God in your life in the way God intended. You can’t truly come to life in Christ until you die to this world first.

God has a tailor-made plan for YOUR life. He hasn’t run out of good ideas and decided to recycle His plan for someone else’s life to give to you but rather He has planned out every single minute of every single day that you are on this earth. It’s up to you to seek Him out in order to find that plan. 1 Corinthians 15:38 says But God gives to it the body that He plans and sees fit, and to each kind of seed a body of its own. God has a body just for you, one unlike any other in the whole world or in all of past eternity, and He wants more than anything for you to find that body as you plant the seed of you in His fruitful soil.

Philippians 1:6 says And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. And Philippians 2:13 says …for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. Don’t worry; take heart that GOD is on YOUR side and is ready, willing and able to help you…but you must take the first step and help yourself by making the decision to plant the seed of you in Him.

Temple Under Construction

1 Corinthians 3:16 is a very familiar scripture, and it reads “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” I’ve always heard this scripture and thought, “Yes, I am the temple of God. God makes His home in me, and I need to take care of myself, as I am His home.” But as I was studying the other day, God gave me a new revelation about this scripture and the others surrounding it.

There is not much in this world that just appears out of no where, without first going through a process, so why have I always pictured in my head that my temple was already complete? Whenever I heard 1 Corinthians 3:16 in the past, I thought of myself as God’s home, which I am, but it never entered my mind that this “home” is not yet complete. It’s not that I have ever thought of myself as perfect, but I simply never before read this scripture and saw the “Temple Under Construction” sign.

Jesus becomes the foundation poured in your life when you get saved, and YOU then choose what you build on that foundation. Every choice you make in your life is also a block used to build your temple. After all, it is your choices which ultimately determine your destiny: who you choose to associate with, where you choose to go (or not to go) to church, whether or not you choose to obey when God speaks to you, etc. 1 Corinthians 3:12,13 tells us that no matter what materials we use to build our temple, it will one day be tested based on character and worth. Even though you’re saved, you still have free will – that didn’t disappear with salvation – and God will let you make your own mistakes. He will allow you to put a block in the wrong place or use the wrong material if that’s what you choose, but He does also cause all things, even your mistakes, to work together for your good. The point is, God lays the foundation, and you build the temple.

The first couple verses of 1 Corinthians 3 talk about being spiritual babies, and we learn that the mark of a baby in Christ is someone who allows their carnal nature to dominate their life, someone who is under the control of ordinary impulses. You can choose to obey God and build your temple according to His blueprints or you can choose to remain a baby and build your temple according to your own fleshly blueprints. However you choose to build it, just know that someday it will be tested.

I’ve been very privileged to live in nice places my whole life. I grew up in a beautiful house and throughout college I lived in nice apartments, but it is only now that I am married and own my own home that I can really decorate it the way I want to. You wouldn’t believe the difference it makes when you can live in a home that is yours and can be painted and decorated exactly to fit your tastes. Now think about your temple as God’s home. Just as you wouldn’t like to live in an environment not suited to your tastes, God doesn’t either. God makes His home in you when you get saved and is happy to inhabit that home even throughout the construction process, but make sure that you’re building that home to suit God’s tastes, not your own – being obedient to His Word and not to your flesh. Your temple should always be “Under Construction.” No home pops up with a snap of the finger and your temple will be the same way…but don’t grow weary in well doing – in the construction process – because if you faint not, you will reap a reward and God will be pleased with the home you’ve built for Him!

Paying the Price for Perfection

My King James Bible places the description “A Perfect Heart” above the 101st chapter of the book of Psalms. Before I read this 8-verse long chapter, I thought, “Well this is David and we read he was a man after God’s heart, so it’s easier for him to be ‘perfect’.” But that isn’t necessarily so. In these verses we read about some of the choices that David makes which help him to become “perfect”…and let’s examine the Hebrew definition of that word (because it’s not exactly what first comes to mind).

First things first, David begins in verse one by singing and praising God. It says, “I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.” Your life – whether it is through your words or actions – is giving praise to someone or something. YOU are the only one who can choose who you “sing your song” to; don’t allow your song, which belongs to God, to be stolen by your flesh and the world!

The word “perfect” occurs twice in verse two and yet the two words have different Hebrew definitions. Verse two reads, “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” The first instance of “perfect” means complete, intact, not cut up into pieces. The definition goes on to say that nothing in your outward activities or internal disposition is odious to God, and this describes your entire relationship to God. While the second instance of the word means completeness in integrity. While the definitions are similar, the second one goes into more detail. So we see here that our English definition of “perfect” which according to Webster’s means “having no defect or fault; flawless” doesn’t exactly equate with the original Hebrew meanings of this word.

No one is perfect (by our English definition); Jesus was the only human without sin. But we can work towards perfection like David did – that is work towards being complete IN GOD. Let’s look at some of the actions David took on his quest:
He set no wicked thing before his eyes (verse three)
He hated the work of those who turned aside (verse three)
He put a froward heart away from him (verse four)
He did not know a wicked person (verse four)
He cut off gossipers from his life (verse five)
He did not entertain proud people (verse five)
He set his eyes on those faithful to God (verse six)
He put deceivers and liars out of his house (verse seven)
He destroyed the wicked of the land (verse eight)
These points are taken from the King James language so let’s look at them in our words.

Whatever you look at longest will become strongest in your life; that is a fact! If you fix your eyes on God and your relationship with Him, He will become the strongest thing in your life, but if you allow your eyes to wander to the things of the world that are vying for your attention (that don’t deserve it), those things will instead take over your life. Whatever enters your gates (your eyes and ears) then goes into your heart, and as we know from Proverbs, out of your heart flow the issues of life. In other words, GUARD YOUR GATES! David says that he set no wicked thing before his eyes, and then he says that he set his eyes on those faithful to God. Smart man.

David hated the work of those who turned aside. Beware of those who “turn aside” around you. Their hearts have changed from God as a result of deception. Do not entertain their ideas or reasoning, in turn allowing yourself to be deceived.

David also put a froward heart away from him. Froward here means distorted, false. Because of our sin nature, our hearts are naturally distorted, so YOU must evict your perverse heart and replace it day by day through God’s Word.

David says that he didn’t know a wicked person. The word “know” here means to know by observing or to be intimate with. NEVER become intimate with wicked people; do not share ANY part of your life with them. Bad company will eventually corrupt good morals! In knowing this, David cut off these people from his life: gossipers, proud people, deceivers and liars (to name a few).

Verse eight talks about David destroying the wicked of the land. Destroy here means extirpate (which means to pull up by the roots; to destroy wholly, completely). Your job and duty is to root up the wicked. This means exposing them for who they really are. Many people don’t like to believe that there are evil forces; they only want to believe that there is good. Don’t be deceived because the enemy is out to steal, kill and destroy. Be ready for hard work because some roots are as thick as trees and are anchored deep in the ground – but remember that it’s not by might nor by power but by the SPIRIT that these things can be accomplished!

These are just a few steps on the path to “perfection” in your life. God is the ONLY one who can help you on this path, so ASK HIM for his help! We ALL need it!

REAL Hope

I’ve learned how to put a powerful tool to work in my life lately, one that I didn’t always relate to God: hope. As a teenager I learned through life experiences not to put my hope in everything because as the book of Proverbs says “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” But that’s not the whole scripture; the second half reads “but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” I think a lot of people share the feelings I had as a teenager, but it’s so critical to differentiate the hope of this world from the hope of God.

Romans 5:3-5 says “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” The word hope in this scripture from the original Greek means “favorable and confident expectation, a forward look with assurance.” This passage tells me that true hope is found after tribulation, after patience and after experience.

If you put your hope in man you will eventually be disappointed, but if you put your hope in God you won’t ever be let down. The Amplified Bible puts Romans 5:5 this way: “Such hope NEVER disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” So many times we incorrectly judge God by what we see in man. You may have been hurt by someone in your church or by someone who says they’re a Christian and then assume God is that way too. That is a VERY costly mistake because while we are created in the image of God, we are still made of imperfect human flesh. Jesus was the only man who ever lived without sinning. The same is true if you’ve put your hope in someone only to be let down. Don’t allow yourself to become so callous and hard that you assume God will let you down the way man did.

Psalm 119:71 rings so true: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” In time of affliction, hope is essential! Many times God allows hard and uncomfortable circumstances into our lives because without them our faith would never be tried, and we wouldn’t learn anything. If you’re a teacher, how do you know whether or not your students have learned the material you’re trying to teach them? You know they’ve learned if they pass the test. The same is true with God. You’re responsible for everything you learn in God, and don’t be so naïve to think that a test will never come. And if you’re going through a time in your life when you feel that God is not speaking to you, just remember that the teacher never talks during the test! It is in these times when your hope in God will carry you through.

Hope is intertwined closely with faith, and when the two are used together they produce peace. Hope in God is not simply wishing for something, thinking maybe it’ll happen and maybe it won’t but rather it is CONFIDENT EXPECATION. When you are in covenant with God, through the Blood of Jesus and through paying your tithe, and when you’re standing on the Word of God, you can have that hope, that confident expectation. Pastor Rod Parsley always says, “Expectancy is the breeding ground for miracles.” If you need a miracle in your life today, whether it’s in your home or your finances or your body, EXPECT it and HOPE for it. I remember the little magnet my mom had on our refrigerator growing up; it said, “Expect a miracle!” Don’t let the enemy lie to you and steal your hope (and he can only do that when YOU let him).

You need to determine in your heart that God is real and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). He is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). What He said will come to pass because His Word cannot return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11). Stand up for yourself against the attacks from the enemy on your hope. Fight the good fight, and watch God as He comes through for you. Your journey to your promise will be much smoother when you bring along HOPE.

First Things FIRST

Everyone has a list of priorities in their lives, whether they know it or not. Take a minute to sit down and make a list of how you spend your day; write out everything you do from the time your feet hit the floor until the time your head hits the pillow. Show me how you spend your time, and I will show you your priorities.

You may SAY with your mouth that God comes first in your life, but what are your actions really saying? I understand that we all lead busy lives that are full of responsibilities, but if you’re really honest with yourself, you’ll see that you MAKE time for what is important to you. I like to read fiction books, like the Left Behind series, and one day my husband was telling me that he would like to read those books too but he just didn’t have the time. I pointed out to him that it wasn’t that he didn’t have the time but rather that he chose not to spend his time that way. He has other relaxing activities that he enjoys more than reading those books and so he chooses to spend his free time doing those things instead.

In the same way that the world will try to lead you to live by its priorities, God wants you to live by His. The list should look like this:
God
Yourself
Your Spouse
Your Family/Children
Your Job
Your Ministry
I know not everyone agrees with this list, but if you think about it, it makes sense. God FIRST – no questions on that one. Yourself second: if you’re not taken care of, how can you take care of anyone else? You cannot give out what you don’t have. Your spouse third and your family/children fourth: some people think these two are one, but they are not. If your marriage is not living and growing and well, how can your household live or grow or be well? Your job fifth and your ministry sixth: here we see that obviously your job and ministry do not come before your family. Yes, you do need to provide for your family and yes, God has called you to be a minister in some form, but all of that is for not if you and your house are in shambles.

Again, God is FIRST. I’m so thankful that my husband loves God more than he loves me. Now I will admit that I had some maturing to do because at first I was jealous of God – how crazy does that sound – because my husband spends so much time with Him. But now I’m grateful for that because I know that is, and should be, his first priority.

If you’re not spending daily time with God alone – just you and God – your life is not in order. How can you expect your relationship with Him to grow if you never spend time with Him? If you’re not, start TODAY even if it’s just five minutes. I’ve learned 1.) that I cannot compare my relationship with God to ANYONE else’s and 2.) that I’m growing at my pace. Start with five minutes today, and maybe by next week you’ll be up to ten. The two hardest things to do in life are to start and to finish!

We know from reading Proverbs 31 that this woman does it all, but it’s interesting to note that the only thing she is to be praised for is that she “reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord” (Proverbs 31:30). The footnote in my Bible says “When the summary of what makes her value ‘far above rubies’ is given (in Proverbs 31:30), it is her spiritual life only that is mentioned.” Just as you have a million things to do today also, the only thing that will last forever is the time that you spend seeking the Lord! Put Him FIRST today and be amazed at how productive your day will be. I hear people say that they can’t spare the time to spend with God in the morning, but just try it one day and watch how much more smoothly your day goes…I guarantee it!

Work Hard; Play Hard

There are several verses in the book of Proverbs and the 31st chapter that speak of a working woman. Just because a woman may not be employed outside of her home doesn’t mean that she doesn’t “work,” and on the same note, if a woman does have a job working outside of her home, it doesn’t mean that the only “work” she does is at her job. It is hard work to take care of your husband and family as well as your home, and if you’re single, it’s also hard work simply to take care of yourself. No matter what the conditions of working are, it’s fair to say that every woman works.

Balance is the key to a healthy life. While we see that our Proverbs 31 woman is a master of taking care of her husband, she is also the same at taking care of herself and her house. She lives a balanced life because she doesn’t devote herself wholly to one single thing. She makes use of all her talents and spreads herself to cover a number of duties. We read in verses 11 and 12 how she cares for her husband. We read in verses 17 and 22 how she cares for herself. We read in verses 15 and 21 how she cares for her house.

We also read in verses 13, 14, 16, 19 and 24 how she busies herself in “working.” We read how she works with her hands, how she brings food and meat to her house, how she buys and cultivates land and how she produces a product and sells it. All of this is done on top of her other responsibilities. She is a busy woman! And that’s a good thing. Verse 27 tells us that she “eateth not the bread of idleness,” and we learn from Proverbs 19:15 that “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.”

But it all comes back to balance and like my pastors say, “Work hard; play hard.” If you’re always running around like a chicken with your head cut off because you’re so busy and bogged down, you’re of no use to yourself or your family. Even God rested after working hard (Genesis 2:2,3). Pastor Paula White notes that overloaded people fail in life, and that is so true.

Webster’s defines balance as “the agreement of totals in the debit and credit of an account.” Too far in either direction puts you off balance. Whether your debit account has too many entries because you give out so much of yourself that you’re physically, emotionally and spiritually depleted or whether your credit account is overflowing because you’re lazy and taking too much “me” time, being off balance is costly.

When you take your car in for maintenance, many times they will balance your tires. If your tires are not balanced properly, your car will automatically steer itself in the wrong direction and it becomes harder for you to keep control of where it goes. Anything that is off balance will go in the wrong direction, including YOU!

It’s not as hard as it may seem to maintain a full, balanced life. If you feel yourself getting to a breaking point, just remember that YOU can do ALL things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens you. And always keep first things first: your personal relationship with God! Without that being in order, you will inevitably become off balanced and find yourself going in the wrong direction. Ask God to show you any area of your life where you may be unbalanced, and also ask for His strength to bring those things into order. When God is FIRST and your life is balanced and in order, God has more to work with and more to bless. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Start With Love

Written by 31 Online contributor Julie Koranteng

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. – Romans 8:35 &37 (KJV)

You know what? Life isn’t always easy.

And contrary to fairytale endings, life after marriage doesn’t always live up to the “happily ever after” ideal. In fact, marriage can be quite an adjustment. Whereas you once had only your own desires and setbacks to face and you could face them any way you chose, now you have to take on the desires and setbacks of your spouse as well. This means learning to deal with them in a way that not only benefits you but benefits your spouse as well.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not a gloom and doom situation. Marriage is a beautiful God-given thing. In fact, God has blessed you with marriage because he believes that you are prepared to do some growing up, and marriage involves a ton of that! You see, our natural self just wants to satisfy itself. And as a single, that’s not too hard: you decide what you eat, what you do, what time you go to bed, what you buy, what you don’t, etc. Well, it just doesn’t work that way any more – he might want Chinese and you might want Italian. What do you do?

First off, we need to separate the facts from the truth. The fact may be that you are struggling in some areas in your marriage and circumstances are challenging. But the truth is found in God's word, and it always overrides the facts of our circumstances.

The verse above reminds us that nothing (even marital problems) can separate us from God’s love for us. And it also tells us that we are more than conquers before any problems that come our way because Christ went ahead of us and paid the price on the cross to insure our victory here on Earth. Now, this doesn’t mean we won’t ever have any problems, but what is does tell us is that we as believers have the God-given power to arise victoriously from any situation if we just trust in and follow God.
Hallelujah!

Now, what do we do to get this kind of victory in our marriage?
Go to God, not to your mom, not to your best friend. Go to God first. Get started by praying and reading God’s word.

One thing that most marriages struggle with at first is that problem I mentioned earlier of the struggle of what you want/need vs. what your spouse wants/needs. Conquering your selfishness is a good way to improve your marriage.

The word says:

For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another. – Galatians 5:13 (KJV)

When Jesus was here on Earth he showed his love by humbling himself and loving others by serving them. He still knew that he was the child of the living God and he did not compromise his faith, but he served to be a witness of God’s love for his people.

We are called to do the same. We are to humble ourselves and serve, even if our spouse doesn’t reciprocate. This means you may have to be the first to apologize or offer to do something for your husband when you’d rather be doing something for yourself. Start with the small stuff. Sacrifice your craving for Italian and go eat Chinese joyfully knowing that you are planting seeds of love in your marriage. When you act in love, it spreads. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in your particular situation, and make love a daily, non-negotiable habit. If you do so, your marriage will be more prepared to face future obstacles that may require you to sacrifice more than pasta.

Proverbs 31:12

With the astronomical divorce rate these days, a few things have become clear about marriage. God created marriage; he created Adam and Eve for each other. Since God is the one who created marriage, don’t you think it would be wise for us to follow His plan, instead of our plan or the world’s plan? That makes sense to me because if you have a question about the way something works you ask the inventor! The Word of God has specific instructions on how to be a godly husband or wife, on how to be a team that compliments and encourages each other. So many husband and wife “teams” are really arch rivals; they’re not on the same team at all. Your mate should be the one person in the whole world that you know you can count on, that you can trust.

The world has messed up marriage by doing it their way, but I have witnessed many successful marriages that are only thriving because they are modeled after the Word of God. As women, we can learn about being the wife God intended us to be in passages like Ephesians chapter five as well as from the Proverbs 31 woman. Again, I want to stress that you don’t necessarily have to married now to learn about being a wife; the more knowledge you go into it with the better.

Proverbs 31:12 says She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. At first glance, this scripture may seem simple or less “loaded” than others but not so. You might think, “Okay, good and not evil…yeah, that’s easy. I’m not an evil person,” but some of your actions may be evil at some time. Of course that’s hard to admit that you would do evil to anyone, especially your husband, the love of your life. Let’s look at the definitions of evil from both the Webster’s Dictionary and from the Strong’s Concordance:

evil (Webster’s) – morally bad or wrong; causing injury or any other undesirable result; marked by misfortune or distress; low in public esteem.
evil in Hebrew is ra’ (Strong’s Concordance) – This word combines together in one the wicked deed and its consequences. While the prominent characteristic of the godly is loving-kindness, one of the most marked features of the ungodly man is that his course is an injury both to himself and to everyone around him. Ra’ is also used to denote evil thoughts, evil words, and evil actions.

I like the part of Webster’s definition where it says causing injury or any other undesirable result. When you do something “evil” it will most likely cause injury, seen or unseen. Even though many men won’t admit it, their feelings can get hurt very easily, whether it’s because of an unkind word or a look or the tone of voice in which you say something. My husband is always telling me that it’s not necessarily what I’m saying but the way I’m saying it that hurts him. I don’t think you would cause intentional physical injury to your husband so be vigilant not to cause “internal” injury to him either, intentional or unintentional.

The Strong’s Concordance tells us that the word evil in this context can also mean evil thoughts, evil words, and evil actions. Remember that your thoughts lead to words which lead to actions which lead to habits which form your character. God is constantly reminding us to renew our minds throughout his Word, and that is so vital because thoughts can potentially become a part of your character, good or bad. We need to cast down any thought that is contrary to God’s Word and that includes “evil” thoughts about our husbands. For example, your husband may ask you to do something so simple as to iron his shirt for work, and you think in your head, “What? Can you do anything for yourself? Are your hands broken or something?” You better cast that thought down before you allow yourself to dwell on it, and it festers into some ugly attitude!

This Proverbs 31 woman does her husband good and not evil all the days of her life. Here are the definitions of good from both the Webster’s Dictionary and from the Strong’s Concordance:

good (Webster’s) – having desirable or favorable qualities; morally excellent; virtuous; well-behaved; proper; excellent in degree or quality; unspoiled; fresh; healthy; striking or attractive.
good in Hebrew is towb (Strong’s Concordance) – means good; favorable; festive; pleasing; pleasant; well; better; right; best. This adjective denotes “good” in every sense of that word.

Look at some of the words Webster’s uses to define the word good: virtuous, well-behaved, unspoiled, etc. These types of characteristics should be our goal, not only in our marriages but in our lives as well. There are some general attributes we should all strive for in our marriages, but then every person is different making every marriage different. “Good” to my husband may not be what your husband wants or needs, so as a wife, you need to figure out what is “good” for your man.

And finally, this woman was “good” to her husband all the days of her life. She was good to him when she felt like it and when she didn’t feel like it; she was good to him when they were on cloud nine and when they were at each others throats. All day, every day! I’m sure she struggled, as she was human, but her heart was in it…and I’m sure she had a lot of help from G-O-D!

Proverbs 31:11

Many of us as women are at very different stages in our lives, and one thing I’ve learned is that it never hurts to be prepared! Sometimes we tune out a message or let something with real truth go in one ear and out the other – and why? Because we feel like it doesn’t apply to us or at least not to where we are right then. College graduates are applauded for their accomplishments yet at the same time are warned about the importance of starting their retirement fund. However many don’t feel the urgency to do so because retirement is “so far away.” Come retirement time, I’m pretty sure that the sooner they started that fund the happier they will be. The point is you don’t have to be at a certain stage in your life to start thinking about it…like marriage.

If you desire to be married at some point in your life, don’t be mislead that you can’t or shouldn’t start preparing now to be that godly wife. There are many things you can be doing, and the main one is becoming a woman of God who is rooted deep in the Word and ready for anything. Our Proverbs 31 woman is married; we can tell because verse 11 says The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Let’s take a closer look at how this woman is a good wife.

Right off the bat we can tell from this verse that she is trustworthy, an extremely important characteristic to have in a marriage, and if her husband trusts her I think we can assume that she is faithful too. She is obviously an excellent mate and a good lover seeing as her hubby isn’t going anywhere other than home!

The Hebrew word for heart in this verse “includes not only the motives, feelings, affections, and desires, but also the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect of man” (from the Strong’s Concordance) which basically includes everything. This tells us that everything in this man trusts his wife; what an awesome testament to her!

The word trust in this text means “to be reliant, be unsuspecting” (from the Strong’s Concordance). Trusting is not always an easy thing to do, and naturally we tend not to completely trust people we just meet. We observe their actions and reactions in different situations and at some point decide whether or not they’re worthy of our trust. I’m sure this husband did just that with his wife, and over time he found her to be reliable and dependable. I like the way the Strong’s Concordance put it: to be unsuspecting. This woman earned her husband’s trust to the point that he didn’t even suspect anything bad; he didn’t even think those kinds of thoughts toward her. As much as it is the other person’s choice to trust or not to trust you, it is even more so your job to prove yourself to them and show them you’re worthy of being trusted.

Because of his trust, this man has no need of spoil. Spoil here represents private gain. He is not looking to go out in search of “private gain.” In other words, he has all he needs at home. He desires nothing else because his wife keeps him satisfied in every area, and treats him like the king he is instead of like the fool he could be. My pastor says that in every man is a king and a fool, and whichever one you speak to most is the one that will surface. Even when your “king” is acting like the fool, remember which one to talk to!

Many times you can learn a lot about someone just by listening to what those closest to them have to say, and this verse speaks volumes to us about this Proverbs 31 woman.

This Aint Magic

Written by 31 Online contributor Julie Koranteng

“And now you have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you (first) believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us everything He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. This is just one more reason to praise our glorious God” – Eph. 1: 13-14

One night while driving in my car, I was listening to a sermon on tape by one of my favorite speakers, Bishop T.D. Jakes, when in his own overwhelming way of speaking he said, “This ain’t magic!” and all of the sudden the Holy Spirit used that to teach me what I am about to share with you.

God spoke to me and it went something like this:

“My anointing is not like a fairy tale. It’s not like when you watched Cinderella as a little girl and her magical powers failed her at midnight. What I have for you is better than any sort of potion this world tries to give you. I’ve anointed you with the Holy Spirit. If you believe in Me and in the Holy Spirit whom I have provided you, then you already have the power of the anointing living on the inside of you, and you should know by now that you have all the access you need to receive victory in your life.”

Young girls often desire to have lives similar to those of fairy tale females who always marry the perfect prince charming. In fact I remember being a pre-teen and ironically enough being so bored in church services that I would daydream of a knight on a white horse busting in the back doors of the chapel and whisking me away in order to live “happily ever after.” But God doesn’t have that same desire for us. In fact, what He has for us is better. He has given us His anointing.

The term “anoint” came from the putting on of oil as a tradition for the Hebrews which was an act of cleansing the body. In this same sense, God anoints us with the Holy Spirit who purifies and makes us whole.

As women we must understand that God did not give us our husbands to complete us. No man is able to be perfect and always satisfy us. Only God can meet all of our needs and give us a joy that is permanent through any trial this world throws at us. In learning this, we can begin to learn how to love our spouses, faults and all, just like God first loved us. The anointing helps us do that.

A lot of times when Christians mention God’s anointing they are referring to it as a sort of temporary residence in a particular place. But as God says in
Ephesians 1:13-14, if you believe in Him and accept His Holy Spirit, then God has already anointed you, and the anointing is PERMANENTLY set in your spirit. It was given to you as a gift, so use it!

Walking in the anointing that God has placed inside of me has given me the ears to hear what He desires to speak to me personally. I’ve asked God to help me tune into His voice, and since then I’ve noticed that God will give me guidance in all areas of life, including my marriage.

God will often guide me in the midst of a difficult situation, instructing me on the best way to handle something that, if left to my own doing, I would have completely fouled up. For example, sometimes after an argument with my husband, I may be feeling stubborn and prideful and like my husband should be the first to apologize, but then I know the Holy Spirit is urging me to humble myself and apologize. Doing so allows love to start flowing again between my husband and I, and it squashes any strife the devil is trying to stir up between us.

I know that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit and His anointing that lives on the inside of me that I am able to hear God instruct me, and simply by obeying His urges, gain success in my marriage – even when I feel like my husband has been acting more like a frog than like prince charming. And you know that is truly a victory!

Proverbs 31

Proverbs chapter 31 and verses 10 through 31 paint a picture of the “virtuous woman,” who as ladies we should strive to be like. Many people read over this chapter of the Bible and dismiss it because either they don’t understand the language (which is not uncommon, especially when reading the King James Version) or more frequently, they feel that it is irrelevant to the times we live in today. That same argument could be said for much of the Bible, BUT the Bible is not a story book that we simply read out of obligation…it is the living Word of God! Hebrews 4:12 states For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This just means that we may have to dig a little deeper in some passages and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes so that we can apply the Word to our circumstances today.

I want to examine verses 10 through 31 one-by-one so that we can see how they work these days. Proverbs 31:10 states Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. This tells me that she is rare, uncommon, and even unusual because she is not easy to find. Something like bottled water can be found everywhere today – the grocery store, the gas station and virtually everywhere else you turn – and it is relatively cheap. Everyone has access to it, and basically everyone can afford it. But that is not the case for say a beautiful jewel: it would be harder to come by and significantly more expensive to buy. The same is so for a real, virtuous woman because it is a choice to become one. Not every woman is virtuous. It is a choice that you must make every day – a way of life – and it is rarely easy.

Possessing this quality of virtue makes you worth much more than material things; you become priceless. Think of the most expensive thing you can possibly imagine, whether it’s a luxurious car or a huge mansion – anything – now realize that YOU are worth much more than that thing! YOU are the handiwork of the Most High God, and everything else pales in comparison to YOU. When you decide that you’re going to live as a woman of God and devote your heart to Jesus, you make yourself indispensable.

A Virtuous Woman

We often refer to a woman of God as a “virtuous” woman. Let’s take a closer look at what that word means. Webster’s dictionary defines virtue as “morality, goodness or uprightness; a special type of goodness,” and we know that the word virtuous is simply an adjective derived from that word. While this is a good definition of the word, I looked up what it meant in the Strong’s Concordance to see if I could get a clearer understanding.

I referenced the word “virtuous” from Proverbs 31:10 which states, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies,” and I found the Hebrew word chayil. This Hebrew word means a force, whether of men, means or other resources; in other passages it means an army, a man of valour, a host, forces, valiant, strength, riches, wealth, power, substance, might, and strong. Valiant men of war in the Bible were called chayil men!

It is no coincidence that the same Hebrew word used to define a virtuous woman is also used to define strength and power. I heard one woman say after a Sunday morning service at my church where our Pastor spoke on the value and worth of a godly woman that she had no idea how much power she had; she thought she was just suppose to sit around and look pretty. That is what a lot of people would hope for women to think, but I believe that the promise found in Jeremiah 29:11 of a future and a hope is for all people, men and women alike. God said his eyes are combing the earth, looking for someone who is available to do His work, and just like God is not racist, He is also not sexist.

I’m not in any way suggesting that women “take over” or anything because God clearly showed us His plan for husbands and wives in Ephesians 5, but I do want to begin to show how the Proverbs 31 woman was not simply a pretty face…she was a powerful, strong, dedicated and virtuous woman!