Honoring Marriage

Honoring Marriage

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Hebrews 13:4 NIV

Pam was talking with a lady who had attended our church several times. “Do you have any children?” Pam asked.

“Yes, mam. I have five children.”

“What are their ages and where are they?” Pam inquired.

“The oldest is 14 and she lives with my momma.  She has a little baby now too. The others live with different families. But I gets to see them every now and then.”

“Where you ever married?” Pam

“No mam, I don’t think anyone would ever want to marry me.”

“you know, God’s best design is for a man and a woman to be married and only be with that person all your life.” Pam explained.

“We are not supposed to be with any man who says he likes me?  Mrs. Pam ain’t nobody ever told me that God only wants us to sleep with one man. Do you know anybody who has only slept with one man? I don’t.”

How many people in the church are sexually pure? What does it mean for marriage to be honored by all?

Five ways to honor marriage

1.    Share the original intent – God designed marriage between a man and a woman for a lifetime. Jesus speaking -  Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’  5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?  6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6 NIV

2.    Speak favorably over marriage – Expect marriages to flourish, don’t speak a curse over a couple wondering how long until they get divorced. 22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD. Proverbs 18:22 NIV Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 NIV

3.    Honor long marriages as a norm instead of a rarity.  Talk often of couples who have loved each other through a lifetime.  Paul Harvey celebrated lifetime couples often in his broadcast.  28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— Ephesians 5:28-29 NIV

4.    Don’t be silent when marriage is ridiculed.  This does not mean that you have to be argumentative or combative. If someone were talking negative about your wife, you would speak up to defend her honor.  God established marriage as the foundation of all social order. When marriage crumbles, society will soon follow.  Healthy marriages establish children with strong character. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. I Peter 3:15-16 NIV

5.    Divorce is a beginning for restoration, and not a scarlet letter of a subclass Christian.  God hastes divorce, but He also hates all sin. God is into reconciling broken hearts and lives. We plead for God’s mercy to stop the destructive cycle of divorce in our culture. Many people have had wonderful long second marriages.  Others have experienced multiple divorces and decided to live with people instead of marrying again.

May the church recapture the grace message for broken lives. At the same time may we encourage one another to live to the higher standards that bring liberty and freedom to our lives. “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you Deuteronomy 5:16.

The devil hates marriage which is one reason it is under attack.  The power of unity within a marriage is incredible.  Jesus said that when two agree good things begin to happen. Couples can agree even when things are difficult.  They can pray over their finances, for tough job situations, for children that have gone astray, for wisdom in making decisions about jobs and moving, and about working through their own conflicts. A strong marriage has conflict, but its strength comes from the bonds woven together with the cords of forgiveness, love and preferring one another as more important than themselves.

If the church wishes to gain a strong moral voice in society once again, it will start with a renewed portrayal of honoring marriage.

This is most evident by keeping the marriage bed undefiled or pure, which will be discussed in the next blog.

I am a stronghold for the oppressed, another Whisper from your Father , God

My Name is a Stronghold for the Oppressed

Whispers from you Father, God

Psalms 9:9-10

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalms 9:9-10

One of the great stumbling blocks for knowing Me intimately is the presence of evil actions toward one another and the perception that I do nothing to stop it. This is difficult. Some may ask, “why don’t I just stop all of the evil before it happens? How can I be a stronghold to someone, if bad things happen to them?”

Oppression is not just someone murdering another, nor is it car accidents, drug overdoses, or death from weather events.  Many of you are being oppressed by the fruit of violating my laws for living.  I instruct you on the management of money, yet you have bought what you could not afford hoping to have enough to pay it back later. Your body is Holy Spirit’s temple, yet you have not heeded His voice to avoid gluttony and His whisper to eat the right things for your body.  He has prompted you to exercise and get good sleep, yet your actions show that you think your body show always be full of energy and does not have to reflect the way that you take care of it. I have encouraged you to forgive others to protect your heart, but you carry unforgiveness which weights down your soul and allows a bedding place for anger and hatred toward others.

Oppression comes from outside and weights you down, which is a good position to be in to look up. Many only continue to look around them to complain about the injustice of oppression. I see it all. I am still orchestrating in the middle of the stress.  Will you call out to Me? Those who know Me also know my other names.

I am Faithful. I will never leave you nor forsake you, even in the darkest point of trouble, I am with you.

I am a Stronghold. I can give you a sense of sure footing when the circumstances of life are slipping all around you.

I am Hope. No matter the darkness, in my presence there is light.  My Son revealed that He is a light shining in the darkness. Light brings hope no matter how small or far away the source may appear.

I am renewed Strength. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,  he enables me to tread on the heights. Habakkuk 3:17-19. I give you abilities to walk above those things that devastate your well being.

Your body was not designed to carry the weight of oppression. My Son invites you to cast all of your care upon Him for He cares for you.  His loving sacrifice uniquely qualifies him for the task of bearing the burdens of others.

Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

A whisper from your Father, God

Be Filled with the Oil of Joy

Be filled with the Oil of Joy

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. Hebrews 1:9

What does the joy of Jesus look like in your life?

How would you define the joy of and from Jesus? Author Jack Wellman states, “Joy is an emotion that’s acquired by the anticipation, acquisition or even the expectation of something great or wonderful.” For Christians, joy is not limited to favorable circumstances, but remains even in difficult times.

According to our verse, joy remained upon Jesus because of his love for righteousness and the rejection of wickedness.  Joy remained because of his oneness with good.  He had no internal conflict between his actions and attitudes with living righteously because he never sinned.

We sin. Our lives are spotted with inconsistent living in holiness.  We know that we should be living one way and yet we act in the opposite way. We struggle with controlling our words about and toward people. We lose our temper too often. We have to take our thoughts captive often for purity’s sake and for thinking wrongly of others. With all of this yuck in our lives it is no wonder that we struggle with maintaining joy.

Our temptation at this point is to try harder to be better.  We think if we can “clean up our act”, then joy will follow.  This statement would be true…if we could be successful.  But because of our struggle with sin and self-love, we will fail again.

The secret is that joy is found in Jesus.  He was anointed with the oil of joy or gladness. When we stay connected to him, then we receive the benefits of his life. He imparts his life to us.  When we sin, and ask for him to forgive us…he does.  And because of His grace, he restores a “right spirit” within us.  It is never about our righteousness, that we will experience his enduring joy, but it is His righteousness alone.

May you experience his abiding joy today that goes beyond your circumstance and sinful life.  May God pour out his joy so that others can sense the aroma of joy in your life.  His joy is a tangible expression that you can experience regularly.  May the joy of the Lord, be you strength.