Hey Fam. Just something short and sweet for all you out their thinking about getting married. May I suggest to you that you are not just creating a family, you are establishing a ministry. Marriage is ministry because you will be serving one another, your kids and your community etc... Question?! Does the man or woman that you are thinking about making a lifetime commitment to have the same vision for family, ministry and community that you have? Are you called to one of the five fold ministries? Is your mate? How are you going to balance that out. Believe me you don't want to both be in ministry with your kids running around the church because ones the Youth Pastor and the other the Min. of Music..been there did that..train wreck!
As the New Year approaches think about these things. Maybe you and your Honey will be like Priscilla and Aquilla :
Acts 18:18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head at Cenchrea, for he had made a vow.
Acts 18:26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla had heard him, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the Way of God more perfectly.
Romans 16:3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus,
1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house
No matter what God has called you to do as a single person NOW remember that marriage is more than starting a family it's ministry, so chose someone with the same passion and vision as yours and go and turn the world upside down for Jesus...as ONE FLESH!!!
Have a great week ahead Visitors, FB & Tweet couples and make each moment you have with your spouse special! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Prayer for Everyone Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters
♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ God Bless Your Marriage & Family ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥
What a great year this has been! I know some of us faced and conquered many challenges, learned a lot of lessons, and had a great year growing together in the LORD. Some of us celebrated anniversaries while others just jumped over the broom as recently as November. As we celebrate the birth of Christ tomorrow as couples let's also celebrate Him as the Word made flesh! I went to bed last night meditating, going over in my mind over and over again the fact that God's Word has already worked everything out in our lives and has conquered everything that we could ever face in this life! Hallelujah!! I woke up literally praising God because of what I meditated on...the power of the WORD that came down from Heaven and became flesh like us.
John 1:14
And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.
How did we as couples overcome this year? It was the Word made flesh! That's how our marriages stayed strong and thrived in 2009, that's how we overcame many temptations and obstacles this year. We can't forget the prophesied Word too, that was spoken over our lives regarding His will for our life together as couples. As 2010 approaches let this thought go deep..We are not just Marriages we are Ministries and God, our family, friends, co workers and neighbors are looking to us to reflect His glory in our unions now more than ever before.
Merry CHRISTmas Couples!!!
Have a great week ahead Visitors, FB & Tweet couples and make each moment you have with your spouse special!
Prayer for Everyone Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters
♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ God Bless Your Marriage & Family ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥
For...COVENANT!!!!!!!! I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of this word and I wanted to explore it- in some of it's various forms.
Covenant. 1. an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified. 2.
Bible. a. the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture. b. the agreement between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.
I'm thankful for all the couples that have and continue to keep their vows to God and to their mates. Love is definitely a decision and NOT a feeling and many of us continue to keep covenant and I praise God for that!!! I applaud you all!!! I commend you all!!! I ask God to bless you all because there are MANY temptations in this life. Tall dark and handsome ones, beautiful ones offering you a peek on the web or maybe in your workplace. Then there are the storms that come...one right after another sometime,attacks from an invisible enemy who would love nothing more than to make us another divorce statistic and cause pain for our children that can last generations. As we celebrate God keeping His covenant to send the Messiah, Emmanuel, to the Earth to save us from our sins, I also want to take the time to celebrate all the married couples who like God continue to keep their covenants too. In a culture where anything you can pay for you can have, I just so want to encourage all the couples to keep holding it down for God and your families.
Have a great week ahead Visitors, FB & Tweet couples and make each moment you have with your spouse special!
Prayer for Everyone Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters
♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ God Bless Your Marriage & Family ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥
Isn't it a mystery how two people can become one flesh! I'm still amazed by that concept of God's design. Although we've been married for only 11 years this merging of the two really does happen and the more we yield to God and each other the more this Divine Design is realized in our marriages.
Today I want to talk about one aspect of the One Flesh relationship intimacy. I know in the world today a lot of women are working outside the home and when I was out there the last thing I wanted to do when I got home is enjoy this special time with my mate. I wanted to see my husband and kids, eat and go to bed without any extra activities...until the LORD convicted me of that. He started showing me and telling how important it is to have that time as a couple. In marriage lies the deepest bonding and intimacy possible in a human relationship.
We've all read this Scripture before right? "Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does." 1 Corinthians 7:3-4
I know a lot of us are into so much throughout the day that when we come home we're done, but we still have to honor God's Word. One thing that will help my brothers is that you start romancing your wives as soon as you both wake up. As women we really like flowers. We just bloom when our husbands water us with kind and pleasing words of appreciation, affection and encouragement. Wives our men are blessed when we do the same and if you aren't a real good communicator just yet..men are visual, enough said. God wants us to really understand how important this area is and to yield ourselves one to another. A local Pastor had a Marriage Conference he had the 2x2x2 plan. Intimacy 2 times a week, Vacations 2x a year, and extended weekends just for the husband and wife 2x a month. I like that plan!
How can we accomplish this in a world where we are constantly being bombarded with me, myself and I? By having a sacrificial servant spirit that wants to serve the other person in every way possible instead of just wanting only to be served. One flesh..that's who we are, and that's an area that we all can serve our mates better in....
Have a great week ahead Visitors, FB & Tweet couples and make each moment you have with your spouse special!
Prayer for Everyone Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters
♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ God Bless Your Marriage & Family ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥
It's the weekend, so after your Sweetie gets home from a long day, after a long week why not take your spouse to the side and just look him or her in the eyes and tell them how much you love them! Then commit to getting together later on this evening to just sit, cuddle, and maybe read the Song of Solomon.
Have a great weekend and make each moment you have with your spouse special!
Prayer for Everyone Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters
♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ God Bless Your Marriage & Family ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥
All year long my Pastor has been teaching us the importance of having good strong foundations. I was meditating this week on things we've learned and I started thinking about the importance of a good foundation. What does a good foundation provide? A good foundation provides stability to our house. In the Bible Jesus says a wise man that obeys him is likened to a man that builds his house on a Rock. Matthew 7:24-27 24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
We know that Rock is Jesus. So as married couples Jesus of course is the best foundation to build upon, simply because He provides us with stability and security through our relationship with Him and our obedience to His Word. If we disobey him by doing our own thing, well then we chip away at the very Rock that helps keep us strong.
One area that can begin to chip away at our marriage foundation if we let them, is out of control feelings. Remember that song...Feelings oh oh oh feelings! Feelings are so wonderful! Right?! Well...they are but in marriage and even in life they can be your best friends or your worst enemies if they are not accompanied by, some gentleness and self control. Galatians 5:23 ..gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Example..it's Christmas time right? If you and your husband plan to buy gifts you both have sat down and come up with a budget right?! I mean a good budget so when January comes your lights and gas won't be cut off because you've lost your minds shopping right?! Yes a budget, so you all will still be able to eat what you want to in 2010 instead of having to eat what you have to!LOL!!! Sorry I have loved ones that are on this vicious cycle and I don't want you to get on it, and if you are on it go look yourself in the mirror and say these words to yourself, "Christmas is about Jesus, and my friends and family KNOW that I love them whether I buy them a gift or not." Ok so husband you are out shopping and man there is this bangin Dallas Cowboys golf club that you have to have that you know will bust your budget but you get it anyway because it makes you feel good just thinking about owning it! You go home and the wife starts adding up the receipts. A discussion about it starts and then for some reason before you know it, somebody has just gone from 0-10 in 5 seconds flat. Now for others that have learned to control their emotions a little better they may go from 0-3 and then eventually down to 0. I want to encourage you all through out this Christmas Season and for the coming New Year, ask God to help you communicate your feelings of disappointment, frustration, anger, etc..in a more godly way. Decide in advance how you will handle, talk, and address potentially stressful situations in your marriage. I say decide because having a made up mind is way better than just letting your feelings get out of hand and start chipping away at your foundation.
God richly bless each of your marriages and may God be glorified through our lives and homes! Love and Blessings to you all in abundance!!! (-:
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
I hope that you were able to look up those definitions of both the fruit of the spirit and the works of the flesh that are found in Galatians chapter 5. I'm a living witness as many of you are too that walking in the Spirit produces life while walking in the flesh produces...
Ok, did you know that when you decided to marry your mate that each of you were marrying royalty?! YES! It is true. As Christians we are a royal priesthood and yes...a peculiar people LOL!! 1Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;I remember one day early on in our marriage when my husband told me that one day he'll have to stand before God and make an account of how he treated God's daughter. At first I was like WOW! I NEVER looked at it that way before then I understood him a little better. I wondered why he was always very careful with his words and actions towards me. That was part of his foundation for marriage and I appreciated that then as much as I appreciate that carefulness now. Of course after you marinade on that for awhile you begin to see that you too will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and make an account of everything that you did in your body good and bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10 Ooooh God's son or God's daughter, doesn't that just make you want to have a Selah moment....
So as you go through this week remember not only who you belong to, but who your mate belongs to as well. God the Father of heaven and earth.
God richly bless each of your marriages and may God be glorified through our lives and homes! Love and Blessings to you all in abundance!!! (-:
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
Have you ever said that to your mate? Has your mate ever said that to you? Man, how do we get to the point of saying stuff like that to each other? For some it's a I got you now, so I'm going to be careless,maybe it's just taking that person for granted, for others it may be that you both forgot how to be friends, and seriously for some it may be out of ignorance. Do you remember how you talked to one another when you were courting? We were so mindful of the other persons feelings and we were so considerate, neither of us would dare say anything that would hurt or belittle the other right. So what happens married couples...maybe we get slack and comfortable, overly secure and careless. Some have experienced deep disappointments and have become ummm.. for lack of a better word rude and hateful. Some are just tired and have resorted to treating each other just any old kind of way. Well I came today to encourage you all to think about how you both communicated to one another when you were courting. Think about the smiles that you gave one another just because. Sometimes we have to go back to square one because we have deviated from the blue print so much. The Bible talks about the fruits of the Spirit you can recall them all right..ok me neither, so I'm going to put them up here,
Galatians 5:22,23- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Now let's look at the opposite attributes of the flesh. Remember these...no, ok here ya go.
Galatians :19-21 -Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, quarreling, rivalry, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. About these things I tell you again, as I have also told you in times past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
And that's where it gets not only ugly but dangerous because now we are in danger of missing Heaven. It's tight but it's right! I'm not able to go through each of the fruits right now as well as the works of the flesh and give you the Hebrew and or Greek definition but I encourage you to go through these lists and wherever the WORD hits you repent, meaning stop and turn and go in another direction. God is really concerned about marriages, all marriages and it's time to stop blaming the devil and acting like we live on Old Mcdevils Farm..here a devil , there a devil everywhere a devil, devil. Yes we have a formidable, yet defeated adversary who as long as we continue to operate in the fruit of the Spirit will stay defeated. It's when we crossover the Cross and we get into the flesh that we swing that door wide open, but we can't blame the devil for our actions no, no, we have power over our own choices especially as Christians. It's when we chose to flesh out that the devil comes and sets up strongholds in our marriages. Remember we are spirit beings having a human experience we CAN walk in the Spirit, just not on Sundays and Wednesdays but everyday. We can use our tongues to bless our mates and speak respectfully to one another and speak sweet things to each other. Please don't let the struggles or disappointments with your spouse keep you both from being awesome examples of God in your families and communities. God wants us to experience abundant life in every area and this area is a crucial one! John 10:10
Blessings of strength, joy, power, forgiveness, and perseverance on all the marriages represented in Jesus name. Your marriage WILL make it and your marriage WILL be all that God intended for it to be!!!
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
We live in a day where marriages are hurting, couples are feeling hopeless, and children are wondering where is GOD in my family. To say that marriages are under attack is an understatement they are being assaulted with all the force that hell can muster. It seems that there has never been a time where the institution of marriage was so threatened and the word covenant taken so lightly. So in the midst of all this I hear the LORD saying "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. Jeremiah 17:7 In God is ALL of our hope because He IS our HOPE!!!
If this is for you, NOW is the time to take your spouse by the hand and proclaim, WE ARE GOING TO MAKE IT IN JESUS NAME!!!Do you know how important your covenant is to GOD! Do you know that He didn't put you together, notice I said HE PUT YOU TOGETHER not just because you wanted companionship and sex and she wanted security and children. NO! God put you together so you could love and enjoy love throughout the rest of your days here on earth. He put you two together so you could enjoy Him and all His goodness TOGETHER. He joined you so you could reflect the deepness and richness of His covenant with us, His bride TOGETHER.
You maybe in a HARD PLACE.. and you are NOT ALONE! There isn't a married couple alive right now that hasn't gone through a hard storm, or isn't currently in a storm, just came out of one, or is going into a storm. Jesus calmed the storm, Jesus walked on the waters and the same God that calms the storms lives in us. Please don't give in, please don't walk away, please don't runaway. STAND and DREAM again! STAND and FIGHT! STAND and SEE the SALVATION of God! JESUS IS OUR HOPE!Make up your mind right now that you are NOT going to quit! You go to God and you pull on Him through His WORD, through prayer, through fasting, through worship and you ask your Heavenly Father,WHAT DO WE DO? SHOW US!! He promises to give us wisdom, but we've got to seek it out. We've got to be patient with one another and we've got to HOPE in GOD.
Romans 5:5 and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us.
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Colossians 1:27 To them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
My Pastor taught that values drive a culture and that culture shows up in the music. I believe that. So maybe that would explain why there isn't a lot of love songs in wide circulation. Where are the songs celebrating Marriage? I know we are Christians but come on lets be REAL. Although I do not listen to secular music daily I do have my favorite "For Married People Only Music." I don't see anything wrong with listening to a little Sade as you dance with your husband or wife. But as my collection gets older I wonder where are the love songs that you can actually listen to without profanity, and without too much information, being sung? I want to encourage all you Christian artists and writers out there, ask God for some love songs. Songs like let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better than wine. Isn't that beautiful that came straight out of the BIBLE!!! Song of Solomon 1:2. Now that's some married worship music for sure! There are some occassions that songs like I'm Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain are not fit for!LOL!
What are some things we can and we have to make sure that we do all we can to keep our union Fire Proof and fun. First by understanding that our marriages are destined by God to do several things, mirror the relationship we have with God and produce Godly offspring. Well we know about natural children but what about spiritual children? What about all those couples and even single people that have been positively affected by your marriage and mine? What about those couples who are going through and are barely hanging on that are looking up to us to help them get through? What about the future marriages of our children and so on? I love my Pastors! They are REAL! They talk to us and let us know about their failures and successes in marriage. They do all they can to make sure married people grow in their marriages and stay strong. We have monthly meetings, retreats, classes etc...They know that if marriages don't make it everybody is affected adversely, and they believe in "taking and keeping dominion" in every area of life, and their attitude and examples are infectious. Does it get hard sometimes sure! Does it take God to help you stay the course in this covenant breaking society yes, but remember a threefold cord is not easily broken. God IS for marriage no doubt about it.The fire is always gonna be making a cameo appearance but the water of the Word and God's Spirit will help always help us move forward in victory. Some good Marriage Covenant Keeper things to be mindful of is making it our business to respond and react like Christ to one another,take time to pray, read, and fast with one another, date, buy gifts, and encourage one another daily. Doing these things will help us to be able to stay on the good side of statistics...the winning side.
As we are only two days away from Thanksgiving let your spouse know just how thankful you are for him or her. Write a sweet little note explaining why you are thankful! Buy some flowers or a golf club for your mate, a Thanksgiving Gift! Don't just say you love...show you love.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and God bless your marriage richly and abundantly!
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
Ok! So how have you been doing this week? Have you been YIELDING to your husband. Have you decided that you are going to be even more supportive and kind? Have you made up in your mind that regardless of how he acts, or the decisions he makes I'm going to yield to the Word of God in my behavior and attitude. Now let's make something clear. That doesn't mean you just smile politely without making your position known. It doesn't mean that you act like that princess in Coming to America either. Remember her? The prince upon meeting his future wife for the first time wanted to get acquainted with her. He asks her what do you like and she says "whatever you like" and that was her response to the next several questions. In some cultures that works really well for some couples, and I'm not knocking that. I Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ isGod. It's tight but it's right! COME BACK!!!! (-: Since I'am an American and this is the culture that I've been raised up in, it is the culture that I will address. Ok so we talked last about yielding. Did you or do you understand how to yield or surrender to your husband. There are several ways, but let me take one from one of my favorite movies Fire Proof. In the movie the husband has decided to put away money for a boat and his wife isn't happy about it. They kind of get into it behind it as well. Now why did I choose to start off with an example of money? Well the statistics show that infidelity, stress, incompatibility, are NOT the number one cause of divorce,FINANCES are! So back to Fire Proof, Caleb the husband decides that he is going to keep his 24,000 for his boat while, his wife allows the enemy to use that as yet another nail to drive into the coffin of their failing marriage. Now if you saw the movie Caleb ends up yielding to God's leading by blessing his wife's mother with a new hospital bed. He's accepted Christ and now we can tell by his fruit of selflessness that he is really changed. Now everybody's situation is different. Some husbands are the only bread winner, some wives are the only bread winner, and in America there is a a high percentage of two income families. So with all that being said how do we yield and yet express our opinions to our husbands when we disagree with their financial decisions? Without getting real deep and spiritual the first step is "dying to self". Say what, say what?
Yes! We have to get to a point where we are more focused on "doing right" than being focused on "who's right." Marriage like Christianity is not Burger King!LOL! For either to be successful we cannot "have it our way".(-: Now I'm keepin this light so I'm not talking about financial irresponsibility on the part of a spouse like him taking the rent money and going to the casino or spending the grocery, or bill money on a new suit. Ummm nooooooo. I'm simply talking about him making a decision from his God given positional authority that you disagree with and you loosing your mind behind it!LOL! Now what do you do when that happens? Attack him and his character, attack his parents? If that is you- STOP! That's NOT the way to handle it. We don't attack the person we attack the ISSUE. After you get a grip on you..pray, put some worship music on, whatever you need to regroup you go to him and let him know how you feel about his decision, then you go to the Father and you pray. Pray for wisdom and understanding on your part. Meaning..this may be a good move but he has the revelation on it and you don't. Or maybe he is off and you are right. No matter what you SURRENDER TO GOD"S WAY of handling it. HOW? By letting your husband KNOW how you feel in a respectful and non threatening way then by LETTING IT GO! God will communicate either your error or his and then you go from there. Nagging and degrading him IS NOT God's way and neither should it be ours. We shouldn't be with holding sex or throwing tantrums either. I know it's hard sisters but if we are going to be successful in our marriages in these days of turmoil and covenant breaking sprees we have got to get a handle on ourselves and represent and respect our husbands no matter what. God is watching and so are our children...I'll touch on that next time.
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
Ok so we're learning how to yield right? We're learning how to yield our vessels first unto the LORD and only then will we able to be the supportive and respectful helpmates to our husbands .There are many, many, benefits to be derived from that alone but now let's talk about leaving a legacy to our children. What does legacy mean to you? Legacy- a gift of property, esp. personal property, as money, by will; anything handed down from the past. So as we are walking through life with our husband we want to make it our business to leave them a legacy of Godliness in Marriage. Remember the verses to that children's song? Oh be careful little eyes what you see, oh be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above He is looking down in love oh be careful little eyes what you see. It then goes on to the next verse, Oh be careful little ears what you hear...You get the point right? What our children expose their eyes and ears too will affect them and the Father is watching. So what about the stuff that they don't intentionally try to see or hear? What about the things that they have to see and hear in our homes? There is no way to block out the " For Real Home Channel" where Mommy and Daddy are the STARS!
Now we all know that we all go through different things in marriage. Some good, some great, some bad, some really bad. The point I want to make is that God is speaking to you RIGHT NOW! He's saying I know that it's been hard for you to reel yourself in and the situation is hard, but NOW is the time for you to take my WORD and WALK IT OUT! These are times of stress and pressure like never before, and should the LORD tarry our children are going to be growing up in times a lot more stressful and challenging than the present, so we have to equip them NOW! What are you saying Marva? I'm saying we as mothers have to make very intentional, and conscious efforts to show our children what being a Christian is about and how Godly women behave when the pressure is on. Now I can hear you thinking what? Girl, I have Bible study with my kids, we have a time of praise and worship everyday, we memorize Scripture, we feed the poor together and so on. That's AWESOME!!! So when there is conflict in your home what do they see then? It's easy to be cheesy when all is well...but it's when the pressure hits, that's when the REAL you and me comes out and we have a captive audience too...our kids. I heard somebody say once I can praise God better when I've got money in my pocket, or when you see somebody preach or do something that is when they are at their best. I can't say I agree with those statements. One thing I do agree with is when you and I CHOOSE to keep a cool head and honor God and our husbands in the heat of the moment, our kids will have a good foundation from which to draw from in the future when they find themselves in the middle of "heated fellowhip". Notice I said CHOOSE. We have a choice, the devil can't make us act crazy. Now we may act crazy for many reasons because we have a learned behavior pattern that we're pulling from or we're just really selfish, we've been abused, or we have poor coping skills etc...No matter what God's has given us the victory from the damaging effects of all of it.
Ok so back to our little offspring. Garbage in ,Garbage out. What kind of things are we feeding our children where marriage is concerned. Do we want to show them the Stepford Wives.. no! We are going to strain every muscle in us to show them what a Godly woman "in conflict" looks like. That's what we want to leave our kids, especially our daughters. We want to show them NOW how to handle stressful situations, storms, trials and tribulations that come up in marriage. We want to show them how to yield to God so they can yield to their husbands and leave a legacy of success to their kids and so on and so on. We affect everyone around us, especially those close to us. Ask God right now to show you how to better handle the pressure that comes up between you and your husband from time to time. Look at and study how Jesus handled stressful situations. He never retaliated, never lifted up His voice but entrusted Himself to His Father. That's the legacy we want to leave behind to our children..Next stop trusting God in your desert as you begin your journey into the promised land.
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
I can hear you now, I don't care how good it gets! I'm not going to call my husband master! It's ok...I'm with you because I'm not quite there myself BUT although I'm not feelin the calling him master part. My attitude IS. We've all heard it said that your Attitude Determines Your Altitude. That is the truth! It will also determine your DECREASE in altitude. So let's look at this verse again.
I Peter 3:1-6 1 In the same way, you wives should yield to your husbands. Then, if some husbands do not obey God's teaching, they will be persuaded to believe without anyone's saying a word to them. They will be persuaded by the way their wives live.2 Your husbands will see the pure lives you live with your respect for God.3 It is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful.4 No, your beauty should come from within you—the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit that will never be destroyed and is very precious to God.5 In this same way the holy women who lived long ago and followed God made themselves beautiful, yielding to their own husbands.6 Sarah obeyed Abraham, her husband, and called him her master. And you women are true children of Sarah if you always do what is right and are not afraid.
Ok let's go line by line together...it's ok you can stop gnashing your teeth now!LOL!! Yield to your husbands. Not your girlfriends husbands or God forbid somebody else's husband, but YOUR husband. What does yield mean. Well I looked it up and it has a lot of definitions but these will suffice. Check this out! READY! OK (-: 1.To give up or surrender (oneself) 2.To give up or over; relinquish or resign 3.To give as due or required WHEW! This is a Selah moment! Pause and calmly think about that! So we can see that God wants us to give up or surrender, relinquish or resign, give as due or required. COME BACK!!!!! You can do it!!
Unfortunately we have been bombarded by a culture that has women chanting "Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you!!! What's the next line..the men sing no you can't and she sings YES I CAN and back and forth they go. Back and forth in front of their children, neighbors, family, coworkers, friends, and on and on. These things ought not be so. Why? Because that type of behavior doesn't bring glory to God and because it's OUT OF ORDER! Now I know some of you are very strong willed and independent. Maybe you were hurt and vowed to NEVER give that kind of surrender to any man ever again in life. Maybe you grew up without a dad like me, and all you've been exposed to is strong women handling their business. Maybe you've bought into the lie that women are far more superior than man. I hear you BUT that's not what God's Word says. We are God's daughters right? We are vessels for His glory to manifest in and through right? Then let me encourage you in this. We have to move past our corrupted and false views of womanhood and embrace the truth as women of God, striving to be all that God wants us to be. We are to be loving, yielding, supportive, gentle, kind, women of God. With the divorce statistics at ridiculous and extremely high rates we have to make sure that we as wives are doing everything to keep our marriages strong, healthy, and glory filled. Yes, I hear you ..men have to do their part too! Agreed! But how about, when we stand before God one day He's going to judge us on how we treated us our husbands, His son and vice versa. I can't control my husbands attitude but I can control mine. I want to be all that God wants me to be as a wife to His son don't you? I know you do, and yielding to our husbands more and more will bless our families, our sphere's of influence, and bring God glory.
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
So I've been meditating on Sarah. She was quite a woman and she married a man that God spoke to, God walked among, and a man that God made a covenant with that would eventually bless her and the world. She had to be a pretty tough sister to be hooked up to a brother like that. Yes, they had their ups and downs, ins and outs, but being married to Abraham got so good to Sarah that she called him lord( master).
I Peter 3:1-6 1 In the same way, you wives should yield to your husbands. Then, if some husbands do not obey God's teaching, they will be persuaded to believe without anyone's saying a word to them. They will be persuaded by the way their wives live.2 Your husbands will see the pure lives you live with your respect for God.3 It is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful.4 No, your beauty should come from within you—the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit that will never be destroyed and is very precious to God.5 In this same way the holy women who lived long ago and followed God made themselves beautiful, yielding to their own husbands.6 Sarah obeyed Abraham, her husband, and called him her master. And you women are true children of Sarah if you always do what is right and are not afraid. COME BACK, COME BACK!!! I know I just lost half of you right there.LOL!!!
If you are like me you were raised that you were woman and the world should hear you ROAR!!!! You didn't need a man to do anything for you and you definitely didn't need a man to make you feel important. You KNEW you had it going on and that's all the mattered. Well....as a single woman that mentality will keep you from a lot of foolishness but as a married woman.... Now I'm not saying that you can't be an independent gotta it going on type of woman. I'm just saying that you don't need to announce it or ROARRRRR it, every time you feel the need to take control. Now I'm preaching to me too because this is the desert that I'm leaving right now as I begin my walk into the promised land! God has shown me that He has given men positional authority, whether they(men) like it, or we like it, whether they walk in it or we walk in it with them as submissive helpmates...it is what it is!! Can I be REAL! The world has and is attempting to pervert the order that God has ordained for the family! Too many of God's daughters have fallen or is currently falling for that lie and it's time to walk in the truth.
God knows that we are intelligent, beautiful, giving, compassionate, nurturing beings He made us that way, BUT He still made man FIRST, and even though Adam messed up by following Eve's act of disobedience, God did not take that positional authority away from Adam. We all know that Adam could've said bye Boo, I'll see ya around. No instead Adam got in on it, and landed on the other side of the Garden..man that's messed up to this day!LOL!! What am I saying sisters and brothers. God has given man the responsibility of being in charge regardless and He's given us as women the responsibility to help them. No matter what God expects us to respect that authority at ALL TIMES, I'll have more on Thursday. For now pray and ask the LORD if you are honoring your husband's God given positional authority the way that God wants you to..in a way that brings glory to God and blessing to you!
Pray about it!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Coming By Today and God Bless You ♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥ We Are Humbled Brothers & Passionate Sisters in Christ
So he finally popped the question after months and months of courting. Your heart is racing, your ring finger has a beautiful diamond on it and you've posted it on Face Book, now what? You start planning the wedding! He doesn't care about all that you say..so you'll just handle it yourself right?! Ok, so now you are off to theKnot.com where you can set up your own wedding page and everything you need is at your fingertips! What are you going to do first? You are going to find a dress that will make him melt!! Next the cake, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, and location. Around and around we spin around on that wonderful ride of "I'm Getting Married" YAY ME!
This is YOUR special day you are planning for! You've only played this scene in your head like a million times since you were a little girl right? I imagined myself walking down that aisle looking fabulous, friends and family looking on as I walk towards the man of my dreams. So...did you ever imagine yourself having problems? Did you ever imagine how you would handle conflict? What would you do if he lost his job. What would you do if he got sick? Who would lead devotions in the home? Would you cook every night? Well if you are like me, you aren't even thinking about that!LOL! Why think about conflict anyway? We had a drama free 8 month courtship. We fasted, we prayed, we read the Bible, we worshiped together and we NEVER touched!!! He told me I will never defile you, or cause you to sin against the Father. This was a match made in Heaven for real!!! We talked about what we wanted in marriage, what we wanted to accomplish while married, and how wonderful our marriage was going to be! We didn't need marriage counseling we had the Holy Ghost!!! He will guide us into all truth right? Yep and and um the truth will make and keep you free too!LOL Well when conflict came I was of the impression that he knew my way of communicating. Quick and loud. His way to solve conflict quietly and with lengthy discussions. Uhhh ohhh!!! You know where I'm going with this right?!
Pre-marriage counseling would have spared us some "rude awakenings" that we've had throughout the years for sure. In counseling they make you come out of your "love trance" and consider some things, that for the most part I can say never even crossed my mind! Why do I care how he handles conflict? We'll never have conflict! This is no ordinary love... Yes Sade was on my honeymoon. (-: Why does it matter if I think a man should always take out the trash. Or this was my favorite one..a budget are you kidding me. We'll live off of our love and the joy released will pay our bills!LOL!!! I know right? I have to laugh at that one myself. The truth of the matter is before you say "I do" let me encourage you that no matter how saved you is, or you ain't pre-marriage counseling will benefit you greatly. Now you can be grown and graduate from the school of hard knocks if you want to, you'll make it, we did. But WHY go that route? There is so much information in those sessions that can actually increase your ability to live happily ever after, by equipping you with sound Biblical wisdom and common sense understanding. So before you "jump the broom" sign up for some pre-marriage classes, you will be glad you did!(-:
Just a kind reminder, please feel free to submit your prayer requests for today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Stopping By God Bless You ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marriage? What is the first image that comes to mind? You and your sweetie running through a grassy meadow hand in hand smiling as you both maneuver around the "mines of life together"? What about the image of you both riding on a roller coaster smiling sweetly at one another as you are about to drop down about 300ft at 90 miles an hour, not really knowing if the love that fuels this roller coaster called Marriage can withstand the dips, drops, and plunges of life? Maybe your mind brings up images of the old ball and chain perhaps? Well you know what, we all go through all of these images throughout our marriages. One day we're like, I love you so much Snoogy Woogy and then we have those days that make you want to pray and ask God, Is this the ONE or should I look for another?!
My husband and I have been married for 11 years and we've had some really great times and some really hard and challenging times. Being a Christian doesn't exempt us from the rain and storms, that eventually find their way over our perfect little cottage with the white picket fence. Marriage is and can be wonderful if we view it and respect it the way God has intended. God ordained and established the marriage covenant and He meant it to be enjoyable, a witness, and a work that He wants to be apart of. Remember these words in Ecclesiastes 4:12- Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. God IS that third cord that binds us and keeps us together, and He wants to have "total access." He does that through His Spirit, His Word, and by placing those around us who will give us Godly counsel and encourage us on our way. As we go through marriage God is guiding, correcting, and instructing us. We cannot rely upon our own wisdom to get us through this most precious and sacred covenant we NEED God's wisdom and help.
Did you know that marriage is not a business transaction, where one partner vows to give 50% if the other does too? Did you know that marriage is not conditional,if you do this I'll do that and if you don't, I won't? These examples are worldly in nature and self centered. Marriage God's way says you two are One flesh and it will take you both moving forward, to get through life successfully with all it's joys and pains, ups and downs, ins and outs. Sometimes in marriage one partner wants to move quicker than the other. Sometimes in marriage one partner puts the other partner out a limb behind a bad decision made. We affect each other with every move we make positively or negatively but one thing that we can say works through it all is loving one another and forgiving one another the way God has forgiven and loves us through Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:13- Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. My husband and I have not mastered this, we have days we are right on the money and we have days that we miss by a long shot. The key is to keep moving forward with made up minds that we are going to have and hold onto each other tightly, in sickness or health, for better or for worse, til death to us apart.
Pray for your spouse & your marriage ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank You For Stopping By God Bless You ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn shares the wonderful life of a "godly marriage". Weekly tips, prayer and updates coming soon...stay tuned!!!
Matthew 19:4-6
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female. And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Through Hard Times
Pray for the strength, courage and commitment to weather through the inevitable hard times of disappointed love.
Colossians 3:18-19
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Prayer of Salvation
God I come to You right now acknowledging that I'm a sinner. I understand that I was born into sin and that Jesus was born into the world specifically to die for my sins. I ask You God to please wash me clean from my sins right now, please forgive me. I want to know You and serve You. I ask You to come and live inside of me right now. I ask You to show me how to live for You, and reveal to me the plans that You have for my life. Thank You for loving me, forgiving me, and for making me a new creature. I trust my life to You and I know that You will guide me everyday by Your Word and Your Spirit. In Jesus name Amen.
