Archive for September, 2010

Help, Mate!

GENESIS 2:18 LB
18 And the Lord God said, “It isn’t good for man to be alone; I
will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs.”

An important part of God’s purpose for marriage is to have
someone to help you in life.

(God did not intend for this to be one-sided. A husband also
should help his wife. Otherwise, a husband would not love his
wife as Christ loves the church. See Ephesians 5:25.)

We all need help and encouragement. Sadly, for most people,
that is often not at all what they receive from their spouse.

Your spouse, whether you know it or not, desperately wants and
needs your help, your encouragement, and your support.

Are all spouses perfect and deserving of encouragement and
support? None are! No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. But
especially in those times, it is important that we have someone
to encourage us and help us to believe we can go on and do
better. God meant for you to be that someone to help your
spouse.

Don’t fall into the trap of waiting until your spouse starts
being nice to you. God’s law works in this area, too: whatever
you give, you will receive. So the best way to get your spouse
to treat you better is to treat them better.

God does not expect you to love and help your spouse solely
with your own love, but to allow God to pour His love through
you. God loves your spouse — enough to die for them — and
desires to express that love through you.

If your spouse would not describe you as their encourager,
friend, and a great help to them — you are missing God’s plan.
You need to be your mate’s biggest booster.

Yes, this can be hard. Yes, you have no doubt suffered because
of them. Yes, they have hurt you and you probably don’t feel
like being a blessing to them after what they have done to you.
But none of this changes the Word of God and His plan.

Whenever you find direction in God’s Word that seems difficult
or impossible, your approach should always be to ask God to
help you. “Lord, I see in your Word that you want me to do
this, but I need your help. Help me to love them. Cause your
love for them to flow through me.”

SAY THIS: With God’s help, I will encourage and help those
around me, especially and always, my spouse.

Delay Is Not Denial

LUKE 18:1 NKJ
1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to
pray and not lose heart,

Many people give up too easily in prayer. When they don’t see
the answer almost immediately, they quit.

God is not pleased with this approach.

You may say, “God knows my need. Why doesn’t He just give it to
me, instead of playing games?”

Whether you agree with God’s ways, or not: God is still in
charge and makes the rules — not you. So, it does you no good
to argue or complain. Better to just line up with God instead
of fighting against His plan. Besides, in reality God’s ways
are perfect, it is just that we are often too immature and
ignorant to understand all God is doing.

Scripture has many examples of people pressing in and receiving
answers to prayer. We should never be quitters when it comes to
prayer.

It is God’s will to answer your prayers. He is the One who told
you to pray. God actually delights in answering your prayers.

(Never forget that God loves you more than you can imagine. God
loves you more than He loves Himself, and proved it by dying in
your place, so you could go free.)

“Then why are there so many delays?”

There is an enemy, the devil, who hates you and is against you
receiving your answer from God.

Second, some prayers involve other people, and God does not
force people to do His will, but works with them patiently so
they can see and do the right thing willingly. This takes time.

Third, there are things that God is working in you while you
are persevering in prayer. God’s plan is for you to grow up
spiritually. God wants to enlarge your faith and encourage you
to develop a closer relationship with Him. If every answer
always came immediately, would you really press in and spend
time drawing closer to God and studying His Word?

Don’t despair in prayer. Keep on praying in faith as long as
you are praying according to God’s Word. A delay, even a very
long one, does not mean that God is saying no to your request.

SAY THIS: I will not give up in prayer.

If You Don’t Know What To Believe

JOHN 17:17 NKJ
17 “. . . Your word is truth.

According to Jesus, the Word of God is truth. Yet many people
proclaim quite different messages — all using the Bible as
their text. How can you know who to believe?

Jesus also told us that continuing to abide in the Word of God
would produce freedom — not bondage.

JOHN 8:31-32 NKJ
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you
abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free.”

So, look at the fruit produced by the message proclaimed. Is it
freedom? If not, then it must not be the ACCURATE message of
Jesus Christ.

The true message of Jesus Christ will set people free — not
put them in bondage. It truly is good news, and makes people
happy when they correctly understand it.

JOHN 10:10 NKJ
10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they
may have it more abundantly.

If it produces death, stealing, or destruction, it is not God’s
plan for you. Jesus came so you could have life in all the
fullness God intended.

What you need to do now is simple:

1) Stop listening to lies.

Anything that makes you think God does not love you, or that
you are hopeless or helpless — is a lie. God is not against
you or mad at you. All your troubles have been caused by the
devil, and your ignorance, not by God.

2) Listen to the truth.

God’s truth is good news. It will build you up — and give you
an inheritance. It will give you good things, not take anything
good away from you.

ACTS 20:32 NKJ
32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of
His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Primarily, you need to read the New Testament for yourself.
Don’t just depend on others to tell you what God said. And
before you read, ask the Lord to teach you and reveal Himself
to you.

Secondarily, listen to teachers and preachers who feed you the
Word of God which builds your faith and makes you love and
appreciate God more. Otherwise, quit listening to them.

Remember, the accurate message of Jesus makes you free. (Not
free to sin without consequences, but free from the bondage and
the effects of sin and its curse.)

SAY THIS: I will stop listening to and believing lies, and I
will listen to and believe the truth. God loves me and will
help me.

Prayer Strengthens You

ISAIAH 40:31 NKJ
31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength…

Too many people think of prayer only as asking God for what
they want. But prayer is much more than that. Prayer is
communication and communion with Almighty God. Somehow, in the
act of prayer we receive a transfusion of God’s strength.

LUKE 22:46 NKJ
46 …”pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

Being strong enables you to not enter into temptation. Time
spent in prayer strengthens you spiritually. (Temptation
strikes us all. But we decide whether to yield to the
temptation, or not.)

JUDE 1:20 NKJ
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

According to Jude, praying builds you up, or edifies you.
Prayer is a spiritual exercise; the more you do it the stronger
you get spiritually.

Some may protest that they don’t know how to pray. Just begin
to talk to God. And listen for His response, not through a
voice, but through His Word, or thoughts in line with His Word.
God is not so particular about how His children visit with Him.
Just do it!

SAY THIS: I choose to spend time with God each day in prayer
and receive God’s strength and help.

Fight The Good Fight Of Faith

1 TIMOTHY 6:12 NKJ
12 Fight the good fight of faith . . . .

Christians are supposed to fight — just not with each other.

Our struggle is about our faith. The devil wants our faith in
God to wither and die. God wants our faith to grow stronger.

The battlefield is your mind. The devil tries to keep his
evidence foremost in your thoughts: negative circumstances and
what your senses tell you. God’s evidence is contained in His
unchanging Word: the Bible.

We must choose to feed the truths of the Bible into our
thinking to keep our faith strong.

The devil still tells mankind his old lie, “Has God said?”
which we could modernize as, “Did God really mean that?”

Yes, God meant what He said and said what He meant.

“Then why doesn’t it seem that way when I look around at my
circumstances?”

Because you are supposed to fight the good fight of faith and
actively receive the promised blessings. God will bring His
Word to pass in your life when you actively believe it. God’s
program is set up to reward those who trust Him.

You should resist and even rebuke thoughts of doubt, knowing
they originate with the evil one. You can say, “Doubt, I resist
you. Leave me alone. God is faithful and His Word is true.”

You have authority over what you think. The Bible tells you
what to think about in Philippians 4:8. But you must exercise
your authority through words spoken. Otherwise, authority
doesn’t benefit you.

HEBREWS 11:1 NKJ
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.

Faith involves things not seen, or not discerned by
your physical senses. If you can see it or feel it you don’t
need to have faith for it. Faith is your evidence until it
manifests to your physical senses.

God does not lie. His written Word is your faith evidence until
the blessing is evident even to your physical senses. Resist
the devil by continuing to believe God’s Word.

A good fight is a fight you can win.

SAY THIS: With God’s help, I will fight the good fight of faith
and win.