Archive for October, 2011

Your Marriage Is Your Ministry

Your Marriage Is Your Ministry

EPHESIANS 5:33 ESV
33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and
let the wife see that she respects her husband.

God desires to bless your spouse through you!

Jesus has sent us out as members of His spiritual Body, to
minister to those around us. We are supposed to allow His love
to flow through us.

MATTHEW 25:40 GWN
40 “The king will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth:
Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter
how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.’

God loves your spouse — enough to die for them.  His desire is
to help them and bless them. They are not perfect. They need a
lot of help. That is why God sent you, as His representative,
to minister to them.

To minister means to serve. God put you where you are to serve
– to be a blessing. It is a mistake to think of “Christian
ministry” only as being a pastor or missionary, etc. Any time a
Christian is serving (helping) people it is “Christian
ministry.”

Your ministry is not limited to your spouse, but it certainly
includes them.

Whatever other ministry God may entrust to you, if you are
married, God has trusted you with the ministry of being a
blessing to your spouse.

God has not left you to struggle in this ministry on your own.
He is with you, and in you, to work through you. God will help
you. But you must allow Him to do so.

Building up and encouraging your spouse will also be doing
yourself a favor. They will be more pleasant to live with when
they are blessed, loved, and encouraged.

SAY THIS: I accept responsibility to minister to my spouse, to
serve them by helping them in any way I can.

It Is Written

It Is Written

MATTHEW 4:3-4 NKJ
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the
Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God.’ ”

When tempted, Jesus did not use any supernatural powers to
resist the devil. Jesus simply quoted the written Word of God
to the devil.

You must do the same thing. Jesus was our example, showing us
how to overcome the attacks of our enemy.

Notice how the devil came to tempt Jesus — with a thought — a
thought contrary to the written Word of God.

Then after Jesus quoted the Bible, the devil also quoted the
Bible but twisted the meaning. Jesus responded only with
another verse from the Bible.

MATTHEW 4:6-7 NKJ
6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself
down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over
you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you
dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt
the LORD your God.’ ”

If you read the whole passage in Matthew 4:1-11, you will see
that quoting the written Word was the only defense Jesus used
against the devil. Nothing else.

If you are going to overcome temptation and walk in victory,
you must follow Jesus’ example and quote the Bible to the
devil. There is no other way.

God’s Word in your mouth is your spiritual weapon. If you
neglect to use it, you will be overcome instead of walking in
all the victory and blessing Jesus has provided for you.

EPHESIANS 6:17 NKJ
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God;

Obviously you must know what the Bible says to quote it to the
devil. So it is evident how important it is to read and study
the Bible for yourself.

Yet it is not enough to just read the Bible or study it. When
thoughts come that are not in agreement with the Bible, we must
speak the Word to the devil who is behind those thoughts.

SAY THIS: I will resist the devil with what is written in God’s
Word.

God Is Your Source

God Is Your Source

PHILIPPIANS 4:19 NIV
19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his
glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

God can use any avenue or any means to provide for you, but He
is the ultimate Source behind every blessing.

Your job or occupation is one avenue God can use to bless you.
But, your job is not your source.

God’s plan for mankind is that we labor. So God will usually
provide for us by giving us a good job, good health, and the
ability to do that job.

However, God is not limited to providing for you through a job.
Even if you lose the job — God is still your Source, and He
will still provide for you.

Even if you lose your health, God can and will still provide
for you. (And He will also heal you, if you let Him.)

God can bless you through friends and relatives, but they are
not your source. Even if they fail you or forsake you, God will
not.

PSALM 27:10 NKJ
10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
take care of me.

HEBREWS 13:5 NKJ
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with
such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never
leave you nor forsake you.”

God deserves credit and thanks for everything good that has
ever happened to you. He was behind it. God was the source of
it. Was it a mother’s love? God put that love in her for you.
Was it the love of a spouse? God created that love.

Every good thing in life owes its existence to God. We should
thank God for every good thing, no matter how it seems to come
to us.

God moves on people and influences them to bless you. God
causes situations to work out for your benefit. God is behind
every blessing.

So keep your eyes on God. Thank Him for every blessing, no
matter how it comes to you, because it is from Him.

SAY THIS: God is MY Source.

Saved By Grace

Saved By Grace

EPHESIANS 2:8-9 NLT
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t
take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done,
so none of us can boast about it.

Being saved, and in right standing with God, is a gift! It is
something we don’t deserve, but is freely given to us anyway.

We cannot earn it no matter what we do. Deliverance from the
curse, and right standing with God, is available only as a free
gift.

ROMANS 11:6 NRSV
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works,
otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

It is not what we have done that matters, but what Jesus did
for us. He was our Substitute, suffering what we deserved, so
we could receive what He deserved as a gift.

God Himself has done what is necessary for us to be saved and
be in right standing with Him. Now we must believe in what God
has done, and thank Him for it.

ROMANS 4:5 NLT
5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their
work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

People all over the world try to be right with God by what they
do: rituals, sacrifices, and devotion. But the Bible reveals we
cannot be right with God by our own actions — it is a gift we
must receive.

ROMANS 3:20 NLT
20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the
law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

By keeping the law it is impossible to be right with God,
because no human being can keep it by their own effort. We have
all sinned, according to the Bible.

ROMANS 3:23 NLT
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious
standard.

God does not grade on a curve. All have sinned and come short.
So we all need a Savior.

ROMANS 10:9-10 NLT
9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.
10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right
with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are
saved.

So salvation is a free gift. Anyone can receive it. It comes
wrapped up in a person — the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive Jesus
– no matter who you are or what you have done — and instantly
you are saved (which means delivered) and put in perfect right
standing with God, as if you had never sinned. What a gift!

SAY THIS: I am saved by God’s wonderful grace.

Who Will Govern?

Who Will Govern?

ISAIAH 9:7 NLT
7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule
with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of
Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

This is the question we must face, both as individuals and as
nations. Who, or what, will be our “king?” Who will be our
“supreme court?” (By “supreme court” I do not mean a group of
people who meet in a building, but the final authority that we
base our ideas, principles, and actions upon.)

We have a choice. We can choose Jesus Christ and His Kingdom of
Love, Light, and Life. Or we can choose selfishness and
darkness and death.

Whenever we reject Jesus and His Word from ruling over us,
whether as individuals or as a nation, we choose darkness.

I do not advocate any religious control over government. What
we need instead is people in government who know the truth and
will speak and act in truth and not out of self interest. We
need people in secular government who are submitted to Jesus as
their Lord and are willing to live and govern with His love for
mankind, instead of acting in self interest.

MATTHEW 6:10 NLT
10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.

SAY THIS: Jesus, and those who have died with Him to self
interest, are qualified, and should be selected to govern.