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What about marriage?

1 Corinthians 6:20 (AMP) You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.

Hot topic on the social media pages right now is the people that are ministering in churches coming out with a polygynous marriage. I am just going to stick to the Word of God on this one and stick to what God said about marriage. Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church because they had a lot of questions about marriage and sex. What they came out of was wickedness and some tried to bring the that type of living back in to their new lives in Christ. They were so concerned that they were willing to live abstinent lives in marriage and divorce their unsaved spouses to keep from sinning and being drawn back to the old pagan customs. Read the letter in context (1 Corinthians) and you will see what their hearts were.

Matthew 19:11-12 (MSG) But Jesus said, “Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn’t for everyone. Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked—or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you’re capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.”

1 Corinthians 7:7, 32-35 I wish that all the people were as I am; but each person has his own gift from God, one of this kind and one of that. But I want you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but the married man is concerned about worldly things, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the matters of the Lord, how to be holy and set apart both in body and in spirit; but a married woman is concerned about worldly things, how she may please her husband. Now I say this for your own benefit; not to restrict you, but to promote what is appropriate and secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

Marriage should be making our lives bigger in a capacity to serve God greater. I have a wonderful marriage, and we consider each other before all people, but we do not consider each other before God. My husband does not complete me, only Christ can do that. When I was in my adolescent years, I wanted to fall in love and have a boyfriend. Boyfriends are not mature and will often leave you broken hearted. When I was fifteen, I prayed for a husband and promised God that we would serve Him for the rest of our lives. I met my husband on a blind date thirty-one years ago, at the age of fifteen. Did we serve God right away? Nope. We were not even living for God right then. I did not get saved until I was eighteen. Do you know what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart to draw me in? The love that I sought from John (my husband to be) was not going to be what fulfilled me. I had to take him off that pedestal and allow God to be there. It took me years to grow in the deepness of that love. It took me years before I really understood it. The seed was planted many years ago, it is now rooted strongly in the love of Christ.

Revelations 2:2-5 (AMP) I know your deeds and your toil, and your patient endurance, and that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and have tested and critically appraised those who call themselves apostles (special messengers, personally chosen representatives, of Christ), and [in fact] are not, and have found them to be liars and impostors; and [I know that] you [who believe] are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and that you have not grown weary [of being faithful to the truth]. But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]. So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]; otherwise, I will visit you and remove your lampstand (the church, its impact) from its place—unless you repent.

This is the heart check moment that I have to keep within myself. We may point out the evil, and not tolerate it, but what sin have we committed against God? We are quick to judge yet will not submit the Word to judge ourselves in matters that can affect our ability to love like He commanded us to. Let us not forget our first love and who should be the center of our lives. Serving my spouse is a service to the Lord, when the Lord is put first, not my spouse. What we are called to steward was not meant to make the center of our lives. For example, marriages, finances, children, houses and jobs were not meant to be the center of our lives. They were meant to enlarge our capacity to serve God. If I cannot put God first place in my life with those things in my life, then I have made them an idol. When I influence my family to also put them first place above Him, then I have drawn them to idol worship. This is why marriage should not be looked at a way to fulfill ourselves, but to fulfill Him.

I believe marriage is between one man and one woman, joined together to glorify God (Matthew 19:4-5). Man and woman were created in the image of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:27). All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being (John 1:3). This is in reference to Jesus. Jesus is our bridegroom and we (as His church) are His bride. What we should be concerned about right now is being ready for His return. We should be concerned about the effect of the nonsense of the church has on the unsaved. That is what was on the hearts of the people in Corinth. We should be concerned that the world does not influence the church (Romans 12:2). Old customs are done away with, and we accept the new in Christ. Everything must point to Christ, not man.

Abba, Father, Lord of all, You are Marvelous and Wonderful. Your Name is Holy and Worthy of all Praise and Honor. Thank You for Your Son our Bridegroom. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit our Teacher. Our desire is to glorify You in all we say and do. We repent for thinking marriage was only for us, when marriage is about us worshiping You deeper. We want to be counted as faithful stewards to what You have entrusted us with. That includes our marriage, our children, our finances, our homes and even our jobs. We desire to glorify You with whatever we put our hands to. You said you would meet our every need when we put You first place in our lives. We are sorry for taking our eyes off of you and keeping our eyes on our needs. We repent for putting ourselves at the place of judge to the unbeliever, and for not holding up the mirror of the Word to ourselves as we should. Let us hold each other accountable to the standard of Your Word to bring those who have strayed back into the fellowship of Your Way. Let us do this with love and honor. We choose forgiveness today. We choose hope today. We choose joy today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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To Know His Heart

Luke 22:42 (AMP) “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup [of divine wrath] from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done.”

My husband and I just celebrated twenty eight years of being a couple. We met on a blind date as teenagers and have been together ever since (we did not become official boyfriend/girlfriend for almost a month). In those twenty eight years we are still getting to know different areas of each other. We have changed and grown. To show you love someone is to get to know them over and over again. You will join in on things they enjoy. You will want to speak their love language. If they do not know your love language, then you should help them discover it. 

Gary Chapman describes our love languages in five different areas: 
Words of Affirmation - words that communicate your love, appreciation, and respect for another person. They're positive words and phrases used to uplift someone. What's more, these compliments and words of encouragement don't have to be said directly to the person. 
Quality Time - centers around togetherness. It's all about expressing your love and affection with your undivided attention. 
Giving Gifts - involves tangible items with thoughtful meaning. Gifts do not have to cost a lot of money. They simply show, “Hey, he was thinking of me today.”  
Physical Touch - expressing and receiving affection through touch, physical closeness, and other forms of physical connection. 
Acts of Service - doing something for your partner that you know they would like, such as filling up their gas, watering their plants, or cooking them a meal.

I was praying over our worship team and over what my husband and I have been teaching about and I kept hearing “Know Your Heart” over and over. God wants us to know His heart. I went to look up the words “know” and “heart” in my Bible’s concordance and all the verses showed up about God knowing our hearts. What does it say about us knowing His? We know Jesus knew His heart. There is another man in the Bible that it talks about being after the heart of God.

1 Samuel 13:13-14 (AMP) Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for [if you had obeyed] the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man (David) after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as leader and ruler over His people, because you have not kept (obeyed) what the Lord commanded you.”

Acts 13:22 (AMP) And when He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king: of him He testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart [conforming to My will and purposes], who will do all My will.’

David was a shepherd when he was anointed to be king. There are many photos depicting shepherds and often they are of light-hearted and laying in the grass next to sheep. They depict them as laid back and day dreamers. This is not the truth of what shepherds were like. A shepherd was looked at very lowly and doing menial tasks. Sheep are stubborn, prone to stray and are defenseless animals. This was a full time job, yet David still spent time with the Lord in the fields. I often look at it like motherhood. Being a mother does not have any off days, neither did being a shepherd.

The very first shepherd mentioned in the Bible was Abel. Genesis 4:2-7, Now Abel kept the flocks [of sheep and goats], but Cain cultivated the ground. And in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. But Abel brought [an offering of] the [finest] firstborn of his flock and the fat portions. And the Lord had respect (regard) for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and his offering He had no respect. So Cain became extremely angry (indignant), and he looked annoyed and hostile. And the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you so angry? And why do you look annoyed? If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.” What is pleasing to the Lord? We should not come to Him without wanting to know His heart. If we do not do this we will ignore His instruction, and could become disobedient, hard-hearted and rebellious. Cain actually murdered his brother. You do not think murder can enter yours with envy, jealousy and slander?

In order for me to know His heart, I need to listen and obey. There are many ways that God speaks to us. He speaks to us mainly through the written Word of the Bible. He speaks to us in the messages that we hear through our pastors. He speaks to us in the conversations we have with others. He speaks to us through what we watch. He speaks to us when we are doing our day to day tasks. How do I know His voice? We often want it to be loud and booming. He can speak to us that way, but is that the only way He can get your attention? Do you need a prophet to say, “thus says the Lord,” in order for you to have heard from God? If that is the case then we can be easily led astray and have not really desired to know His heart.

What if I only spoke my love language to my husband they way that I received love? I really did not want to know what his was because mine should be good enough. I was doing something right? That is what it is like when we depend on someone else for revelation knowledge. That is what it is like when we say that giving is better than serving. That is what it is like when we say words are better than presence. Nothing is higher than the other. It is in our preference that we have approached God. How about we do all of it? It’s not about our preference, it is about His. It is not my will, it is His will that I want.

Lord, our Jehovah, our Creator, our El Shaddai, we honor Your Holy Name. We stand in awe of You. There is nothing greater. Thank You for sending Your Son to be our Good Shepherd. He paid the ultimate price by laying down His life for us. Thank You for the Holy Spirit. Thank You that we can hear Your voice. We repent for the ways that we have come before You, or lack of. You said that we can come boldly into Your throne room of grace and mercy. We will not take that for granted again. We want to be close to You. We want to know Your Heart. From Your Word You have revealed Your heart and it is through our obedience that we tell You we love You. Please take the goggles of envy, jealousy and covetousness from our eyes so that we can love the way You created us to. We surrender our will to Yours. We choose hope today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose joy today. We choose faith today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Closer by Bethel