Tag: #Christianity

A Life with a Great Marriage

You may not be married but if you want to get married one day then now is the time to be preparing for a great marriage. You may wonder how to prepare for a great marriage and if it is God’s will for you to even get married. It is God’s will for most young ladies to get married and it is God’s will that you have a great marriage. A wise woman starts building a great marriage before she gets married.

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house,
But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

It is by God’s wisdom that a great marriage is built. He is the Master Builder and when we build according to His plans the marriage will be great and it will stand during the storms of life. Many marriages are not built on the right foundation and so when the storms come they do not stand but fall and great is the fall with much pain to all.

Proverbs 23:3,4 By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.

By wisdom a great marriage is built and by understanding it is established and by the knowledge of the Lord the days and years will be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Now is the time to prepare. Now is the time to get ready.

Proverbs 24:27 Prepare your work outside
And make it ready for yourself in the field;
Afterwards, then, build your house.

Since the Lord Jesus Christ is the Master Builder then He needs to be your Master or otherwise you will think that you know how to prepare and what to do. A great marriage begins with the Master Builder being your Master and you following His blueprint. His blueprint is His plans and instruction for life and marriage. Since he designed marriage then He knows what you need to do.

Luke 6:46-49 Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

You must first learn what an excellent wife is and then you will have a picture of what you want to become. First of all, an excellent wife is a woman of great worth. She will be one that a man is willing to work for so that he might receive her as his own wife. This is important because a man appreciates what he works for and will cherish the woman for whom he had to work.

Proverbs 31:10 An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.

An excellent wife is a crown of her husband. A man wears his crown proudly, in a good way and it gives him the courage and strength to rule and succeed in the world. A wife who would shame him is as rottenness in his bones. The marrow of the bone is where the blood is made in the body and healthy blood means a healthy man. A wife who shames her husband cause the life to go out of him.

Proverbs 12:4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,
But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.

This is also important because a man has a tendency to fight with his conscience so if a wife is her husband’s conscience then there will not be harmony in the home but much contention. He would rather not go home at all and if he does then he would rather live in the attic.

Proverbs 25:24 It is better to live in a corner of the roof
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Are you contentious and argumentative? Do you have to be right? Do you have to get the last word in? Do you feel like men “don’t get it”? Or do you believe that once you get married then you can change your husband? It would be better for you not to marry until these issues can be changed in your life. We can not change ourselves but the Lord can change us. He wants to change us and make us into that woman who fears the Lord and who will be a delight to our husbands. Life is sweet when it is done God’s way and this definitely applies to marriage. Begin now to prepare for a great marriage. It will be worth it. Your children will rise up and bless you and your husband also.

Proverbs 31:28-30 Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
“Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all.”
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

 

 

 

A Life that Has Love

People can only love unconditionally to the degree that they have known unconditional love. People may love but apart from the Lord it is a selfish love. It is a “because” love. I love you because I want you to love me back. I love you because you are beautiful. I love you because of how you make me feel. It is all about me. It was not until Jesus Christ came into the world did we even see what an unconditional love looks like. God loves you because He is love and not because of anything that you have done or will ever do.

I John 3:16a We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us;

God’s love was manifested by sending His only begotten Son to die on a cross for sinners who did not even care about Him.

I John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

The justice of God was satisfied through the death of Jesus Christ. We sinned and we deserve hell but Jesus Christ took our place on the cross and rose again so that we might have life and know His love. This is what propitiation means. God is satisfied. God is holy and our sin is offensive to Him and causes His wrath to be stored up. Now, God is not mad at us anymore because His wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ, who never sinned.

I John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were His enemies Jesus Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-10 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

We turned our back to the Lord and because of that we are responsible for the Father turning His back on Jesus. For this reason Jesus Christ cried out on the cross, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He was rejected so that we might be accepted. He was rejected and knows what it feels like when someone we love might turn their back on us.

Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Not only have we turned our back on God when we have sinned but we have also at times turned our backs on others. We would not and could not love them with the same kind of love that Jesus Christ has loved us, that is, until we came to know Him as our Savior and Lord. We were helpless to love with an unselfish love until we came to know His love. It is only when God is in us that we can love with His love because He actually loves through us through the power of His Spirit.

I John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.

This is the mark of a true Christian. A true Christian will be known by their love.

I John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

He showed us what true, unconditional love looks like so that others might see Christ in us. When you see this unconditional love in someone else then you will know that you have seen the Lord in the life of someone who has love, God’s love.

A Life with His Thoughts

The Bible says that as “a man thinks within himself so he is”. One of the keys to doing what is right is to have the right thoughts.

Proverbs 23:7a For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

The Lord tells us to watch over our heart with all diligence for from it flows the springs of life. What is in your heart will come out in your words and actions.

Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

The heart is deceitful above all else. If we want to know what is in our hearts then listen to what we talk about for our conversation reflects our heart and attitudes.

Luke 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

The Lord’s thoughts are the only thoughts that are good. Since we have a fallen nature we can not do good apart from God. He is good and we must have His thoughts within us so that we will do good.

Isaiah 55:8,9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s thoughts are expressed in His Words which are in the Bible. When we put His thoughts in our hearts then His Words and thoughts will be expressed through our lives. We will sin less and less and obey more and more as we learn to live according to His Words as they are treasured in our hearts.

Psalm 119:9-11 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

Do you want to see the Lord? Do you want to know Him and walk with Him? Do you want to do good? Learn to put His Word in your heart and you will see your life transformed and others will see Christ in you. Your life will be changed through His thoughts and words.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

You will see that the Lord is truly amazing and that there is none to compare with Him.

 

A Life that Is Given All Things

Often people have their own conception of God and it is often wrong. How a person sees the Lord is not a revelation of who He is but it is more of a revelation of their own heart.

Psalm 18:25,26 With the kind You show Yourself kind;
With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the crooked You show Yourself twisted.

How our hearts are crooked and another word for crooked is twisted. When someone becomes a Christian one of the first things the Lord does is give them a new heart. The new heart is pure, blameless and kind and the new Christian sees that the Lord is pure, kind, and blameless in all His ways.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?

Our heart deceives our own selves before we come to know the Lord and in our desperately sick self with our desperately sick heart we don’t trust the Lord because we can’t see Him for who He really is. He is good and no evil dwells with Him.

Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works.

What this means is that His thoughts toward us are only for our good and not for any evil. We have so many fears that if we trust the Lord with our entire life then He will want us to do something that would make us miserable or He will make us into something we don’t really want to be. Quite the contrary, His only thoughts toward us are good.

Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil dwells with You.

The Lord invites all to taste of Him and see that He is good. The word good means the highest form of love. This is the kind of love that the Lord has for you and the good that He wants to show you.

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

The plans that the Lord has for you are for your good. If you will trust Him then you will taste of His goodness and want to trust Him more

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

When you see Him then you will see that He loves you with an everlasting love and underneath you are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:26,27a “There is none like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to your help,
And through the skies in His majesty.
“The eternal God is a dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;

The Lord loves you so much that He came and died on a cross to restore you to a love relationship with Himself. He took your sick heart on the cross and bore your penalty so that you might have a new heart and be free from the punishment and guilt of your sin.

I Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

God sent His Son to die for you that He might bring you to Himself. However, what is amazing is that this was not all that He did. He said that since He did not spare His only begotten Son but that with Him, He would freely give you all things.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

This is who He is. He is good and He is love. When you experience His love then you will see that He is kind and pure and all of the characteristics of only a Good God can be.

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

There is none to compare with Him.

Psalm 40:5 Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.

 

A Life that Has Comfort

We all need comfort and yet we often feel without comfort.

Isaiah 40:1 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.

In the world we will not have comfort but the Lord said He would not leave us comfortless.

John 14:16-18 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

The Lord knows that we need comfort and another name for the Holy Spirit is that He is a Comforter. Are you lonely? Do you need comfort? Come to the Lord and let Him wrap His arms around you and comfort you.

Matthew 11:28,29 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The Lord is gentle with His children and He will come to them and comfort them. He is a Good Shepherd.

Isaiah 40:11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

He comforts us in our affliction and suffering so that we may be able to comfort others when they share in the same suffering.

II Corinthians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

The Lord is near to you and will come to you as you call on Him. He saves those who are crushed in spirit and He does not leave you alone.

psalm 34:18,19 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

The Lord will never leave you or forsake you. He loves you. Come to Him and give Him your broken heart and your pain. He will comfort you and heal you. He will bind up your heart and He will carry you through your time of suffering.

Hebrews 13:5b,6a …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

 

A Life that Has Light

God is light and He is the source of all light. He is the only One who can shine in our hearts. He literally turns the light on. We are living in darkness until He comes and shines in our hearts.

II Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

He is light and has come into the world to give us light. His life is the light and when He lives within us then we become the light of the world. We have no light within us other than the light and life of Christ. Just as the moon has no light but shines in the darkness because it reflects the light of the sun. We reflect the light of Jesus Christ.

John 1:4,5 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Jesus Christ is the true light. He is the One who enlightens every man. Only those who recognize and receive Him receive the light. The rest of the world is still living in the darkness.

John 1:9-13 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

When we follow Him then we will have the Light of life. We no longer have to walk in darkness. We are no longer dependent on the “experts” who say man evolved or that man controls the climate.

John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Jesus Christ was in the beginning and He made the world and all that is in it. He sets the boundaries of the sea and not man. The world was made through Him.

John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

He made the world by His Word and the world was made out of things that are not visible.

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

The Lord has told us to let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify the Lord. The Lord is glorified because the good works are what He has planned beforehand that we should walk in them. He has a plan for everyone and works for each person to do. When you follow Him then you will walk in the good works that He has designed just for you.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Are you walking in His good works? You will know when you are doing His will because you will be filled with great joy. Our life on earth is a taste of either heaven or hell. If we know the Lord then we will taste of His goodness and one day we will see Him face to face and our joy will be made full. If we are not a Christian then our life will be filled with frustration, defeat, guilt, aimlessness, emptiness and darkness. He came to give us life and His life is the light of men.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Don’t let the devil steal your happiness, kill your joy and destroy your life. Come to the Lord and receive the life that He came to give you. Receive Jesus Christ into your life and you will have not only light but life.

John 1:12,13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

You receive Jesus Christ into your life by asking Him to come in and make you the person that He designed you to be. He is knocking on the door of your heart.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

 

 

 

A Life that Waits on God

The soul that learns to wait on the Lord will experience great peace and learns to rejoice in Him. Also, those who learn to trust in Him will experience His lovingkindness. A human is made up of three basic parts, the spirit, soul and body. We become spiritually alive when we become a Christian. When we become a Christian our soul experiences His love and our soul is made up of our will, mind and emotions.

Psalm 33:20-22 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You.

Although we become spiritually alive after we become a Christian, our soul can experience either life or death. Death to the soul is that sick feeling that we have when we sin, the guilt and the regret in our mind and emotions. We can also grieve the Spirit of the Lord, who lives within us and we will experience sadness because we have grieved the One who loves us. Christianity is a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ our Lord. His Spirit comes and lives within us and we commune with God through His Spirit and His Word.

James 5:19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

We need each other because all of us have a tendency to stray from the truth, which is God’s Word. We need to constantly be pointing each other to the Lord through His Word. His Word will keep us from straying from Him and often when we stray then our sin will keep us from getting back into His Word.

James 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

When we learn to abide in His Word and let His Words abide in us then we learn to wait on Him. When we wait on Him then we learn to soar like the eagle. The eagle can fly the highest with the least amount of effort. The eagle is majestic in its flight.

Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Do you get tired in your journey or do you ever become weary? Learn to wait on Him. Learn to abide in the Lord. The Lord’s favor will be on you as you learn to wait on Him.

Psalm 147:11 The Lord favors those who fear Him,
Those who wait for His lovingkindness.

The Lord is good to the one who waits for Him.

Lamentations 3:25,26 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.

As you learn to wait on the Lord then you will see that what He will do for the one who waits for Him is more than what you could have preceived, seen or heard. He will do far more than your highest dreams.

Isaiah 64:4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear,
Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

What is the opposite of waiting on the Lord? It is being anxious and fretful. It will only lead to grief.

Psalm 37:7-9 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

The land is another word for the promises of God. Your inheritance is a rich one and is all of His promises to His children. Trust Him and wait on Him. He loves you and is waiting to show you His compassion and love. How blessed are those who learn to wait on Him and long for Him.

Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

 

A Life with Assurance of Salvation

Often people ask, “How can I know that I am a Christian?”. The Bible says that you can know for sure. You don’t to hope or guess but you can know for sure.

I John 5:11-13 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

How do you know if you have the Son of God. You may think that you have because you have asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart but how can you really be sure that He has come in. What are the evidences in a person’s life that Jesus Christ has really come into their life and they are born again? Jesus said that a person must be born again to enter into His kingdom and become His child.

John 3:3-7 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

You will know if you have been born again if you have a hunger for the Word of God.

I Peter 2:2,3 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

You will want to obey the Lord and do what His Word tells you to do. His Word is His commandment to you.

I John 2:3-6 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

He will give you a new heart and put His Spirit within you.

Ezekiel 36:26,27 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

He has forgiven you of all of your sins and you will be clean on the inside. He forgives and cleanses you. You will want a pure heart so that you might continue to see the Lord so it will grieve you when you sin. You will not “enjoy” sin as maybe you once did.

John 13:8b,9 Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”

You will also hate the life that you lived before you were a Christian. You will see sin more from God’s perspective.

Ezekiel 36:29-31 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.

You will feel loved because you will know that He gave His only begotten Son for you and if you were the only person on earth then Jesus Christ would still have died for you. He has loved you with an everlasting love and He will never leave you or forsake you. You are truly free because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has set you free. You will feel free on the inside. For this reason, only a Christian can be locked up on the outside but be free on the inside. Whereas, the rest on the world that does not know Jesus Christ may be free on the outside but still feel locked up on the inside.

John 8:36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Do you know for sure that you are a Christian? If you are not sure then let today be the day that you surrender your life to Him. Ask Him to come into your heart and make you the person the He wants you to be. Ask Him to be your Lord and your Savior. Come to Him and be saved. When you turn to Him then you will turn your back on your sin and He will give you a new life and a new heart. He is the only One who can give someone a new heart and a chance to start over again. He will lead you and be your Shepherd if you let Him.

A Life that Does Exactly

If you really want to be blessed then learn to do exactly as the Lord has commanded you. The great men of God in the Bible did exactly as the Lord commanded them. Noah was one of the great men of God.

Genesis 6:22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

Moses did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.

Exodus 40:16 Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

There is a temptation to twist God’s Word. In other words, we try to get it to say what we want it to say. Satan did this when he tried to tempt Jesus.

Matthew 4:5-6 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

However, the devil “misquoted” God’s Word and left out a crucial part. He left out the part that says, “to guard you in all your ways” because the devil did not want Jesus to do exactly according to God’s Word, which is God’s ways.

Psalm 91:11,12 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

When we twist God’s Word then it is no longer the truth and has been twisted to give a different meaning. We might take God’s Word and twist it to say what we want it to say so that we can do what we want to do. Another word for twisted is crooked. When we try to twist God’s Word then we become crooked and our actions are crooked.

II Timothy 4:3,4a For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth

Be on your guard that you do not try to conform God’s Word to you but that you become conformed to His Word. When this happens then your life will be transformed.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

When your mind is renewed through God’s Word then you will become transformed into what the Word is, which is Christ Himself.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Others will see Christ in you and it will not be your life but it will be the life of Christ manifested through you to the world. You will truly be able to say, “not I, but Christ”.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

If you don’t do this but insist on going your own way and hearing what you want to hear from the Bible then the outcome will be that you will become twisted in your thinking. When you become twisted in your thinking then you become twisted in your actions. What is right will seem wrong and what is wrong will seem right. You might even feel clever in your own sight.

Isaiah 5:20-21 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight!

Your life will become rotten at the root and your outward beauty will disappear because you have rejected and despised the Word of the Lord.

Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble
And dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;
For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

A Life that Is Not Deceived

The nature of deception is that we do not realized that we are deceived, that is, until later after we have experienced the pain and despair of being deceived. How many times have we said to ourselves, “I was so deceived, I thought…” or “I trusted this person and they deceived me”. The Bible says that women are more easily deceived.

I Timothy 2:13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Women often are very trusting of people. This is a wonderful quality unless she trusts the wrong person. There is something within a female that wants to trust. However, the Lord has given us some help, a lot of help, so that we will not be deceived. Deception is the same thing as a lie but it is in a different form. It is a lie with a lot of appeal. One of the things that will help us to not be deceived is to know the truth. A woman who knows the truth will have a much greater safeguard within her to identify the empty deceptions in life that promise so much.

Genesis 3:1-3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

The Lord did not say anything about touching the fruit so Eve added to God’s Word. The Lord gives us grace to keep His Word exactly as He has told us. We are not to add to it or take from it.

Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Seek the Lord with all of your heart and put God’s Word in your heart so that you will not be tempted to sin but will do exactly as He has commanded you to do.

Psalm 119:10,11 With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

The next safeguard that the Lord has given to you is that a female is always to be under her God given authority. If Eve had gone to Adam and asked him what to do then she would not have been deceived. Adam was not deceived but Eve was. Eve thought she knew better and looked at the fruit. It seemed good to her.

Genesis 3:6,7 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

One of the first consequences of sin is that you are now vulnerable. They were naked. Not only were their bodies were naked but their souls were made bare. They were also ashamed. We become not only fearful when we sin but we become vulnerable and ashamed.

Genesis 3:23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden,

Sin has a horrible cost to it. Sin brings rejection, defeat, shame, dishonor and death. Death to our spirit, death to our soul and ultimately death to our body. This very sad and destructive path begins with deception, then disobedience and then death.

James 1:14-16 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

The word “lust” in the Greek literally means desire. A lust is a desire that is outside of the will of God. We are tempted when we are carried away by our own desires. We we give in to our desire, rather than trust the Lord, then we sin. When sin is accomplished it brings forth death.

James 1:16,17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

The Lord is good and He wants to give you your heart’s desire but He wants you to trust Him and wait on Him to give them to you. Tell the Lord what is on your heart. Cast your burdens on Him for He cares for you. He loves you and longs to be gracious to you.

Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!