Tag: #Loveinmarriage

A Life Understanding Brokenness and Healing

Understanding Brokenness

Broken relationships can cause people to be broken. The Lord never intended that there would ever be divorce, remarriage, unfaithfulness and everything else that causes pain to others and especially to children. When divorce happens it brings grief to the children. The Lord says that He hates divorce because of what it does to the children. However, unless there is healing then the chances are slim that a child of divorce will have a happy marriage. Wounds and hurts happen but there is hope and there can be healing. It is important that as much as possible each person goes into the marriage whole and healthy emotionally. The Lord can and wants to heal but a person with internal hurts must go to the Lord for healing. He understands each person better than anyone else and His name Jehovah-Rapha means “The God who Heals”. You will not hurt forever if you are healed. There will be a scar but you will know when you are healed because when something or someone touches where the wound was then you do not feel the pain, just as if you were to have a wound on your body that has healed. The scar is there but not the pain when the wound has healed. Not only does the Lord heal but He also can break the cycle of sin for the person who turns to Him. The Lord is real and His kindness is a realty to those who look to Him. Not only does He heal and break the cycle but He says that He can restore the “years that the locusts have eaten”. In other words, He can restore what was destroyed. Only God can do this and man can not fix our messes. When man tries to fix messes then he only makes a bigger mess. The Lord makes all things right and He alone teaches us the right way to live and love so that we do not bring on ourselves more pain or give to our children the same sort of grief as we experienced.

“Yield now and be at peace with Him;
Thereby good will come to you.
“Please receive instruction from His mouth
And establish His words in your heart.
“If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent,
And place your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
Then the Almighty will be your gold
And choice silver to you.
“For then you will delight in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.
“You will pray to Him, and He will hear you;
And you will pay your vows. Job 22:21-27

Understanding Healing and Restoration

Yahweh El Ashiyb is the name of God that means “The Lord My Restorer”. Healing and restoration comes when we yield ourselves completely to Him. Good will come to us when we receive His instruction and establish His Words in our heart. If we return to Him then we will be restored. Repentance means turning from our sinful ways and whatever our idols were and turning to the Lord. (We often turn to other means for comfort rather than the Lord and whereby they do not help us but they ensnare us…and they can also become idols that we do not want to let go.) He will become more precious to us than anything we desired before because we will see Him and we will experience His mercy and His peace. He will hear our prayers and we will keep our vows. You will know much joy and gladness when you are restored. Sorrow and sadness will leave along with regret and depression.He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Psalm 23:3 Everyone needs healing at some time in their lives. When you give your life to the Lord and He becomes your Lord and Savior then you will never walk alone again. He will go with you through your sorrow. He will comfort you in your pain and He will restore you. There is no situation greater than the Lord. Nothing is too difficult for Him. He is able to save and He is able to restore. He loves you. And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 Your past does not have to define you nor does your present pain have to determine your future happiness.

A Life Understanding Great Relationships

Understanding What Characterizes Great Relationships

Your happiness in life is directly proportional to the greatness of your relationships. There are four things that will characterize your life when you are satisfied and in right relationships. These four things are joy, gladness, thanksgiving and you will want to express the happiness in your heart through song. We all have different degrees of intimacy in our relationships which is according to the relationship. However, love and peace are what will characterize all of your relationships when they are right.

Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and sound of a melody. Isaiah 51:3b

Understanding the Levels of Great Relationships

Relationships are privileges that are given to us. The first relationship that needs to be in order is a person’s relationship with God. Jesus Christ came to bring love and peace on earth to those who are in a right relationship with God. Relationships go from greater to lesser degrees of intimacy. God knows everything and is intimately acquainted with all of our ways. Nothing is hidden from Him. The next relationship, if you are married, is your relationship with your spouse. Our spouse is the next level and our spouse knows us (or should know us) better than any other human. The greatest level of love and trust should be with a spouse and it is the only relationship where you are one in body, soul and spirit, or at least should be. The next level is family relationships. The next level is friendships. The next level is neighbors and acquaintances. The last level of relationships is enemies.When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 16:7 If you want to have a great marriage and if you do, life is amazingly wonderful with a great marriage. A great marriage is a taste of heaven on earth and truly the most satisfying of all relationships. However, when you get married then you take all of your other relationships into that marriage. You take all of your baggage from past relationships with you. Oftentimes we do not realize all of the baggage that we have from our past relationships until it starts to make itself known in our marriage. The best thing you can do to have a great marriage is to be restored, if possible, and healed from past relationships. Relationships are difficult because they can cause hurts. When we are young we do not choose who most of our relationships are with and have no control over the hurt that happens. However, we may not be able to control what happens to us but we can control our responses. It is not what happens to us but our response to what happens that determines the destruction in our lives. Being hurt from people can bring anger or bitterness. If we are not healed then the anger or bitterness will come out in our relationships with others. Jesus Christ is the Great Healer. If you will go to Him then He can and wants to heal you. Spiritually and emotionally healthy people have healthy relationships. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; Hebrews 12:14,15

A Life that Understands the Cost of a Great Marriage

It is understandable that some people do not like what is being written in these posts. Selfishness is the opposite of love and all people are basically selfish. A great marriage is made up of two unselfish people. Even if only one of the people is unselfish then that will change a marriage from bad to good. It is hard to continually fight against love. Love will always cost the person who loves. That is the nature of anything precious and love is worth much and is costly to the one who gives it but love is worth it. It is true that it is better to give than to receive. Usually whenever any gift is given who has the most joy? The one who gives generally has the most joy. In fact, the Lord says to not give under compulsion because giving is an aspect of love and love is a choice. To give is to be godlike, for God so loved the world that He gave. God so loved you that He gave what was most precious to Him and that was His only begotten Son.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

Understand What a Great Marriage will Cost the Wife

A great marriage is a gift and it is also requires great sacrifice. A great marriage is made up of two people who sacrifice their own wants, dreams, needs, longings and comforts for another. It is best to give all of these to the Lord and allow Him to give back to you in His time what you really need. We usually do not know what we really need. How many things have we all longed for, that in hindsight, we see that they would not have been good for us. Trust the Lord to give you what is good. He will withhold the bad and give you the good if you leave the giving to Him. A great marriage is costly but just as when Mary took a pound of very costly perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus, the fragrance of her love filled the house. In a similar way, when you love another in a sacrificial, costly manner then the fragrance of the expression of your love will fill the environment where you are. Your love will be a sweet fragrance to the one loved and to all who are around and you will be the one blessed the most.Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. John 12:3 Understand that when you do what is right and love your husband with a godlike love that you will be filled with great joy. Your life will be a fragrant aroma to all who come in contact with you and your joy will spill over into your husband, your children and everyone else who knows you. No one can ever rob you of joy because much joy comes from loving and doing what is right. “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions.” Hebrews 1:9

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A Life Understanding a Man’s Need to Respect a Woman

Men long for respect and they need respect. Men also need to respect a woman and women need for men to respect them. A man needs a woman but he especially needs a woman that he respects. A woman that a man respects will lift him up to a higher standard of behavior. A man generally will not curse around a lady nor will he act in other crude manners. Her respectful behavior is enough to change him as he observes it and her lack of response to any crude jokes or comments is enough to shame him. A man can be a man with other men and not offend them but a man needs to learn how to act in a loving, respectful manner with females.Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. I Corinthians 7:1The word “good” in this verse means, in the original language, the highest form of love.

Understanding A Woman’s Need for Respect

A woman needs respect. A woman’s self worth is affected by how she is treated. If she is treated poorly then she will start to feel poorly about herself. She longs for love and needs love but she also needs respect. Love and respect go hand in hand. If a woman is treated like a queen then she will feel like a queen. If she feels like a queen then she will want to marry a king and feel that she is worthy of a king. If she feels like dirt then she will feel that no king would want to marry her and she will “settle” for far less. A woman’s self worth is one of the most important aspects of who she is. When a man uses a woman in any way then he is neither loving her or respecting her. When a female allows herself to be used then she is bringing destruction to herself. When a man uses a woman then it is like squeezing the juice out of an orange and then discarding the orange. The woman is no longer the same. She is no longer vibrant and feeling healthy about herself because she has been used and rejected. She will often settle for someone “not as nice” as the first man and if she is looking for love in the wrong way then he will squeeze more juice out of her and then discard her. The pattern continues until she is left feeling empty and rejected by men.

but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. Matthew 5:13b

Salt becomes tasteless when it has been compromised. A woman will be rejected and walked over by men if she compromises her morals and allows a man to touch her in inappropriate places or have premariatal sex. A man does not love a woman that he has sex with before marriage. He is using her for his own selfish desire. Nearly all men who are unfaithful to their wives after marriage had sex before marriage. They did not learn to control their passions before marriage and usually can not control them afterwards. Sex is a physical appetite to a man and he must learn to control his sexual drive. He learns to control himself by first learning to control what he looks at. His eyes get him into trouble and the Bible says that the “eyes of man are never satisfied”. It is important that a female dress in a modest manner that does not direct the man’s eyes to sexually stimulating parts of her body. If she does, she will get attention but not the love and respect she longs for and the attention is only for a moment. If he is stimulated then he will want to touch her in an inappropriate manner and she must say “no” so that he does not get what he wants. It is much better if the boundaries are already established by how she dresses.

Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied. Proverbs 27:20

A Life with a Great Marriage

Marriage can be the sweetest of all relationships and is the only union of two people where there can be a oneness of spirit, soul and body. However, to have a great marriage it must be done according to the plan of the One who designed marriage. He knew what needed to be done and gave us clear instructions. If these instructions are followed then the results are far greater than can be imagined. A great marriage is a taste of heaven.

but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9

What God has prepared for the man and woman who will love Him is beyond what we have seen or heard or imagined.

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. Isaiah 64:4

His ways are perfect and He does all things well. God’s ways are the right way and if we do not follow His ways then we will experience much heart ache, much disappointment and much pain. We will become “disillusioned” with marriage and the other gender.

“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. Isaiah 55:8,9

However, it is not God who has failed us but we have failed ourselves by not following His ways. How often we think that we “know better” or that there is some “new way” that is better, but not so. God’s ways are perfect and He blesses the one who listens to Him and follows His ways. His ways are the right way or another word for His ways is “righteousness”.

You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways. Isaiah 64:5a

Return to God’s ways in marriage and you will find rest for your soul. You will no longer have to constantly “work at it” but your marriage will work for you and fill your cup until it runs over. The emptiness will leave and the love will return that you had when you first met the one you married or when you first were married. The Lord will meet you where you are, whatever the state of your marriage. He will show you His way if you cry out to Him and ask Him to show you His way, rather than looking elsewhere.

Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16

The Bible has God’s blueprint for marriage. There are many instructions but it must begin with a man and a woman who love the Lord and are seeking Him with all of their hearts. He says that two are better than one and a cord of three strands is not easily broken. Many marriages and families end up broken because they did not lay the right foundation in the beginning. However, it is never too late to change. Repentance means to change direction and to look to the Lord rather than going your own way or doing what you think is best. True repentance comes from a broken and contrite heart and a lowly spirit.

For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15

The Lord will revive those who come to Him with a humble and contrite heart and He will teach them His way. He first revives the individuals and then He revives the marriages and families.

He teaches the humble His way. Psalm 25:9b

As you follow His ways then you will see success follow you.

His ways prosper at all times; Psalm 10:5a

How rich is the marriage and family that lives according to His ways. How blessed are the children where love, joy and peace are ever present in the home. How sweet is the union of two people who live in harmony with each other. There is no comparison to God’s ways and the couple who will trust Him will never stop loving Him and each other.

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

A Life Understanding Man’s Need for a Lover

God’s design for a wife is that she is to be her husband’s lover. A man’s need for a wife is deeply embedded in his need for a lover. God’s design is so good that a husband will not only be satisfied with his wife as his lover but he will be intoxicated with her love. When Adam saw Eve, his response was (WOW!). The original Hebrew can not adequately translate it into English but that was basically his response.

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23

The Lord still wants to give a wife to a husband and the Bible says that if the man does it right then on his wedding night he will be so lit up on her love that he will outshine the sun.

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, Psalm 19:4b,5a

Understanding a Wife’s Gift to Her Husband as His Lover

A female has the unique privilege to be called a gift, a reward and a favor to a man. The Lord made man with a physical appetite for the most intimate expression of love. A woman does not have the same physical appetite. A woman longs for the love of a man just as a man longs to love a woman. If a man has physical intimacy with a woman outside of marriage then it is “like sitting down and eating a steak dinner”. It will satisfy his appetite for the moment but it will not satisfy his deepest longings and needs. A man longs to know and be known. The word for physical intimacy in the Bible was that the husband was “to know” his wife. A man wants his wife to be unknown by all other men. She is to belong to him alone. A woman is a mystery to a man in many ways and that mystique that she has is part of her beauty. She is a much finer aspect of creation. Her beauty is not just physical but it is in her character, it is in her purity, it is in her innocence and it is her manner.

Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9

Understand that God’s ways are the best for girls and women. He does all things well. If you will keep yourself pure and become the woman that God designed you to be then you will be beautiful to the man God gives you to and will be treated like a queen by your king. A man has only one heart and life to give and he wants to give it to a girl who has not been with another man. There is something within a man that compels him to treat a woman of fine character and beauty with respect. Beauty is on the inside and causes any woman to be beautiful to the man that God has designed for her. Also, marry a man who has kept himself pure then he will be faithful to you as he has learned to keep his physical appetites under control.

IF you have not stayed pure then ask God to cleanse your heart, mind and soul. Give yourself to the Lord and He will make you into a new creation. He is the Creator and He is the only One who can make all things new. He can and will restore your purity if you give yourself to Him, but then you must keep yourself pure by His strength. There is always hope in God no matter how much a person has messed up, if they will turn to Him.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. II Corinthians 5:17

A Life Understanding a Man’s Need for a Wife

When God created man and the rest of creation it was good. There was not anything to add to it or anything to take from it. The Bible says that God works in such  a way so than man would fear (which means a very awe inspiring respect) Him and honor Him. Man was made perfect and all of creation was made perfect so that it was a delight to the Lord. However, the Lord said that it was not good for the man to be alone. It was not good then and it is not good now. A man needs a wife. He needs her support, her companionship, her love and respect and when he has a good wife then he becomes an even better man than he would be alone. Her encouragement, her response to him, her smiles, her affections, her happiness in being his wife inspires him to even greater heights than what he would do alone. An excellent wife is his crown and makes him a king who can conquer much and achieve much when there is peace and harmony in his kingdom.

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

Understanding What a Man Needs in a Wife

A man needs a wife. If a woman learns to become an excellent wife then she will be greatly exalted for the first thing that anyone notices about a king is his crown. A king’s crown is his glory. A man does not need someone who will shame him. The Bible says that a man will encounter the “reproofs of life” and those reproofs of life are very effective in correcting a man. A man needs his wife’s support, love, intimacy, friendship, companionship and trust. You will be more precious than jewels to him when you become the wife that God wants you to be.

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

Do not be a man’s conscience. A man fights with his conscience and if you want fighting in your marriage and home then that is a sure way to get it.

A Life Understanding the Man’s Leadership Role

The Lord made man to rule and gave him the position to rule over creation. The Lord made man to work and to rule in the world. Every man is a king in his own eyes. This is not a bad thing because they Lord made man to be a ruler. Man is not egotistical in feeling this way but he does need help to rule. He longs for a queen to rule with him and be a helper and a support to him. The Lord said that it was not good for the man to be alone.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

Understanding the Woman’s Support Role

He needs a woman to be his queen and his helper and support. He will recognize her by the fact that the Lord has made her to be suitable for him and to correspond to him. This means that she will understand his heart and she will respond to his heart. The Lord made her to be a support to him and such a strong support that the word has the meaning to be as strong as cement. She will not waver in her support of him but will believe in him when no one else does.  She will be so important to him that he will see her as a savior in many ways. (The word “helper” in this verse refers to the wife and it is the only time in Scripture where it refers to a person. Every other time it refers to God.) She will be stronger than him emotionally but he will be stronger than her physically. They will need each other and as they become one then they will conquer together. They will share each other’s joys and sorrows and each other’s successes and failures. When he is down, she will be up so that they do not sink together. They will encourage and pray for one another. Together they will make it if they will put their trust in the Lord because God has decreed it.

The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:20-23

Understand that a young lady who learns to treat a man like a king will never lack male friends. When a young lady can see who the young man is becoming and be an encouragement then she will thrive in her relationships and friendships with men. Most men long to be a king, because that is who God has made them to be, but they still lack the confidence and maturity. As a young man chooses to follow the Lord then he will become the person that God designed him to be and he will one day look for the girl who sees him as the man of God that was created to rule in God’s creation. He is not looking for a girl who will compete with him or who feels the need to “put him in his place”. There is plenty of competition and the world is continually “putting him in his place”. He needs a comforter and one who will encourage him. He needs a girl who will believe the best in him and see him for the person that God sees him as. He needs a girl who will stick with him and love and respect him in times of better or worse. A man who believes in the Lord will believe in what the Lord has for him and blessed will be the young lady who becomes his helper, his support and his queen. He will choose her to be his wife and he will be her husband.

A Life Understanding a Man’s Need to Lead

The Lord made men and women to rule. Both men and women are to lead. Each one has their own sphere of influence. The Lord designed for man to rule in the world. A man is born to be a leader. He is to lead not only in the world and in his workplace but also in his home. It does not mean that he is better than anyone, for leadership is a position given by God. A man must first learn to lead and he does so by being under leadership. There is a chain of authority that begins with God. As long as Adam was under God’s leadership and authority then he would rule well. A man who wants to do what is right will recognize and respect authority in others. For this reason, an older man can be under a younger man. A man understands that with authority comes responsibility. A man will respect another man, even if he is younger, by his wisdom and skill in leading and his faithfulness to fulfill his responsibility.  A man was made to lead as the Lord leads and when he does, those who are under him are blessed.

‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the tender grass springs out of the earth,
Through sunshine after rain.’ II Samuel 23:3b,4

Women were also made to rule but when Eve sinned the Lord put her under Adam’s authority. The Lord did this to protect her from being deceived again. Girls were never designed to be on their own even when they are older than the “legal” age. They are to go from their father’s authority to their husband’s authority. It is the father who gives his daughter to the man who is to love her and be her leader. For this reason, it is very important that a daughter stay under her father’s authority until marriage. Her father is her protection from boys and later men who would like to take advantage of her. Her father loves his daughter and will not give his daughter to a man who will be abusive.

So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well,  I Corinthians 7:38a

Do understand that a woman can not see through a man but a man can see through another man. Do go to your father for advice on any boy that is interested in you. When your father sees that you are looking to him for advice then he will most likely want to give it. However, if your father thinks that you have already made up your mind to do what you want to do then he will often not say anything. You need your father’s counsel. Other than your decision to become a Christian, the most important decision that you will make will be who you marry. The Lord gave you parents and especially fathers, to help you.

A Life with Love is A Promise Kept

Love is keeping a promise. When one does not keep their promises then they lose all credibility, not only with the one whom they have broken the promise, but with all others. A promise made should be a promise kept. Love gives trust, worth, security, peace, significance, joy and every other good thing that we can imagine but the one who loves is only as good as their word.

in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, Titus 1:2

God made a promise to Adam and Eve after they sinned that He would have a provision for them. There would come One who would crush Satan on the head. In destroying the work and power of the devil, God would also free man from the power of sin and death through the One whom He would send. The Bible is the history of the Lord fulfilling His promises to man through sending the gift of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, through whom we can receive eternal life. For this reason the Bible is the history or “his story” of God’s faithfulness.

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:14,15

Jesus is the good news that we have heard and He is the One whom God sent to bruise Satan on the head. Jesus Christ defeated death when He went to the cross and God raised Him from the dead. He is alive and those who have put their trust in Him will also receive eternal life. God’s promise beginning with Adam and Eve and again to Abraham and Sarah and again and again through His Words to the prophets was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You.’ Acts 13:33

Since everyone beginning with Adam and Eve have sinned then it is true that everyone is in need of the promised salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Galatians 3:22

The promise of salvation is a promise of life, not only in this life but an eternal life that will be forever. Those who believe in Jesus Christ will never die.

This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. I John 2:25

God promised a Savior who would come and die for the world. His name is Jesus Christ and He will save His people from their sins.

She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:21-23

This Savior, Jesus Christ, would be crucified, dead and buried and raised from the grave on the third day. He appeared to those who were on earth and then He ascended into heaven.

After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. I Corinthians 15:6-8

God promised to send the Holy Spirit after Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit came and lives within those who belong to Christ.

Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Acts 2:33

Those who hear the message of truth, the Good News of salvation and believe in Jesus Christ are sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise.

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13

The Lord has been faithful and He has fulfilled His promises that He has made in His time. He is faithful to His promises. He has promised to come again and in His time will fulfill that promise also.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; Hebrews 10:23

Jesus Christ is coming again to receive those who believe in Him. He is faithful and blessed will be those who are full of faith and have believed His promises.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3

There are and will be many who will laugh and mock at His promises just as they did in the days of Noah. However, God is faithful to His promises and He will not be mocked.

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. II Peter 3:3-8

It is only God’s mercy that continues to allow men, women and children to call on Him. He wants all to repent and come to Him. He wants all to be saved.

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. II Peter 3:9

He takes no delight in anyone perishing. Whoever will call on Him can be saved. He is not slow about His promise of coming again.

But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? Ezekiel 18:21-23

If you have not done so, while you have the opportunity, turn to the Lord and turn away from your sins. The Lord will not remember your sins when He comes again if you turn to Jesus Christ. The Lord wants to give you life. He is a merciful God and is patient, not desiring for any to perish.

…even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. John 3:14b, 15

Love is a choice and He is calling to you in love to come to Him so that your sins may be washed away. He is a forgiving God and He loves you.

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

The east and the west never meet and this is how far that the Lord will separate your sins from you. You will never see them again and He will not remember them or hold them against you.

I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25

The Lord keeps His promises. Love is a promise made and a promise kept.