Getting Out of the Marriage Business

I am interested in the thoughts of others about this new development in Alabama.

Alabama has decided to get out of the marriage business by no longer providing marriage licenses.

Believe it or not it makes perfect sense to me. Authentic believers will always make commitments to one another in marriage with other believers as their witnesses. Those who are born again will not change how they operate just because the state is not providing a license.

The piece of paper by the law of the land made no difference anyway because those pieces of paper could have easily been torn up with the marriage being dissolved by the state. If the state will not be giving marriage licenses may very well no longer validate divorce either.

The world won't bother to get married anymore, just as they are already doing. But at least homosexuals will not be able to demand sanctions from the state for their marriages.

Believers will place all their possessions in their marriages in both names, they will be protected by God and through the law by their actions.

It is not the state that makes a marriage anyway, it is God that does that through the vows of two people.

O.K., having said that, does anyone else have any thoughts on this matter?

A Woman Back in the Day

Back in the day when we were in school we had to write papers that were pages long, reports on things, doing research to find evidence for our reports. We read several book we looked into in order to have good detail and we were also graded on punctuation, capitalization, hand writing and spelling.

In home economics we were taught budgets, cooking and sewing skills.

The first year of sewing we learned how to make a dress and the second year we had to make ourselves a wool suit. Those clothes fit well and were actually pleasing to wear.

We had the higher math, which I was never very good at, the basic math for running a house hold I had good grades in but when it came to story problems, calculus and geometry I was confused and made the grade but had to work very hard at it.

In home economics class we learned color coordination in decorating, even how to properly set a table as well as the kinds of foods that go good together.

I am sad to report that the young ladies coming out of high school today do not have these skills, in fact they are seen as completely unimportant unless someone is going into the restaurant or garment industry.

I enjoyed learning these things and have implemented what I learned in my homemaking. As an old timer now I believe every women is designed by God to do these things, it is the forte of a woman to like to "nest."

Today I meet more young woman who know nothing of these things, they have not been allowed to experience what might be enjoyable to them. There is so much emphasis on having a career that the things of the home are neglected as though they are unimportant.

The nesting instinct was placed there by God, when we deny them we force many woman into the mold of career woman when she really doesn't thrive there, having another boss telling her everything to do, her full potential is never met.

The woman's role is very diverse, when we push her into the career world we frustrate her inner being that was designed for home making.

Proverbs 31 is the model for the perfect fulfillment of the woman. She does make things and sells them, even buying a field as an investment, but this does not translate to eight hours a day outside the home while others do the job she should be doing.

Just saying!

James 4:1-6

4 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Confession is not Just a Ritual

There are those who believe they can sin all they want as long as they confess it later. Guess what? That confession means nothing to God because it was willful disobedience and a confession to manipulate God and whomever else they confessed to.

Confession must be sincere based on a broke heart that hated the sin they committed.

Proverbs 1:27-29 "…27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD.…"

There are those who confess their bad behavior merely to get things from people, many do this with God too, they love their sin but they are not sorry they offended a holy God.

When someone operates this way, God will not hear their prayers when they are in trouble and cry out to Him.

Many people who say they are Christians want all the protection and provision God has to offer but they don't want Him.

If we do not want God, He will not provide His stuff for us to enjoy. Those who attempt to manipulate God will not see the blessing of salvation or peace that all things work together for good for those that love Him. See that....."for those that love Him."

Romans 8:27-28 "27 And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose."

Trusting Christ Authentically

I never trusted Christ at an altar, I was alone in my own house when I remember the words of the Lord spoken to me in church services.

When the Holy Spirit gets a hold of someone's heart, it can be anywhere at any time. Sometimes we place too much importance on where and how than we do on WHO!

I was blessed to be alone with Christ, mainly because so often when people are around we tend to do things that are expected of us in they way they expect it.

When we trust Christ while we are alone in whatever place we are, that is the evidence that it was real and permanent.

Hebrews 11:7-9

"7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.…"

"If I Feel It It Must Be True"

We live in a world that believes, "if I feel it, it must be true."

This could not be further from the truth! An arrogant person feels attacked when they are told they might be wrong, even though there has been no attack, they just don't like for anyone to disagree with them.

Proverbs 12:1-2 "1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid. 2 A good man will obtain favor from the LORD, But He will condemn a man who devises evil.…"

The Poster Family Lie

Never judge a "poster family" as wonderful, there may be things going on in the home that are not only ugly but verbally and emotionally abusive.

It is very hard for emotionally and verbally abused children to listen to outsiders praise the very people that are abusing them.

Anyone can get the outside world to love them, judge them as great people, all that is needed is big smiles, lots of joking and pats on the back. Most people are vulnerable to this sort of manipulation.

There are many who get angry when we judge something a politician or famous person does or the way they live, however these same people feel free to judge someone as good and wonderful when they really know nothing about them except the one or two public appearances they have observed.

Any family can dress up, get in a picture and smile, that is not an indication of the condition of the family. There is a lot of pretense that has invaded our world. As long as someone can display a persona for the public that is aesthetically pleasing, everyone loves to pretend that image is the reality.

In my humble opinion it is better not to judge anyone as bad or good without strong evidence of what we are saying. Notice I didn't say we shouldn't judge, judging is a part of every day life if we are to protect ourselves from predators. We are to judge when we have enough information and be cautious when we don't know a person.

We can never judge anyone based on a photo or one or two things we see them doing. We must know the lifestyle of someone along with many other encounters to be able to determine the truth. It's called discernment, and it is always based on God's truth, not our emotions.

Most people are happy to judge good things about anyone, but they refuse to admit the ugly sin they see. Assuming someone is a good person based on their appearances leaves us vulnerable to lies.

The serpent who spoke to Eve, was the devil himself but he came as a beautiful entity with great swelling and pleasing words, but he was deadly, literally deadly.

Any time someone smiles all the time and cracks jokes frequently, we are looking at a showman, someone who is attempting to disarm those they wish to manipulate.

Car salesmen and prosperity preachers are like this. These people use two kinds of manipulation, one is to tell you how wonderful you look, flattering about nothing, the other tactic is to make you feel you would miss out on something if you didn't do what they want.

"The sale ends tomorrow, you need to buy today." or "you don't trust me" when we require more information to clarify things. The really difficult people will rage at us to take the focus off the fact that they don't know what they are talking about.

Guilting people into submission is a favored tactic of the one who loves to control others. They rage, they cut off conversations, they withhold information hoping you will make a wrong judgment so they can accuse us of judging wrongly. The tactics are endless, what is clear is that they always accuse rather than discuss.

Setting us up to believe lies and then accusing us of believing lies is a common tactic of today's manipulators.

When we run into people who are not open and honest, constantly working on their appearance rather than substance, we have met deceitful person a counterfeit. These people are likely hiding themselves, there is something in themselves they know is a problem or sin. The more we interact with artificial people, the more we can spot them.

The next question we might ask is, "am I an artificial person?" We want to be authentic, compassionate and empathetic human beings led by the Holy Spirit. This is what we should all be praying for. There is bondage associated with fakery. The truly free person is the one who is authentic and led by the Holy Spirit.

Do we want to be free from the bondage of a counterfeit personality that is always hiding, the way to do that is confess the sin of pretense and begin to seek the Holy Spirit to be our guide and our voice.

When we do this we will be free and blessed, while growing in holiness continually.

Our Enemy is the Devil

Our battle is against the devils that influence people. When we see the people we think it is them but it really is the devil who controls them that we must pray against.

Ephesians 6:11-13 "…11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.…"