Marriage is a Covenant likened to the relationship between Christ and the church.
A couple must believe the same things and agree on politics and faith to remain together without division. This means seeking Christ through His Word and prayer for His truth.
Amos 3:3
"3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
The answer is "no," two people cannot be as close as a marriage should be if they do not agree on the big issues. There still will not be perfect agreement on the small things, which will help in spiritual and emotional growth as the two walk together in solidarity.
This takes each party in the marriage listening to learn, not listening to respond or win. Each spouse must be seeking truth, not superiority over the other.
This takes deep concern for the other's walk with Christ more than personal pleasure.
What we have in our day is marriage based on personal pleasure, fun, and happiness, the very reason more than half the marriages in America end up in divorce courts.
When things become difficult instead of having a lengthy conversation to resolve things, the couple refuses to listen to each other and keeps on doing what is ruining the marriage, seeking self while angered at the other for not agreeing with them.
If both spouses are seeking Christ, they will listen and pray more than they talk, and they will talk about everything when the time is right.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "love as patient, kind, and selfless, stating that it does not envy, boast, act rudely, or seek its own way. It's not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, and rejoices in truth, not evil. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres through all things."
Ephesians 5:25 "husbands to love their wives with a sacrificial and selfless love, mirroring how Christ loved the church and gave himself for it."
Ephesians 5:22-33
Marriage is like Christ and the Church
"22 Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything."
If each spouse loves one another the way Christ loved the church, there will be no sense of individualism, there will be a oneness of Spirit and a desire to please one another for the good of the family.
Both spouses must model the command in Scripture according to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to love one another, putting the spouse above themselves. Neither one is placing the other above Christ.
Christ always comes first, then the spouse, in response to God's mandate to love and serve one another.
If everyone would love the way Christ loved, there would be no arguments in anger; there would only be meaningful loving discussions to determine God's Will.
Friday, August 22, 2025
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Stop Ignoring Parts of God's Word!
Our society likes to leave out key and crucial passages of the Bible to fit their culture based on Darwinistic psychology.
A person is not bitter or mean when they obey God in forgiving when someone is repentant, or withholding forgiveness from someone who doesn't even care if they have it.
We are not bitter or angry because we say no to someone who is demanding something from us unreasonably. Assigning ill-will to those who rationally and reasonably assert their option to do things God's way, just because the culture doesn't understand it, is manipulation to shame those who hold people accountable for their actions and remove them from their lives because they are destructive to ourselves and others.
We have moved into the mentality as a culture that coddles the perpetrator while pressuring and judging the one who follows God's directions for our conduct.
Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Notice, "if they come and say I repent", then forgive him. And, "if your brother sins, rebuke him", why do so many people ignore these words right in the text?
First rebuke your brother, he repents, and then we forgive. This is the proper order. There is a purpose in this, and it is to keep people accountable and give them incentives to change their behavior.
Because the culture has left out the step that requires someone to be sorry and confess what they did, the culture has become callous toward the victim, claiming they are the mean ones when they don't want to have anything to do with those who harm others and refuse to be sorry or stop their evil behavior.
This mentality of perp coddling has permeated our culture to such a degree that it is rampantly common without rational thinking. Satan loves this; the culture beats up on the innocent victim while pampering the wicked one who does the evil deed.
I can't think of anything more insidious and demonic than this, turning upside down and opposite the principles of God to indulge the arrogance of the one who causes trouble and creates mayhem.
May born-again believers stop listening to those who are steeped in cultural thinking and begin reading every word in the Scriptures within their context. And, deliberately reject any thinking that does not match God's Word.
A person is not bitter or mean when they obey God in forgiving when someone is repentant, or withholding forgiveness from someone who doesn't even care if they have it.
We are not bitter or angry because we say no to someone who is demanding something from us unreasonably. Assigning ill-will to those who rationally and reasonably assert their option to do things God's way, just because the culture doesn't understand it, is manipulation to shame those who hold people accountable for their actions and remove them from their lives because they are destructive to ourselves and others.
We have moved into the mentality as a culture that coddles the perpetrator while pressuring and judging the one who follows God's directions for our conduct.
Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Notice, "if they come and say I repent", then forgive him. And, "if your brother sins, rebuke him", why do so many people ignore these words right in the text?
First rebuke your brother, he repents, and then we forgive. This is the proper order. There is a purpose in this, and it is to keep people accountable and give them incentives to change their behavior.
Because the culture has left out the step that requires someone to be sorry and confess what they did, the culture has become callous toward the victim, claiming they are the mean ones when they don't want to have anything to do with those who harm others and refuse to be sorry or stop their evil behavior.
This mentality of perp coddling has permeated our culture to such a degree that it is rampantly common without rational thinking. Satan loves this; the culture beats up on the innocent victim while pampering the wicked one who does the evil deed.
I can't think of anything more insidious and demonic than this, turning upside down and opposite the principles of God to indulge the arrogance of the one who causes trouble and creates mayhem.
May born-again believers stop listening to those who are steeped in cultural thinking and begin reading every word in the Scriptures within their context. And, deliberately reject any thinking that does not match God's Word.
Monday, August 18, 2025
Obedience or Self-Will
Most Christians today do not have peace, or the other fruit of the Spirit of Christ; they are depending on themselves to be and do right to please God. They seldom, if ever, seek the Holy Spirit for guidance or protection. We know this because they act as if the world is beneath them and think they are superior to it. But in reality, they are not much different because the pride in them still remains.
Many people make up their own traditions God never commanded or follow the traditions of the culture that God never commanded. Either way, they are following man instead of Christ.
Those who do this remain proud of themselves for how much they do for God while ignoring His many other commands!
1 John 2:4
"If anyone says, 'I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
1 John 1:6
"If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
Galatians 5:16-17
"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. / For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want."
Many people make up their own traditions God never commanded or follow the traditions of the culture that God never commanded. Either way, they are following man instead of Christ.
Those who do this remain proud of themselves for how much they do for God while ignoring His many other commands!
1 John 2:4
"If anyone says, 'I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
1 John 1:6
"If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."
Galatians 5:16-17
"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. / For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want."
The Devil's Attacks Continue
We are experiencing more attacks of the devil than ever before because He knows his time is short.
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Friday, August 15, 2025
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