In some parts of the bible, we find places where the author writes “…saith the Lord.” Do you believe what God says?
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: Ex 4:22 KJV
At other places, God Himself speaks, saying “I will…”
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isa 43:19 KJV
These are words that tell us about the promises and power of God.
When you come across such phrases in the bible, what comes to your mind? Do you think these words are still applicable today? Is God still saying “I will?” Are the words written by those writers still in effect? Do they mean that God is still saying?
Everything written in the bible is still as powerful as they were in bible times. God is still saying the same thing. His promises are continuous. He hasn’t changed. Nothing about Him has and never will.
When next you come across such words, believe that God is still saying them to you and everyone. If it is a place where God made a promise, claim it for yourself and others. That is how to believe and enjoy His promises. He even tells us that He honours His words more than His name.
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Ps 138:2 KJV
He wants us to believe in Him and His words. We are greatly rewarded when we do so.
What a wonderful God we serve!
Prayer: I claim every promise you made to me even before I was born in Jesus name. Amen.
Action plan: Try to find two instances each for where a writer records, “…says the Lord” and God saying “I will.” Read the full chapters and meditate on them.
Declaration: My children are studious. They read, study, and meditate on God’s word daily.
Continued from yesterday. You can read Part 2 HERE
Make sure he knows God. Make sure he loves God. Make sure his priorities are that of the Lord. That way, you will serve God gladly and not be persecuted all the days of your marriage.
You really don’t want to get married to someone who tells you after your wedding that you should try out a threesome! You really don’t want to get married to a man who says he loves it in the anal.
That is out rightly demonic and as a wife, you don’t have to risk your health and life! Seek counsel and don’t die in silence! You really don’t want to get married to a man who brings out ropes and other sadistic objects and says he doesn’t really feel it until he ties you up!
For those who are already married and are caught in this thicket of obeying God and disobeying him or obeying him and disobeying God, thereby kicking against the pricks, I want to offer a piece of advice.
First of all, the scripture says you should submit to your own husband. So we see right away that it is wrong for you to listen to one man, maybe your boss, against your husband.
You are to submit to your own husband, not another woman’s husband. Your boss is another woman’s husband.
So when he is making advances at you, you are to gladly and boldly disobey him. You don’t try to keep a job and then lose your joy!
Then the next thing is that you are to submit as unto the Lord.
What does that mean?
Let’s take a look at other translations.
Wives understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. – Ephesians 5:22 (MSG)
Whatever will not show your support for God should not be done.
You should politely, “submissively” refuse anything that will violate your conscience, that will set you against your maker and that will give access to the hordes of hell to plummet your destiny!
For example, he asks you to follow him to a herbalist. That is a direct affront between the kingdom of light and darkness. You are probably the last hope of that family and the last ounce of strength the children are looking up to, so you refuse! If you “submit” to such, it would not be as unto the Lord, and that might put the whole family in eternal danger.
So, what do you do in such cases?
You seek counsel. You pray in the Spirit. You keep walking in love and refuse to enter into strife.
If you do this, you will eventually have the victory and your husband will respect you more for this because he will realize it later. But if you listen to him, he will blame you when he realizes his mistakes; he will blame you for not stopping him from plunging the whole family into regrettable depths!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will not miss it in marriage
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Oh Lord, lead me to that person you have designed for me
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Wives understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. – Ephesians 5:22 (MSG)
Yesterday we learned about baggages in marriage, that we all have and come into our marriage with different kinds of baggage.
We also learned that these baggages are unresolved issues from our past, our background, and from our childhood experiences. These baggages or bags or luggages have to be emptied and the content exposed and dealt with.
We established that in marriage no secrets are allowed. Everything must be open and talked about.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. – Gen 2:25 (KJV)
Today, we will be looking at the various types of baggage we carry into marriage. Most of these we don’t even know we carry. Rest comes to our wearied souls as promised by Jesus only when we learn to come unto him in total surrender and then confess our faults one to another.
Types of Baggage
Relationship Baggage
This type of baggage is from our childhood relationships. Where we felt rejected, unloved, neglected, or criticized. Where we have a sense of shame or a low self-esteemed of ourselves. For whatever reasons we feel not up to the standard of other people.
Spiritual Baggage
Here we have learned to combine spirituality with lies and other vices. We grow up in church yet do a lot of bad stuff, like steal offerings, watch pornography in the church toilet or during sermons, sleep with a unit member, and still hide under being spiritual.
Moral Baggage
When you have this type of baggage, your sense of judgment is warped. You cannot decertify between good and bad. You even call good bad. You don’t know what is morally right. You smoke weed, you get involved with lesbianism, watch pornography, gamble, and the like.
Emotional Baggage
You were in several relationships that never worked or were involved with different ladies/ men and had emotional affairs with them. Maybe you were involved sexually with them in other to keep the relationship.
Physical Baggage
Here you kept your distance from people; this is similar to relational baggage. You enjoy solitude. You don’t want or like to associate with people. You suspect everybody and feel everyone is bad.
Sexual Baggage
With this, you are involved with all manner of sexual escapades. Sex toys, threesome, abortion, sex with strange men and women, prostitution, one-night stand, sex for material gains, etc.
Now that we have an idea of the type of baggages we may be carrying, these are the steps involved in dealing with them.
1. Unpack Your Bag: Stop hiding your bags, bring them to the open and be willing and ready to unpack.
2. Unload: Seek help from counselors, don’t try to handle things alone. You also need someone to be accountable to.
3. Be Patient: Don’t be too much in a hurry, be patient and follow due process.
4. Lighten Your Load by Forgiven: Forgive all those you have to forgive including yourself.
5. Take Classes Together: You need information, so you and your spouse needs all the education you can get.
6. Let Go Of Past Hurts: It’s important you let go and keep them in your past, so that you can experience new life.
God bless your marriage!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY Rest comes to my soul
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Oh Lord, help me to be open about my baggages
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. – Genesis 2:25 (KJV)
Continued from yesterday. You can read Part 1 HERE
The statement “I am your husband to be, you must obey everything I say whether you like it or not” is a fallacy.
Yes, you should obey because you will eventually have to submit after marriage, but you are to refuse any form of oppression, compromise and violation of God’s word.
I will give you another example.
He desperately is in need of money. He suggests you take money that doesn’t belong to you in your place of work because you head the accounting section. Technically, he is asking you to steal.
If you go ahead to do that in love, it is most likely he would not marry you, because the very seed that would scatter the relationship has been sown.
On another level, you would have offended God in your bid to keep a lover, and come to think of it, it is not your supposed “acts” of love that keeps the relationship, it is God’s favour. The question then is that why would you want to lose God’s favour because you want to keep the guy?
You don’t kick against the lover of your soul to keep the lover of your body!
So, this is clear, it is a wrong man that will insist that you compromise your faith and desecrate the covenant.
Walk away from that man without regrets. Walk away from such a man offering thanksgiving to God that you discovered such traits before walking down the aisle.
It is good for you to leave a wrong man as soon as you can because if the wrong man doesn’t go, the right man will not show up.
Some ladies try to wait for the right man while they hold on to the wrong man in case the right man doesn’t show up. The reality is that the right man is never going to show up like that. God doesn’t want you double dating!
This is why we also say you should know who you are getting married to before you walk down the aisle.
To be continued tomorrow
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will not miss it in marriage.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me to trust you.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
