Women can completely relate to the art of cooking, it’s a beautiful art that requires focus and mastery. When you want to eat a meal, it doesn’t just appear by merely desiring it, or just thinking about it.
It takes a lot of deliberateness to cook a nice and tasty meal. For food to be prepared a lot of things have to come together; these things are called ingredients.
Spice, proteins, vegetables, you name it. These things have to come together before you can have a meal, and depending on what you decide to combine, it results in the aroma, taste, and outlook of your end product.
Just like cooking is an art, marriage is also an art; the only difference is you can’t master it because every day is different.
But certainly, there are principles (ingredients) you can use to address every issue, to get certain results, regardless of whether it’s the same scenario or not.
Love is a major ingredient in marriage; it’s not just the feeling of butterflies or Goosebumps. Even those that have been married for a short while will agree with me that you don’t feel butterflies in your belly all the time.
What exactly is this ingredient called Love? Let us see what the bible says.
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, but keeps going to the end. Love never dies. -1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (MSG)
As husband and wife, the greatest good you can do for yourselves is to love each other passionately, love yourself from the depths of your heart and really mean it.
Let love be without dissimulation.
I love the way that The Message Translation puts it.
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. –Romans 12:9a (MSG)
Don’t fake love for each other; let your love be genuine, genuine love can be felt, and it will also reflect in every area.
Pray for one another’s weaknesses; take every anxiety and fear to God in the place of prayers. As you begin to do this, you will receive the strength to love your spouse appropriately and passionately.
So shall it be in Jesus name!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will love my spouse unconditionally
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, send your help into our marriage
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. –Proverbs 14:29 (KJV)
Still on our series to discovering wisdom this morning, we will yet consider one more thing to note about wisdom.
Our anchor scripture remains;
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. – Proverbs 8:14-18 (KJV)
8. Wisdom loves those who seek it.
One more thing about wisdom is that it loves those who seek it. If you are wisdom seeker, wisdom will love you.
If you go all out seeking for wisdom, you will find it.
There will always be a difference between someone who starts preparing for an examination from the beginning of the term, and someone who starts preparing for the same examination a day before the examination.
To get wisdom, you have to be intentional and deliberate about it.
A wise person is loved because he always something beneficial to give.
So here is the conclusion; if for any reason, you feel unloved by your parents, guardians, siblings, teachers, environment or whatever, go for wisdom.
Invest in your mind. Develop yourself. Focus on being a better you. I can assure you the narrative will change I er time.
A few days back, I began writing to you about “The Virtuous Woman”, I know a lot of you must be curious as to whether there is anything like a virtuous man, especially the lady folks.
Well, the scripture never mentions anything like a virtuous man but it did talk about men! And that is what I want us to see this morning.
The scriptures say about women:
Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. –Proverbs 31:10 (KJV)
Then it says about men:
Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? –Proverbs 20:6 (KJV)
So essentially, the Bible talks about a virtuous woman and a faithful man!
The question is where can one find a faithful man? In fact, The Message translations say:
Lots of people claim to be loyal and loving, but where on earth can you find one? –Proverbs 20:6 (MSG)
The writer of Psalm 12 even sounds like you cannot find such a man again!
Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. –Psalms 12:1 (KJV)
Other translations even added pepper on top!
HELP, LORD! For principled and godly people are here no more; faithfulness and the faithful vanish from among the sons of men. –Psalms 12:1 (AMP)
Quick, GOD, I need your helping hand! The last decent person just went down, All the friends I depended on gone. –Psalms 12:1 (MSG)
However, I will like you to know there are still faithful men! It takes a virtuous woman to be found by a faithful man!
There is someone that changes the equation of unfaithfulness. His name is Jesus. He is the only one that can make a difference in the life of a man and who can make the vilest of sinners become a faithful man!
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said concerning him, See! Here is an Israelite indeed [a true descendant of Jacob], in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor falsehood nor duplicity! –John 1:47 (AMP)
In the above scripture, Jesus actually found a faithful man! You see when Jesus shows up on the scene, you will find faithful men!
So who is a faithful man? How do I identify one?
To be continued
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am a faithful man/virtuous woman.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me to become the person you have created me to be and let the faithful man/virtuous woman in me emerge
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. –Psalms 12:7 (KJV)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Commit every issue in your relationship into the hands of God
Dear couple, today I want to show you a powerful weapon that works all the time. Regardless of whatever season you are in your life or marriage, this weapon is a formidable one.
Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. -1Chronicles 29:13 (KJV)
There is one thing that the enemy cannot resist; it is the power of praise, when you learn to praise God all your enemies fall down at your feet.
No matter what the problem or situation is praise is a way out, when you praise, worship, and give thanksgiving to God, the enemy is confused, and there is confusion in the enemy’s camp.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. -1Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
The devil hates joyful songs; he hates songs of adoration and thanksgiving to God, it gets him confused; he knows his strategy is not working, and his weaponry is not working.
His weapons won’t work because you are focused on something stronger, and better. you can’t be distracted, you are engaging the help of a God that consumes by fire.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” -Hebrews 12:28-29 (NIV)
Praise God all alone when it looks like the situation is not working when it looks like things are going awry when it looks like the children are wayward.
Praise God when the finances don’t seem to be flowing, praise him into your breakthrough, and you will surely rejoice!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will praise my God at all times, in every situation, and in every season
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, teach me to praise always
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. -1Chronicles 29:13 (KJV)
4. Wisdom gives Strength. Every child of God needs strength, strength to do the will of God. Sometimes doing what the bible says isn’t cool, especially when you want to impress your friends. So you will agree with me that strength is important in our day-to-day lives. Wisdom will give you and I this strength that’s what the bible says, when you have the wisdom of God then you will also have the strength to do the right thing at the right time.
Let’s refresh our memory with our focus verses;
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. Prov 8:14-18 (KJV)
5. Wisdom will make you reign as Kings do. God created us to reign on earth as kings, all of God’s sons and daughters are kings and queens, but you need God’s wisdom to function in your calling. Kings rule not only because they are called kings, but it’s also because they have the wisdom it takes to rule a kingdom, God wants you to be wise so he can trust you even as a child with certain things, you aren’t too young to be called king.
6. Wisdom will make you decree Justice like Princes. Justice is what God desires for his children on earth. Do you know what justice means? It means upholding what is right in all situations. Our God is a God of Justice, and he wants us to represent him on earth, so we all also have to be a people of justice. How do we decree justice? It’s by having God’s wisdom.
7. You will be able to rule as noble people do. God’s wisdom will not only help you to rule, it will also help people around you to identify you as a noble person whom they can learn from. It’s easy to identify wise people; you will be easily identified if you have the wisdom of God.
Some other things to know about wisdom are;
Wisdom loves those who seek it.
Those that seek wisdom early find it.
That’s the end of our teaching today, I pray God gives you His wisdom in Jesus name.
PRAYER: Father in the name of Jesus, please give me your wisdom.
ACTION PLAN: Memorize the focus verses for today.
DECLARATION: I have the wisdom of God, sound wisdom is mine.
