This morningour topic is centered around how to stop the operations of the strange woman
Learn to appreciate your spouse
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. (Proverbs 7:21 KJV)
I say this to married people all the time; don’t grow weary of each other. I tell wives, don’t be careless in handling your man! Avoid unnecessary quarrels that linger for days. Stop getting hurt over every issue. Work together as a couple. None of you will ever be perfect, but keep improving and keep forgiving each other. That is how to work at your marriage.
Now, ladies, you need to consciously protect your husband from several traps out there! Don’t be careless! Learn to appreciate your husband and praise him!
You need to know that this is the strength of the strange woman! While you are busy fighting and quarreling with your husband everyday over this and that, the strange woman is busy flattering him!
With her much fair speech….with the flattering of her lip!
Look at the Message translation:
Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech. (Proverbs 7:21 Message)
I will give you examples: Stop telling your husband, “You are not even handsome again, your belly is protruded, this is not the man I got married to!” Why?
You see, the strange woman will gladly say things like, “This is what I like about you. Your tummy! So rounded like football, O ya, come and lie down, let me rub it for you. That ingrate you have at home doesn’t know what she has!”
When you have been quarreling with your husband, and there has been no communication nor Jeru trips for days, and you know he is neither grounded in the things of God nor spiritual, and you know he is having executive and business meetings in different locations and in hotels, you have just aided the devil in trapping him!
Usually, the next thing that happens is the next verses:
Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, Like a stag lured into ambush and then shot with an arrow, Like a bird flying into a net not knowing that its flying life is over (Proverbs 7:22-23 Message)
I give you another example: Don’t tell your husband, “Dear, you have to do something about this your balding head. How old are you that all your hair is fast disappearing? You don’t even look fine again. You look like Papa Ajasco!”
You see the strange woman is ready to rub that head and say things like, “I just like this your head, let me rub cream on it, I just like it shiny!”
The strange woman is ready to tell all the lies, make him feel appreciated until she collects all the money meant for his family!
The concluding verses advises all the men:
So, friends, listen to me, take these words of mine most seriously. Don’t fool around with a woman like that; don’t even stroll through her neighborhood. Countless victims come under her spell; she’s the death of many a poor man. She runs a halfway house to hell, fits you out with a shroud and a coffin (Proverbs 7:24-27 Message).
May God deliver you from the strange woman.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am delivered from the strange woman.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, deliver me from the strange woman.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Soon she has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech. (Proverbs 7:21 Message)
Somebody was once asked what are the three most important ingredients of a relationship or marriage that would be successful. He simply gave them:
Communication
Communication
Communication I believe he was right!
Communication is powerful and is so essential. Right from the very first few seconds of a baby’s entrance into this world, there must be communication or the baby will be given some baby smacks to give out a sound! As a matter of fact, communication, in an unexplainable way begins right from the embryonic stage of the baby in its mother’s womb. When communication in a relationship or marriage nosedives, the consequences show up immediately. In every relationship and marriage, there are levels of communication that must be explored to create a balance.
1. Communication with your maker No matter how good you are with communication or how adept you are in relating with others, if you have not first communicated with your maker, all the efforts will be futile. You see, you need to understand this, as it is fundamental. Your success in a relationship or marriage is predicated on your relationship with God as a foundation. Do you know God? If you don’t know God first, you won’t be able to know him or her. For you to understand what love is and how to love appropriately, you have to know God first because God is love! When you say something like, “I don’t want to be spiritual,” you are not being true to yourself, because you are essentially a spirit! You are a spirit who thinks with a soul and lives in a body! The body is not the real you! That is why the body is here on earth and decays after the man dies. When a man dies, the real him escapes from the body and reports to God!
Marriage itself is spiritual, from the very day that God instituted it. To succeed therefore in such, you need to first retrace your steps and establish a deliberate relationship with God. This is why we often say that it is risky to marry a man or woman that doesn’t know God! Do you know that knowing God, reading His word regularly will help you from falling into the hands of the wrong spouse? You see that in the book of Proverbs where it says specifically that He will deliver you from the evil man and from the strange woman!
To deliver thee from the way of the EVIL MAN, from the man that speaketh froward things; (Proverbs 2:12 KJV) To deliver thee from the STRANGE WOMAN, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; (Proverbs 2:16 KJV)
2. Communication with yourself The next stage is communication with yourself. Who are you? This answers the question of identity. Why are you here? This answers the question of purpose. This stage is important because if you don’t answer these questions before venturing into a relationship or marriage, you will end up frustrating him or her.
The questions of identity and purpose, if left unanswered would weary you and bring confusion as you begin to deal with another person. True love with yourself is a personal discovery of who you are and why you are here. If you don’t have true love for yourself, you cannot love another person. A person for example, who has answered the questions of identity and purpose, would not sleep around irresponsibly. The reality of who he or she is in God and the weight of his assignment would not allow him or her to misbehave. The gloriousness of his assignment would debar him from traveling down the road of compromise. When you know who you are, you will not try to get affirmations from the opposite sex who is looking for some lustful flings. When you know God’s plan for your life, the awesomeness of your future will prevent you from opening your legs to everybody that knocks! When a sense of purpose drives you, the fear of God will keep you from deceiving that guy or girl because of some paltry sums of money. When you know who you are, you won’t end up with a gut or girl in bed who you just met a few hours ago.
I challenge you this morning to seek the face of God in fasting and prayer to answer these questions. Who are you? Why are you here? Where is your location? There is a geographical milieu where you will thrive and flourish. Where is that place? You are a seed of God and every seed doesn’t grow everywhere. Before you travel or relocate to that country, have you been led by God? These are simple questions that will solve complex equations in your lives! May God grant more understanding! Wherever you are now, you can begin by talking to God and asking him these questions!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will communicate right with my maker
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me to do it right.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Prov 2:11-12 (NIV) Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Study the word “communication”
