Second Corinthians 6:14 instructs us, “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?”
We cannot express strongly enough how important it is to marry someone with whom you can be in unity and agreement according to God’s Word. Marrying someone who has not made Jesus Lord and Savior will pose more challenges for you than you may be thinking of right now.
If your heart is longing to find that special someone to talk with, dream with and enjoy life with, you may be on the brink of discouragement. Maybe you’ve even fallen into the trap of praying, waiting, feeling lonely and discouraged, then repeating the process all over again. You may even be wondering…
The world has a lot of people convinced that they cannot die without slipping into some sort of physical decline and enduring sickness or disease. But that isn’t God’s best!
Here’s the truth:
God didn’t put any expiration date on His healing promises, so you do not have to die sick. So, if you don’t die sick, how will you die?
Gloria Copeland puts it simply, saying, “You’ll just leave. You’ll finish your course, and the Lord will just take your spirit up with Him.”
No matter what you’re facing in your marriage right now, know this—God wants to heal your marriage. It’s His will for you and for your spouse. If you can have faith in Him, you can see a dramatic turnaround in your relationship.
Unity is vital to marriage, whether deciding on church attendance or any other important issue. God loves you and your spouse deeply, and His main desire is that you walk in unity with one another. Sometimes it may seem difficult to gain common ground on certain issues, but by the power of God you can both walk in unity if you will put your trust in Him.
First and foremost, God hates divorce (Malachi 2:14-16). It is never His best, and the damage it does to families and children are the evidence.
God created marriage and intended for it to be a lifelong union. The apostle Paul taught that the marriage relationship is a demonstration of the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). When we stray from His plan, the results are damaging. That is why Jesus emphasized the importance and sacredness of marriage in Matthew 19:6, saying “What God has joined together, let no man separate” (NKJV).
Yes, we will be able to recognize one another in heaven. There are many examples of this in the Bible. Jesus said we would be able to sit down with people like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11). This would imply that we will keep our individual identities and be able to recognize each other.
Though the Bible does not answer this directly, it does tell us enough to draw an informed conclusion.
Adam and Eve were the first and only people on the earth right after the six days’ work of Creation. They were commanded to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). They had not only Cain, Abel and Seth but numerous sons and daughters (Genesis 4:1, 5:4, 6:1) over a lengthy lifespan (Genesis 5:5).
It can be difficult to have a strong conviction about something as important as tithing, but it not be shared by your spouse. The enemy would like you to think you cannot have financial success because of your spouse’s objection to tithing.
Years ago I was in Detroit, and I met a woman who was raised in a communist-bloc country. While I was visiting with her, a news broadcast came on. And as we sat there listening to it, suddenly tears came to her eyes.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
Although I hadn't noticed it, the news commentator had said something derogatory about the president. "I don't like to hear anyone talk about this country like that," she said. "I don't care whether it's true or not. I don't want to hear it."
How would you like to be so full of the glory of God that it's unmistakable to those around you? How would you like for people to be able to know just by looking at you that you'd been with Jesus? It's entirely possible if you are born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. The same mighty power that changed you inwardly when you were saved can so revolutionize you outwardly that even strangers on the street will be able to see Jesus in you.
The Pharisees had a heart condition that grieved Jesus. Their hearts were hard and insensitive. If you'll look in Mark 3, you'll see what I'm talking about.
God was right there in their midst, and they, of all people, should have realized it. They knew the Scriptures backward and forward, and Jesus fit every messianic prophecy written there. But the insensitivity of their hearts literally blinded them to who He was.
The hearts of the Pharisees were also hardened to the needs of the people around them.
That very same thing is still happening today.
Do you want to know one of the secrets of staying in the will of God, of keeping yourself from getting off track?
Don't overestimate yourself!
Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." How many times have we seen that borne out! How many times do we see believers get into trouble because they get an overblown idea of themselves. They begin to think they're so smart that they have it all figured out.
Very few unsaved people today have ever really heard the “good news.” Why? Because too many Christians are busy telling the world God is mad at them. And telling them that they’re terrible and wrong. Some call that “good news,” but it’s not, and it’s not what God has commissioned us to share.
He’s given us the “word of reconciliation”!
He’s sent us to tell the news that God has restored harmony and fellowship between Himself and men. All men. Not just believers. Not just the people in your church, but everyone!
Have you ever tried to forgive someone...and found you simply couldn’t do it? You’ve cried about it and prayed about it and asked God to help you, but those old feelings of resentment just failed to go away.
Put an end to those kinds of failures in the future by basing your forgiveness on faith rather than feelings. True forgiveness doesn’t have anything at all to do with how you feel. It’s an act of the will. It is based on obedience to God and on faith in Him.
Born again. Do you know what Jesus had in mind when He said those two words to Nicodemus? He was talking covenant talk. He was telling Nicodemus what it meant to have a covenant with God.
Let me paint the picture I believe was in Jesus’ mind. Imagine a baby, a little baby born of an unwed mother. No one knows who its daddy is and no one wants to know. He is a child no one wants. He doesn’t belong to anyone.
One area of our lives we believers have particularly neglected is the area of our relationships. We simply haven’t heeded the Word of God where they’re concerned. We’ve fussed with one another and criticized one another so much that we’ve hindered the forces that God has given us to make us successful in this world. That’s right! Strife causes trouble in the spirit realm.
It opens the door to the devil. It keeps our prayers from being answered. It even keeps our angels from moving on our behalf!
Over the years the Church has come up with all kinds of elaborate ways to evangelize the world. We get together and map out plans and strategies and raise money for it. But through it all, we rarely mention the plan that Jesus gave us.
Most believers don't even realize that He gave us the key to winning the world, but He did. He prayed about it right before He went to the Cross. He asked the Father to bring us into a place of such oneness with each other and with Him that the world would know that He had been sent from God.
Do you call it like it is...or like The Word says it should be? See how your words form your destiny each and every day.
Malignant melanoma struck fear in the hearts of Cathy and Charles Asbridge, but they learned to take God at His Word and realized that healing already belonged to them in Jesus.