God and His Wife by Dr. Laila Wahba

Marriage, divorce, adultery, gay marriage are top of mind issues. It is amazing, how through the last fifty years, the way people think of marriage has changed. The things that seemed unthinkable a few years ago, have become the norm. Divorce is an everyday occurrence that people do not give it a second thought. Adultery is thought of as a right, if the marriage is not going well, or one spouse is giving the other a hard time. Fornication, or sex before marriage, as the Bible calls it, has become normal. SO much so that it is unthinkable that someone would reach adolescence, let alone adulthood without having had sex or we applaud when someone is abstinent from sex for a week. Then, when these things became ‘normal’, along comes gay marriage, and who knows what else we will have to endure.
Today, as I was reading my Bible, it suddenly hit me that this is a well planned strategy of the enemy- satan (I never write his name in capital letters, because he doesn't deserve it). His plan is to make us feel that all this is just ‘normal’, not only to mess up individuals, marriages, communities, kids, cities, countries and the whole world; but he is doing something very dangerous: when we feel that divorce, adultery, gay marriage is normal, then when we read the Bible, and read about the eternal marriage covenant that God has made with us, we do not take it seriously. The thought that occurs is that these things are non relevant to our lives today. When we read in Isaiah 50. 1-3,
“Thus says the Lord:
“Where is your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
 their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering”.

Or when we read in Isaiah 62.4-5,
“You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
 but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you”.

Jeremiah 3.1-8
“If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
will he return to her?

Which has become normal in our day and age.

Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
 will he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end? ’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah:“Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

You see that which God used as abhorring, unthinkable examples of our straying away from God, has become a normal way of life today. We do not feel or see that there is anything wrong with a man cheating on his wife, or a wife cheating on her husband.
How can the Lord reach us when sin has become normal? When what He sees as horrific, we see as trivial?

In Hosea 2 and 3
We see how it was unheard of that a man should marry a woman who had sex with another man other than her husband, and God uses this example to show His mercy and love for His people, in accepting them back and showing the mercy once more in spite of the fact that they have committed adultery against God.

In Ezekial 16, the beautiful chapter on God’s grace and mercy, when He passes by and finds that “And … looked on you, and, behold, your time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Jehovah. And you became Mine”.

The beauty of God’s love to His people.

Having sex with someone other than your spouse, was a big issue.
We read in Leviticus 20.5
“then I will set My face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go lusting after him to commit adultery with Molech, from among their people”.

Going after other gods was seen as adultery, and because of it God would take away his blessing from a certain person or a certain people.

But this does not stop in the Old Testament, for in the New Testament, Jesus Himself says in Matthew  5.28, and as if to tell His listeners, this is not old stuff, this is still applicable today,
” You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”.

He raised the bar, to include not only physical acts, but pornography too.


Mark 10.11-12
“And He said to them, Whoever shall put away his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband and marries to another, she commits adultery”.

Why aren’t we reading our Bible? And if we read it, why aren’t we taking it seriously? Because this is what satan wants, he wants us to take lightly our life away from God, our ‘little’ sins, our ‘little lusts’, our secret desires. When we do not realize that we have broken the covenant with God, when we think lightly of adultery, marriage, divorce, gay marriage, we become so caught up and blinded that we will not see the audacity of what we are doing.

When God wanted to illustrate His relationship with His church, the only example He could think of (that’s an oxymoron) was between a man and His wife, so when this picture is tarnished by divorce, adultery, gay marriage, pornography, or whatever else will come our way, then we cannot understand what God is trying to tell us.

God loves His wife: the Church
Ephesians 5. 23-33
“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord loves the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall be one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. But also let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife that she defers to her husband

The church is called the Bride.
Rev 21.12
“And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband”.

Rev 19.7-8
“Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints”.

How can we understand and appreciate these verses, if we do not know that white means pure?
Let us wake up, and see that satan’s main goal and strategy, from the beginning of time is to distort everything God has done, and to keep our eyes off His mercy and love lest we be saved.

“Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other”. Isaiah 45.22

God is not my Personal Genie!

The Problem with God

On August 17, 2015 

 By Phuong K. Schuetz   In Faith

 

I used to like watching a TV series called Bewitched because Sam, the witch and main character of the show, could twitch her nose and use her magical powers to make things go her way and get the people around her to do what she wanted.  To be honest, there are times when I wish God would be like Sam and use his powers to give me what I want.

The problem with God is, he is not my personal genie!  He can’t be controlled or manipulated to do things my way.  Being a control nut, I like to have everything figured out and of course I want to figure God out too.  The problem with God is, he isn’t who my mind imagines him to be because he doesn’t do what I think he should do when I think he should do it!

This inability to figure God out has been a source of frustration for me through various trials.  I tend to ask God the “why” question a lot!  The problem with God is, he usually doesn’t answer my questions and prayers the way I wish he would but, he does answer!  Most of the time, I don’t like his answers or agree with them so I assume God is not real and powerful enough to work in my problems.  When God doesn’t answer specifically, I presumed he is not concerned about me.

The problem with God is, his ways are not easy or comfortable to accept.  In every life situation, I have a choice to either push into God or pull away from him.  My human instinct is to pull away from God when I can’t understand his answers.  The unnatural way or the path God wants me to choose is to always push into him especially when the answer doesn’t make sense and I can’t figure out what he is doing.  As I push into God with a heart that wants to know him more, he begins to show me how real he is by doing unexpected and unexplainable things in my life.

Funny thing is, the better I know God, the more I trust he will answer my prayers in ways  that will grow my faith.  When his answer is different than what I had hope for, I’ve learned to handle the disappointment like the apostle Paul.  I boast about my suffering because I’ve seen how it has produced in me endurance for a life of faith in the real God.  He gives me his strength to endure difficulties with the purpose of shaping my character.  He continues to flush out impurities in me such as selfishness, pride, fear and controlling tendencies so I might learn how to hope and anticipate his goodness (Romans 5:3-4).  Without trials, my faith would not have been awaken to how real God is because I would have missed out on experiencing his healing power, his protection, and his provision.

Friends, whatever you are struggling with right now, the problem is not with God.  Your predicament may seem daunting but God wants you to know he is real and he cares deeply for you.  Don’t pull away from him to go with your own ideas and efforts or you will forfeit God’s real power and goodness in your life.  Being overwhelmed is your cue to push further into God for help. Then, be on the lookout for God to move in supernatural ways on your behalf!  Your faith in God will be awakened as you witness his amazing works in your life!

Joseph - From Potiphar’s Palace to Prison - Genesis 39:6 - 41:37

It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph - Genesis 39:7

Joseph had a reverence for God. In these verses of scripture the story tells of how Joseph, being a dedicated servant rose to a high position in Potiphar’s household. He was so trusted by his master, Joseph was given charge over everything Potiphar owned. If that isn’t evidence that the Lord was with Joseph even as a slave, what more possibly could be? 

Considering the circumstances - Joseph being a slave, The Lord’s hand on him elevated him to what would have been an enviable life. But as it so often happens, it came to pass. And so Joseph being an attractive young man, caught the eye of Potiphar’s wife in Gen. 39:6. Unfolding in the verses from Gen. 39:7-13 is the story of a wicked woman driven by her lust and sense of entitlement. Also revealed in those same verses we learn even more about Joseph’s character. He could have taken her up on her offer to participate in adultery but Joseph angered her by being a rare and honorable man. Gen. 39:8-9

Can we say sexual harassment in the work place? We see Joseph fleeing from her so abruptly, he left his coat behind just so he could get away from her. 

A trite phrase that may have originated with this story is “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!” When Joseph refused Potiphar’s wife - she wanted to destroy him and accused him of attacking her. Due to her false accusation, Joseph was thrown into prison. Gen. 39:20

Have you ever been falsely accused of anything? Has anyone ever projected the blame for their own wrong doing onto you in order to avoid the consequences of their actions or out of a determination to hurt you?

We can see from the life of Joseph that injustice takes place through no fault of our own. We also see that the Lord was with Joseph and He is with us too. Joseph was not guilty but he suffered as if he was. Have you ever suffered when you weren’t at fault? Why does He allow such trials in our lives? Is it because God really does have a plan for us? Is His purpose for us, higher than what we can understand? Is our understanding based on the present; the here and now while God has our future in His hands?

So where does this story leave Joseph? 

So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. Gen. 39:20

Joseph did nothing to deserve it - Why did the Lord allow it? Why didn’t God rescue Joseph? Joseph kept his eyes on God and lived in the promises that God had a plan and a purpose for him. Would our lives look different; be more bearable if we could somehow live with the confidence of God’s plan and purpose for us - even when all around us is confusing, painful and unjust?

Joseph’s great confidence is found in Gen. 39:21 But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 

Dear Lord, we ask that You impress upon us the directive to trust You. Remind us as often as is necessary that You are faithful and trustworthy. Assure us as often as is necessary that even when injustice is heaped on us, our future is secure in You. Prompt us to always flee temptations of all kinds that would bring dishonor to Your name. We ask for favor; favor from You and from those we come into contact with so that You will be glorified in all our efforts. In the name of Jesus we pray all this. Amen.

The Divine Mentor : Gift of The Holy Spirit

Today's Reading
2 Kings 23
2 Chronicles 35
John 7

Scripture :  John 7:38
The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said,   will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.

Objective :
Jesus wants us to know by our belief in Him we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to tap into the endless powers of God. The many streams of living water is how we are able to touch others along with being able to drink from the living waters of God.

Application :
We must be mindful of our words and actions. As Christians we the ability to share the Gospel and change lives. With that comes great responsibility because a nonbeliver can judge Jesus through the example we provide.

Prayer :
Lord I come to you broken. I ask that you build me according to your will that is pleasing to you. Thank you for the gift of The Holy Spirit. Please continue to give me the strength to always have a thirst for your Word when this earthly realm attempts to steal my time. In Jesus' name Amen.

Today at work the Holy Spirit gave me a very simple quote to write on the dry erase board I keep on my desk to share whatever He gives me. Now that quote doesn't seem so simple. This is what I wrote:
"We are walking billboards. What is your billboard saying?"
Obedience to the Holy Spirit brings great enlightenment and a life full of glorious confirmations.

The Divine Mentor: Best Example

August 4, 2015

Today’s Reading

2 Kings 22

2 Chronicles 34

John 6

Scripture: John 6:11 (HCSB)

Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.

Objective:

Jesus leads by example, by giving thanks for the food before distributing it. The miracle that He performs – He does it, yet He still gives thanks to God.  This is another example of how Jesus never forgets the true power of God.  Jesus humbles Himself to the will of God.  Though god has empowered Jesus He still continues to show us no matter how high God elevates us we must not forget to thank God. 

Application:

We are to apply this example to our daily routine especially since God expects it. Just as it is written in Psalm 95:2 and 100:4. If Jesus could remain humble who are we to have pride and arrogance? Everything we have and everything we are comes from God.

Prayer:

Lord, I come to broken. I ask that you continue to build me according to your will. I pray that I remember to enter every day and everything with thanksgiving. I thank you for the ability the walk the you desire for me; to be there for my family and friends; and most of all thank you for your son Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.