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Author: Peacefulwife

Can I Be a Sexually Immoral Christian?

Peacefulwife

Photo by mark chaves on Unsplash

Here’s the short answer:

Nope.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  I Corinthians 6:9-11

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Eph. 5:3

No sin is compatible with Christ.

Sin is an archery term that means “to miss the mark.”  Sin is anything that misses the mark of God’s standard of holy perfection. If we miss the target by 1/2 an inch. That is a “sin.”  If we miss it by 100 feet, that is also a “sin.”

If we cherish and cling to sin  – ANY sin – we forfeit the power of the Holy Spirit working in us if we are believers.  Sin deeply grieves the Spirit of God. God cannot tolerate the presence of even microscopic amounts of sin. He is HOLY. And He calls us to live holy lives – free from all sin. God’s Spirit dwells in us if we are believers. We are His temple. But we can grieve God’s Spirit and lose fellowship with Him (Ephesians 4).

If Christ is our Lord, we don’t lose our salvation if we sin – but we stop abiding in Christ and we lose the power of His Spirit that we need to live in obedience to Him. We lose the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-33) and begin to be controlled again by the sinful nature (Galatians 5:19-21).

And if Christ is our Lord – we will not be ok with losing His fellowship. God’s Spirit will work on us to convict us and bring us to repentance quickly unless we harden our hearts.

Of course, if we have never received Christ as our Savior and LORD, we don’t have the Holy Spirit to start with – so God is not in us. Maybe we walked down the aisle at church, said a prayer, and filled out a card, but there was no heart and life change. Maybe we think we are Christians, because we go to church sometimes, but we really don’t know God and don’t have any desire to live for Him or to seek His will. We may, in that situation, be able to live in sin and not have any prick of conscience. In this state, it is possible to call oneself a “Christian” and to continue in major sin. But that is only because we don’t realize what it means to be a Christian.

I cannot embrace sin AND Jesus.  I must choose one or the other.

That sounds really radical, right?

In our own power – it IS COMPLETELY impossible for us to live sinless lives.  We HAVE to have God’s Spirit living in us or we can’t begin to do this. God says that our own attempts at right living and holiness look like “dirty, bloody, filthy menstrual rags” in His sight. Isaiah 64:6. There is nothing good in us on our own. We are all wretched sinners.

  • For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
  • The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
  • Jesus answered, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6

Jesus talks about the cost of following Him – and it is Lordship:

  • Anyone who loves Me will obey Me… if anyone does not obey Me, he does not love Me. John 14:22,24
  • Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39

Someone who belongs to Christ cares about what Jesus cares about. 

If I claim Christ as my Savior and LORD, then HE is my greatest priority and love. By a long shot. Knowing Him is my most passionate goal. Pleasing Him is what I long to do more than anything out of thankfulness and amazement for all that He has done to die in my place and take the wrath of God I deserved upon Himself. I don’t obey Him to “earn” heaven. I can’t earn heaven. Only Jesus can earn heaven. Only He lived a perfect life that was totally pleasing to God. I obey Him because I am overflowing with love and gratitude to Him because of what He did for me.

If Jesus is my LORD and my God – He can ask me to do anything and I can only say with joy, “YES, LORD!”

  • If you do not have Jesus as the Lord of your life – or you have questions, please ask me!! I’m glad to talk with you about how you can know Jesus and have the eternal life He offers to you! Leave me a comment, please!

When Jesus is my Lord, He changes my heart, my desires, my priorities, my thoughts and my character. I DIE to my old sinful nature, it is crucified with Christ on the cross and I put on my new nature in Christ and live in the power of His Spirit. I am a new creation! Old things have passed away. Now I live for God.

If I enjoy something God clearly labels as sin or have no qualms with allowing that thing a place in my life – something is seriously wrong.  

If I can sit and wallow in wrongdoing of any type – and feel no shame and feel no urgency to repent and no grief at what I am doing to Jesus – I am spiritually dead and I do not know Him, or at the very best, I am in a spiritual coma. I need to immediately investigate whether I am saved. The solution is the same either way. I must admit my wrongdoing and turn from it to Jesus and yield my life to His Lordship.

Someone who belongs to Christ and is alive to Him will:

  • hunger for Him
  • thirst for God’s Word
  • desire to know God more
  • have spiritual appetites for God’s presence, prayer and God’s Word
  • long to live a righteous, holy life

Having a physical appetite is a sign of physical health and life. Dead people don’t get hungry for food. Having a spiritual appetite is a sign of spiritual health and life. Spiritually dead people have no desire for the things of God.

There is NO sin that can be welcome in my life if Christ is truly my Lord. (**Please see the list at the bottom of the post)

If I want to know Christ and abide in Him and experience His power in my life and be with Him in heaven – I must be willing to give up my sin! ALL of it!

This is called, Dying to Self .

Jesus is worthy of all of our devotion, love, obedience, worship, and submission.

We don’t come to Him just be be able to check our list “Oh, now I can go to heaven, I said a prayer and ‘asked Jesus into my heart’ and I can live however I want to.”

  • That is not Christianity – not by Jesus’ definition.

We come to Him because we know that we need Him and we love Him and nothing else matters but having Him as our Savior and Lord in this life. And when we come to Him, we come in awe, in humility, and in reckless abandonment – willing to give all that we are and all that we have to Him that we might be daily living sacrifices for His glory.  His glory and His will are all that we care about now.

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

If you realize you have been cherishing sin – you can turn away from it today and turn to Christ!  That is called repentance. We turn completely away from sin in disgust, agreeing with God that it is wrong, and turn fully to Jesus. We decide not to give sin any place in our lives anymore.

He can forgive your sin!

He died to pay for our sins so that He could provide a way for us to be right with God. Get on your face before God and weep over your sin!  Tell Him you agree that what you have done is wrong. Beg Him to forgive You. Claim the power of His death on the cross on your behalf – and surrender your life to Him. Let Him be in charge now. Give Him control of every part of your life. Hold nothing back.  Seek to know Him, to love Him and to live for Him alone from this point on!

Get rid of everything that is a stumbling block for you:

  • Delete all the phone numbers of any guys you may have been in contact with that were inappropriate.
  • Copy your husband on correspondence with other men as appropriate. (You may not be able to copy him on work emails, but you can on other things.)
  • Stop reading romantic novels and/or watching romantic movies if they create resentment and jealousy in your heart, even if they are rated G.
  • Get rid of social media if you feel depressed when you read people’s posts or you feel deprived when you see how other people portray their relationships.
  • Put Covenant Eyes or other software on your devices to keep yourself from having access to porn and inappropriate material if that is a temptation.
  • Stop responding to your old boyfriend or that guy from church when they instant message you on FB.
  • Completely stop flirting with any other man (or woman – if you struggle with same sex attraction) but your own husband.
  • Avoid private conversations or meetings with people who may be tempting.
  • Avoid being alone with other men and avoid even the appearance of evil.
  • Refuse to respond to or have contact with any man who acts inappropriately toward you.
  • Avoid threatening or seeking a separation without biblical grounds.
  • Avoid threatening divorce without biblical grounds.
  • If you realize you are daydreaming about another man or lusting after another man, stop. Recognize this is sin. Repent to the Lord. (If you have sinned against your husband, there are times you may need to repent to him, too, depending on the situation.) Turn your heart to the Lord and to your husband and invite God to empower you to take your thoughts captive for Christ.

The world says that freedom is the power to do whatever we want, even if it destroys us or other people.

God’s definition of freedom is that we have the power to live holy lives that please Him and we are free from the prison of sin!

WILL WE BE COMPLETELY PERFECT AFTER WE REPENT?

We won’t be totally sinless until we reach heaven’s gates. We still have access to our old sinful nature and can choose to sin as believers in Christ and we can stumble at times. Thankfully, we don’t ever have to sin, though, because God promises He will provide a way out from all temptation if we look to Him! If we stay filled up with the Spirit, we can walk in Jesus’ power over sin.

If Christ is our LORD – we will hate sin and do everything possible to avoid it and to guard our hearts from temptation. If we do stumble, we will immediately repent and turn back to Him and seek Him with all our hearts.

 

HEBREWS 10  – a very sober warning to us all to live in fear, awe and trembling before the God of heaven.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

ROMANS 6 – We are no longer slaves to sin if we are in Christ Jesus!

 

RELATED:

What Is the Gospel? by www.gotquestions.org

How to Have a Relationship with Christ

How to Avoid Adultery/Immorality – 7 minute YouTube video

My Husband Doesn’t Speak My Love Language

Signs Your Husband Feels Disrespected and Unloved

What Is Respect in Marriage?

Healthy VS. Unhealthy Relationships

25 Ways to Be a Safe Place for Your Husband Emotionally

Influencing a Husband for Christ

How to Stay Filled with the Holy Spirit

Dying to Self

A Big Lightbulb Moment about True Contentment

8 Powerful Keys to Peace

 

A SHORT LIST OF POSSIBLE SIN (not an exhaustive list)

  • pride
  • idolatry (putting my love for other things/people/desires before God in my life – like my desire for a man, marriage, romance, beauty, children, popularity, fame, money, etc…)
  • any addictions (drugs, alcohol, food, anorexia, bulimia, gambling, social media, etc…)
  • lust/pornography
  • sexual immorality/homosexuality/fornication/adultery/bi-sexuality
  • stealing
  • lies
  • self-righteousness (thinking we are better than other people)
  • forgetting God
  • prayerlessness
  • cheating
  • bribery
  • a short temper
  • contempt, hatred
  • trying to control others
  • people pleasing
  • resentment, bitterness
  • unforgiveness
  • selfishness
  • greed
  • materialism
  • heresy/ungodly teachings
  • worldliness
  • gossip
  • complaining
  • contentiousness
  • apathy towards the Word of God, apathy towards the things of God
  • lack of love for God
  • lack of love for people
  • lack of concern for the poor, the abused, the mistreated, the sick, the imprisoned, the lost
  • and many other things I don’t have room to list here…

Our Area Was Spared in Hurricane Florence

Peacefulwife 4 Comments

A pic of our back yard this morning – very peaceful!

Just wanted to send out an update – the entire central area of South Carolina was spared from what we were expecting to happen with Florence. We expected to experience tropical storm force winds over 50 miles per hour and 6-12+ inches of rain. We thought there would be significant flooding, many trees down, and major power outages that were widespread. But the storm all but dissipated before it got to us, all we received was mostly a gentle-moderate rainfall for several days. There were some issues with power and trees down and some damage. But nothing like what we had anticipated.

I am thankful to the Lord that we were spared so much destruction.

And I am extremely glad we have so many first responders who were ready to help and so many linemen and power company trucks from all over this half of the country who were staged and ready to help. What a huge blessing!

My heart is aching over hundreds of thousands of people in North Carolina and closer to the coast in South Carolina, as well as in the Philippines, Hawaii, Taiwan, and China who are suffering terribly from very strong storms, flooding, landslides, and destruction.

God is allowing His gospel to be shared in people’s testimonies because of the storm. I’m so grateful!

Thank you for praying with me for those impacted by these, and many other, recent disasters. Thank you for praying for me and our family. God hears the prayers of His people! I believe He will use these disasters to usher in new Great Awakenings and to draw many into the Kingdom.

May the Lord help us see how He might desire each of us to give tangible assistance to those in need and to share the Gospel of Christ. Perhaps some of us, who are able, might be able to donate to Samaritan’s Purse, our local church efforts, or other Christian organizations to help with so many facing natural disasters.

You are welcome to let me know how you and your family are doing in the comments.

 

Much love!

April

 

 

A Wife Shares about God’s Blessings from the Flooding after Hurricane Harvey

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Photo Credit wikimedia.org

Note – right now, it looks like the path of Florence may come directly over the Columbia, SC area where we live. I’m not sure how significant the impacts will be, but I appreciate your prayers for those in harm’s way (especially along the coast) and also for our linemen, first responders, meteorologists, and government leaders. I also appreciate your patience if I happen to not have internet access or electricity for a bit. 

I’m so thankful for Nina’s willingness to share her story in response to my prayer for those who are facing hurricane Florence and other major storms, earthquakes, and trials this week. :

My husband and I experienced flooding in our home during Harvey last year. The frame of our house is now covered with His Word written by the hands of those who helped us through. I wouldn’t change a thing as we saw God’s providence and provision throughout the whole ordeal. He is a good, good, Father.

It was not the rain that flooded us, but the release of tremendous amounts of water from a nearby lake (the capacity of an Olympic swimming pool per second!!) that flooded us. We only had a moment’s notice to get out.

We had no idea how high the water would get. We were able to take essential paperwork with us (passports, social security cards, etc.) and our dogs, but everything else we put up on counters and just counted all the furniture as lost. We had no time to load up a U-haul!

That night as the waters rose, I lay in bed at our friend’s house remembering all the treasured pictures of my son and family and just prayed that they were up high enough. I knew I there were things I had forgotten to put up high.  After the water receded and we went back into our home, I didn’t care about anything in there that was lost, except one thing that had fallen from a table into the water…..a memory book from my son’s high school baseball team his senior year. In it was a beautiful letter he had written to me.

I held that book and looked at all the ruined pages of pictures and priceless words he had written to me and I just wept.  But God, in His perfect sweetness, reminded me that those words and pictures were still in my heart and one day, even those treasures were incomparable to the priceless gift He had given me in His Son. Yet, through a series of events, even that book was replaced by a friend (whom I hadn’t even seen or spoken to for about 7 years).  She had seen my tearful post about losing it, contacted the photo company that printed it, purchased a new one and mailed it to me!  There are so many stories I could share about how God comforted, provided, and blessed us throughout the ordeal.  He blew us away over and over. He truly was with us when we passed through the waters!

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

Isa. 43:2

Going through Harvey was also especially powerful for my husband. He watched God provide for us from the simplest things like needing a bag of ice (and a golf cart with literally drove up as we were discussing needing ice for our cooler!) to huge things like a restaurant owner (where we eat on Sundays after church) offer us one of his rental houses free for as long as we needed it. God provided for us every single step of the way! There is too much to recount! It was amazing and humbling.

This picture with Psalm 46:10 spoke to me greatly…..in the heap of our big mess, He was letting us know not to worry because He’s got us. :).

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.” Ps. 46:10

And this picture below is super special because the scripture was written by our good friend, Ephesien, who works for some missionaries we visit each year in Haiti.  He just happened to be in Texas visiting during the hurricane.  My husband still tears up when he thinks about our Haitian brother’s handwriting of God’s Word on our walls.

image1.jpeg

Our church actually became a shelter and quickly organized teams to help those in need. We had about 40 people from our church to muck out the house as soon as the water receded. It was a beautiful sight to see the body of Christ come together! Many affected people in our community have come to Christ as a result. Praise God!

For those of you facing this hurricane, know that your God is stronger and He will be with you through it, bringing beauty out of havoc it tries to wreak.

God sees you, hears you, and He won’t let you go.

SHARE
If you have been through a big trial or storm and would like to share how God used it to bless you, we’d love to hear about it! Your story might be exactly what another sister in Christ needs to hear to help encourage them to trust the Lord in their own difficult situation.

RELATED
Finding Real Joy in the Midst of a Painful Trial

Rethinking How We Pray about Hurricanes

Rethinking How to Pray in the Face of a Major Hurricane or Natural Disaster

Peacefulwife 10 Comments

Photo by Victor Rodriguez on Unsplash

 

It is very tempting for us to just want to pray a hurricane away.

It is certainly fine to ask God to spare us from a hurricane or from other kinds of disasters. Many times, He has diverted a storm so that it didn’t cause all of the destruction it could have caused. And we rejoice in His power to calm the storm!

But I would love for us to ask God for much more than that.

Let’s ask Him for His greatest possible glory in the midst of this storm. And let’s ask Him what He wants to do and how He wants us to pray.

If that means for the storm to turn, that would be amazing. But what if God intends to use this storm as a wake up call for many people? What if He wants to use it to heal marriages and families? What if He wants to use it to heal the division in our communities? What if He wants to use it to get people to stop and really evaluate what is important in life? What if He wants to use it to bring many people into the Kingdom of Christ?

What if a great storm is actually merciful?

What if the storm is an answer to our prayers for our country to turn back to the Lord?

There have been revivals that take place in areas that have been hit by hurricanes and disasters in the past. There have been communities that have come together. There have been Christians who have been able to reach people they couldn’t have reached otherwise because they meet the needs of those impacted by a disaster.

God often used storms and disasters in the Bible to accomplish His will. To lead people to the place He wanted them to go. To prepare their hearts to listen to His voice. Or to get their attention. A great storm can also be a reminder that our security is truly in Christ alone, not in anything else.

Lord,

Use the trials we are facing now to do the most eternal good possible. We tend to look only at the physical and the here and now. Help us to see with Your eyes. Help us to hear anything You want to speak to us in the storm.

Florence and Olivia (and many other hurricanes in recent weeks and in coming weeks) are huge and powerful. We want to see people spared from harm. We don’t want to see property damaged or people hurt or killed. We ask for Your mercy over those who are in harm’s way with hurricanes and with so many earthquakes around the world. And then there are many people in harm’s way because of wars and violence. The trials going on right now are too many to even count. So much human suffering is happening around the globe.

But what we desire most is Your greatest possible glory and the greatest possible harvest for Your kingdom!

We invite You to use all of these disasters and trials for Your good purposes in our individual families, our churches, our communities, our states, and our nations.

Show us what You want us to do. Show us how to be cooperative with our husbands if we are in the path of a major trial and how to become a stronger, more united team than ever. Let us walk in Your supernatural peace as we lay our anxieties before You. Help us set a godly example for our children of what it looks like to respond in faith in You, rather than in fear. Use this experience to help our children’s faith grow like crazy and to help them grow in spiritual maturity as we show them the way of faith. Empower us to extend the love of Jesus and hospitality to our family, friends, and strangers.

We invite Your Spirit to work powerfully in our families and in our communities and in the areas that are being hit and devastated by these heavy blows. Mobilize Your people to help those who are hurting.

Let Your Kingdom come in these areas! Let people be sensitive to Your leading and Your Spirit and Your gospel. Thank You that You graciously give us wake up calls so that we don’t continue on and on in our ignorance or in our own way.

Thank You that You are there with us in the storms. Thank You for Your provision. Thank You for Your promises in Your Word that hold firm in every calamity.

Help us to count even these extremely difficult trials as joy (James 1:2-4). Use them to help us grow in our faith. Use them to help us reach out to those in need. Make us a supernatural blessing to everyone around us. Use the storms and disasters to reach the lost and to wake them up to new life in Jesus. Empower us to respond in Your Spirit in our families, our communities, and our churches. Use them to spur us on to do Your will in our circles of influence.

Please give our government leaders wisdom to direct people to safety. Please give church leaders and community leaders wisdom, as well.

We invite Your Spirit to do miracles in many lives and to broadcast them on weather and news channels around the world. We invite You to use these storms and disasters to proclaim Your gospel message around the world in powerful ways!

Be greatly glorified in these storms and trials. Show Yourself mighty! Help us all to see our desperate need for You and our dependence on You. We are not in charge! You alone are sovereign. Let us come together in unity and cooperation as families, communities, and the body of Christ.

Open our eyes to all of the blessings You have for us along the way, the spiritual treasures, the opportunities to share Your love with others, the provision for our needs, and all of the good things even in these difficult times. Empower us to have thankful hearts. Empower us to sing Your praises in the storm!

Pour out Your Life-giving gospel, Your love, and Your truth over all the people who are experiencing suffering and trials. Let millions turn to You in a great harvest while there is still time in this era of grace before the door closes.

Amen!

  • The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. Nahum 1:7
  • And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Matt. 8:26
  • For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 2 Cor. 4:17
  • Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
  • Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:6-7

 

RESOURCES

Is Real Joy Possible for Me?

How to Seriously Find Joy in the Midst of a Painful Trial

Prayer for a Massive Great Awakening – Beginning with Us!

Peacefulwife 2 Comments

Photo by Kristine Weilert on Unsplash

 

Lord,
I lift up my sisters (and brothers) in Christ to Your throne room in the highest heavens. My heart is burdened. Your church is so very sick. The church, the body of Christ, that should be glorious, vibrant, and healthy is filled with the gangrene of sin. If it continues unchecked, it will destroy us.

Open our eyes to everything that is spiritually toxic in our lives and in our culture. There are so many things! Help us to see clearly all the areas were we need to repent of sin to which we have been blinded (*listed at the bottom of the post). Purify us. Purify our families. Purify Your church. Purify our whole culture.

Let there be a massive, overwhelming movement of genuine humility, contrition, mourning over our own sins and the sins of our nation, and true repentance. We can barely wrap our minds around the severity and weight of all of our offenses against Your holiness.

Let there be a new Great Awakening. Let many come to faith in Christ. Let many yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and put all their faith in Him. Let Your Spirit powerfully transform us all and regenerate us that we might be conformed to the image of Christ.

Heal us from the wounds of our sin and the sin of others against us. Let us rise to become a holy generation, set apart for You. Let us be part of Your remnant. Bring in a massive harvest one last time before the Tribulation time begins even in the midst of this Great Apostasy.

Let us set a godly example for our children – the children that the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy in any way possible. Spare them from the enemy’s evil plans! Give us Your wisdom, truth, and power to build healthy marriages and families on the Solid Rock of Christ. Heal broken men and women. Heal broken marriages. Heal broken children. Heal families, churches, and communities, Lord! Restore us with the power of Your Gospel!

We are completely dependent on You. No one else can save us. No one else can fix the mess we are in.

We welcome Your Spirit and Your Word and Gospel back into our lives, into our families, into our schools, into our government, into our workplaces, and into our communities. We need You! Without You, all there is – is darkness. We need Your Light in our homes and communities again.

You are Light. You are Truth. You are Love. We choose to receive You and not to reject You. We choose Your narrow way that leads to Life through Jesus and the cross!

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your voice calling to us. Let us turn to You with all our hearts and cry out in repentance and for an Awakening that will heal our land.

I pray for a mighty outpouring of Your Spirit on us all – like nothing any of us have ever experienced. Not because we deserve Your favor. But for the glory of Your great Name!

Amen!

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

———-

*Our sins that grieve God’s heart include things like: pride, self-righteousness, legalism, licentiousness, “cheap grace,” selfishness, unkindness, irritability, fear, worry, unbelief in Him idolatry (loving other people/things/desires more than we love God), apathy, lack of love, faithlessness, gossip, lust, porn use, sexual activity outside of marriage (between one man and one woman), inappropriate speech, vulgarity, immodesty, vanity, greed, hoarding, gluttony, addictions of any kind, hatred, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, malice, murder, abortion, setting an ungodly example for our children, neglect, using our words to hurt others, cussing, taking God’s Name in vain, accusing God of evil, self-hatred, favoritism, bias, racism, unrighteous anger, unbiblical divorce, distorting His Word, believing lies, receiving false teaching, rejecting sound doctrine, telling lies, deceit, divisiveness, bribery, worldliness, stealing of all kinds, dishonesty, disrespect for those in positions of God-given authority (including our husbands), lack of submission to the Lordship of Christ, entitlement, atheism, believing man’s word rather than the God’s Word, not caring for the poor, not sharing the Gospel, calling good evil and evil good, putting ourselves in the place of God, not resting in and abiding in God, neglecting time with God in the Word and in prayer, trying to be good enough in our own strength, depending on our own wisdom, and so many other things that completely grieve His heart.

 

RESOURCES:

What Is the Gospel?

How to Have a Relationship with Christ

I Said the Sinner’s Prayerr – So I’m good with God. I’m Going to Heaven for Sure, Right?

The Blessing of Knowing about Hell

Husbands Need to Know the Gospel, Too

Influencing an Unbelieving Husband for Christ

Prayer to Change the Spiritual Atmosphere of Our Homes – by Radiant

Husbands Do Need to Hear the Gospel

Peacefulwife 2 Comments

Someone brought up a really important point on yesterday’s post about winning a husband without a word, that unbelieving husbands do need to hear the gospel – particularly if they haven’t heard it. All people need this! I don’t intend to say otherwise. And yet, 1 Peter 3:1-2 instructs wives of unbelieving husbands to “win them without a word.”

How do we reconcile the passages that say to share the gospel with this passage which says to win our husbands without words?

1 Peter 3:1-6 NIV

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Romans 10:17

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

 

This is what John Piper has to say about the meaning of this passage, which may be helpful:

What does it mean for a wife to win her husband “without a word” (1 Peter 3:2)?


– It does not mean the husband does not need to hear the gospel.

– 1 Peter 1:23–25 says that every new birth happens “through the living and abiding word of God… And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

– Therefore, the husband needs to hear the good news before wife’s Christian behavior can win him.

– “Without a word” means without an excessive word or a nagging word or a manipulative or pressuring word. (1 Peter 3:2)

– Once this husband has heard the gospel in which his wife believes, her conduct might make all the difference in his salvation.

 

The Saving Power of a Fearless Wife – by John Piper

 

 

I believe we need to deal with any unrepentant sin in our own lives first. We will greatly hinder our witness for Christ – in word and deed – if we are not living in submission to His Lordship and if we continue on and on in sin ourselves. So let’s be sure we are living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s be absolutely sure WE understand the Gospel of Jesus and have received it for ourselves. Our husbands should know that we profess Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Then, let’s seek the Lord in fervent prayer, maybe with fasting, if we are in a position where we want to influence an unbelieving husband for Christ. And let’s ask for prayer support from a godly mentoring wife. Then let’s be sensitive to how the Lord leads.

We may need to share the gospel with our husband – especially if he has never heard it. There are many ways to do this – sharing a post, sharing a video, sharing a passage of scripture, or several verses, or verbally sharing the Gospel.

The majority of the time in our daily lives, our example, as we talked about yesterday, will be our most powerful approach. It is very easy to accidentally talk too much about spiritual things to our husbands if we are not careful, and to push them away. We let the Holy Spirit do the convicting and drawing our husband to Jesus. We realize we are not the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord and His Spirit give each wife the wisdom and discernment she needs for her situation. And may the Spirit draw many, many lost souls to Himself and to the Kingdom of Christ!

Bible Verses about Witnessing for Jesus

What Is the Gospel? by www.gotquestions.org

This is the most important information we could ever know. It is how we can have a right relationship with God. This one decision we each must make for ourselves, whether we accept or reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, determines our eternal destiny.
Let’s be sure we understand what the Gospel means and what it means to be a Christian. It’s not simply saying a prayer one time or walking down the aisle of a church and filling out a card. It’s not just going to church 4 Sundays a month. It doesn’t mean I read the Bible and listen to Christian music but my life remains unchanged and I continue living for myself.
It’s about receiving the gift of Jesus’ death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection on our behalf. It’s about declaring that He is now our Savior and LORD and that we follow Him from that point on. This is a HUGE deal and it completely changes everything about our lives.

How to Have a Saving Relationship with Christ

A Prayer to Change the Spiritual Atmosphere in Our Homes

Influencing an Unbelieving Husband for Christ

Peacefulwife 7 Comments

Photo by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash

For a lot of men, “words are cheap.”

There is something infinitely more powerful to husbands than a wife’s words about God and spiritual things. The thing that may pique a husband’s appetite for Christ is when he sees his wife live out a godly example and strong faith in Jesus – and she doesn’t talk about it.

A husband doesn’t want to hear about how much his wife is changing. He wants to see the change.

God actually shares this with us openly in His Word:

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct… let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 1 Pet. 3:1-6

Real, lasting heart and life change over a significant period of time impresses a husband.

At first, when a wife begins to change on this journey to become a more godly, peaceful wife, some husbands react with great joy and appreciation. However, most are confused. A lot of husbands hate change. Even good change. They are skeptical. It takes time for them to see that a wife’s spiritual growth in Christ is genuine. Maybe many months, maybe even years.

HOW TO INSPIRE YOUR HUSBAND

Greg, my husband, explained to me a few years after I began my journey that when I stopped the negative (sinful) things – disrespect, a critical attitude, idolizing him, lecturing, preaching, telling him what to do, insulting him, looking down on him, trying to control him, being argumentative, and reacting in fear – it was like someone took the static off of the speaker with God’s voice in his heart.

And then, he said, as I began to learn to do the positive things – genuinely respecting him, honoring him, being friendly, being cooperative, being peaceful and joyful  in Christ, being content in Christ alone – it was like someone put an amplifier on the speaker with God’s voice in his heart.

Once a husband becomes convinced that his wife’s faith is real and he begins to feel emotionally and spiritually safe with her, he may begin to be more and more open to her words about spiritual things. But it will always be her godly life and example that inspires him the most.

Ladies, we have so much influence and power in our marriages! May we use it for God’s glory and for great good!

Lord,

Empower us to become Your agents of change in our families by our godly example. We need Your Spirit and all of the resources of heaven to do this. We are willing. Transform us first! Be glorified in our lives and in our homes.

Amen!

A SNEAK PEAK INTO A HUSBAND’S POSSIBLE PERSPECTIVE

When a man witnesses a huge positive change in his wife’s attitude and behavior, he will try to figure out some “reasonable” explanation first. Perhaps it is simply a phase? Maybe she read some new marriage book or blog post, but in two weeks, things will surely be back to the way they were. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up that this good change could be for real because he doesn’t want to be disappointed. So he keeps his distance and continues to watch her, especially if he is feeling disrespected.

Some husbands actually try to push their wife’s old buttons. If a wife goes right back to her old ways, the husband then feels justified in his skepticism and thinks he has confirmed that she is still the same old wife. If she doesn’t react in her old ways, he gets concerned. Maybe even a bit alarmed. He can’t figure out what might be motivating her, especially if he has not experienced the power of God, himself. He decides to investigate and observe for a longer period of time.

He may not say anything to her, but he notices everything.

As she continues to grow and mature in Christ over a period of time, he becomes more curious and unsettled. He sees how she now seems to have crazy new abilities that she didn’t have before. Her face seems radiant with joy. She is peaceful. She smiles a lot. She seems to enjoy being with him. He finds that when she is sad, it impacts him a lot more. He wants to see her joy come back as soon as possible. He loves her beautiful smile so much.

She doesn’t push him to do things. She makes requests and suggestions, not demands. She allows him the space to make his own choices. She treats him like a grown adult. She laid down a lot of unrealistic expectations of him and of marriage. There is a lot less tension in the home. He feels less pressure, like he doesn’t have to walk on eggshells now. He feels like he can begin to relax. He enjoys peace more than he could possibly say.

His wife asks for what she wants respectfully and shares her feelings and needs directly without hinting around or expecting him to read her mind. He really loves her new approach and is so grateful. She reacts with dignity and poise if he says, “no,” to something. He starts to feel like maybe he has a voice, too, if he felt that he didn’t have one in the past. He gains confidence in sharing more of his thoughts and heart.

She chooses to believe him and takes his words at face value. He experiences grace and forgiveness from her instead of bitterness and resentment. He wonders how she is able to do that now? She respects herself and expects him to treat her with honor and respect, too. She helps to cultivate a “culture of respect” in their family.

He sees that when she does stumble, she immediately apologizes. She takes responsibility for her own sin without justifying herself. She gets right back up and tries to correct her course and he admires that. He knows she’s not perfect, but he sees a big shift. He sees that she stands firmly against sin in her own life and in the family, but that her motive is love, and her approach is wise and humble.

She addresses when he wrongs her, when necessary, but she does it in a respectful way. And she doesn’t seem to get offended nearly as easily as before. He appreciates and admires that. She treats him like a teammate instead of like an enemy, and he is relieved. It’s like she doesn’t look down on him anymore. Maybe there is hope for him and the marriage, after all!

She doesn’t bring up all of his failures from the past any more. She no longer criticizes his family, even though he knows they aren’t perfect. She doesn’t say bad things about him to other people anymore, unless she is privately seeking help from a godly counselor/trusted mentor (and even then, she is careful not to bash him). She is a lot more trustworthy. He opens his heart a bit more.

She seems more understanding than ever before, like she is trying to explore his masculine world, his perspective, and his personality. She seems to appreciate the differences between them rather than assuming he is wrong if he thinks/speaks/acts differently from her. He begins to appreciate her femininity and her unique personality and perspective more, too. She is thankful for his unique strengths and abilities. He stands a little taller.

He sees that his wife is not overcome with fear and anxiety like she once was. That is a relief. When she is stressed, it rocks his whole world more than she knows. He notices her friendly, cooperative attitude with him. He feels like he is on top of the world.

He sees how she doesn’t automatically assume the worst about him. It was so frustrating when she did that before! He could never win. Now she seems to look for the best in him. And she is content even when things don’t necessarily go her way. She is patient and kind even when she isn’t feeling well. The irritable edge is gone from the tone of her voice. She doesn’t seem upset near as much. She seems to care about his feelings and desires, too, not just what she would like. He notices that it’s a lot more fun to be with her lately. She’s such an amazing woman! He feels so much more connected to her.

He thinks:

Who is this woman? What miracle has changed her? What can I do to help?

He doesn’t need to know all of the details about what she is learning and how hard it has been. He just wants to witness this new life that has been birthed in her and he wants to get to experience it with her.

She doesn’t seem needy, clingy and insatiable, like she is depending on him to be responsible for her emotional well-being. There is dignity and strength in her that he has never noticed before. He sees that she is more flexible and wants to trust him whenever she can. She seems interested in his wisdom and perspective now, and he doesn’t want to blow it. He values her trust and tries to step up his game to match hers because he doesn’t want to disappoint this incredible woman.

It is actually possible to do things she seems to appreciate now. He really loves to see her smile and decides to try to do more things she’ll enjoy now that he knows she will respond positively.

He sees the way his wife now treats him with real honor and respect – something he has always longed for – and he finds himself wanting so much to be her hero again, like back when they first met. He feels more masculine around her now that she is softer and more feminine. He feels attracted to her noble character, her mysterious light, her openness and receptivity to him, and her gentleness. He feels more and more safe with her. His defenses begin to drop. He cautiously starts to disassemble the walls around his heart.

She inspires him. He wants to be the amazing man she believes he is, or that she believes he could be, when he sees the light she reflects back to him. He sees her unshakable faith in Christ in the tangible fruit of her daily life.

He begins to see his own sin in stark contrast with his wife’s beautiful life – without one word on her part. And he wants to be a better man and to figure out what he needs to do to get there. He may begin to hunger for the spiritual beauty and Life that she has. He will ask her about her faith when he is convinced that what she has is real and he knows he wants to have that Life, too.

Her godly example and Spirit-filled life convict him and preach a far more powerful sermon than her words possibly could.

The only power this wife loses when she does things God’s way is the power to destroy her husband, marriage, children, and herself. She gains the power of heaven to pour life, healing, and blessing into the marriage.

EACH STORY IS DIFFERENT

Of course, each story has its own unique twists, turns, and timing. Often, it goes a lot more slowly than we would like. It took 3.5 years into my journey before Greg felt safe with me again, for example.

When we follow Christ, we are not guaranteed our husbands will change or that they will come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. Our motives are simply to be that we love the Lord far above all else and that we love our husbands and want to bless and honor them as we pray fervently for God to work in us first, and in them.

Some men who are very far from God are repulsed by the fragrance of Christ and hate feeling so convicted and want to get away. (God gives us instruction about that situation in 1 Cor. 7:10-16.) Even then, they may eventually turn to the Lord. We never know what may happen.

The key is:

As we yield our lives to the Lord and seek to do things His way, we put out a big welcome mat for our husbands to draw near to us and to Jesus.

The Lord will reward us for our obedience to Him and our faithfulness no matter what our husbands may choose to do. What really matters is that we seek to please Him and we are fully yielded to Him.

 

NOTE

Unbelieving husbands DO need to hear the gospel. We all do! And yet, 1 Peter 3:1-2 instructs wives of unbelieving husbands to “win them without a word.” Or, in the KJV, win them without “the Word.” How do we reconcile the passages that say to share the gospel with this passage which says to win our husbands without words?

This is what John Piper has to say about the meaning of this passage:

What does it mean for a wife to win her husband “without a word” (1 Peter 3:2)?
– It does not mean the husband does not need to hear the gospel. – 1 Peter 1:23–25 says that every new birth happens “through the living and abiding word of God . . . And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
– Therefore, the husband needs to hear the good news before wife’s Christian behavior can win him.
– “Without a word” means without an excessive word or a nagging word or a manipulative or pressuring word. (1 Peter 3:2)
– Once this husband has heard the gospel in which his wife believes, her conduct might make all the difference in his salvation.

May we deal with any unrepentant sin in our own lives, because that will greatly hinder our witness for Christ. And then, may the Lord give each wife His Spirit, His wisdom, and His discernment about when to share the gospel, especially if her husband has never heard it, and when to focus mostly on living the gospel before him each day. Our primary means of influencing an unbelieving husband for the Lord will be much more through our actions and attitudes than our words.

SHARE

What wisdom has the Lord shown you on this topic on how to inspire your husband to draw near to the Lord? Or how has this post inspired you to change your approach? We’d love to hear about it!

RESOURCES

How to Have a Saving Relationship with Christ

How to Stay Filled with the Spirit

Why Do I Have to Change First?

Things Got Worse at First When I Began to Change – by the Restored Wife

When a Husband “Doesn’t Buy” His Wife’s Changes

Why You May Want to Keep Your Journey to Be a Godly Wife Secret for a While

25 Ways to Be a Safe Place for Your Husband Emotionally

23 Signs Your Husband Is Beginning to Trust You Again

6 Things I Have Learned from Having an Unbelieving Husband

Without a Word – by WorthyofLove

My Secret Idol – my husband’s salvation

Confronting Our Husbands about Their Sin – even if we aren’t talking about spiritual things, there are times we may need to address sin

For Wives with Critical, Harsh Husbands by Radiant

A Resource for Wives with Difficult Husbands

 

COUNSELING

**Note, if there are very severe issues going on in your marriage, please seek trusted, experienced, godly, outside help. This post is not written specifically for wives who are dealing with husbands with uncontrolled severe mental health issues, unrepentant abuse, unrepentant adultery, etc… There will be additional issues wives in these situations will need to address. You can check out these resources, or check with a trusted pastor or counselor:

Should a Christian Wife Ever Consider Separation?

Should You Strive to Please or Keep Your Husband at ANY Cost?

And, of course, always check what any counselor tells you against the Word of God.

 

“Hey, Honey… I’m Stranded at Work!”

Peacefulwife 15 Comments

Photo by Gerrie van der Walt on Unsplash

 

As parents of a 16 year old, we are in the midst of driver’s training at our house. Our son is doing really well. We hope he will have his license in the next month or two. We have given him my husband, Greg’s, 1997 Honda to drive. So far this school year, I let him drive on the way to school so he can try to reach his mandatory 40 hours of supervised driver’s training. Then I drive home or to work from there.

Recently, I drove the Honda to work and everything was fine that morning. But when I was ready to leave the pharmacy at 6:00pm, the engine wouldn’t start.

Bummer!

That is life sometimes, isn’t it?

An unexpected trial comes out of nowhere. How will I handle it?

Seems like this has been a theme in our family this summer. And we continue to come back to this:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

So here is a new real-life example. God is so good to provide me with opportunities to grow in my faith and to live out the principles of His Word. Then I get to share them with y’all!

I texted Greg to let him know that I was stranded and that I thought maybe the battery could be dead. He was about 30 minutes away and had just dropped off our kids at church. But the second he found out that I was stuck, he was on his way to help. He had a battery charger and tried multiple times to jump the Honda’s battery.

No success.

So our night looked like this:

  • Greg then drove me to our house so I could eat a very quick supper.
  • He took some tools with him and went by the Advance Auto Parts store and got a new battery.
  • I picked up the kids from church in my car and took them by our house.
  • Greg replaced the battery on the Honda and still the car wouldn’t crank.
  • He found a YouTube video about what to do if the starter goes bad and he hit the starter with a hammer 3 times and got the engine running – and was surprised that actually worked.
  • He drove the Honda to our friend’s car shop.
  • I met him at the car shop and we drove to my work so Greg could get his car.
  • We both got home around 9:00pm.

Years ago, I would have had a pretty negative, complaining attitude about the whole ordeal. I would have lashed out at my husband – as if he were the problem. I probably would not have shown much gratitude. I would have been exasperated and felt like the night was completely ruined because things didn’t go as I had expected.

But these days, I have a different mindset – thanks to the changes God has been doing in my heart.

SOME THINGS I DON’T WANT TO DO ANYMORE

  • pressure, push, or try to control him.
  • freak out.
  • have a critical spirit.
  • argue.
  • lash out at him.
  • complain.
  • raise my voice.
  • have a negative attitude toward him or toward the situation.

SOME THINGS I WANT TO DO NOW

  • ask for things respectfully.
  • smile at him.
  • be flexible.
  • thank him with words and actions.
  • use a friendly tone of voice.
  • appreciate him in my heart and thoughts.
  • seek to be humble.
  • speak up respectfully if I think I may have important information to share.
  • pray and invite God to do something beautiful and powerful in the situation.
  • look for blessings and good things about which I can be thankful.
  • give him the time and space he needs to think and problem-solve.
  • seek to be cooperative.
  • maintain a positive spirit and attitude – by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • sing songs of praise to God in my heart.
  • call Greg, “my hero!”

I respect Greg’s abilities and the gift of his time and that I can depend on him when I am in dire straits. He is glad to come help me. I make sure to tell him and show him how much I appreciate all of his help.

How blessed I am to have someone in my life who is willing and able to help me when I am in a bind.

These days, I have a different perspective on trials. I can, in the power of Christ, remain calm and completely peaceful. Cheerful and joyful even. I can graciously receive Greg’s help and appreciate the things he can do so well that I am not very good at. I can be patient. I can maintain my sense of humor and fun.

If the Holy Spirit is in control of my life, God promises to give me His power to respond with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23) even when things go wrong.

The night doesn’t have to be ruined!

We can enjoy being together and be thankful that we are a team and that we have each other to call on when something goes wrong. A night like this can be something that helps to strengthen our bond and bring us greater unity. It can be a beautiful, powerful example to our children of how parents can work together with respect and love. It is a chance to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit to our children in a time that could have been stressful.

The way we choose to handle a trial like this could even become a wonderful memory for the whole family.

SHARE

If God has empowered you to respond with joy, peace, patience, and a good attitude during a trial in your life, we’d love to hear about it. I’m sure it would be such an encouragement to everyone.

NOTE

Please do keep in mind that you may have different things to be thankful for in your life. That is okay! All of our husbands don’t have the same talents, abilities, personalities, and gifts. All of our relationships are different – and that is good. We are at different points in our journey, too.

But we each have things for which we can be thankful. And God has good plans for us all – to make beautiful masterpieces of our lives. He is working in all of us, who belong to Him, to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ!

Much love!

My Commenting Policy

My Mission and Vision

RESOURCES

 

Can I Have Peace with Science As a Follower of Christ?

Peacefulwife 11 Comments

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

 

When I was in school in the 1980s, teachers were always careful to say that evolution was a theory – and they would say that creation was another theory.

It breaks my heart so much that students are taught that evolution is “fact” now – in our public schools, in museums, and on TV shows. And the implications are staggering.

– Life is an accident.
– There is no God.
– There are no moral absolutes.
– There is no purpose to life.
– There is nothing after this life.
– Life is not sacred.
– Life has no worth.
– We are accountable to no one.

We can see the fruit of this belief system every day in the news, in our schools, and in every part of our society, sadly. Darkness.

Students are taught to believe all that the “expert scientists” say. This is indoctrination, unfortunately. We act as if someone who is called a “scientist” is somehow infallible.

How dangerous to assume that humans, any humans (even scientists or doctors), are infallible!

When we do this, we promote human beings to a godlike status. I know a lot of people who know a lot of science, but none of them are perfect or omniscient – not even in their particular field.

Darwin did his best to figure things out based on the scientific knowledge available at the time. But he didn’t even know about genetics or DNA. There are a lot of holes in his theory because there was so much information he was missing. We actually can see those holes pretty clearly now with genetics. It is also important to keep in mind that he had a significant bias. He was an atheist and he was looking for a way to take God out of the picture of the origins of the universe and the origins of life.

We are all prone to “confirmation bias” – including researchers and scientists. The assumptions we make going into our research can greatly skew our results.

There is plenty of good scientific, observable proof for natural selection within a particular species. But not much concrete evidence at all for evolution between species. Or for life starting randomly from nothing.In fact, there are many famous experiments that prove that spontaneous generation of life does not happen. Not even in ideal lab conditions when a brilliant scientist is trying to give spontaneous generation a huge boost. (Louis Pasteur helped to prove this as he helped to enact the beginnings of the scientific method.)

As a pharmacist who has taken a lot of science in college and who continues to see the dramatic shifts in our understanding in many areas of science, I realize that our current understanding of many areas of science is not complete. We know a lot more than we ever did about many things. But…

There are constantly new discoveries in almost every field that completely change and update our old thinking.

There will never be a day when our knowledge base is complete and we know everything there is to know scientifically about every subject. We are very, very far from being omniscient.

Also, it is important to note that some fields of science cannot be scrutinized by the scientific method and proven in a lab. Especially areas like the origin of the universe and the beginning of life. No human scientist was there to make observations, take pictures, do experiments, and to collect data. In those areas of study, scientists make assumptions and propose theories, by necessity.

Assumptions and guesses are not scientific facts. If we teach theories as ironclad facts, we are misleading people in dangerous ways. We may easily embrace convenient, popular myths as truth.

Only the Word of God is the source of absolute truth and is infallible. God is the only one who was the eye witness to what happened when the universe and life were created. Observable science can answer some questions, but it can’t answer everything. Why not turn to Him for the historical account?

Science can show us many things about the universe. It is one way to know the world. It is not the only way. But it is very helpful. When we approach it humbly, honestly, science shows us that there is a much higher intelligence at work than our own at work. But we must remember that our current snapshot of limited understanding in science is not the entire picture – particularly in areas of study where direct observations and repeatable lab experiments are impossible.

Man’s word is fallible. God’s Word is infallible.

If there is a contradiction between man’s word and God’s Word, I choose to trust God’s Word. God’s Word is another way to know the world.

It is entirely possible to make man’s word, or “science” an idol. Our culture does that today. We make evolution, and our current understanding of science, a false religion– to our own detriment. I believe it is part of the powerful delusion that is part of the Great Apostasy that happens before the rapture of the church and the Great Tribulation.  (It is painfully clear that our culture is following the destructive path of Romans 1. This is why we are open to delusions, because we have rejected God and His Word.)

In the end, real science always supports God’s Word once we have the full picture, because God created science. Science is part of God’s handiwork. There are many creationist scientists today who use solid scientific principles to show real scientific evidence for the existence of God, for the truth of the Bible, and for creation.

Obviously, I can’t possibly share all of the details of the answers to these important questions in one blog post. It would take books to delve into the details. But maybe this will get us thinking and praying about these critical issues.

There are answers to difficult questions.

God doesn’t ask us to have blind faith. You don’t have to take my word for it. I invite you to discover the answers for yourself!

He gives us all kinds of solid support, even solid scientific support, for His existence, for creation, and for His Word if we are willing to seek for truth.

Much love!

PRAYER

Lord,

Open our eyes to the truth of Your Word and to the truth of science. Help us to see the spiritual battle that is raging and seeking to destroy our culture, our children, and ourselves. Give us wisdom to tear out any strongholds and lies we may have embraced. Thank You that You invite us to use our brains when we come to You. That You don’t ask us to leave our intelligence at the door. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear by the power of Your Spirit so that we may turn to You and Your truth, that we may receive Your healing, hope, salvation, and Life!

Amen.

RESOURCES

If this issue is a stumbling block for your faith in Christ, here are some resources to help you discover the truth about science and about the infallibility of God’s Word:

www.josh.org(go to the resources “answering the skeptics”)
www.answersingenesis.org(click on the Answers tab)
www.creation.com
www.gotquestions.org(you can search for almost any question you can think of)

www.creationmuseum.org

www.arkencounter.com

How Can I Have Peace When the World Has Gone Mad?

Peacefulwife Leave a comment

Photo Credit Osman Rana on Unsplash

How can I find real peace in this crazy, violent, messed-up world today? Especially when the people I love most are living here in the midst of it and it is scary and dangerous?

We have spoken often about the foundation for our peace being in Jesus and in our personal relationship with Him as our Savior and Lord.

The Foundation of My Peace Is Jesus

The foundation of my peace as a woman, wife, and mom is that I know, love, and trust Jesus.

  1. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is on the throne of my life without any rival affections. I have peace because He is the source of all peace. (John 14:27, John 16:33)
  2. I have peace as I live in total submission to His Lordship in my life. He is in charge, I am not. When I try to be in charge myself or I trust anything/anyone other than Christ, I will live in fear, anxiety, discouragement, oppression, and spiritual poverty.
  3. I also have peace as I abide in Christ (John 15:4-7). I live in continual total dependence on Him, His Word, His Spirit, prayer, and emotional/spiritual oneness with Him. I receive all of His truth. I allow His power to transform me daily.
  4. When His Spirit is reigning in my life, I experience the “fruit of His Spirit” – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

8 Powerful Keys to Peace

God’s Word, His Spirit, and Sound Doctrine Expand His Peace in My Heart and Life

The Bible is my lifeline to God. It is His love letter to me and to all who belong to Him. It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). I need it all!

  • I need the scriptures that explain who God is and tell me of His character so I can know and trust Him and have a right view of Him.
  • I need the parts about the history of God’s people to have a concept of what God has done in the past and how He works in the lives of His people and in the world.
  • I need the passages about doctrine for a framework upon which to build my life.
  • I need the story of Jesus’ life and what He did for all of us on the cross and to know the Gospel.
  • I need to know how to have a relationship with Him that show me all that God has done to save me from hell.
  • I need the parts of the Bible that tell me how to live the Christian life in practical ways.
  • I also need the prophetic parts to thoroughly equip and prepare me for the present and the future.

…You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 1 Tim. 3:15-17

All of God’s Word is infallible and true. All of it is there to bless the body of Christ as a whole and as individuals, to transform us to make us more like Jesus.

Bible prophecy is often overlooked by many believers in Christ, today. Lots of people think it isn’t relevant to our lives, that God’s prophetic words are not true, or that those scriptures can’t be rightly understood. Of course, there are those who twist God’s Word to try to use it for their own misleading purposes. They are false teachers, and they are in abundance, even among churches who claim Jesus as Lord. We must be alert and careful about what teachers we listen to. But this subject is too important to ignore or dismiss.

If I do not know Bible prophecy about “the end times,” when I look at what is going on in this world, it seems completely terrifying and I will act in fear rather than faith.

When I act in fear, I make destructive choices as a wife, mom, and in my other relationships.

It is so critical for me to understand that God is in control, even now, and that God is moving the world toward a specific plan for His glory. People have free will. He gives people the ability to choose or reject Him every moment of our lives. He is not responsible for people’s sin. He is outside of time and space. And His sovereignty encompasses our free will and works with it to create a tapestry throughout all of human history for His glory. I won’t begin to understand how that is possible until heaven. But as I receive His Life-giving Word and trust God, I can live in His peace and have hope because I know what the outcome is ultimately going to be, even when I watch the news.

This impacts all of my relationships and life-decisions greatly!

When I Properly Understand Bible Prophecy, I Am a Different Woman, Wife, and Mom

If I truly know that Jesus is coming again for His church (including me), and I believe that the Great Tribulation is just around the corner and that time to share the Gospel and to love people is precious and limited, this knowledge transforms my life:

  1. I think, speak, pray, and act in faith in God rather than being overcome by fear.
  2. I embrace God’s spiritual pruning of my life to help me grow in my faith. Even if my husband isn’t changing first.
  3. I don’t want to waste any time in becoming the godly woman God calls me to be. I desperately desire God’s Spirit’s power to enable me to build up and bless my family and I want to stop tearing them down and using my influence and power to destroy them and others.
  4. I am familiar with the enemy’s schemes to distract, discourage, and paralyze me and to seduce me away from Jesus with lies. I know that he would love to get a foothold in my life so he could use my mouth and my actions to destroy my husband and children. He will do anything he can to get me to fall away from my faith in Jesus and to rebel against the Lord and destroy my witness for Christ. So I cling to Jesus all the more.
  5. I want to be found faithful and obedient to my Lord Jesus when He comes “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51) which is the rapture – or when I meet him through death – whichever may come first.
  6. I share hope, wisdom, and faith with my husband, children, and everyone in my circle of influence.
  7. I know that my devotion, worship, obedience, trust, and labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).
  8. I realize that time may be very short, so I want to be sure I am right with God and right with other people. I don’t have time to hold onto any sin, resentment, grudges, or unforgiveness.
  9. I have a lot more patience with people because I know what is truly important and I am seeing from an eternal perspective, not a temporal one.
  10. I want to share the gospel urgently, to be sure that everyone has a chance to choose to live for Jesus while there is still a small window of time left in this period of grace before the Great Tribulation begins when things will become much more difficult for those who decide to follow Jesus.
  11. My priorities shift dramatically. With this eternal perspective, I won’t care nearly as much about the small things – my husband forgot our anniversary, he left the toilet seat up again, my children didn’t appreciate me enough, we haven’t been on a date in months, etc… My eyes are set on Jesus and His kingdom’s work.
  12. I am not very phased by people’s pettiness or drama. Externals become less and less important. So do all of the things that seem so important to the world. I see way past those shallow things because much deeper spiritual things of God concern me.
  13. I am not caught up in gossip, materialism, idolatry, bitterness, pride, a critical spirit, self-righteousness, or greed.
  14. I don’t cling to the things of this world because they will soon disappear.
  15. I don’t have a spirit of offense when others are hurtful toward me, I don’t take what they do to me personally. I see they are wounded and hurting. I am able to see their spiritual condition and oppression and I pray for God to reach them, to heal them, to bless them, and to raise them to the new life (1 Cor. 4:12-13) God has given to me.
  16. I see God at work in the headlines. I see His prophecies unfolding before my eyes and I am assured that He has not abandoned His people, my family, or me as an individual. My faith increases as I see His Word is true and His prophecies are being fulfilled one by one.
  17. I am humbled before God, acknowledging that He is sovereign, not me. He is God, I am not. He has all wisdom, I do not. He holds the world and all of the nations in His hands, I don’t. He knows what He is doing. Even the Great Tribulation has a purpose – to draw Israel, finally, to her amazing Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Want Some Details?

In case this is all rather new to you, or you just need a quick summary of what has been going on, check out the following list and see how many of these points have happened or are happening now:

25 Signs We Are Near the Last Days – by Don Stewart (There are numerous sub-points, you may watch this video for a brief overview, or check out his book.) The bold words are Don Stewart’s words. The regular font words are my additional comments.

  1. The miracle of Israel’s survival.
  2. As their enemies have done to Israel, so God will do to them. He promised to weaken Egypt but to keep it around (Jer. 46) as a reminder to Israel. But He said they would never be a great power again. There are no longer any Moabites (Jer. 48), Philistines (Jer. 47), Babylonians (Jer. 50), and others today, just as God prophesied when He decreed destruction for those enemies of Israel.
  3. Israel will miraculously return to its ancient homeland in the last days. Israel became an official nation again, after being dissolved for almost 2000 years, on May 14, 1948. They celebrated their 70th anniversary of being a modern nation this spring.
  4. The nation will return in two stages. They will return to their homeland in unbelief in Jesus. They are spiritually dead (Ezekiel 37). This is what has happened, Israel has returned, but they still do not acknowledge Jesus. The second stage will occur at the end of the Great Tribulation (after Jesus defeats the Anti-Christ) when they acknowledge that Jesus is their Messiah and they repent and turn to Him in faith.
  5. Jerusalem will be united under Israeli rule. This happened after the 6 day war in 1967.
  6. Israel will be in the world’s spotlight. Just watch the news in almost any given week this year.
  7. There will be a continual search for peace in Israel. There are talks of an attempt to organize some kind of peace deal in Israel and the Middle East in the news this week.
  8. Preparations will be made to build the third temple. This has been underway for several years. Many Jews believe that Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital means that rebuilding the temple is next. The “Temple Movement” is growing and ready as soon as the opportunity presents itself for the Jews to begin construction.
  9. In the last days, certain specified nations will invade Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). The Bible names the countries that are modern day Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, and Ethiopia as those who will come against Israel “like a cloud” during a time of prosperity and peace in Israel. Currently, Iran, Russia, and Turkey are working together in an alliance staging some of their military operations in Syria. Iran has been very clear that they plan to wipe Israel off the map. Turkey is hostile toward Israel. Russia is occupying Syria and supporting Syria, Turkey, and Iran.
  10. The nations missing from the Ezekiel 38,39 invasion. Equally interesting is that Saudia Arabia and some other nations are currently a bit more friendly, or, not as hostile, toward Israel, as they used to be. These nations are not listed as attackers in Ezekiel 38,39.
  11. No superpower will intervene on Israel’s behalf when they are invaded: something will happen to the United States. America will either not have the power or the will to help Israel – but this is God’s plan. God, Himself, will save Israel during the Ezekiel 38 war in a miraculous way.
  12. There will be a ten nation confederation in western Europe (The revival of the ancient Roman Empire). Possibly the EU in some form?
  13. There will be a one-world political and economic system (globalism). Although we have not yet achieved a one-world political and economic system, it is obvious in the news that globalism is the primary goal of many political leaders today.
  14. The world will desperately look for a leader. It turns out that the dynamic, charismatic man who will seem to have all of the answers to the natural disasters, famines, plagues, economic crisis, etc… and who seduces the entire world will be the Antichrist.
  15. There will be an exponential increase in technology. This continues to happen at an astounding rate, never seen before in history.
  16. Plagues and pestilence will trouble the world. Contagious diseases and pandemics can travel more quickly around the world today than ever. Here is why the risk continues to increase from a scientific perspective and why the end times will be so ripe for the greatest plagues and death tolls (due to disease) in history. During the Great Tribulation, 1/4 of the earth’s population will be killed by sword, famine, disease, or wild animals.
  17. The world will be characterized by lawlessness. Watch the local, national, or world news any time to see this.
  18. The world will be characterized by violence. Again, we can see it every day in the news. The level of blatant hatred and violence in our culture has been rising at truly alarming rates.
  19. The organized church will turn away from the faith (apostasy). This Great Apostasy is very evident in America, Europe, and many Western cultures and has been progressing over the past few generations. We see churches and whole denominations dying off as people reject the truth of God’s Word and surround themselves with false teaching and lies.
  20. There will be a rise in false prophets, false teachers, and false Christs. This is happening more and more as people do not want to hear sound doctrine. (How to recognize false teachers.)
  21. There will be a rise in anti-semitism. Almost every country in the world has already turned away from Israel. Check out the UN meetings this year. The UN voted overwhelmingly that Israel had no right to defend itself against attack. The UN voted overwhelmingly against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, even though other countries are allowed to choose their own capital for their nations.
  22. Christians will continue to be persecuted. Christian persecution now is increasing and is worse than at any other time in history.
  23. Unbelievers will scoff at the idea of Christ’s return. 
  24. The wicked will not understand the signs of the times.
  25. Bible-believers will understand what is taking place.

There are other things going on right now, too, that point to the fact that the season of the rapture and Great Tribulation are close at hand. Jesus said, when He was on earth, “no man knows the day or the hour” (Matt. 24:36) and that not even He knew when the rapture would happen. So we are not at liberty to try to predict specific dates. In fact, we should be very alarmed at anyone who claims to know the exact date Jesus will return. That is a big flag that person is not speaking on God’s behalf.

But we are equipped by scripture to recognize the season (Matt. 24:32-33). We are to be ready every day. As we see more and more signs and prophecies being fulfilled, we are to lift up our heads because we know that “our redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28)

This is just a little taste of some of the prophecies that will be fulfilled or have been fulfilled already as we approach the last hour. May the Lord give us eyes to see and ears to hear all that He wants to share with us in this exciting time in history. And may we yield ourselves fully to be instruments in His hands for His kingdom as we have been placed here “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

RESOURCES I TRUST

Of course, always weigh what any teacher says against scripture and test what they are saying with the Spirit!

Behold Israel – Amir Tsarfati (an Israeli believer who is part of the Israeli military and who does Christian tours of Israel who does updates on what is happening in the Middle East that relates to Bible prophecy)

Real Life with Jack Hibbs (a pastor in California who has prophecy updates relating to current events and who teaches on all kinds of biblical topics, including Bible prophecy)

JD Farag – (a pastor in Hawaii with a passion for Bible prophecy, the gospel, and seeing people come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord who also does Bible prophecy updates)

Hope for Our Times – Don Stewart and Tom Hughes address Bible prophecy and current events

RELATED ARTICLES

Signs of the End Times – www.gotquestions.org

Articles on the End Times – by John Piper and www.desiringgod.org

Systematic Theology podcasts by Wayne Grudem about the end times on iTunes (podcasts 112-113)

 

 

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