Reflections of a year gone by

As we draw close to the end of this year most of us will reflect over the past, our triumphs and failures, we will reflect on lost loved ones and miss them , we should reflect and be grateful for those days we had with them and rejoice with those we still have with us.

Life has no pause or reset buttons, it always leads onward.

As we reflect over the past don't let the demons of discouragement and despair get into your mind, they will only lie to you and deceive you. They will dishearten you and destroy your hope, joy and focus.

This is a time to refocus on God , look back and see where failure grew and raised it's ugly head is where we pressed on without God, we do things in our flesh and forget to ask and seek God, then ask Him why, when we fail.

This I know unless I surrender daily to Him, I will surrender to my flesh, the world or the enemies lies and deceit, which leads me to defeat.

I need God in order to love another person unconditionally. I need His help to overlook offenses. I need His help to guard myself against all the temptations that lurk around every corner. I need His help to become more like Christ so I can lay down my life for my family. Without Him, my marriage wouldn’t be anything special. Odds are it would end badly, just like so many do.

We all get to choose who we will surrender our will to daily, our weaknesses and our strengths , we must learn out of obedience to surrender to God before our feet hit the floor, our enemies wait in darkness to attack in our thoughts, dreams and mind.

You can have the life God wants you to have. But you can’t have it without God’s help. No matter what’s happened in your past, this is a new day. A new chance. A new beginning. A new year awaits, let's not squander this gift from God.

This is a new day the Lord has given to us, be glad and rejoice in Him. Things can be different, let's go forward in Christ in Him we will find healing, in Him we will be more engaging, in Him we can truly forgive as we've been forgiven, in Him we can have peace, strength and overcome what gets in our way,in Him we can be more intimate with our spouse, in Him we can become closer to others than ever been before.

The past is the past. It's dead and buried don't dig it up and relive it. We can’t change it. But God can change our future. He can take what the enemy meant for evil and use it for good.The enemy wants us to It feel like we have too much to overcome, like the damage is too great to be repaired. We don't and It’s not.

We don't have what it takes to face life alone, we need God .

Life is complicated, we need all the help we can get. Jesus said ““Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

We need to take Him up on this, we don't need to fight back fairly, we need to learn to fight like men and women of God. You don’t fight for victory; you fight from the victory God has given you.

““When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army. He is to say to them: ‘Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭20:1-4‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4:13-17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Christianity or Religion

Religion is discovered, Christianity is revealed, the revelation of Christianity is that we become like Christ and our lives reflect the very essence of who He is.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 HCSB

But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. And who is competent for this?

For we are not like the many who market God’s message for profit. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

Fight fire with fire.

 We have all heard the expression "the way to fight fire is with fire." I've heard it all my life, but it came alive for me in a new way when I heard a story told by Norman McLean about a Montana smoke jumper who did just that. Wag Dodge was one of 15 smoke jumpers who were sent to battle a forest fire in August of 1949. Shortly after their jump, these tenacious, well-trained, young men were surrounded by an inferno. As the wind shifted 180 degrees and picked up velocity, what had been a manageable fire became what is known as a blow out. The only way to safety was to race 200 yards to the top of a ridgeﾗquite literally, to outrun the fire. When Dodge realized the fire would overtake them, he screamed to his men to stop and gather around him. Most did not hear, and were overcome. Then, with fire racing toward him, Wag Dodge lit a fire of his own and followed it, then circled back and laid down in the grass it had burned. When he did, the flames went around what had already been scorched, leaving him safe on the ground. He fought fire - with fire. We are surrounded on every side by the super-heated flames of our culture. How do we fight them? The way this young smoke jumper did. We set our own fire. And as the fire of our devotion to Christ begins to burn, our God who is a consuming fire, burns brighter and stronger than the flames of this fallen world. We fight fire with fire!

Life Church

Psalm 1

Psalms 1:1-6 HCSB

How happy is the man who does not follow  the advice of the wicked or take  the path of sinners or join a group  of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord ’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season   and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not survive  the judgment, and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Stay True

As the years wear on, some are tempted to stray from the marriage fold to seek other relationships. This is disastrous and always destructive. God's Word says directly to husbands: Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love (Proverbs 5:15-19).

In his comprehensive study on pornography, Steven Marcus of Columbia University says man's appetite for pornography is insatiable. It simply can never be satisfied. The makers of X-rated films are always seeking more taboos to break. Any immoral relationship, however innocent it might start, never satisfies. The Bible wisely tells us to avoid these involvements and keep ourselves true to our wives. When we refuse to betray the marriage bed, there comes a deepening of relationship that goes far beyond anything we might have given up. Adultery always shatters and, almost always, shatters permanently.

It is important to remember God charges the husband with the responsibility of keeping his home pure. Man is to have a unique and special relationship with one God and one mate. We should always remember that adultery is not wrong because it is in the Bible--it is in the Bible because it is wrong!

Proverbs 6 : 20My son, keep your father’s command,

and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.

21Always bind them to your heart;

tie them around your neck.

22When you walk here and there, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

23For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,

and corrective discipline is the way to life.

24They will protect you from an evil woman,

from the flattering tongue of a stranger.

25Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty

or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.

26For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread,

but an adulteress goes after a precious life.

27Can a man embrace fire

and his clothes not be burned?

28Can a man walk on burning coals

without scorching his feet?

29So it is with the one who sleeps with

another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished.

30People don’t despise the thief if he steals

to satisfy himself when he is hungry.

31Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much;

he must give up all the wealth in his house.

32The one who commits adultery lacks sense;

whoever does so destroys himself.

33He will get a beating and dishonor,

and his disgrace will never be removed.

34For jealousy enrages a husband,

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

35He will not be appeased by anything

or be persuaded by lavish gifts.

Bible Discovery TV for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: www.biblediscoverytv.com

THE HUSBAND'S RESPONSIBILITY

God felt the marriage union so important that He set certain laws that deal with this relationship. He knew marriage is not only finding the right mate; it is also becoming the right mate. Therefore, He wants the husband to give specific attention to developing a meaningful and lasting relationship with his wife. The next few guides will deal with the husband's responsibilities in making the marriage work.

So important was a man's attention to his marriage and mate that in the Old Testament God insisted: When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken (Deuteronomy 24:5). That law was given so newly married couples could develop mutual trust and tenderness. It emphasizes for modern men the importance of developing right relationships in their marriages.

After World War II, we reaped a whirlwind of divorces because of marriages hastily arranged just before the husband went off to fight. How much wiser we would have been, and how many good women and men would not have been deeply scarred, if we had taken God's commandments more seriously. 

This is not to suggest we keep the Old Testament commandment of one year's reprieve from responsibility. Our society is much different today. However, we should remember God did not take marriage vows lightly, and He still wants us to grow together so our marriages will carry us through our failures as well as our successes.

Proverbs 5:15Drink water from your own cistern,water flowing from your own well.16Should your springs flow in the streets,streams of water in the public squares?17They should be for you aloneand not for you to share with strangers.18Let your fountain be blessed,and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.19A loving doe, a graceful fawn —let her breasts always satisfy you;be lost in her love forever.20Why, my son, would you be infatuatedwith a forbidden womanor embrace the breast of a stranger?21For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes,and He considers all his paths.22A wicked man’s iniquities entrap him;he is entangled in the ropes of his own sin.23He will die because there is no discipline,and be lost because of his great stupidity.

Bible Discovery TV for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: www.biblediscoverytv.com