Sometimes you just need to let go and worship.  Happy Reformation Day!! Enjoy.

I want to share with all you husbands an article that my wife came across in her readings and shared with me.  The focus of the article is to help husbands provide security for their wives however I think that it is an article that all husbands and husbands-to-be should read.

However before you read it please read Ephesians 5:25-33 below.  This is our instructions on being a biblical husband from scripture which Paul shared with us.  Once you have read this part of Paul’s letter read the article and watch how scripture is put in plain applicable steps that we as husbands can put God’s commands into action.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28} In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself…

Here is the article:

Uncertainty. It’s part of daily living.

We aren’t certain our alarms will wake us up on time, aren’t certain we’ll have enough gas to get to work, aren’t certain the kids finished all their homework, and aren’t certain we locked the door.

And we aren’t certain we will keep our job another month, aren’t certain we’ll have enough money to pay the rent, aren’t certain our kids will make the right choices when we aren’t around. The list goes on.

But when it comes to your wife feeling secure in your marriage there shouldn’t be uncertainty. She needs to be able to count on you, her husband. Here are some ways you can help make your wife feel secure.

1. Financial. It is up to you to make her feel secure by working hard, staying out of excessive debt, providing financial stability, and wisely planning a budget and sticking to it.

2. Children. Some days, your wife will want to catch a movie with friends or go run errands around town. Give her the freedom to do these things by knowing how to take care of the kids when she’s not there. Be active in learning how to feed them, bathe them, and put them to bed so that you can do it on your own when your wife is gone. She needs to have confidence in you so she can have that sense of security while she’s gone.

3. Relational. Too often, relational uncertainty is the root of a wife’s insecurity. Be sure that your wife is completely confident that you would never pursue an affair with another woman. Train your eyes to not look at other women, online or offline, so your wife can know you only have eyes for her.

Your wife also needs the security of knowing that you are on her team, that you are man of integrity and a man she can trust. She needs to know that you are committed to her for life.

What are some other ways you have made your wife feel secure?

If you want to read the article from the original author here is the link:
http://www.todaychristian.net/3-ways-help-wife-feel-secure/

Tyler

There are times when I read scripture that I am consistently blown away in how I see God doing something extraordinary for me.  In that He is just not teaching me something from His Word, but He is purposefully and intentionally showing me something that I need for that season in my life.  Right There!  Right Then! In that moment the Creator of the Earth who spoke the universe and all humanity into existence, was clearly and openly speaking to me.

I love when He shows me correlations in scripture to my own life in the narrative of those pages.  As in the history of the text He shows me something that seems as if the writer had knowledge of my position and situation.  It almost appears in fact as if the writer knew my thoughts and feelings; and could intimately address all of them by telling me a testimony of his friend and how he had gone through the same thing.  What an amazing, glorious, warming, caring, loving feeling that is.  To have the Heavenly Father reach down through the Holy Spirit to touch your heart in a way that says…”I know, I’m Here.”

This happened to me a few weeks past and it was humbling, exhilarating and to be honest, exhausting all at the same time.  It was one of those moments for me that I lose sleep over trying to figure out.  And I pray that I have one tomorrow, and the next day, and the following day.  Well actually I pray that I never quench that Voice!

So as quickly and simply as I can (which is always a challenge for me) here is what I discovered and to be honest I have not ever heard a sermon on it although I’m sure it has been covered.

Take a moment and go with me to the end of the Gospels where Jesus has been arrested and Peter is being challenged by the crowds that he is a follower of Christ.  Look at Luke 22:60-62 below:

Luke 22:60-62 (ESV)

60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

From this point we only see Peter again immediately after the resurrection.  He and John go to the tomb to verify that in fact the Lord is gone.  Once this occurs we do not see or hear from Peter again until Jesus engages the group of disciples at the Sea of Tiberias,  In John 21 we see this:

4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!…”

Before we get any further let’s think about the time that has just passed and all of the emotions and turmoil that Peter must have gone through.  We first read where he has just committed an awful act of denying the Lord just as the Lord told him that he would.  He was left with the image of Christ staring at him with what I am sure is probably the most convicting look in history but yet also the most compassionate look all at the same time.  And then I am sure that as he went away from the fire to as scripture describes “weep bitterly” he assumed that his ministry was over.  He has just walked with the Lord for 3 years watching Christ heal and work many miracles.  He was part of all of the things that Christ did and watched as the Old Testament Scriptures literally were fulfilled in front of him.  Yet, when the chance came he buckled.  I, as well as you I am sure know that feeling all to well.  And if we are honest with ourselves there is nothing worse than the feeling that you are a failure to the most important people in your life.

So what kept me awake is how long did Peter feel like this?  How long was this period that Peter went through where he had to have been depressed and deeply saddened by his failures?  How long did Satan attack and remind Peter of his failures and how disappointed Christ must have been in him?

At this point I have not found any source or person that seems to know and to be honest I don’t think that the time that expired is the issue.  However I do know that it was the exact amount of time that he needed.  In this failure; as I am sure that Satan was constantly reminding him of how he had failed Christ and how he was now worthless; Christ was working and preparing Peter for the moment that He would call Peter to meet with Him again.  When He would now take a man who was broken and truly ready for a ministry and charge him with being “the rock” and beginning a ministry that reached through time and history to this writer’s soul.

And to be honest I have written and re-written the end of this several times only to erase it because it doesn’t say what my heart wants to explode upon.  So in an inelegant, ungrammatical sentence let me say it this way:  you’re going to fail,  sometimes in ways that you would never have imagined.  But when you do let Christ work through it to prepare you for what He has next for you (cause He WILL call you to His Kingdom’s work again) He will do things in your heart that you could not ever of imagined and even open things and expose things that you never saw before.  Because Christ works through the tainted, rusty, moldy, smelly vessels not the shiny, pretty, ones that have no room for Him.  I implore you to just do what Peter did when Christ calls to you…

⁷ …When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

It is this simple and impossible…you have to throw yourself into this and let Christ have Lordship.  When you fail you will want to run and hide to avoid the guilt, shame, embarrassment, and struggle but if you will let Christ make that decision instead of your flesh, He will bless you in ways that can not be written in a blog.  But in ways that will be written on the lives of the people around you and the people who Christ will bring to you to love and feed.

TR

I was asked this question the other day and it’s depth has cemented in my core. “Why is it so easy for people (confessing Christ followers) to stay in their sin, and to have NO desire to ever break free from it?” Haven’t they missed the whole point?

How many times have we all heard the salvation story? Thanks to the country we live in, more times than we can count. But sadly sometimes, it never goes any deeper than a simple confession of the lips and/or a long walk down the aisle. They never seem to be interested or concerned with visible sin in their lives. I’m tormented by this, and I’m praying for hearts to be broken, soft, desperate for a transformation.

Jesus didn’t just come to save us and move us into His mansion in the sky, he came to save us from the power of sin in our lives! That’s the freedom He offers. Freedom from the guilt, shame, torment, and bondage it creates in us! We are slaves to sin before we accept the blood of Jesus as our salvation. But once we accept His death as great enough to cover us, we are free from the bondage that once haunted us. This is the revolutionary power of a God that saves! Once we experience it, even when we fall, we won’t want to stay there! God has more for us! It’s a gift.

This is my prayer for us all… That those who trust Jesus will be transformed by the power of His Spirit. That we won’t miss a single ounce of His workings… The way He heals broken hearts, restores shattered relationships, they way he uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. The way he comforts the broken hearted; and frees the sinner from his addictions. They way He looks lovingly and forgivingly upon a man or woman who has done the unthinkable, gently breaks their spirit, and reveals Himself to the sinner greater than ever before. The way He hears the cry of a barren woman and His blessings end up being more than she ever imagined. They way He looks down on the innocent child that has suffered from sexual abuse and he rescues her, restores her heart, and uses her to help others who are silently hurting. The list goes. His works are never ending. His power is incomprehensible. This the God of our salvation. And He doesn’t want His children to miss it. We serve one GRACIOUS MIGHTY GOD!

God offers freedom from sin. Call on him. Break free from its bondage. And experience all that God has for you!