FAITH FOR THE FUTURE

As you look forward, are you viewing the future with fear -- or faith? As believers, we should move forward with confidence, based on the eternal truth of God's Word. Take your cue from Joshua. After 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites are finally poised to enter the Promised Land when Moses dies! God tells Joshua, "You must lead My people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you. For I will be with you ... . I will not fail you or abandon you.'" (Joshua 1:2b,3b,5b). God had promised His people a land flowing with milk and honey, filled with vineyards they didn't plant and cities they didn't build. It was theirs for the taking. But first they would have to fight! So God fortifies Joshua for battle by exhorting him three times, "Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:6,7,9). In faith, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan to a miraculous triumph over Jericho ... then to victory after victory throughout the land! But this was only possible because Joshua and his warriors took God at His word. And -- knowing the Lord was with them -- they could not fail! Today, God continues telling His people, "I will be with you! Be strong and courageous!"

HOW COULD YOU?

How could You, Lord?" This question come into my mind many times. I accept Jesus 2 years ago, I am a baby in christian faith and after I accepted Jesus as my saviour I was attacked by the devil through the most part of my life my marriage, especially my better half is an ordained minister so I ALWAYS ASK THIS... HOW COULD YOU LORD? But God is so good He always send people to me to remind me always How God Loves me so much inspite of the trials that I am goin through. How many times do we, as the Lord's children, find ourselves questioning unpleasant circumstances with those desperate words? Sometimes, it is when we've been hurt by careless words or actions of a loved one. Or, it may be when our burdens seem extra heavy, while those of even non-Christians around us look light as a feather. Or, it might be when the enemy has been zealously attacking our health, home, or finances. The hardest part to understand is that it usually happens when we are trying our hardest to live for the Lord. It helps me to realize that, while the Lord promises me eternal peace, comfort of the Holy Spirit, and never more that I can bear, He also has warned us that, in order to become "mature" Christians, we may need a little refining: Like a refiner of silver he will sit and closely watch as the dross is burned away. He will purify the Levites, the ministers of God, refining them like gold or silver, so that they will do their work for God with pure hearts" (Mal. 3:3, TLB). When I recognize that the answer to "how could You?" is simply that He cares enough for me to allow me to be perfected for His sake, my frustrations become like rewards...PLEASE PRAY FOR ME TO FIGHT THE SITUATION THAT I AM NOW...

ANSWERED PRAYER

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (James 5:16) When a baby is born, there is a suspenseful moment when all those in attendance watch eagerly for the newborn baby to begin breathing. In the same way, when a person is born again, be begins to sustain a spiritual life through prayer. A wise man, Rowland Hill, once said, "Prayer is the breath of a newborn soul, and there can be no life without it." Accordingly, when people speak of having a "prayer life" they should realize that prayer is not just a feature of spiritual life, but the thing that keeps spiritual life going. In prayer, you are talking to your Father-God in heaven, thanking Him, praising Him, blessing Him, loving Him, and asking His help for others and yourself in times of need. Meanwhile, He desires to speak love and encouragement to you. But sometimes it's hard to know that God hears your prayers or that you can really hear His replies. The following keys to vital prayer will help you know that your prayers are heard and answered. What is prayer? Prayer is a two-way conversation with God. It is the most intimate relationship with the Creator you can have. In prayer, the depths of your spirit are in communion with the depths of the Spirit of God. Out of this can come instruction, guidance, and suggestions for new focal points in your prayers. How should I pray? When Jesus' disciples asked Him how to pray, He gave them what we know as "The Lord's Prayer" (Matthew 6:9-13). As you meditate on each phrase, you'll see how The Lord's Prayer touches on each facet of our lives and God's character. It is a wonderfully complete outline for our prayers and is a good model to build on. As we pray The Lord's Prayer, we begin by acknowledging God's sovereign fatherhood when we say, "Our Father, who art in heaven." Then we adore His name. Because His name represents His nature, we praise His very being when we say the next phrase, "Hallowed be Thy name." Next, we must be concerned about the extension of His kingdom. We must care that people should come to know Him and submit to Him, so we say, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Then we turn to our personal concerns and ask God for our daily bread -- not only literal bread, but whatever we need to carry out His work. This prayer is for His daily provision for our immediate needs, and so we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Next comes a prayer of release from sin and guilt, the prayer of confession, repentance, and forgiveness: "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Here we are asking God for His grace in our relationships with other people, because His forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others go hand in hand. If we are going to expect answered prayer, we must be willing to forgive other people, even as God is willing to forgive us. Finally, we seek God's protection from temptation and evil: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." We ask Him to keep us walking in His way, so that we might be covered by His power and anointing and might not be susceptible to evil influences. Another way to pray is to organize your prayer time according to the different modes of prayer. The first part should be praise for our heavenly Father, followed by intercession for the needs of others. Then, in prayers of petition, you ask for your own needs to be met. All prayer should close with praise and thanksgiving to our Father, who out of His love for us provides answers to our prayers. Conclude prayer with praise, like Jesus concluded The Lord's Prayer, saying, "For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever, Amen." (Matthew 6:13b) How can I know that God will answer my prayers? The Bible overflows with God's repeated promises to hear and answer His children's appeals. "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." (John 5:14, 15) To pray according to God's will means to pray in a way that is consistent with the principles in His Word. The Bible shows us that a righteous person's prayers will be answered: "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much" (James 5:16). But righteousness means a lot more than "clean living." More than that, it means depending on Jesus Christ for answers to every problem you face. The Old Testament prophet Elijah was one such righteous man. "He prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit" (James 5:17, 18). If you need to call forth showers of blessing in a dry and barren situation, remember that the key is righteousness -- your trust in God's promises. As you commit your requests to Him, believe that His will is being done according to the greatness of His power and wisdom. Don't underestimate God's ability to make a way for you when one doesn't seem possible. With our limited understanding and abilities, we often forget His boundless wisdom and power. Ask with faith, and be like Abraham when you pray. The Bible says of Abraham, "With respect to the promise of God, he (Abraham) did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform" (Romans 4:20, 21). Lastly, Jesus told us to pray according to His name (John 14: 13, 14). He is the Architect, Creator, and Sustainer of all that is, and He promises in His words to the disciples, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you" (Mark 11:24). No obstacle is too great to withstand His power: "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him" (Mark 11:23). Begin on a regular basis to pray about the biggest obstacle you face, and command that particular personal mountain to move by the power of the name of Jesus. How can I know God's will? God's will is best understood through a combination of different sources -- sources that balance and complement one another and protect the believer from errors. The first source is the Bible. If you are familiar with the Bible you will know the will of God, because He has laid it out for us there. The Bible says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..." (Colossians 3:15). That inner peace that you experience when you are in communion with Him (or the lack of it) can show you whether you are praying according to God's will. God also reveals His will for us through godly counselors, people whose wisdom and walk with the Lord you can trust. We may also, sometimes, discern His will through circumstances that seem to favor or hinder a course of action. But remember, in whatever way God reveals His will to you, it must agree with His Word, the Bible. He will not oppose Himself, "for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Once we have learned God's will, we must stay in it, abiding in the Lord Jesus, who said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7). We cannot abide in Jesus and at the same time keep holding on to unbelief, unforgiveness, resentment, or bitterness. Such sins will keep us from that intimate relationship that He desires with us, and they will cloud our ability to know His will (Psalm 66:18). What about unanswered prayer? Nowhere in His Word does God promise that all of His answers will be instantaneous. Unfortunately, far too many people try to measure God's response by what they are immediately able to see with their natural capacities. We must wait on the Lord if need be. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Many people have become disappointed and discouraged because they did not see the answers to their prayers at the time when they thought they should. If an answer is delayed, don't doubt. Doubting only undermines our ability to see any of our prayers answered. The Bible says of one who prays, "But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let no man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord" (James 1:6,7). Many times we think that God has failed to answer a prayer and that He has not honored His Word, when He actually is working out something in our lives far greater than we had imagined possible. We must be patient and bear in mind that His ways are far beyond ours. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher that your ways" (Isaiah 55:9). Is it permissible to pray more than once for something? Jesus taught in Luke, chapter 18, that at all times we ought to pray and not lose heart. He used the parable of the unrighteous judge and the helpless widow who kept on pleading with him for legal protection. Because of her persistence, the judge granted her request. In the same way, Jesus taught that the constant cries of God's children are heard and their prayers are answered. Jesus also said, "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened" (Matthew 7:7, 8). We are also told to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Rather than ask if it's alright to pray again and again about a thing, perhaps we should ask if it's right to ever stop praying about it until we receive an answer. Through our constant, believing prayer we not only receive answers, but we acquire a growing maturity in our life in Christ. You can breathe easier now that you understand God's desire for you to talk with Him constantly and His promise to answer your prayers, you can start praying with boldness and with the confidence that right now He is revealing answers to the dilemmas and uncertainties you face. Now your spirit will begin growing strong and vigorous with the deep, life-giving breath of prayer. God is supplying what you lack and honoring your petitions according to His will. So, as you praise Him in your time of prayer, remember to praise Him as the One who hears and answers. Remember to give thanks often that He is not far away but near you, providing for you, fighting your battles, and directing your choices. We know you want a better quaff

MYLIFESTORY XVII

Every day I am so excited to open my emails and to have some sweet notes from my mahal . A letter full of different promises (most of them never happen). As our relationship grow fonder, we know each other more or less. We share our up and downs, our beliefs about marriages and faith. I told him all my happy and sad story of my life, all the ups and downs before I reach the place where I am in that time. All my perseverance being an orphan kid who strive and work hard to help my younger siblings, the up and downs of my love life. At the same time he shared with his ups and down when it come to his love life’s. He is a Christian (quoted as devoted as what he say) and I am so happy and glad to find a true man of God even in my mind there is curiosity why in the world this man of God was failed for 2 marriages already. I ignored this thinking and willing to know him better. After he told me that all what happen is all mistake of the wives, and I believed it,. But never come into my mind that whatever he complained about his ex wives is the same he complained about me to some women. (stay tuned to know the story behind in the middle). Our relationship is pretty good. Anytime he send me messages that he is in, I have to wake up anytime of the night just to talk to him. Almost every day I received email, from him, in every emails we have different promises to each other. The most memorable and maybe the most I love is his promise (quote) I WILL GIV YOU A GOOD LIFE THAN WHAT YOUR HAVE). For me it’s a bonus because I know I have a comfortable life already before I meet him. In returned my promise is so silly and maybe stupid that when I was not able to do it,, It become a big issue in the end. (stay tuned). My promises are , we will exercise, we will swim, I promise to love his parents as my own which I did.. because I always dreaming to experience how to have parents,(note. I lost both my parents when I am young) and to be a submissive plain housewife(this is my ultimate dream a plain housewife) Day pass and pass until he deiced to made his plan visiting my country.. And this is more exciting..stay tuned ..until next Monday.

READ THIS MOST CHRISTIANS HATES DIVORCE

The wise-cracking Mae West was quoted as saying, "Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution." Sometimes it appears that most people share Mae's cynical view of marriage. Divorce is so common that hardly anyone thinks of it as a tragedy anymore -- except, perhaps, the ones experiencing it. Somewhere along the line the idea of permanence was thrown aside. "Till death do us part" is still part of most wedding ceremonies, but we wonder if the two people take the words seriously. The Bible has a high view of marriage. It is to be a lifetime plan, not a convenience that can be disposed of in a lawyer's office. The love of husband and wife is, at its best, a hint of the deeper love between a human being and God. Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. Hebrews 13:4 Drink water from your own well -- share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Don't share it with strangers. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. May you always be captivated by her love. Proverbs 5:15-19 The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favor from the LORD . Proverbs 18:22 The apostle Paul, who was single, recommended the single life for people like himself, dedicated to God's service. But Paul was realistic enough to know that most people, no matter how deep their faith, were better off married than facing the temptations of the single life: Because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The husband should not deprive his wife of sexual intimacy, which is her right as a married woman, nor should the wife deprive her husband. . . I wish everyone could get along without marrying, just as I do. But we are not all the same. God gives some the gift of marriage, and to others he gives the gift of singleness. Now I say to those who aren't married and to widows -- it's better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust. 1 Corinthians 7:2-3, 7-9 Paul also addressed a ticklish situation: What if a Christian's spouse is not a Christian? Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. And if a Christian woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not have a godly influence, but now they are set apart for him. (But if the husband or wife who isn't a Christian insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is not required to stay with them, for God wants his children to live in peace.) You wives must remember that your husbands might be converted because of you. And you husbands must remember that your wives might be converted because of you. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Paul had much to say on the subject of marriage. He has been accused of being "anti-woman" because of his discussion of a wife's "submission." The passage here will show that he did not have in mind an abusive or dominating relationship, but one based on mutual love. You will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything. And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. And we are his body. As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:21-33

MYLIFESTORY XVI

Before we meet me on June 2006, he had a friend a Chinese computer guy, they are close and this guy know him so well, this Chinese guy know most of his lifestory. In their conversation they talk about marriages and this Chinese guy told him that “IF YOU WANT A GOOD WIFE FIND IN THE PHILIPPINES” that he don’t have any idea about Philippines where is it, how safe to travel in this country. When I told him that I was from the Philippines he remember what the Chinese guy told him, and he start to make a research about my country. He search how safe is my country, what kind of religion we have in my country. He become more interested to have correspondence with me. On that month we start, exchanging emails, knowing each other. As the day pass by I always excited to go home from work to check my emails, and of course his sweet nothing..LOL with matching pictures. As we become close to each other, we become open to talk serious matter. About all our past, about all our future dreams, and what we want to be , and to have in the future. Ever since, after all what I have the only dreams that I want is to have my own family, To have a loving and god fearing man that will value a family most next to God. Family is valuable for me. We agree in many things we want in our life especially when it comes to family beliefs. In spite of the truth that divorce is rampant in US, even in Christian World, we both don’t believe in divorce and that is one “pogi points for me”. Every day we exchange different stories that we had every day. We become more closer and closer to each other even physically we are 8000 miles away.(to be continued..stay tuned)

PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

(BY RICK WARREN) I got an email and after I read this I cried a lot. You will be inspired of the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: "People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body -- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act -- the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

(The part in red makes me really cry because I am in this situation of my life right now)

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys -- you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others, We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do,

II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings..

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

After I read this I thank God because now I know how much he loves me because he's building my character by all the trials that I am into now..

PEDESTAL

Have you become disillusioned with someone you have put on a pedestal – that "perfect" one? Maybe it's your spouse, a dear friend, or possibly your pastor? It hurts when that "pedestal person" suddenly doesn't live up to your expectations. You run that painful gamut of feelings – rejection, embarrassment, anger, self pity – because they didn't live up to your expectations of their perfection. We live in a people-centered environment and try to put all our predetermined desires on the shoulders of someone we can see and touch. But, did you ever consider that you do them a great disservice by expecting infallibility? They are human and cannot possibly live up to your preconceived level of perfection. Suddenly, you discover your "perfect" person is human after all, leaving you hurt and disillusioned. Only One can and should have that place upon your pedestal, and His Name is Jesus. No weak human shoulders can carry your hopes and dreams. Jesus is faithful and must be that pedestal person in your life because it is only in Him that you can completely trust. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord"

(I Cor. 1:9, KJV).

MYLIFESTORY XV (REPOST)

APOLOGY FOR NOT UPDATING MY STORY, I WAS DEALING WITH THE BIG STORM OF MY LIFE AND I BARE ALL ON MY NEXT POST..

In 1990 patient bear fruit, finally I got my college diploma in Bachelor Degree of Accounting. After 3 months of looking for job I landed my first job. I don’t transfer job to job. After my first job I got a job interview call from Honda Cars , one of the prestigious company in the Philippines. I left my old job to accept the job offer. My job in Honda cars is like a dream job for me, the management are so fair, they always see to it that they gave fair accommodation to all employees whether you are in managerial or rank and file. But after 6 months contract my employment was screwed up by our company doctor.. Anyway after Honda Cars I find another job which I stay almost 11 years. I transfer to a Korean Company which manufactured apparel for export. We manufactured all clothing for export, like GAP, WALMART, KMART, JC PENNY, BANANA REPUBLIC, OLD NAVY, CALVEIN CLEIN, etc I stay with job until I resigned last 2007. Im working in this company for almost 11 years and I almost have everything. Good life, gown house, and I can help all my sibling to have good education. But inspite of a good life my next dream is to be a plain housewife. It become a joke in the office. They how can I find a partner if we work 14 hours mostly everyday, sometimes we have overtime work on sunday. One time one of my friend mention to me this one site , she said you can try maybe you can find the king of your life. So one day I because of curiosity, I tried this site..I know many of you there have beautiful exprience about this super technology. Some of us are happily married, some of us failed. After few days I received the first response to my shout.. "Looking for my king , next to God". He thought that I am from NY because during my registration I can't think number so I pick up a number in top of my head, and fortunately that zipcode number is the zip number of the city close where he live. It's 10 minutes away from where he live. By the way he lives in NY City. Is it co incidence , I don’t think so,, for me maybe we meant to be LOL… Anyway we meet on this site and he email me right away asking for dinner and I laugh at first. I replied to his mail and told him, I wish I can but I am 8,000 miles away from you. Next email I got from him is , Its ok I have car and I know your place … I laugh again and finally I told him to my next email that I am from Asia in Philippines. He don’t have any idea where is Philippines is. So he decided to search about my country. (To be continue..stay tuned every monday)

THE SECRETS OF LOVING LIFE

I want to this share the following verses that has big impact to MyLifeStory...

The apostle Paul, writing to the church at Ephesus, laid down some very good guidelines for husbands and wives. To the men he said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25). To the women he said, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22) That kind of relationship brings about a lack of tension in marriage. The husband should be willing to sacrifice himself for the wife's good. If he loves her enough that he is willing to give himself for her, even as Jesus did for the church, then the wife will be willing to submit to his leadership. She will know that he is always looking out for her good and always willing to put her interests ahead of his. By the same token, a wife has the ability to make her husband the head of the household by urging him to take his proper role as priest in the home. She should encourage him to seek God, to find out what God is telling the family to do. She can build her husband up and, by being willing to submit, give him a sense of responsibility so that he will assume his proper role. The one who always insists on "rights" will destroy the marriage relationship. If the husband says to the wife, "You much obey me because the Bible says so," he is going to alienate her. At the same time, the wife who refuses to submit to the husband and fights him all the time will make him apprehensive about following the Lord. He will start thinking, "What if I get a message from God? All I am going to get is opposition from my wife, so I might as well just follow my own desires and let her follow hers." Such attitudes will pull couples apart, whereas God's standards should draw them together. The husband who departs from God's laws, and insists that his wife do the same thing, has lost his mandate of authority. God did not give the husband a mandate to break His law, to abuse his wife, to become involved in bizarre sex practices, or to lead his wife into stealing or lying or cheating or drunkenness. But as long as the husband is following the mandate of the Lord, the wife should submit to his leadership, even though she may disagree with it. God's standard is true, yet in many marriages, the wife is more able than her husband. Regretfully, a woman with great abilities sometimes marries a man who does not have much ability. This wife must resist the temptation to dominate her husband. Her husband will sometimes make decisions that the wife feels are wrong. She must either gently persuade her husband that he is wrong, or else pray that God will change her husband's mind. A woman has voluntarily surrendered a portion of her autonomy to her husband when she marries. She must trust God that His way will work out. However, a husband who wants his wife to deny God, to engage in group sex, or to commit an act that is obviously against God's law has lost his authority. The wife's first allegiance is to Jesus Christ and she must follow Him. She cannot submit to what is unlawful or unnatural. It is important to remember that husbands and wives are partners. Someone has rightly pointed out that woman was taken from the side of man, not from his head or foot. She is not to dominate her husband, nor is she to be supine and let him walk over her as if she were a doormat. A husband and wife are to be partners in life and are to share a living relationship that acknowledges that the man is the head of the family as long as he is submitted to Christ.

THE LAW OF GOD

Do not commit murder.

The first murderer was Cain who killed his brother Abel. Perhaps Cain thought no one saw what happened, but God did. He said to Cain, "Why have you done this terrible thing? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground, like a voice calling for revenge" (Genesis 4:10). Murder is a sin with chain reactions--it hurts the families and friends of both the murderer and he who was murdered. It is also a grave offense against God who made man in His own image.

Do not commit adultery.

Adultery is the sin of breaking the marriage vow by having sexual relations with someone other than the marriage partner. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery."

Do not steal.

It is wrong to take anything that doesn't belong to you, even if the person you took it from is rich and doesn't need it. "The man who used to rob must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for himself and to be able to help the poor" (Ephesians 4:28).

Do not accuse anyone falsely.

The ninth commandment includes all lying in word or deed. God does not make a difference between "good" lies and "bad" lies--all false accusations are wrong. Psalm 101:7 says, "No liar will live in my palace; no hypocrite will remain in my presence." "But cowards, traitors, perverts, murderers, the immoral, those who practice magic, those who worship idols, and all liars--the place for them is the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).

Do not desire anything another man owns.

To wrongly desire what belongs to another is often called coveting. Luke 12:15 puts it this way: "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person's true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be." God gave us these laws to teach us right from wrong, to guide us when we make decisions. "What, then was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made ... So the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith" (Galatians 3:19, 24).

MEMORY VERSE

What, then was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made ... So the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith.- Galatians 3:19, 24

HEARING GOD'S VOICE

There are many who think they are hearing from God when maybe they are not. How annoying are the superspiritual who always say, "God told me this -- God told me that -- God told me this other." It seems that their every thought is a revelation from God. God does not customarily operate that way. He speaks to us, but He does not chatter away, day in and day out, the way some people claim He does. This has been my experience, and it is the concept that is in accordance with the biblical record. The Bible says that we can tell if someone is a prophet by seeing if what he has said comes to pass (see Deuteronomy 18:22). That is a very pragmatic test, and it works. A friend who purported to hear from God told me, "My second child is going to be a boy. God told me." His second child was a girl. He said, "Well, God told me that it was not the second child who was going to be a boy, but the third child." His third child was a girl, too. At that point I determined, that brother isn't hearing from God. It was clear: He made a statement, supposedly from God, that did not come to pass. There is no shortcut to spiritual understanding. You have to learn to walk with God and to know His voice; otherwise, you will mistake your own voice for His. You even may be fooled by the voice of Satan, or you may hear the clamoring voice of the world. It is so easy to get these voices mixed up. Usually, God speaks to us in a still, small, quiet voice (see I Kings 19:11-13). It takes time, prayer, and waiting on God to hear His voice. Nor does God scatter His pearls around recklessly. He said, "You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul" ( Deuteronomy 4:29). God does not reveal Himself to every casual onlooker who would take sacred things and play with them like toys. I have known some adults who treated the gifts of God as if they were just little baubles to play with. To please God and to receive counsel from Him, people must be both determined and serious. How do we succeed in hearing God's voice? By spending time with God. The ultimate is not merely to get direction from God; the ultimate is to know God. God can make it difficult for us to get into His presence because He wants to see if we truly will expend the spiritual energy and exercise necessary to do so. Will we stop certain sins? Will we get rid of things that hinder us? Will we truly seek Him with all of our hearts? Some people only want a quick fix -- "God, tell me how to make money on this business deal, please. See You next time!" And then that is the end of it. But God wants to be treated with reverence and deference that His nature warrants. He wants to change us, not merely give us quick answers to difficult problems. We will never be changed unless we come into His presence, spend time with Him, and allow Him to purify us from our sinful nature.