Selfless Love

Ephesians 5:25,28 (NKJV)
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.

        Marriage is subject of much debate at this point in history. There are mixed emotions and ideas as to what are the roles in marriage. Above all, when Jesus Christ is the center of marriage or any relationship, it is then that such a relationship will be a success.

        Just think of God and how He has treated us. He loves us enough to give His life for us. He provides all that we need – nothing more and nothing less. He would give us much more, but He knows what is best for us. He knows all of our needs – spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, social, financial and all other needs that we encounter. His timing may not be ours but He will always provide for our needs. This is only of glimpse of how Christ loves the church and gave Himself for it. But, this is an example that all husbands must learn.

        Never in scripture are women commanded to love their husbands because they naturally love their soul mate. It is the man that is commanded to love sacrificially, even the point of death. A man needs to choose to love his wife and cherish her. This is not always easy since he is wired differently than the woman. He is to love her as he loves himself.

        Paul gives the chain of command. “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God”, (I Cor. 11:3, NKJV). If you notice, the only comparison which uses a superior person is the comparison of man and Christ. God is not superior to Christ, they are both God, but God the father has taken the leadership role. The man is not superior to the woman he is just the leader in the union of marriage. Christ is superior to the man in every way possible. So, as we see here the man has a very great responsibility. He not only needs to become like Christ in sacrificially love and amazing leadership. He also needs to give Himself for her, providing for all her needs just as Christ does the church.

        Most women do not like the word submit, but a woman who is seeking to obey God, will willingly submit to a man who loves her and would give anything to provide for her emotional and physical needs in life. When Christ is the center, the man loves the woman as Christ does the church and the woman respects the husband, this is a union that cannot be broken. “And a threefold cord is not quickly broken”, (Ecclesiastes 4:12b, NKJV).

        Thoughts, comments, objections, prayer requests.

Daniel A. Smith

Godly Maturity

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2 Timothy 2:22-24 (NKJV)

²² Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³ But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. ²⁴ And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient.

When a child of God is committed to Him, this is a quality that will be evident to others. Such a person will desire the heart of God and also desire to please Him. This desire is in the process of maturity. Godly maturity involves two aspects:

1.   Keeping away from childish actions and

2.   Dwelling on that which is pure and right

The first action that Paul tells us to do is to flee youthful lusts. We are to treat lust as childish and as a reprehensible cancer which we cannot stand to even think about. As a child, we play with sin and foolishness. The child of God’s heart should be so sold out to the ways of God so that childish behavior is looked at as being stupid. Let’s face it, an adult does not put their hand on a hot stove to play with fire, they respect the fact that by this behavior they will get burned. Physically we may need to flee (run from) lust, but mentally we must do this also.

After putting aside childish actions, we need to pursue godliness. Righteousness, faith, love and peace are only attained by full submission to the Spirit of God. This is only accomplished in His power and our willingness to be completely humbled and broken by God for His use. Each of these aspects listed must be studied, dwelled upon and desired by the child of God. As the Spirit of God takes greater control in our life, we can be used with these qualities. It will not happen overnight, these are the life time challenges that God has given each one of us.

Paul added that we need to seek these things around those who call about the Lord out of a pure heart. We all need Godly examples, Godly leaders, Godly friends and many Godly influences in order to be established unto full Godly maturity.

We also need to realize where a discussion is going before we get involved. As children, we engage in silly fights and arguments that only show our lack of knowledge and experience. But, as a mature child of God, we need to stop such actions before they start. Paul says that they only “generate strife”, (vs. 23b). Avoiding an argument is much less messy than getting out of it. For example, try to remember what you argued about yesterday and was it worth the hurt that it caused?

The requirements of the humble servant of God involve lack of hostility, gentleness, ability to teach and patience. A heart fully embraced by the Spirit of God will see a silly dispute before is started and avoid it.

Thoughts, comments, objections, prayer requests.

Daniel A. Smith

The Healing of a Nation

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)
If My people who are called by My name will 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.

        The rise and fall of any nation is according to whether or not the people of God are following God’s plan or not. If you ask 100 people how to fix the problems of this country, you will get 100 different responses. God’s word carries the only way that a nation is to be blessed.

        Did God tell us that every last person needs to clean up their lives, to heal the nation? No. Did God tell us that we need a bigger government? No. Did He say that more Christians need to be involved of leadership roles? No. He went straight to His people. The only people that can properly help a nation are God’s people. The biggest problem is the fact that God’s people do not want to do what God says in His word.

First of all, He tells His people to humble themselves. If we do not have a humble spirit, God cannot work through us to His full extent. We need to be willing to do or go anywhere that God leads. Too often selfishness, busyness, lack of desire or comfort often distracts us from seeing things God’s way. After humility, we need to pray. Prayer takes commitment, time and work. But the power that we see in prayer, the blessing we receive and the changes that happen are all worth every effort to pray. We have an enemy who knows the power of prayer and he will stop at nothing to keep us from praying.

Seeking the face of God is a vital component of prayer. In many ways this is similar to prayer, but when we seek God’s face we are on a mission to know our heavenly Father greater. We want to know Him to the fullest extent possible and experience Him personally in every way.

We also must turn from our wicked ways. Too many of us say one thing and do another. Sometimes we even tell God or promise to Him one thing and do another. Repentance is a key aspect to our salvation, but we need to practice this every time we fail. Every sin and weakness that we have needs to be seen as a repulsive cancer that we need to run away from.

It is then that God will hear the cry of our hearts and heal our land. God does not says “if My leaders” or “if select people” do this, He will heal our land. He states “My people”. “People” is a plural term, we need to seek Him as a body, a team, a full unit in order for Him to realize how serious we really are. The only way our land will be helped is if we corporately come to God on our knees in all purity and humility.

Thoughts, comments, objections, prayer requests.

Daniel A. Smith

Beginning and End

Beginning and End

Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

At the end of the bible, Jesus informs us of the things that He displayed and established throughout all of time and His life. First of all He says that He is the alpha and omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. By this, He is saying that He is of primary interest to all people throughout all of history. He is omnipotent (all powerful) and in control. He began the whole existence of man and by His second coming, He will end it.

Jesus is the creator. John says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:3, NKJV). Since He created all things, He certainly has the power and authority to sustain all things and provide for our needs. Paul says, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist”, (Colossians 1:3, NKJV). He not only caused things to exist, but He is intimately concerned about every detail of our life.

Jesus wants to protect His children from all harm and He wants to keep us walking in His ways. Many times, it is leaving and returning that are the most critical times in a journey. Jesus realizes this and He’s wants to help you through this. David said, “The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore”, (Psalms 121:8). If we commit all things into His hands and trust Him, He will help us throughout every step in life. He is concerned about even the most difficult times of life. Our mind can rest when we know that He is in control.

He is eternal, He has no limits in time or space or power. He can do all things and has control over all things in the universe. But yet, He is concerned about every hair on our head and every drop of water in the sea. A God who possesses that much power but is still concerned about every detail of our life must only be driven by love. God is love and there is nothing in Him that He wants to show us more than love. He will show justice to sin and unrighteousness, but His primary object is to show love. Why else would the very God of heaven, leave glory, live among sinful man and die an unfair death for our sake? His main obsession must be love.

His eternality is real and He is worthy of all glory, praise, honor and fear. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36, NKJV).

Thoughts, comments, objections, prayer requests.

Daniel A. Smith