EPHESIANS 5:33

 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband (Ephesians 5:33)



Tell me did you know that the Father desires to bless your spouse through you?? Did you know that ? Jesus has sent us out as members of His spiritual Body, to minister to those around us. We are supposed to allow His love to flow through us.  God loves your spouse enough to die for them, He wants the very best for them and he wants them to know and experience his true love for them but he uses us to reflect and direct that love to our spouses. So are you being the hands and feet of Christ, that way your spouse might experience Christ love for them?   Yes I know, they have flaws but so do you and they are not perfect. They need a
lot of help, just as you and I do and forgiveness and love are part of the help. That is why God sent you, as His representative, to minister to them, so how is your first ministry doing right now???  To minister means to serve. God put you where you are to serve to be a blessing. It is a mistake to think of "Christian ministry" only as being a pastor or missionary, etc, each of you husbands have a ministry to love your wives as Christ loved the church meaning you must die to self and be willing to put her needs first, but wait there is more you wives my sisters in Christ you also have a minister to honor/respect your husband. Any time a Christian is serving  others it is "Christian ministry," and you become the hands and feet of Christ and you glorify Him.
Your ministry is not limited to your spouse and your children, but it certainly must start with them. My Bishop use to tell us that he can tell which pastors he would remove from the preaching rotation and which of us he would allow to keep teaching, basically by looking at our wives to see how happy they were, since our wives were our first ministry and Bishop Johnson always if I or any of the pastor there were not being true to our first ministry how we take on additional duties when were not able to perform our first duty to love our wives. Whatever other ministry God may entrust to you, if you are married, God has trusted you with the ministry of being a blessing to your spouse, hold a bible study with your spouse, pray with your spouse and most of  all let them know that they are safe in their relationship with you and honor God buy doing this.
God has not left you to struggle in this ministry on your own. He is with you, and in you, to work through you. God will help you. But you must allow Him to do so. Building up and encouraging your spouse will also bring honor and glory to God and He is well pleased when we do this.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:9

 Have you ever had a  times in your life when it looked like Jesus had failed you?, and I certainly felt like He failed me But I was wrong! Jesus has never failed me. I have failed Him many times. I deeply regret that.
I also regret the times I doubted the Lord and thought He was failing me. Jesus does not deserve to be treated that way. A lot of it happened when I was very immature spiritually. I guess I expected the Lord to make my life a bed of roses with never any challenges or difficulties. I thought I could do whatever I wanted and God would always bless it. Well, I had to grow up and realize that going my own way and doing my own thing was not working very well.  Yet, through all of my immaturity, through all of my failures, through all of my ignorance, Jesus always took care of me. I always had my needs met. He always helped me and worked things out for me, eventually. It just didn't always happen at the time and in the way I thought it would.  I can trust Him, because He loves me. And He loves you just as much as He loves me and will never fail me.

 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9)
                       



                                        Footprints in the Sand


        One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
             Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
                  In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
                       Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
                           other times there were one set of footprints.

                                  This bothered me because I noticed
                                that during the low periods of my life,
                             when I was suffering from
                         anguish, sorrow or defeat,
                     I could see only one set of footprints.

          So I said to the Lord,
      "You promised me Lord,
         that if I followed you,
             you would walk with me always.
                   But I have noticed that during
                          the most trying periods of my life
                                 there have only been one
                                       set of footprints in the sand.
                                           Why, when I needed you most,
                                          you have not been there for me?"

                                 The Lord replied,
                          "The times when you have
                  seen only one set of footprints,
          is when I carried you." (Stevenson, 1936).
                                                 

2 Timothy 2:13

God is always and forever faithful! I over heard an old Southern Baptist say, "I have walked with God for over 40 years. I can tell you, from experience, that God is faithful! I have failed Him many times, but He has never failed me! God has always taken care of me. He has stuck with me through all kinds of things, always helping me. Even when I was not trying to follow Him, I can see that He was protecting me and helping me. I have not been a perfect person. I have made many mistakes. I have wasted a lot of time and money. I have done a lot of wrong things. But God has never failed to be perfect!  To think that the perfect Almighty God would love me and care for me so faithfully one so unworthy is beyond comprehension."
 The precious blood of Jesus has made us  worthy in God's sight, but it was nothing we did to deserve God's love and grace. It was a pure gift! The wonderful thing is that God loves you just as much as He does me. Somehow He is big enough and capable enough to care for all of us who trust in Him. He wants to be more than your God, to also be your Friend and Helper your Heavenly Father. I beseech  you to not only live for Jesus but trust him with your complete life.  We often times claims that we trust him yet our sin closet is full of old  unforgotten sins, pain, anger, resentment, all of which keeps you at a distance from Christ. Surrender and he promises that he will give you his burdens for he claims they are light. So what are you waiting for???





 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Romans 5:8

Is it love or something else, psychologist say love simply a chemical reaction to outside stimuli.

What many think of as love is really just a form of selfishness  not pure love. It can be identified by thinking like this:
I love you because of the way you make me feel.
I love you because of what you do for me.
I love you because of how you make me look.
I love you because of what I can get from you.

True love is instead marked by thinking like this:
I love you because you are valuable and precious.
I love you because I want the best for you.

"selfish love" is not of God, the word of God tell us that God is love, and his love is no where close to be selfish after all in the book of John we hear about how great God's love was for you and I that he gave his only begotten son to save the same people who hated God and were enemies of God.  Not a selfish love but a selfless love. Selfish love is not pure love. It is not the highest form of love. It is immature, like a baby would love his mother. We are supposed to grow past this kind of love to experience true, pure love --
which is completely unselfish. It seeks the best for the other person, not because of what they can do for you, but because of what you can do for them,  remember Jesus said unto the lest of these  have you shown love you have also shown me love because they are valuable and precious to God. A human giving their life to the point of death has to be completely unselfish. It cannot be motivated by any benefit they would receive. So the more unselfish love is, the greater, purer, and more mature it is.

 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

1 John 5:4

If you have received Jesus Christ then you are a child of God. The Bible says you are an over comers  a winner!  A big problem is that many Christians have a mistaken identity. They don't understand who they really are because they have not been told the full truth. When you received Jesus Christ, more happened than just getting your sins forgiven. You became a new person, a child of God . And not one of God's children are losers!  If you are a Christian, then you are what God says you are. You may not be acting like it yet, but whatever God says you are you are. For whatever God speaks comes to pass. If God were to
say you are a monkey you would become a monkey. God has said many things about you. He says you are an over-comers. That means you are a winner, not a loser.  Who can overcome whatever the world throws at us? WHOEVER believes in Jesus! That includes you!  What we believe is the key to overcoming. For truth, we must get our beliefs from the Bible. If you have received Jesus you are born of God and God is your Father. You ARE a world over-comers. You are not a big mess-up. You are not a loser. That may have been your past, but now things have changed. Clearly understanding who God has made you will change your actions, and your future. You are a victor an overcomer! With God on your side helping
you, you can overcome any obstacle or problem.

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith (1John 5:4).

Romans 6:23

Sin destroys the  man and it destroys the soul, for end result of sin is death. If you practice sin, it will pay you by destroying you. Jesus came to save, or deliver, those caught in the trap of sin. He freely offers to all -- regardless of their sins  the gift of forgiveness and life. Not just living, or even living forever. But the life of the Eternal One, life as God has it and enjoys it. Real life. Life that changes you inwardly. Life that will last. Life as God intended it to be.  It is not just because God hates sin, that sinners need to be saved. It is because sin is a killer. Sin destroys the life of the individual and the lives of those around them. Sin hurts people. God is against sin because He loves people. But God did not stop at being against sin without giving us an answer  a
way of escaping sin's clutches. Jesus died for sinners because we needed help. We were trapped
in a very bad situation. Sin is deadly and destroys all that is good. Sinners desperately need deliverance even if they don't realize it. Just because sinners don't realize they are in bondage does not change reality. You could be driving at top speed down a highway and not realize the bridge ahead had been destroyed,
but that would not change the outcome just because you didn't know the bridge was out. To fully realize the ramifications of sin, we need a bigger, more experienced viewpoint than the one we have. God realized our need and His great love compelled Him to offer us a solution. That solution is found in accepting the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's solution to mankind's sin problem. Jesus is the Savior (Deliverer). Jesus is the One who sets us free from both the penalty and the bondage of sin, and all its effects. No matter who you are, if you have a problem with sin, look to Jesus for deliverance.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Roman 6:23)

Matthew 18:18

Many think whatever happens is God's will. But the Bible reveals God's will and lets us know we have a part to play in cooperating with God to see His will come to pass in our lives. According to Jesus, God's will is that things be on earth as they are in Heaven. God gave us a free will. We must choose God's will, for God
does not force it on us. Sickness is not of God. There is no sickness in Heaven.  Poverty is not of God. There is no lack in Heaven. Selfishness, strife, un-forgiveness, and hatred are not of God. None of those are in Heaven. These are all things we should not allow in our lives. The devil cannot do anything in your life unless you allow it. Scripture says that if you will resist the devil he will flee from you. Too many people resist only for a short time then quit resisting. If something is not God's will then we should maintain the attitude that it is not acceptable. If something bad is in your life it is only because you allow it to remain. You can decide to refuse and resist. Whatever you will put up with is what you will have. But if you decide something is unacceptable then it can change. "But I tried to resist and it would not leave." Resisting does not mean trying for awhile. Resisting evil should never stop. Resist to death. Never quit. Never give up. Never give in. Fight the good fight of faith until victory is manifest.

 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18).

John 20:25

No one can force anyone to believe anything. Each one of us chooses whether we will believe something, based on our evaluation of the evidence presented to us. Faith and belief may have different English meanings, but in the New Testament they are different forms of the same Greek word. Believe is the verb and faith is the noun for the same word. Note that Thomas said, "I WILL NOT believe."Many think seeing miracles would cause people to have faith. But the only ones who believe as a result of seeing miracles
are those who choose to accept the miracle as sufficient evidence for them to believe. It is still a choice.I used to think faith was difficult to pin down with certainty something like a feeling or state of being. But now I
understand that once we make the decision to believe, we are in faith, no matter how we may feel.
At its heart, faith is always a decision. No one can force you to believe in anything. The choice is yours.
However, we cannot believe or have faith in anything without evidence. We must have evidence that convinces us before we can believe something. The primary evidence God has given us so that we may have faith in Him is His Word. God is not a liar; He can be trusted. Whatever God says, always comes to pass.
So if someone says they don't have much faith, the solution is for them to see the evidence from God's Word on that subject, then choose to accept what God said as true. Then they will have faith. At that point they may not feel anything, but they have faith. The primary action of faith toward God is speaking in agreement with God's Word. Jesus said if you had faith you would say. So we express what we believe by the words we speak. And then we stand in that position of faith, regardless of feelings or circumstances. Funny Christ tells us if we but had the faith of a mustard seed which of the worlds smallest seeds that we could speak to the mountains and they would move,mountain as in physical or spiritual mountain what is impossible for God nothing so if he said I believe it and that is the end of that




 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).

1 PETER 2:2

We can gain understanding of spiritual growth by comparing it to natural growth. There are many similarities.
We do not start out as full-grown adults. It takes time, nurture, and experience to learn and develop.
In the natural realm, physical food is required. In the spiritual realm the food required for strength and growth is the  living Word of God. Spiritual growth is part of the Christian life. God's Word is our spiritual food. Not only do we need to read it, but also to speak it and meditate on it.  A new-born Christian has the same authority over the devil and all his forces as any of the Apostles. They also have the same righteousness  which is a gift from God. In the natural a new-born baby has all the same muscles as a professional
athlete, but they cannot accomplish the same things because they are not as developed. Yet they have the same potential, which over time can be developed.   feeding your spirit on the Word of God and act on what
you learn. Just like a natural child, you will fall down a few times while learning how to walk. But you must get up and try again. God will watch over you and protect you as any good parent should, so you don't have to be afraid. Read the Word of God trust in the word, prayer and most important fellow-shipping do not abandon the fellow- shipping with other believers this is an important part of your spiritual diet.
 
 As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).

1 JOHN 4:16

Have you ever heard or perhaps even uttered those words if God really loves  then  why' ' ''s happen to me?
Please keep in mind sin entered into the world. and mankind has been free will. Consider this question,
"If my mother loves me, then why did this bad thing happen to me? If you are an adult not living under your mother's control, you will instantly see the folly of such a question. We don't believe our mother controls everything happening in the world. We understand that other people are making decisions. To determine whether our mother loves us, or not, we mainly consider what she has done for us. We should do the same in evaluating God.  The Father has already demonstrates His loves for us by giving His only begotten son to pay the price for our sins, Jesus suffered  for us even though Jesus was not guilty of any sins, He died for us while we yet God's enemies that was love for us, granting us grace and mercy when justice demanded that we should die for our sins, but Jesus oh no!!! I will pay the price for them.  Another example of what the comments of questioning if God loves you would be, Would a soldier on the battlefield ever say "If my parents love me why am I being shot at?" No! The soldier realizes it is an enemy trying to kill him. So it is with us. The devil is the one who is shooting at us, trying to kill, steal, and destroy. Everything good we enjoy in life is because of God. The devil, and people motivated by the devil's ideas, have messed up a lot
of things. But God has never done us evil. God is not to blame! Some teach that God controls every decision made by every person. But anyone who stops to think about what they can do should realize it is not true. To illustrate, right now you could choose to rob someone, or even kill someone. You have the
freedom to do that. And if you did, it would not be God's fault, it would be your fault. Understanding this, you should be able to see that, just because some bad thing happens in your life, does not offer any
real evidence that God does not love you. Scripture does not teach that God controls every decision
people make. But it does teach that God will eventually make everything right. So don't make the mistake of judging prematurely.




 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 John 4:16).