Thursday SHINE....
Today's Reading: 2 Samuel 12
Happy Thursday, SHINE girls!
So, are you girls shocked at the extent that David went to in covering up his sins? I mean, not only did he sleep with Uriah's wife, but he then had Uriah killed!
Oh boy, talk about covering your tracks. Or at least he thought he was. You will find out in today's reading that God saw it all, and David will certainly be punished for it all. And then some.
Here's what I'm learning:
When I act out of disobedience and sin, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will step into more sin and more disobedience. It's a given.
My momma always told me when I was growing up that if I was faithful in small things, then God would put me in charge of big things to be faithful over. There's a scripture that goes with this:
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." Luke 16:10
So, today I am applying this to my marriage. Remember that little act of disobedience with my credit card I told you all about on Monday? Ok, seemingly not a big deal, right?
It is to God. Disobedience is disobedience. Period.
Like it or not, God has put a hierarchy of order over us girls. It's true.
If you are married, the Lord comes first and then your husband. If I am disobeying my husband in any way, I am also disobeying the Lord.
How can this be, you ask? It just is.
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord.
"And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." Isaiah 55:8
As I was mopping my floors yesterday, God spoke to me. Remember, He always speaks to me when I am mopping. (note to self: i should mop more)
He was giving me the message of this post today, and I was kind of arguing with Him. You see my personality is one that wants to encourage and sweeten things. I don't like getting in people's faces. So, this is what the Lord told me, "Tell them I made you say it. It's from ME, not from you anyway, Jill."
Alrighty then.
Let me just be real straight with you for a minute. I have had to learn this the hard, hard, extra hard way. Lem and I have had some major ups and downs in our marriage. And, guess what...it was MOSTLY due to my disobedience.
Not only would I hide shopping bags in my trunk, (yes, i did that), I would bad-talk him to my friends. I would poor-pitiful-me about how hard he was on me. How he was just so mean and selfish. Whaaa, whaa, whaa.
Girls, God finally dropped a big fat brick on my head and told me I WAS THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM!!
My lack of self-control, and selfish ways were the problem, not Lem. (he's not perfect either, don't get me wrong--but we are talking about me right now.)
Girls, we get into big trouble when we step out from under our tents of covering. Our tents being our husbands and the Lord.
Okay, stop right here. You may not be married, you may be divorced, widowed, never married, or never wanna-be married...this still applies to YOU. Our hierarchy always involves a HIGHER...which is God! You just don't have a middle-man, yet. Or, if you are still living at home or in college, your hierarchy includes your momma and daddy. This applies to all of us, sweet girls.
Here's what I used to pray: "Lord, help me to be the best momma in the world! Help me to serve you, Lord and serve others with all my heart! Help me to raise godly and respectful children! Oh, and please change Lem too. He needs changing, BAD!"
I NEVER, EVER prayed to be a better wife! I would pray for Lem to change, and that's it!
Girls, we have to look in the mirror. See that pretty face staring back at you? Uh-oh. Yes, she's the problem.
If we are doing what God has called us to do in marriage, our lives will change for the better. Our husbands will change, for the better. And hear this one, little momma's: OUR CHILDREN WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.
It's just how God works! He honors obedience. Pure and simple.
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice..." 1 Samuel 15:22
Maybe your husband is a jerk, maybe he is not saved, maybe he is unloving, maybe he is unkind, maybe he's just plain lazy. Now instead of focusing on what he isn't...think instead of what he IS.
Have you ever noticed that even animals take good care of their young? They protect them, they nurture them, they love them. It's kind of a natural instinct, wouldn't you say?
Okay, so to be a good momma pretty much comes natural. We love the mess out of our kids. We just do. It's natural.
However, loving our men is a whole heck of a lot harder. Why?
Because it is not as natural! We didn't give birth to them...they came into our lives with all this junk and baggage. Yuck.
Look here though....this is the part that separates our spirit from our flesh: we must love them the most. (after the Lord, of course.)
It's a lot harder to love our husbands more than our kids, right? THIS is what God calls us to do, girls. It's a learned behavior. Are you getting this? We have to put this into practice!
If we want the very BEST for our children, (and we all do!), we must love our men...the most. We must set the example to our kids of what "dying to self", and "putting others first" looks like. The way God intended it to be.
Isn't this how we love Christ? Dying to ourself to live for Him? See the resemblance? We are teaching our kids about the Lord, when we love our husbands.
Here's the first thing I ask women who come to me with problems or something they are struggling with: "How's your marriage?"
If the marriage is off, everything else will be off. It's true.
I will end this post by telling you something that will prove to you just how important our marriages are in our Faith walk.
Last Fall, I lead an online Love Dare with some women. It was going so well for the first 5 days or so. I was soon hit extremely hard with some major spiritual attacks.
I fell into a depression, had nightmares, my heart was skipping beats, I was having full-on panic attacks everywhere I went.
Here I was leading this Love Dare, and I could barely get a hold of myself! What in the world kind of leader was I??
After being obedient to the Lord (against my flesh!) and sticking out the labor that went into these daily love dare emails to these precious women, it was finally over after 25 days.
As I was coming out of this season of spiritual attack, I suddenly saw crystal clear why I was being attacked. Working on the marriage is POWERFUL, spiritual, God-pleasing stuff!
Satan was on the attack...BIG time. HUGE! Satan knows where to get a foothold into our families, girls. It all starts with the marriage.
Once our marriage falls apart, the whole family goes with it.
Satan was NOT happy about me messing with the territory of marriage. He threw every fiery dart he could at me.
I'm happy to say though, that God caught every last one of them. I may have been tired, weary, and slap down and out...but I was never, ever harmed from Satan's schemes to thwart God's plans for me to lead that love dare.
Where are you today, girls? Are you where you need to be in your heart towards your hierarchy? If not, ask God to help you with this! He will, Ohhhh, He will!!
Let me ask you this too: Are you being a hindrance in a friend's marriage? Are you the ones your friends run to for pity parties and more bashing regarding their horrible husbands?
Or are you telling her to let God be her sounding board and encouraging her in support of her marriage.
No more husband bashing, girls. God is calling us to a higher place.
Married or not, we have a responsibility to each other in this marriage department thing. Your friends won't like it when you tell them to go to the Lord instead of calling you. God will like it though. He will bless you for it too, just watch and see.
heart in transformation,
jill
Happy Thursday, SHINE girls!
So, are you girls shocked at the extent that David went to in covering up his sins? I mean, not only did he sleep with Uriah's wife, but he then had Uriah killed!
Oh boy, talk about covering your tracks. Or at least he thought he was. You will find out in today's reading that God saw it all, and David will certainly be punished for it all. And then some.
Here's what I'm learning:
When I act out of disobedience and sin, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will step into more sin and more disobedience. It's a given.
My momma always told me when I was growing up that if I was faithful in small things, then God would put me in charge of big things to be faithful over. There's a scripture that goes with this:
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." Luke 16:10
So, today I am applying this to my marriage. Remember that little act of disobedience with my credit card I told you all about on Monday? Ok, seemingly not a big deal, right?
It is to God. Disobedience is disobedience. Period.
Like it or not, God has put a hierarchy of order over us girls. It's true.
If you are married, the Lord comes first and then your husband. If I am disobeying my husband in any way, I am also disobeying the Lord.
How can this be, you ask? It just is.
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord.
"And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." Isaiah 55:8
As I was mopping my floors yesterday, God spoke to me. Remember, He always speaks to me when I am mopping. (note to self: i should mop more)
He was giving me the message of this post today, and I was kind of arguing with Him. You see my personality is one that wants to encourage and sweeten things. I don't like getting in people's faces. So, this is what the Lord told me, "Tell them I made you say it. It's from ME, not from you anyway, Jill."
Alrighty then.
Let me just be real straight with you for a minute. I have had to learn this the hard, hard, extra hard way. Lem and I have had some major ups and downs in our marriage. And, guess what...it was MOSTLY due to my disobedience.
Not only would I hide shopping bags in my trunk, (yes, i did that), I would bad-talk him to my friends. I would poor-pitiful-me about how hard he was on me. How he was just so mean and selfish. Whaaa, whaa, whaa.
Girls, God finally dropped a big fat brick on my head and told me I WAS THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM!!
My lack of self-control, and selfish ways were the problem, not Lem. (he's not perfect either, don't get me wrong--but we are talking about me right now.)
Girls, we get into big trouble when we step out from under our tents of covering. Our tents being our husbands and the Lord.
Okay, stop right here. You may not be married, you may be divorced, widowed, never married, or never wanna-be married...this still applies to YOU. Our hierarchy always involves a HIGHER...which is God! You just don't have a middle-man, yet. Or, if you are still living at home or in college, your hierarchy includes your momma and daddy. This applies to all of us, sweet girls.
Here's what I used to pray: "Lord, help me to be the best momma in the world! Help me to serve you, Lord and serve others with all my heart! Help me to raise godly and respectful children! Oh, and please change Lem too. He needs changing, BAD!"
I NEVER, EVER prayed to be a better wife! I would pray for Lem to change, and that's it!
Girls, we have to look in the mirror. See that pretty face staring back at you? Uh-oh. Yes, she's the problem.
If we are doing what God has called us to do in marriage, our lives will change for the better. Our husbands will change, for the better. And hear this one, little momma's: OUR CHILDREN WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.
It's just how God works! He honors obedience. Pure and simple.
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice..." 1 Samuel 15:22
Maybe your husband is a jerk, maybe he is not saved, maybe he is unloving, maybe he is unkind, maybe he's just plain lazy. Now instead of focusing on what he isn't...think instead of what he IS.
- He IS your husband.
- He IS your authority.
- He IS the head of the home.
- Period.
Have you ever noticed that even animals take good care of their young? They protect them, they nurture them, they love them. It's kind of a natural instinct, wouldn't you say?
Okay, so to be a good momma pretty much comes natural. We love the mess out of our kids. We just do. It's natural.
However, loving our men is a whole heck of a lot harder. Why?
Because it is not as natural! We didn't give birth to them...they came into our lives with all this junk and baggage. Yuck.
Look here though....this is the part that separates our spirit from our flesh: we must love them the most. (after the Lord, of course.)
It's a lot harder to love our husbands more than our kids, right? THIS is what God calls us to do, girls. It's a learned behavior. Are you getting this? We have to put this into practice!
If we want the very BEST for our children, (and we all do!), we must love our men...the most. We must set the example to our kids of what "dying to self", and "putting others first" looks like. The way God intended it to be.
Isn't this how we love Christ? Dying to ourself to live for Him? See the resemblance? We are teaching our kids about the Lord, when we love our husbands.
Here's the first thing I ask women who come to me with problems or something they are struggling with: "How's your marriage?"
If the marriage is off, everything else will be off. It's true.
I will end this post by telling you something that will prove to you just how important our marriages are in our Faith walk.
Last Fall, I lead an online Love Dare with some women. It was going so well for the first 5 days or so. I was soon hit extremely hard with some major spiritual attacks.
I fell into a depression, had nightmares, my heart was skipping beats, I was having full-on panic attacks everywhere I went.
Here I was leading this Love Dare, and I could barely get a hold of myself! What in the world kind of leader was I??
After being obedient to the Lord (against my flesh!) and sticking out the labor that went into these daily love dare emails to these precious women, it was finally over after 25 days.
As I was coming out of this season of spiritual attack, I suddenly saw crystal clear why I was being attacked. Working on the marriage is POWERFUL, spiritual, God-pleasing stuff!
Satan was on the attack...BIG time. HUGE! Satan knows where to get a foothold into our families, girls. It all starts with the marriage.
Once our marriage falls apart, the whole family goes with it.
Satan was NOT happy about me messing with the territory of marriage. He threw every fiery dart he could at me.
I'm happy to say though, that God caught every last one of them. I may have been tired, weary, and slap down and out...but I was never, ever harmed from Satan's schemes to thwart God's plans for me to lead that love dare.
Where are you today, girls? Are you where you need to be in your heart towards your hierarchy? If not, ask God to help you with this! He will, Ohhhh, He will!!
Let me ask you this too: Are you being a hindrance in a friend's marriage? Are you the ones your friends run to for pity parties and more bashing regarding their horrible husbands?
Or are you telling her to let God be her sounding board and encouraging her in support of her marriage.
No more husband bashing, girls. God is calling us to a higher place.
Married or not, we have a responsibility to each other in this marriage department thing. Your friends won't like it when you tell them to go to the Lord instead of calling you. God will like it though. He will bless you for it too, just watch and see.
heart in transformation,
jill
