Hedging Our Family

A close ex-worker's marriage is on the rock. Husband came from a dysfunctional family and having an affair with his female boss, but refuse to divorce. The couple lives separate lives under one roof for the sake of the kids. However, the kids are watching confrontations of their parents every other days..

It seems too commonly acceptable that couples quarrel in homes. Long working hours and tiring bodies stretch the emotional distance and intimacy. Desire for loving words may end up in verbal or physical fights. The same generation curse is passing from generation to generation.

Our compromising attitude and roots of sin direct our destiny in life. Only God's truth will light up the darkness of our hearts and correct out paths. Without presence of love, Satan's sinful business thrives.

1 Cor 13 teaches much on the subject of love. Love conquers all tough issues in life and bonds all family members in unity. Fortify the fence of our families with greater measure of love and seek wisdom (James 1:5) as He is the strength (Neh 8:10) and joy in our lives.

Ask

Re-post from aDevotion.org on 12 Nov

MATTHEW 7:7-8 NIV
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to
him who knocks, the door will be opened.

In Matthew 15:22-28 a woman came to Jesus making a request of
Him. Jesus' answer was basically that she was asking for
something that did not belong to her, because she did not have
a covenant with God.

Yet she asked -- and received! She didn't just beg. She
worshiped Jesus and appealed for mercy. She didn't claim she
deserved the answer -- but she did ask.

This is one of the secrets of life. Ask! It works with God and
it works in our relationships with people, too.

Ask questions. And ask for help.

Pride can prevent us from asking. Pride tells. Humility asks.

In marriage many people are unhappy. Yet they don't clearly
communicate to their spouse what it is they would like. Don't
nag! But respectfully and lovingly ask for what you desire.

Make your requests known. People can't read your mind. (God
knows our thoughts, but still tells us to ask Him for what we
need or desire.)

PHILIPPIANS 4:6 NKJ
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made
known to God;

Many people stumble through life disappointed that God has not
given them more. One reason may be because God is waiting for
them to have enough faith to ask Him for His help.

I don't mean we should act like a beggar. But be bold in asking
for what you need or desire.

We may hold back from asking because we think we don't deserve
good things. Probably true! But Jesus deserves good and He died
so we could receive what He deserves. Jesus took what we
deserved so we could have better.

MATTHEW 21:22 NIV
22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in
prayer."

JOHN 16:24 NIV
24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask
and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

JAMES 4:2 NLT
2 You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get
it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it,
so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you
don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.

Jesus said to ask. Actually, it is a command. Ask!

SAY THIS: I will obey God's Word and ask.

Too Much of Good Thing - Neil Anderson

Most of us won't often be tempted to commit obvious sins such as armed robbery, murder, or rape.

Satan is too clever and subtle for that. He knows that we will recognize the flagrant wrong in such temptations and refuse to act on them. Instead, his tactic is to entice us to push something good beyond the boundary of the will of God until it becomes sin. He treats us like the proverbial frog in the pot of water: gradually turning up the heat of temptation, hoping we don't notice that we are approaching the boundary of God's will and jump out before something good becomes sin.

 

1 Cor 6:12  All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.  Paul saw nothing but green lights in every direction of the Christian life. Everything is good and lawful for us because we are free from sin and no longer under the condemnation of the law. But he also knew that if we irresponsibly floorboard our lives in any of these good and lawful directions we will eventually run the red light of God's will, and that's sin.

 

So reflect on the following that can take the good things that God created beyond the boundary of God's will :

1.  physical rest becomes laziness

2.  quietness becomes noncommunication

3.  ability to profit becomes avarice and greed

4.  enjoyment of life becomes intemperence

5.  physical pleasure becomes sensuality

6.  interest in the possessions of others becomes covetousness

7.  enjoyment of food becomes gluttony

8.  self-care becomes selfishness

9.  self-respect becomes conceit

10 communication becomes gossip

11 cautiousness becomes unbelief

12 positiveness becomes insensitivity

13 anger becomes rage and bad temper

14 lovingkindness becomes overprotection

15 judgement becomes criticism

16 same-sex friendship becomes homosexuality

17 sexual freedom becomes immorality

18 conscientiousness becomes perfectionism

19 generosity becomes wastefulness

20 self-protection becomes dishonesty

21 carefulness becomes fear

 

 

Recipe of Breakthroughs in Life

Follow the Leader (John 10:1-18)
Jesus is the ultimate leader in every successful project/business. He leads and protects the sheep. Thus opportunities lead us into success and not be driven to failure and strife.

Prepare the Good Soil (Gen 26:1-29)
* Establish altar within us and strong foundation within our family - what values have we planted in our wife and kids' lives?
* Dig the wells and/or Un-block the wells enemy stopped the living water Jesus promised (John 4:13) - the well of the living water in our hearts today is full of deceits and wrong values deposited by the enemy.
* Prophesy God's favors over everything in our lives - we reap what we sow.

Release the Project/Business into Jesus's Hand (Luke 5:1-11)
* Put kingdom priority & principle at work - Jesus' preaching followed by Peter's big catch. Our secular work or business is a mean to support our own kingdom work.
* The good shepherd will bless the project/business for greater purposes of seeds.

Sowing the Seeds and Reap Hundredfold (Matthew 13:1-9)
Maximum returns come from good soil under good care through hard labour and good supply of living water. Are we the spiritual farmer standing on the land and hoping God does all the farming jobs, or we first do all the necessary tasks as any good farmers and decree success?

Be blessed.

Evergreen Leaves and Evergreen Lives

Chanced upon the basic principal of kingdom truth through the simple teaching on "leaves":

Jer 17:7-8
".. blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Psa 1:3
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Ezk 47:12
".. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.."

Be blessed.