THOUGHT FOR TODAY : DON'T MAKE PLANS WITHOUT GOD

 “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).

Don’t plan without God.

God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account.

• We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him—that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives.
• Listen folks the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning. 
• In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don’t Plan With A Concern For Evil In Mind.

Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love … thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4–5).

•  Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning.
• When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don’t Plan With A Rainy Day In Mind.

You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Let me say it again! Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled (is said by Christ immediately after predicting Peter’s shameful denial) you believe in God, believe also in Me (means simply to have Faith in Him as they had Faith in God; this is His Highest and most complete Revelation of Himself as God)” (John 14:1). (Scripture Blue & (Comments in Red)

• God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command—“Let not … .”
• To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

RELATIONSHIP ON THE ROCKS - NEED COUNSEL (Let Jesus Help)

The Bond of Love

[Ephesians 52:21-33]

(See Scriptures Below)

Introduction

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Paul is pleading for unity: in the church, home, with children, with servants and masters. Submit is a hard word, but it melts all tensions. True love must forget self and seek the best for the one you love.

Bond of Love for the Church

Christ is the head of the church, His body. He is the savior of the church. The church is subject to Christ. He sacrificed to make the church holy, without stain or blemish. She should be blameless. “Washing of water through the word.” A bride was ceremonially bathed before the wedding. This probably refers to the cleansing of baptism. All of us who comprise the church have been washed.

Husband and Wife

Husband is to love his wife like Christ loved the church. Therefore, he makes her look good (his queen). He protects her and his whole family. He works to make his wife and home radiant, meaning no blemish. Why? If the man does his part, then the wife can submit. The house does not have two heads (Read Genesis). You see, the idea of male and female was God’s idea (Genesis 1:27). Marriage was designed by God to meet the first problem of the human race: loneliness, therefore a Helpmate, helper was part of the design. The same word used of God in Psalm 46:1: “A very present help in trouble.”

Marriage was planned to bring happiness, not misery. Adam said: “I have finally found the one who can complete me, who takes away my loneliness, and will be as dear to me as my own flesh. She is so beautiful! She is perfectly suited to me. She is all I will ever need” (Genesis 2:23).

Marriage is leaving other relationships to establish a permanent relationship between man and woman. Leave father and mother. Honor and love them, but leave them. Both husband and wife must refocus their lives together, and nothing takes precedence over marriage relationship—not career, advanced education, hunting, golfing, televised sports, over-involvement in church, children, especially a wondering eye (lust) for someone else by either party.

Cleave. The inseparable joining of husband and wife. In other words to adhere, to stick, to be attached by some strong tie (how about Jesus). You cannot be separated without damage to both husband and wife in an intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual way. Such is the case with many who separate (sometimes for so called good intentions - but always for wrong reasons) and ultimately ending in divorce because of SIN issues. 

Oneness. The two shall become one flesh, which means: No adultery or other person receiving your affections. To divide or let someone come between the two is to fracture the two.

Conclusion

In Christian marriage there are not two partners, but three. The third being the Living Son of God - Jesus Christ Jesus.

CLOSING COMMENT FORM THIS EVANGELIST: There are some of you out there (you know who you are) struggling with these very issues. Listen to me closely, because I speak to you having experience with this personally: Question: Do you want to heal your marriage? “The answer which you seek is found in the Cross!  The solution which you seek is found only in the Cross!”  The Word of God in Romans 6 tells us that the only remedy for sin, the only solution for sin, the only answer to sin, is the Cross of Christ, which becomes the object of our faith because of the finished work of Jesus there.  In other words, the Holy Spirit through Paul takes the Believer straight to the Cross.  Remember, Paul is not speaking here to unbelievers, but rather to Believers.  As we attempt to live for God, and I mean live for God properly, this tells us that we must ever understand that it is the Cross of Christ where we must begin, and where we must end.  There is nothing after the Cross of Christ, because there needs to be nothing after the Cross of Christ. Jesus paid our penalty and sin debt at the cross.

I speak blessings and healing in relationships in Jesus name.  Amen!   

Ephesians 5:21-33

21)       Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

22)       Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the

   Lord.

23)       For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the

   head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24)       Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the

   wives be to their own husbands in everything. 

25)       Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the

   church, and gave himself for it; 

26)       That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water

   by the word, 

27)       That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having

   spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and

   without blemish.

28)       So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that

   loves his wife loves himself.

29)       For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourish and cherish

   it, even as the Lord the church: 

30)       For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

31)       For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall

   be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 

32)       This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the

   church. 

33)       Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even
           as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

FEED YOUR SOUL AND RENEW YOUR MIND

Submitting to God’s Purpose

Part A ”To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak”  But I want to focus mainly on Part B of this verse “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Note: This refers to Paul not availing himself of some of his Christian Liberties simply because of the possibility of causing weak Christians to stumble.

Please understand: A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things.  One should never protest by saying, “If only I were somebody else (had their gifts, talents, skills their charisma, etc) or somewhere else (another city, church etc)!”  All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them.

Let me refer to scripture below:  First however understand that, Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing.

Therefore, we must continually confront ourselves with these central facts—“… Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2 Scripture Red & Comments in Green): “For I determined not to know anything among you (Meaning – with purpose and design, Paul did not resort to the knowledge or philosophy of the world regarding the Preaching of the Gospel) save Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified” (Meaning – that and that alone is the Message which will save the sinner, set the captive free, and give the Believer perpetual victory).
“I chose you …” (John 15:16 Scripture Red & Comments in Green): “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you (Meaning It is not really that we find the Lord; the truth is, He finds us) and ordained you (has chosen us for a purpose) that you should go and bring forth fruit (as stated, we can only do this by ever looking to the Cross [Gal. 6:14]) and that your fruit should remain (as our Faith remains in the Cross, the fruit will remain): that  whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My Name (You really know what it Ask in My Name means? It means – using His name always refers to the victory He won at the Cross) he may give it you.”

Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. Why? He is doing it for only one purpose—that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.

Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside … to the right or the left …” (Deuteronomy 28:14). And what exactly does this mean? Let’s look at the entire scripture (Scripture Red & Comments in Green): “And you shall not go aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (Israel was to faithfully obey the Law, as well, Believers under the New Covenant can claim the same Promises, in fact, much more easily than Israel of old, because of Christ and the Cross; as wonderful as this is which the Lord promises Israel, He now promises even more under the New Covenant, which Paul referred to as a “Better Covenant” [Heb. 8:6]

Close: He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way to fulfill the destiny for which He has called you. The reason is now - The season is now - The time is now in a world that desperately needs Jesus.