LEARN TO GROW SPIRITUALLY IN HIM IN SPITE OF OTHERS

DEVOTION

Jeremiah 15:10.

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

Some people call Jeremiah crying baby, I guess it is the lack of understanding what it means to be truly called by God. While He is training you there is also a call in your soul to leave the self behind. You do not leave the self behind without humiliation to your soul and the pain of standing alone. You also have to learn to wait for God on God and in God. There is desolation in the soul that is felt on the outside.

When He is having His way with your soul in order to use you as an empty vessel, you will groan under the heavy burden of carrying His Word out there so other people might be revived. You groan for the spiritual blindness of the people around you, in the Church and in the world. Even though you experience Him up close and personal but the time span He talks to you is so far in between. We have examples in the Bible, people like David we can see that at times, in his psalms, he was going on with no spiritual strength at all. The same situation with Paul, God had to send His angels on three occasions to comfort him. Therefore, it is hard to hang onto what you know for sure is His faithfulness to you, His love and grace that has been innumerable while the sorrow of your mind being tried, your heart being pierced, and you are trying to avoid Satan’s fiery darts all at the same time.

When you think about how young Jeremiah was, his lack of experience and the weight of his mission on his shoulders, it makes sense that he had a hard time. Through the process, while God was using Him to help and warn his people, He also refined this young man. The hatred Jeremiah had to endure from his people, the persecution, trials and hardships; all would take its toll on a weary soul. I have no doubt that at times, Jeremiah wished he could convince his people that he was telling the truth and he would have killed two birds with the same stone. First they would change their ways and they would stop hating him for disturbing their comfort zone. But, such is this life. When you are walking close with God, you have to come to a point where you know that you know what you know and that is sufficient to continue in spite of how other people feel about you. Whether you are able to convince others so they would join you in walking in the light is not the priority. Nor being vindicated in this life. You have to know for yourself that God already knew the outcome and using you in this manner serve a purpose that is higher that what you can comprehend.

While Jeremiah was feeling overwhelmed by what his ministry had brought his way, God kept applying pressure on Jeremiah and his people. God cares how we answer to Him when we get overwhelmed by our burden. The challenge for us is to remain in the Spirit so we do not have to be crushed in our soul because in our weakness, He is strong. So we learn to depend on Him for our need moment by moment.

PRAY

My God and my Savior, teach us to always find our strength in you and leave behind the need to please others and be accepted by them. You Yourself was misunderstood, rejected, ridiculed, tortured and killed. All of it was for our own good. So teach us to learn to live in this world and make it solely about you like You did with Your Father.

In His Love & Service, 
M. J 

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LEARNING TO DEAL WITH YOUR NOMINAL CHRISTIAN SPOUSE

When you are married to a nominal Christian, you have a duty to honour your marriage. Finding out he/she is nominal Christian does not mean you run away or becoming like him/her. It just means you have a bigger challenge than you bargain for and trust that God will with no doubt use this marriage to make you Holy. Take heart, it will be hard. There is no time for pity party of feed your ego. You are not going to reach your spouse or live the life God has in mind for you if you do not commit wholeheartedly and let Him walk you through it. One thing you will notice for sure is that nominal Christian tends to be miserable people because all they have is a little bit of religion. They tend to get frustrated, because nothing is working their ways and Satanic activities in their lives caused them not to have rest, so they are not at peace. Imagine someone like that bringing his life into yours? So, if you do not make the choice to walk in the Spirit, you are in for the ride of your life and by the time you get off this ride, you might find yourself way too far to come back.

One of the biggest mistake we make when we have a nominal spouse, a lot of us have a hard time accepting the fact. So we close our eyes and prefer to believe to some extend that our spouse is actually Christian. Satan loves this kind of attitude because where there is lack of discernment and wisdom it makes his job easier. The nominal spouse’s goal will always be to bring the other spouse to his level. If you are a man in this kind of relationship, giving the lead to your wife is a monumental mistake and I would not like to be in your shoes when you meet with God. You have to know as well, because your wife is not really a Christian, if you already have a strong willed woman in your hands, you taking the lead will no doubt, makes this relationship much harder. Yes, she will react violently, but aren’t you more afraid of God’s reaction in the way you respond to Him? If your thinking is not along that line, then your priorities are screwed up. Chose wisely and be prepared in your mind and heart that she will use everything in her power to get back at you which means you might suffer as she withhold sex, and the household care will suffer to some extend which also means your load will be heavier. Remember, you are dealing with a non Christian, hence the reaction. Your job as the leader of the house is to lead according to God’s leading. Get into the habit of not making decisions without talking to God, even the smallest ones. Daily find time to quiet your heart, to hear Him, even if it means using your lunch hour at work. Understand in your situation nothing is as innocent as it might look because Satan will disguise himself and get right in your day to day family’s activities. Set your eyes on Him at any cost and He will get you there. The rage and the retaliation that your spouse is feeling will have to subside at one point. God will be there in the midst of it all to sustain you if indeed you have chosen Him. The goal here is to make the marriage the best that it can be without leaving the path that God has for you. Don’t get yourself involved in too many things. You might think that getting involved with Church activities is a way of honouring God, but if your marriage is in danger especially if you have small kids, you need to concentrate and revise your priorities with God so that you can have more time to invest into being a spiritual leader for your wife and children.

Take time to acknowledge the pain she is experiencing, and make yourself available to her but never forget your role as a minister to her instead of trying to be a people pleaser. Making family time for devotion is your role to implement in your household. You need that more than any other households. Make no mistake she will fight you and even when you implement it, she will sabotage it intentionally. Don’t give up, keep the appointed time for devotion on your own and make sure she knows she is welcome to join you anytime. Not only Satan will be behind her actions but she has learned to live without God’s Word in her life because she does not like anything that is too heavenly minded. Then, you will notice your nominal Christian’s spouse care much more about personal opinions that comes from nominal or liberal Christians rather than the Word of God. So, the devotion time should be with the Bible. Never mind other devotion books. What your spouse is allergic to is actually the Word of God. Make time to decipher His Word one verse at the time, hear her out, find out what the verse means in her life and how it can be applied to your marriage and your walk together with God. This will allow you to minister to her on a daily basis.

It is extremely important that you go to God and let off steam if need be so that your spouse do not get the brunt of it. But, like David once you let off steam, you go right back to God almost in the same breath acknowledging your need for Him and the willingness to be a man after His heart. Step up in your role. Being with someone who does not challenge you spiritually can be annoying and somewhat isolating. Have a few spiritually mature Christian’s friends that you can count on. While your maturity might not be there yet, cultivate a close with Him and you will be rewarded.

The suggestions that I made, do not mean for you to act superior, but know for certain you are not in an equally yoke relationship. While the Bible clearly teaches us how to lead but there is an assumption that we are equally yoked. So, staying connected to the Holy Spirit at all times will be the only thing to counteract the satanic activities around your wife. As you stay close, you will find that He will constantly teach you the best course of action moment by moment.

The moral of the story is that this marriage will be your own little wilderness that God will lead you to maturity and holiness through brokenness. That is if you respond according to His promptings and desires for your life. I know from personal experience an unequally yoke relationship demands that we are alert when the other one is talking to us. We should never take it for granted that they mean well. This does not mean you spend more time looking for Satan at every corner, but it certainly means that you put your life, the whole thing with no reservation in the Holy Spirit’s hand to cover you. After few years of pain and suffering, you will realize in the midst of it all, God will bring you to a place of peace and rest in Him.

In His Love & Service, 

M. J. Andre

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The book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah’s book is read like his own biography.  He was Born a priest, Chosen by God to be a prophet before his birth, he was called while young and commissioned by God. The message God had chosen Him to deliver was harsh, gloomy, judgmental, and brutal to hear. As such he was not accepted by his people because they did not want to hear what he had to say. Kind of like us Christians today if the message is not about what we want to hear or somewhat implies that we have to leave our comfort zone, we are ready to throw rocks at the messenger.

Jeremiah was a rejected prophet and the loneliness of his life, and the hatred he was subject to, broke his heart. More than that, Jeremiah was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief because he knew the judgment that was coming upon these people while watching them helplessly throwing away God’s mercy. All his warnings to heed to God and to return from their backsliding were useless. Everywhere you read about Jeremiah, they always talk about his feelings because he had the tender heart of a woman. The truth is, the people needed that kind of message because they had strayed so far away from God, they were degenerated, corrupted, living with harden hearts and nothing was getting through.

From his book, we see that God cares only about total obedience. He is not willing to compromise and although He loves us, He has no problem passing those harsh sentences on us. Today, Christ is also calling us back to Him as well. Would you come back to Him?

Prayer: My dear Lord, I pray that you would revive my heart and keep me always in a constant state of awe in your presence.

M. J. André