Feeling a Bit Radical This Morning...

I'm wondering who among us has actually read the blessings and curses for obeying God's commandments found in Deuteronomy 28?

I was reading them this morning and thought how absolutely horrifying the curses are...

25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies.

28 The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. 30 You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.

32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.

36 The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.

45 All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.

...and sadly, how familiar some of them are because of things going on in America right now.

It made me think about how far the body of Christ has drifted from the early church, before so many changes were made to suit the church's anti-Semitic agenda.

I believe we need to quit hanging onto man-made denominational doctrines and traditions and return to biblical truth. I say "return" loosely because I don't believe the current generation was ever there to begin with.

God didn't do away with the Laws that He expected us to obey, and Jesus himself is clear about this in Matthew 5:17-20: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. As much as we'd like to think it, He hasn't changed.


Yes, we are saved only by belief in Jesus and His selfless work on the cross, but that grace his death provided doesn't release us from our obligation to obedience, and there are very real consequences for our disobedience, as Deuteronomy 28 points out.

For generations, we have pretty much embraced our own comfortable and familiar interpretations of what we should and should not obey in lieu of what Scripture actually says - because that's what we were taught to do and we wouldn't think of questioning it. That would be heresy!

It's no surprise to me at all the things happening to us now as a nation, given our apathy and blatant disobedience. We may say we love God, but do we love Him enough to find out what He has to say about our beloved traditions and doctrines? And do we love Him enough to abandon those beloved traditions and doctrines when we find they are wrong?

Don't take someone else's word for it (not even mine) and risk one day hearing "depart from me, I never knew you." Read the Bible and find out for yourself what's in there. It's good stuff.

Blessings,

A Prayer for Restoration

I'll admit it. I want a better marriage. What woman doesn't?

How easy it is for us, when things go wrong, to pray for God to "fix" our men. That He will help them to see the error of their ways. That He would restore our marriage and change them.

While changing the male heart in a marriage may be a part of the over-all equation, I submit that, for the believing wife who desires a better relationship with her beloved, change should first take place within her own heart.

That's a hard truth to swallow for me. But when I really examine what the Word says about how women should live with their husbands, I can't deny the truth. It's my responsibility as a wife to stay with my husband, to love him, and respect him, whether or not I feel he deserves it. If there are problems, I need to take them to God and ask Him to intervene.

But the change I seek begins with me. After all, the Bible says to first remove the plank from your own eye before trying to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:5). When my thoughts become skewed with selfishness and pride, I have to take a few steps back and go to the Word for a reminder of how God wants things done.

That's where I am right now...tossing aside my pride and ready to say yes to whatever my Savior leads me to do.

I'm praying this prayer for restoration in my marriage:

Father, thank you for my husband; for his hard work in providing for our family; for the love he has for me; for the special bond that we have; for his long-suffering throughout the years of trials we've experienced; for all the goodness he brings to my life. I lift up our marriage to you for restoration to what you intended it to be.

I pray that you will change me. I relinquish to you my pride and unforgiveness, and ask that you cleanse me of all unrighteousness. Search me, O' Lord, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Forgive me, Father, for the times when I've allowed pride to hinder my submission, honor, and love to my husband.

You love him more than I do, and I pray that, by the power of your Holy Spirit, you will help me to love him as you do. Help me to see him through your eyes. Help me to honor him and submit to him in everything, as the head of our household, just as your church submits to you. Please give me right words and actions so that in places where he needs to grow, he may be won over by my respectful and pure behavior. Infuse me, Lord, with good character and a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great value in your sight. Help me to be dignified, not slanderous; sober-minded and faithful in all things. Make me into a trustworthy wife so that his heart can trust me in all things. Whenever I open my mouth to speak to him, help me to speak with wisdom and kindness. Help me to do him good and not harm for all the days of my life. Search my heart, Lord, and purge it of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, and every form of malice. Help me to be kind and compassionate to him, forgiving him, just as in Christ you have forgiven me.

Bring us into alignment with your will for our family. Help us to operate as one mind and feeling, united by your Spirit, loving as brothers, being compassionate and humble-minded in dealing with one another. Let us bless and not curse one another. Soften our hearts toward one another. Let us build one another up, not tear each other down. Help us not to repay insult for insult, but rather, with blessing. For it is this that we have been called.

I ask this in Jesus' Holy Name. Amen.


Blessings,