Christ Jesus Came To Demons Rule!

Reconciling Relationships And Making Peace When You Thought It Was Impossible

Do you think your marriage (or any other relationship) is over and has no hope of being put back together? Are you ready to give up and walk away? God is the God of the impossible!

Luke 1:37: For nothing will be impossible with God.

I love Ken Sande's book, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide To Resolving Personal Conflict. One of the reasons I love this book is for all the amazing stories of how God raises relationships up from the dead and does what people thought was impossible by causing reconciliation and peace to happen in relationships where it seemed impossible. This is one of my favorite "impossible reconciliation" stories from his book:

Dear Friend,

If you are in counseling, maybe you are feeling as I did. You're saying you want to improve your marriage, but what you really want deep inside is to get out. You can't take the way you are living anymore, and you wish your husband would just disappear, leaving behind lots of cash.

The day I first called about Christian conciliation [counseling], I was ready to take thirty painkillers if I'd had them. I was full of anger, resentment, and hatred for what my life had become. I had reached the point where I couldn't even talk to my husband. I'm not talking about serious conversations - I couldn't even answer a simple question with a yes or no. When he entered the room, I left. When he touched me, I cringed. I felt trapped, and I would drive by apartment complexes with the idea of finding a place where the kids and I could run away and live.

This had gone on for so long that I didn't see how it could ever change. Talking to Ken was going to be my last effort to change things, but I really felt that the marriage was hopeless, and I told my husband that I wanted out.

After talking with Ken, I prayed and prayed about the biblical principles he had explained to me. I was deeply concerned about my future. I began to see that God is sovereign, and I realized my marriage was not an "accident." I also saw that I had no right to leave my husband. On a retreat God showed me through Scripture (Deut. 30:11-20; please read it) that really committing myself to my marriage was God's way. He set before me a choice - his way or my way. If I chose my own way, I was on my own.

I decided to trust God and go his way. I agreed to go with my husband to a Christian counselor. It was very hard at times. Sometimes I couldn't even talk, but we went for a few months, and things started to get better.

We were "getting along," yet I was deeply bothered by the fact that I felt no love for my husband. I no longer felt anger or hatred toward him, but there was no warmth either. Although our relationship had improved, I knew marriage had to be much more than just "getting along."

I didn't believe God had brought us through so much to leave us in a relationship that was so empty. I wanted to continue to trust the Lord and to depend on him for hope. When I looked up "hope" in my Bible concordance, I found this verse: "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us" (Rom. 5:5). To me this verse meant that by hoping in God for my future I would not be disappointed. He would give me love for my husband. I could depend on him. I was following his way, and therefore I could trust in him to meet my needs.

And do you know what? Something absolutely amazing happened. I'm in love with my husband. I enjoy being with him. I appreciate his sense of humor. I depend on him as a friend. He's my favorite lunch date, and I find myself wanting to give him a hug and a kiss while he's watching television.

The Lord has turned around my feelings. I thank him almost every day that he didn't let me go my own way. I would have thrown away so much and never realized how God can work . . . The change in our family is truly a miracle! (Pages 70-71)

To know more about how you can have peace with God, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone.

You can see the full documentary here with a free trial.

The Seven Names Of My Seven Future Daughters

 

Names are important to God. He renames several significant people in the Bible (Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, and Peter). Each time God changed a name, He did it with intentionality and purpose.

I also plan to be very intentional and purposeful if God ever grants me the opportunity to name someone. If God wills and opens the womb and my wife (if I ever find one) agrees, these will be the seven names of my future daughters:

1. Jael: What a bold, blessed, battle-ready woman of God! 

Judges 5:24-27: Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed. He asked water and she gave him milk; she brought him curds in a noble's bowl. She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen's mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell - dead. 

In the best article I've ever read on both Deborah and Jael (pages 19-36 in this journal article), Barbara Mouser writes about Jael:

The phrase most blessed of women brings to mind Mary, the mother of Christ, though it seems hard to imagine two women more different than Jael and Mary. There is a difference of magnitude. Jael is the most blessed of tent-dwelling women. She is here honored as the greatest bedouin woman to ever live. Mary, on the other hand, is the greatest woman of all generations. However, Jael and Mary share a similarity that is the foundation of their greatness. Both are on the Lord’s side, utterly committed to him. Both love him first with heart, mind, and soul. Both are willing to do whatever he needs or wants done — be it slaying a wicked general or bringing the Son of God into the world, they are both the "handmaids of the Lord." (Page 30)

2. Phoenicia: My favorite woman in the whole Bible is probably this woman who is the Syrophoenician woman who kept pursuing help from Jesus, even though He gave her every reason to turn away from Him. But she kept coming and coming and coming! She was so humble! And God loves the humble! I want to be like her!

Mark 7:26-30: Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. 

3. Anastasia: This name comes from the Greek word that means "Resurrection." You can't be reminded of this enough! What a blessing it would be to have a little girl named "Resurrection" running around all over the place, reminding you and everyone else of our past, present, and future hope, all because of Jesus, Who is the Resurrection and the Life!

John 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 

4. Alethea: This name comes from the Greek word that means "Truth." We all desperately need the truth - God's truth, and His name is Jesus!

John 14:6: Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

5. Talitha (pronounced with a long e sound - like Taleetha): This name comes from the Aramaic word that means "Girl" or "Little Girl." Jesus used this word when He raised a little girl from the dead. Oh what power Jesus has! There is no one like Jesus!

Mark 5:38-43: They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha cumi," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. 

6. Arielle: This name comes from the Hebrew words that mean "Lion of God." I love lions and what they stand for and represent in the Bible! Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! ("Lion" would actually be a great boy's name!) Jesus is King of kings and LORD of lords!

Revelation 5:5: And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

Proverbs 28:1: The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

7. Mercy: Though last in order, this is my favorite name by far! I (and we all) so desperately need the mercy of God, Who has the greatest Mercy-Heart! Thankfully, we have His mercy through the Person and work of the LORD Jesus Christ Who is the God-Man Who died on that cross for sinners (The Mercy Tree!), bearing the anger, wrath, and curse of God, and then rose up from the dead, conquering sin, death, and hell so that all who repent and believe in Him might be saved! Now He rules and reigns from heaven for our good! I need this mercy most of all. If I could only choose one name, it would be Mercy. May God remind us always and often of our great need for His mercy.

Psalm 147:11: The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.

Jonah 4:2: I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. 

I really love those names and what they represent! May we choose names that remind us, in different ways, of the Man Who has the Name above all names: the LORD Jesus Christ!

To learn more about the great King Jesus and His glorious Gospel message and mercy, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.

Christ Jesus Is The Man Of Prayer!

 

Christ Jesus Is The Greatest Sign!

On Jesus Calming The Storm

My Prayer For The Supreme Court Justices

Oh Father, as the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States meet to deliberate over whether or not to overturn Roe vs. Wade, we pray that You would grant every one of them repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that they all would be born again. We pray that they would truly fear You and know that they will give an account to You as the Supreme Court of all supreme courts and as the Judge of of all the judges of the earth. We pray that You would convince them of Your truth and Word that teaches that every child in the womb is a child and human being made in Your image, and that they would vote to protect the rights of every child in the womb. We pray that You would show them that abortion is murder - and should be outlawed. We pray that they would repent of the past wicked decisions of the court that have caused so much murder and death by abortion. We pray that the Justices who already stand for the lives of the unborn would have wisdom as they speak to persuade others on the court to stand for life. And we pray for a unanimous and miraculous 9-0 decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade that would send shock waves around the world and lead to world wide repentance in this area. May it lead to the abolishing of abortion around the world and the revival of the fear of You and Your Word! You are God in heaven! Nothing shall be impossible for You! You can do this! Please do this! And may what is unthinkable to You become unthinkable to everyone! For Jesus' sake! And for Your glory! Amen!