Category: Encouragement and Inspiration

After a friend said that Valentine’s Day was a complete disappointment for her, she is feeling defeated and sad. She doubts that God will ever bless her with a husband and wants to give up on this desire. She told me that she realizes her standards are very high and that she is very picky. She also admits to being judgmental, but said, “I just want the best, and I thought that God wanted me to have the best too. I don’t understand why I have to continue being single year after year!”

God answers prayers, and when we pray to Him for the great desires of our hearts, He also tells us what He requires of us. Many of us are in denial about this, but God and His blessing plan are not flawed. Everything that He does is perfect and according to His Will and purpose. In the Old Testament, God had given His people the extraordinary promise of having a land to call their own, and it wasn’t just any land, it was the best land, but with this promise, there was a condition—a requirement—that needed to be met. In Deuteronomy 30:16(ESV), through His servant, Moses, God told them, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.”

So, indeed my friend is correct, God wants us to have the best, and only He can give us the best, but we, as His sons and daughters, have a responsibility to know and live according to His truth. John 3:16(ESV) tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Our Heavenly Father gave us the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This is a treasure so enormous that it will take us an eternity to live it out.

God has already given us the best, and everything that you and I do in this life is a response to what He has done. Most people respond to this enormous treasure of the sacrifice of Christ by neglecting, ignoring, or downplaying its vast and rich wealth. Others deny its bounty and follow certain aspects of the example of Christ only to the extent that it serves their personal agendas. But a small minority will passionately cling to the example of Christ. A small minority of us will make it our priority to live, give, share, and love according to the bounty of what we have received through Christ.

In Romans 12:1-2(NLT), God tells us, “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God is lovingly appealing to us to give our whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength to Him as a living sacrifice; not a dead one full of darkness, destruction, and death, but a living sacrifice that is full of love, devotion, and passion for Him. He commands us not to be conformed to this world, which is full of selfishness, arrogance, and wickedness. Instead, we must change the way that we think so that our minds line up with the mind of Christ, and our lives will be pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

Many single women have gone on an expedition of finding and owning their self-worth. They’ve been of the mindset that they are a treasure and therefore deserve a treasure. The truth is that only God can define what a treasure is or isn’t, and He has established that the treasure in us is the Spirit of Christ who lives within. 2Corinthians 4:7(NLT), “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” Our motivation should always and forever be to find the treasure of Christ in us and learn to love through him increasingly with each day. When this is our great goal and ambition, God will send a man who is deserving of the love of Christ that is in our hearts. ■

English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Finding the Treasure in You”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Psalm 37:4(NLT)
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”

In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus Christ teaches us about our readiness for his coming through a parable regarding 10 bridesmaids and their bridegroom. It is of course spiritually significant to all of us, but we should also pick up on the reality that he used the marital union to teach us about the intimacy we should have with him. In his parable, these ten virgins were going out to meet their bridegroom at a wedding ceremony, and there, they would need to wait for his arrival. Jesus tells us that five of these bridesmaids were foolish, and the reason for this unfortunate distinction is that they neglected to adequately prepare for the bridegroom’s arrival. They missed the mark on the mind and heart that would have locked in the right actions and secured the right outcome for them all.

Our precious and powerful Lord and Savior is the bridegroom in this parable, and the ten bridesmaids represent two groups, those that are diligently preparing for his coming and those that are not. The five foolish bridesmaids are those that are not following his example, and they are not Spirit-filled, or Spirit led. The five foolish bridesmaids looked the part but looking the part will never be enough. We should also learn from this parable that the oil is symbolic of the purification of our hearts and minds through God’s Word. If we don’t have it, no matter how much we beg and plead, we can’t squeak by without it.

In the Old Testament, oil was placed on the heads of those appointed for God’s purpose. Samuel, God’s prophet, was instructed by our Heavenly Father to anoint David with oil as the next King of Israel. When he did this, the Holy Spirit came on David. The oil is a representation of the work of the Holy Spirit, but in the Old Testament, the Spirit did not come to live within God’s people that were living during that period. They could not be His children and could only have the Spirit on them. Through his life, sacrifice, and resurrection, Jesus Christ ushered in the new covenant we have with God. Because of this, we can live with Holy Spirit power! We can have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside us and become God’s adopted children.

This is what happens when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is God’s seed, and we receive him when we become born again through Christ. This makes all the difference in our lives, but many people miss out because they either don’t believe or recognize the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ tells us in John 16:13(NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” We need to pray and ask for his guidance continually, in every area of our lives. This is especially true when it comes to relationships.

James 5:14(NLT) says, “Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.” It’s very spiritually significant when two people come together and become one in the eyesight of our Heavenly Father. When their union is anointed by the Holy Spirit, the couple is empowered with his strength and can greatly encourage and uplift one another in Christ. They can anoint one another when needed and keep their union strong despite any dart the enemy throws their way. Because he lives within and has anointed us, we can manifest the power of the Holy Spirit in miraculous ways. Without his anointing, things can start out on the wrong foot and continue to go horribly wrong.

I attended a wedding once, and the bride and groom were so late to their reception that many of their guests left without eating. The newlywed couple decided to take pictures after the ceremony, and it took so long that the guests were murmuring amongst themselves and many were offended. It should have been a joyous occasion, but the ceremony was late and long, and it was sad that instead of joy, many left hungry. That’s the state of anyone that doesn’t have the oil. Things just do not go as planned, and even our best intentions can leave us dissatisfied and depleted. This isn’t what God wants. He wants us to be joyous, and through Christ, He’s equipped us with all that we need to remain in a perpetual state of joy and harmony, but we must follow the Spirit.

Galatians 6:8-9(NLT) says, “Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Many singles have an insatiable appetite for matrimony. They’ve gone to God repeatedly in prayer, but they are not willing to spiritually prepare for marriage by following the example of Jesus Christ in a greater way. God’s blessings are not in short supply. He has plenty to go around, but we must be hungry for Him and His Word. If we aren’t, we must pray that He will place this hunger in our hearts so that we can delight in Him. When we do, our desires will manifest. Our relationship with God will deepen and our faith in Him will continue to grow.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“They Left Hungry”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Isaiah 10:27(NLT)
“In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.”

A revolving door goes around repeatedly, allowing people to both go in and go out. A revolving door relationship is one that is constantly ending and starting up again, continually giving a person access to walk in and out of our lives. Many people underestimate how dangerous these types of relationships can be. Robbing an individual of stability, joy, and peace, they can also be abusive and violent. Sometimes we don’t recognize the emotional damage this causes to our well-being until we’re challenged by the reality of completely letting the person go and cutting off the relationship for good.

1John 4:8(NLT) tells us, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” We tend to think of romantic love as an all-encompassing one that checks off all the boxes of good human behavior. Romantic love is wonderful when we have honorable and right motives, but it isn’t nearly enough to sustain a healthy quality relationship that is beneficial for both partners. The love of God is the kind of love that He places in our hearts when we are committed to love Him through Jesus Christ. 1John 4:10(NLT) says, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” God’s love is real love, and it is the foundation on which all love is genuinely given and received.

1John 4:16(NLT) says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” The greatest thing that any living being can do is to love God and to love others through Him. This is an eternal truth. Because God lives in us, loving Him becomes the most powerful and satisfying way to love ourselves.

Ending an abusive relationship, then repeatedly allowing an abuser access to our lives signals that we have more lessons to learn about our Christ identity and self-worth. Galatians 6:9(NLT) “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Our goal should be to honor our lives the way that God does. So, don’t give up on praying and increasing your faith towards the good work of loving yourself through the love of God. Part of practicing this Godly self-love is guarding our hearts and opening doors to only those opportunities that reflect and promote His goodness.

God’s Will is for us to be victorious and to live free from bondage or slavery of any kind, and He’s made this possible for us through the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All of God’s Children are free, and we can live a quiet life with godliness and dignity when we make Him and His love our greatest priority. If you’re struggling to close the door to an unhealthy revolving door relationship, have faith that you can be released from this. Continue to pray for God’s help. He hears your prayers, and He invites you to lean on His strength and believe in His power as you trust Him and move forward in His Will for your life. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“If We Don’t Give Up”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Malachi 3:8 (NLT)
“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.”

When we were at our worst, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to save us, and we desperately needed to be saved. God showed us His exceedingly great mercy and grace, and through it, He also demonstrated to us how important the practice of giving is. Giving to God and to others is a spiritual discipline and practice. One of the reasons it’s so incredibly important is that it opens our hearts and lives to receive from Heavenly Father. Giving produces a spiritual outcome that nullifies plots and tricks of the enemy to steal our blessings. In Malachi 3:10(NLT), our Heavenly Father declared that if we tithe into His Kingdom, He will “open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!” He then tells us to put Him to the test, and we’ll see that He will back His Word every time.

Proverbs 4:23(NLT) tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” To guard our hearts is to be careful not to allow the wrong thing to rule them. We must be particularly cautious not to let money rule our hearts and keep us from obeying the Word of God. 1Timothy 6:10(NLT) warns, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” When money rules our hearts, we allow our allegiance to it to dictate what, how, when, and if we give. Proverbs 4:23 informs us that our failure to honor God in our giving will determine the trajectory of our lives, and we will be doomed to sorrow, worry, disappointment, and darkness.

Money, and the lack of it, can change a person that is humble towards God into one that is arrogant towards God. When humans cling to their pocketbooks and wallets for dear life, they typically have more faith in money than they do God. This is not life in the Spirit, but life in the flesh. It’s one of the reasons that Jesus Christ said in Matthew 19:24(NLT), “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” It’s not a money or wealth issue, but a humility and faith issue. Our loving Savior said in Matthew 18:3 that unless we change and become humble like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There are many that say they are followers of Christ yet deny the truth he spoke in Matthew 18:3.

Our attitude about money and our refusal to practice the discipline of giving and sowing as God commands keeps us separated from many of His blessings. Numerous believers refute this by saying, “Oh, that’s Old Testament law. It doesn’t apply to us.” Jesus Christ said in Luke 12:48(NLT), “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” As New Testament believers, we have received greater revelation and blessings, because we have received the unfathomably generous gift of Jesus Christ and the salvation God made available through him. This means we have a greater responsibility to give and share. We are obligated to do more, not less.

We rob God when we take ourselves out of the cycle of giving and receiving that He has decreed for earth and its citizens. Our Heavenly Father said in Galatians 6:7-10(NLT), “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone–especially to those in the family of faith.” As God’s children, we are obligated to give and be a blessing to Him and to the body of Christ. We should never want stinginess or unkindness towards God to determine the course of our lives. That’s a bad course for sure. We can avoid this, and we should.

God set up His spiritual economy to operate in such a way that blessings go where they are welcome, and they are certainly not made comfortable in the heart of a person that will not obey our Heavenly Father and give and sow generously. 2Corinthians 9:7 tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. When our hearts are motivated to give, 2Corinthians 9:10 says “he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.” God is the One that provides increase. He will multiply us when we change our hearts and tithe and give out of a heart that is bountiful with gratitude towards Him.

When we pray for blessings that appear to be delayed, there is always a reason for it. God isn’t withholding His blessings from us. Sometimes we withhold them from ourselves when we make excuses not to meet His requirements. When our hearts are open to God in a generous and humble way, our faith is activated to achieve wonderful results. We may need to consider the possibility that we’re blocking this from occurring in our lives. God invites us to put His Word to the test, because His Word never fails. We will always reap what we sow, and our giving towards God’s Kingdom will always yield a harvest that is pleasing to God and fulfilling to us as well. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Determining the Course of Your Life”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Galatians 5:6 (NLT)
“For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”

Most of us understand how it feels to be discontent with our lives. We recognize the hunger in our hearts for love, and we know that God placed it there, but we don’t know how to reach out and grab what He has in store. Wanting more out of life than what we’ve experienced is pushing our desire for that special person. He’s going to walk with us, side by side, through life, and the need to have him close feels very urgent. We don’t know when or where we’ll meet him, but we know that we must be with him in order to express ourselves and our purpose in a greater way.

With every urgency that we feel in our hearts and souls, there’s a temptation to place it above everything else in our lives. Rather than showing and expressing our gratitude to God for all that He’s done for us, many of us focus on what we don’t have. We need to know that there’s a danger to doing this. Romans 8:5(NLT) tells us, “5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” As children of God, our minds should be occupied with thoughts of His goodness. These are the thoughts that please the Holy Spirit and thinking on our Heavenly Father’s goodness is one of the greatest things we can do for ourselves and our relationship with Him.

A deep desire can consume so much of our energy and thoughts that it ends up being more about the flesh than about pleasing God and fulfilling His purpose for our lives. This injures our faith and pushes us further away from what we desire.

Lamentations 3:25(ESV) says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” God will reward our patience, but when the wait seems too long, many of us lose heart. We think that God is not hearing us, but He always hears His children. To wait on God is to wait in faith, and James 2:26 tells us that faith without good works is dead. So, what we do during the wait is very important. While we’re waiting on a blessing to materialize and come to pass, we can’t keep doing the same things we’ve always been doing. Faith requires that we recognize we should be growing closer to Him and doing more to bless others and uplift His Kingdom.

Sometimes, rather than being motivated to please God, the urgency to bring a desire in our hearts to fruition prompts us to make the wrong moves. Psalm 37:5(ESV) tells us to “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” But instead of doing this, we commit actions that stem from how we used to do things before we knew the Lord the way that we do now. We must remember that God is the One with the plan for our lives. He knows exactly how to bless us. Our faith in this truth must be unshakable.

The psalmist said in Psalm 54:4(ESV), “Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.” Try as we might, we can’t move God to the passenger seat while we stay behind the wheel. Life simply doesn’t work that way. God holds our lives together. He alone makes sure that we can take the next breath. Philippians 4:19 (ESV) tells us, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Don’t let your desire for a companion to cause you to exchange your faith in God for anything this world has to offer. Our provision is in God, and only He can give us what we need, and when He does, we must never allow Him to slip to second. We must continue to keep our focus on our love, honor, and devotion towards Him.■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

“God Has Made Provisions”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

1 Peter 5:6 (NLT)
“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.”

Kevin is everything that Desi wanted in a man. Like so many of us, she prayed a long while to meet someone special. When Kevin came into her life, oddly enough, marriage was the last thing on her mind. She’d been supporting her best friend, Lydia, who was midway through chemo, and she was also taking care of Lydia’s 11-year-old daughter, Kristi. Desi had been running so hard the last two months that she barely had time to even wash her hair. She was very happy to be there for them, but the realization that Lydia had no one else to call on during one of the toughest challenges of her life left Desi both sad and afraid. She loved her friend dearly, but she didn’t ever want to be in her shoes. On the rainy Saturday afternoon when she met Kevin, she was so preoccupied with those thoughts that she had almost dismissed him.

Standing in the living room of Lydia’s tiny apartment one day, noticing how sparse it was and thinking about how long her friend had been sick and struggling, tears began to stream down Desi’s face. She remembered five years ago, when Lydia’s husband left without so much as a word, and never returned. The nice house, the car, the bank accounts, all of it slowly slipped away. As for her neighbors and so-called friends, Lydia felt like all of them except Desi were waiting for her to crumble, thinking to themselves, “the man is gone, what now?” But for Lydia, there were no tears, no pity parties, or mudslinging that anyone could see. It’s as if she said to herself, “I can’t stop. I gotta keep going.” And that’s exactly what she did.

Desi was determined to do whatever it took to see that Lydia and Kristi would be okay. She was consumed with their care. During those months, she had so little time that she was sure Kevin would become disinterested, but he didn’t. He kept calling and kept pursing, and she was so thankful he did.

Hebrews 4:16(ESV) tells us, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Many single women haven’t taken the time to express a deep gratitude to God for His amazing grace. They haven’t fully appreciated that we have the honor and privilege to go before His throne of grace in our time of need, and He will see us through. Lydia’s circumstances sheds light on the fact that many of us haven’t realized, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” The story for any of us could be much like her story, but because of God’s grace, we are blessed to have health, a sound mind, and the activity of our limbs.

God tells us in Romans 12:2(NLT), “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Many of us single women need to renew our minds and change the way we think. Instead of being impatient and full of doubt, we need to proclaim the goodness of God and thank Him for all that He’s done for us. 2Timothy 2:13(ESV) reminds us that “If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” This truth must be anchored in our hearts and minds continually. Our God is faithful, and He will never leave or forsake us.

The abandonment of a husband, loneliness, and health challenges, these are difficult situations, but we don’t face these heavies alone. God is helping us every step of the way. He made sure that Lydia was supported by a loving and caring friend, and He made sure that Desi was sweetly rewarded for her selfless and giving heart. It is imperative that as single people our hearts are found faithful and deeply thankful to God for all He’s has done. Know that through every circumstance in your life, God’s love for you never falters. He doesn’t cause our tribulation, but He makes us stronger through it, and if we remain steadfast in our faith in Him, He will deliver, restore, and bless us beyond our greatest imaginations.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“The Man Is Gone, What Now?”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Romans 13:10 (NLT)
“Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirement of God’s law.”

It’s the same no matter who you are or where you are in this world, love will always bring people together. This is no ordinary love we’re talking about. It’s the love of God that was in the heart of Jesus Christ as he walked the earth and completed God’s mission to save us. Believe it or not, people living during the time that Jesus Christ carried out his ministry were more ruthless and wicked than what we see in our modern times. Romans 5:6(NLT) tells us, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” He came to save us all from death, darkness, and destruction. Yet, people denied him. They mocked and lied about him. They constantly plotted and tried to put him in jail and even murder him, but he was not deterred. He triumphantly accomplished everything that God sent him to do, and his success is a testament to the power of God’s love.

John 3:16(NLT) says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of our precious and powerful Heavenly Father. Even so, we learn from the Gospels that he was not exempt from prayer or studying the scriptures. He prayed constantly, and he studied the scriptures voraciously. As he traveled various places teaching the Gospel, healing the sick, casting out demons, and restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, he did not fly or teleport from place to place. He walked. He did not manipulate the laws of time and space in order to perform the miraculous. He demonstrated with every action what we, as earth dwellers, can do if we walk by faith.

Jesus Christ was tremendously powerful, but before his resurrection, he only did the things that you and I can do through the power of the Holy Spirit. He showed us how to walk with power, and he also showed us what human beings can accomplish when we live our lives through him. He has commissioned us, as his brothers and sisters, to make our every action a universal expression of God’s brand of unlimited and unconditional love. This is the key to living a victorious life.

Jesus Christ said in Luke 15:7(NLT), “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” It’s awesome to know that heaven rejoiced when we repented of our sins and gave our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. This began our spiritual journey in him, and heaven is watching as we live powerfully through him. Our Heavenly Father receives glory when we do what Christ did and serve others and tell people about him. This is what we were called to do, but sometimes we behave as if we’ve forgotten this. We forget the lessons of love that Christ taught us through his life, sacrifice, and resurrection.

1Peter 4:10-11(NLT) says, “10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.” God has empowered every single believer with a gift, and He has also planted opportunities throughout our everyday environment to be a blessing. Our responsibility is to continually pray that He opens our eyes to these. They will bring us closer and closer to the rewards we desire most.

Ephesians 2:10(NKJV) tells us, “10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” That blessing of a husband you’ve been praying for—meeting him at the right place at the right time may be linked to your gift. Your best qualities are always those that make the greatest statement about God’s love. Heaven rejoiced when we turned to God, accepted His love through Jesus Christ, and allowed Him to transform us into who He created us to be. We must remember that saturating our lives in God’s love is how we received victory over sin and death, and sharing His love through good works will also position us to receive the longings of our hearts.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Heaven Rejoices”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Psalm 32:8-11(NLT)
“8 The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. 9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” 10 Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the LORD. 11 So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!”

When you’re traveling down an unfamiliar path, and you get lost, what do you do? How do you handle bumps in the road and wrong turns along the way? Do you stay the course, or do you veer off and get on another path? In relationships, the path can get bumpy along the way. We think we’re heading in the right direction, but then something happens, and we realize we’ve taken a wrong turn. A friend faced a situation like this. She had been dating a man for seven months. He has a child and she doesn’t. They had a few hiccups in their relationship when he couldn’t show up because he had daddy duty. She was handling it at first, but when he canceled on escorting her to a huge family celebration because his daughter was sick, she became very upset. She began to think that dating a man with children under 18 was the wrong path for her, but was it?

In significant relationships, sometimes we don’t realize how much we have to stretch in faith and spiritual maturity to make things work. We underestimate the level of love, compassion, patience, and understanding relationships require. When children are involved, this can be multiplied exponentially. The dynamics change because the care of children will continually be a priority, and the balance between your needs and their needs is sometimes a challenging one to strike. In this situation, the question a single woman of God would need to ask is whether she believes God has called her to be in the lives of this father and child.

God said in Isaiah 55:9(NLT), “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Controlling details and outcomes is something many of us try to do in our relationships. We like to manage our expectations as closely as possible to avoid heartache, but things almost never come out exactly the way we envision. People evolve and change at a pace they set for themselves, and no human being has the right to infringe on that or try to change someone by applying pressure. That just isn’t Godly. Our Heavenly Father is the One in control. He sees everything, and He knows the future. He knows the path you should be on to achieve the very best life you can live.

In Ephesians 1:16-19(NLT), the Apostle Paul prayed for God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to give His people “spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him.” As God’s children living in these dark and modern times, there’s a lot coming at us, and it’s not good. If we listen to society, we might become selfish and develop a sense of entitlement, but this is not the way of Christ. Like Paul, we must pray that our hearts will be flooded with light and revelation to guide us along the path that God has purposed for our lives.

The road isn’t always easy. Significant relationships can be incredibly challenging at times, but God is faithful to strengthen us as we seek to do His Will and bless those that He has ordained us to bless. God knows our capability and we should be praying to have a fuller vision of it ourselves. If we think we lack the patience, generosity, and compassion to date a single father, we should seek the Lord before dismissing the relationship altogether. It could be that we’re in a season of greater spiritual growth and maturity, and our Heavenly Father may be calling us to stretch in faith like never before.

Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT) tells us, “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Our lives are in the Father’s extremely capable hands. He commands us to trust His leadership and guidance. So, the bottom line is that we need to stop leaning on our own understanding. We need to ask our Heavenly Father to reveal the right person for us, and we need to pray and ask Him to condition our hearts and minds to love this person (and their children) through the love of Christ. Dating a person that has a child doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. It could very well be a blessing that increases your faith, expands your heart, and ultimately causes you to walk closer with God and be the happiest you’ve ever been. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“God Will Guide You to the Best Path”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Revelation 3:7-8(NLT)
“7 This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open: 8 I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.”

Our Heavenly Father has no equal. When we approach Him in prayer, it is very important that this truth is in our hearts and minds. Revelation 3:7 prepares us to receive a message from Him, the One that is holy, true, majestic, magnificent, loving, all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfect in every way. This is who God is. There is none that compares to Him and He is truly in a class all by Himself. God is righteous and pure, and He has the key of David.

This passage in Revelation 3:7-8 takes us back to the Old Testament, to the kingship of David, the king chosen by God to govern His people. Our Heavenly Father was always on King David’s mind. This man was not perfect. David made some big mistakes, but he honored the Lord and regarded his every move as ones the Father was watching. God saw King David as a friend, and there is no greater distinction for any human being than that. In King David’s palace, Eliakim was over everything and took care of household matters. He was the keyholder in the palace and had the full authority to act on behalf of the king. If Eliakim locked a door, no one besides the king could take it upon themselves to open it. If he unlocked a door, it was understood that this room could be entered.

On the throne of the One who is holy and true, Jesus Christ holds the key. He’s the One who opens and shuts doors. He controls everything, and we must understand this. In our time, people will worship just about anyone and anything. They worship false gods, and these false gods hold the keys to doors that lead to darkness, destruction, and death. People worship the earth, sun, moon, and stars. They worship angels and make idols of people and just about everything else, but children of God should never be tricked or fooled by the devil in this way. Jesus Christ is the One who holds the key to liberty, light, and life. He gives it to those who worship the One True Living God through him, because they know that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

In Deuteronomy 18:9(ESV), our Heavenly Father told His people living in Old Testament times, “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.” God’s mind has not changed about this. Aiming to meet the man that will one day be their spouses, many single women are trying to open the wrong doors. They are participating in practices and methodologies that do not please God or honor His holiness and sovereignty. Those practices will not lead to truth, liberty, light, and life, and they will not produce any fruit in our lives. Of course, we all desire newness and bounty, and we want to go higher in life, but we must understand that there are some doors we should never attempt to open because they lead to darkness and despair. We should only want to open one door, and that door is Jesus Christ.

The psalmist, King David, prayed to God in Psalm 139:1-8(NLT), “1 O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! 7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.”

There can be no doubt in our minds that our Heavenly Father knows us through and through. He knows our character. He examines our secret motives, and He knows what is at the root of our desire to meet a man. He knows everything there is to know about what we need, what we desire, and what is best for us. We must come to our senses and realize that He alone knows the opportunities that are best suited for us. Sometimes we must learn this the hard way, but it is never good to open a door that doesn’t lead to Christ. God will not support our choice to dabble in idolatry, so let’s not do that. Pray to God through Jesus Christ only. Make wise decisions about who you date, and spend your time as a single woman growing and increasing in your faith in God. Then you’ll recognize the door that Christ has opened up for you, and you’ll have the wisdom, spiritual strength, and faith to walk through it.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

“What’s Behind the Open Door?”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.