Find A Christian Man

Category: Encouragement and Inspiration

Biblical encouragement for the seasons when you need strength, hope, perspective, or simply a reminder that God is still at work. Find Christ-centered inspiration to help you keep moving forward, stand firm in your faith, and face everyday life with renewed confidence in God and His Word.

Good Love Starts from Within

A very good friend and sister-in-Christ told me one day, “When a man truly loves a woman, peace in the relationship will follow.” I remember thinking to myself, “How in the world did she come to this realization?” At that time in my life, I wondered what she must have gone through in her own personal relationships to finally get to this place—a place where she could see this kind of love and peace in her life as well as in her significant relationship. It wasn’t until I had gone through a few heartaches and disappointments and learned from my mistakes that I came to realize just how true her statement is. I now know with confidence that good love starts from within. This is true for us, and it’s true for the person that we desire to build a life with.

Most of us have received age-old wisdom about good love. We’ve been taught that if a person has it within themselves to honor and respect others, if they want the best for them, and has genuine compassion, this person is capable of good love. A more modern version of this wisdom is that a person that loves good will always have your back, no matter what. This is a man or woman that will give you their last and will go without, themselves, so that they can make sure you have what you need. Now, most folks today would probably say that there aren’t many people around who fit the bill for this good love. They might say they don’t come built like this anymore, but is that really true?

Luke 1:37(NLT) tells us, “For nothing is impossible with God.” God’s Word is true, and His Word never fails. When God speaks, we have the definitive authority on a subject, for everything He speaks is perfect and true. In Mark 12:30(NLT), Jesus Christ commands, “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” This is the kind of love that God requires of us, and because of the Words commanded by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we can confidently know two things. The first is that God is good. The second thing we can know for sure is that because He made us, we are capable of giving Him good love. If you and I were not capable of loving God the way He desires to be loved, Jesus Christ would not have commanded us to do it.

The question is never if a man can give us good love. The question is whether we are giving God the love He requires. How can any of us ever have faith that we will receive good love, if we don’t have faith in our ability to give it to God? Heavenly Father has put a perfect love system in place, and 1John 4:21(NLT) gives us an important part. This verse says, “And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.” Understand that obedience requires us to give God the good love He has empowered us to offer to Him. It is because of the good love that we give to Him that we can give it to each other. 1John 5:2(NLT) affirms this. It says, “We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.”

Ephesians 5:2(NLT) tells us, “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” Jesus Christ came to the earth and modeled the perfect example of God’s love. He showed us how God’s love should be lived-out on earth. Christ is our example. Through the pattern he gave us, we learn to give good love and this same love comes back to us. It’s the love of God IN Christ IN us that starts the cycle and keeps it going. God loves us first. We accept it, then give it back to Him and others. The love cycle in Christ continues, leaving a trail of blessings wherever it goes. So, it’s not about our thoughts and opinions, it’s about believing and trusting God’s Word, and believing and trusting HIS love. It’s faith in His love that brings about His peace in our relationships.

If we put the good stuff out there, the good stuff will come back to us. The good stuff is God’s love. The love that you and I offer is sometimes based on our own personal agendas. It has strings attached to it, but not the love of God in Christ. When we make a habit pattern of loving God, wonderful things happen inside us. Our love for God gives the Holy Spirit permission to do his most perfect work within. Then, we can love others with this same unfailing, unconditional love that God has given us.

Some of us are living a reality day to day that has been shaped and molded by our own low expectations. Many of us have no interest in meeting God’s standard of love, even though He’s empowered us to get it done. And because we refuse to meet His standard, we refuse to believe that a man can love us through that standard. The darkness of this kind of wrong believing will keep us not only thinking low but settling for low.

When it comes to a man that gives good love, are our expectations limited by our lack of confidence in our own ability to give it? This deserves some thought, because good love does indeed come from within, where the love of God abides. When your relationship is right with God, your outer reality will prove it out, and you can’t help but have peace. Some folks believe that people who give good love no longer exist, that you can’t find a man that will truly have your back, but God’s Word forces us to turn the mirror on ourselves. It is impossible to love God and love others through His love, and not receive this love in return. So, when a man truly loves a woman, peace follows not so much because of what he gives, but because of what God has given to us all through Jesus Christ. Confidence in our love for God and His love for us will always end in peace. ■

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.

“Good Love Starts from Within”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

April 18, 2022
How Do I Become Born Again?

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with an old friend. We had such a good time conversing, but during our time together, the Spirit tugged on my heart. I felt compelled to witness to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I was puzzled at first because I’ve known this person for quite some time, and I assumed he knew our wonderful Redeemer. That day, I learned a very valuable lesson. We should never assume when it comes to a person’s walk with Jesus. I came right out and asked him if he was saved. I thought he’d say, “Yes, of course I am.” Instead, he asked me, “What do you mean by ‘saved’?”

What it means to be saved
God teaches us in Romans 10:9-10(NLT), “9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” Most of us hear the word ‘saved’ and think of it in very general terms. Being rescued from harm or danger immediately comes to mind. So, if a person doesn’t perceive that he or she is in immediate danger, they may not understand the staggering importance of salvation and being born again through Jesus Christ.

In truth, there is nothing more harmful or dangerous than to spend an eternity cut off from the One True Living God, and therefore being in perpetual eternal darkness and despair. It’s a fate far worse than our minds can comprehend, and this is the reality of all who are not saved through Jesus Christ.

God proclaims in Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT) that He has “rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Jesus Christ has made salvation from eternal darkness and damnation available to us, but he will not force anyone to accept the salvation he offers. Love never forces, it lovingly guides. Our beloved Savior is delighted to guide us into salvation and into his magnificent light if we are willing to be guided by him.

We must choose to love God
Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created humanity in His own image. Like Him, we are self-governing. We make our own decisions, and we get to decide who we are going to be. We decide whether we will be a child of God or a child of satan. An in between doesn’t exist. Jesus Christ makes it clear in Matthew 6:24 that we can’t serve two masters, we will love one and hate the other or vice versa, but we can’t serve both. We’re not built that way.

God has given each of us the gift of free-will, and Romans 11:29(NLT) says, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” God is all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and magnificent in every way. He never has to do a do-over or a take-back. He does things perfectly from the very beginning according to His divine design. He means for us to have what He wants to give us, and He is faithful to the gifts He gives. He will not override our free-will choice.

God offers us salvation and it is a free gift. We can’t do anything to earn it. Heavenly Father freely offers us the blessing of spending an eternity with Him through Jesus Christ. God loves us, and because of His great love, He offers us the extreme privilege and honor to choose to love Him back. 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.” When we were at our worse, God sent His only begotten Son to save us and give us eternal life. He did this because He loves us more than we can ever know. He wants to have a relationship with every living person, and His greatest delight is loving and sharing His Kingdom with us.

We can’t save ourselves
Roman 5:11(NLT) tells us, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Through Jesus Christ, God has made us righteous because being righteous is necessary to be friends with God. Romans 3:25-26 The Message (MSG) tells us, “25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.”

Because of what God accomplished through Jesus Christ, we now live in God’s “rightness”. It’s not that we are so good, God is the only One that is righteous and good. You and I don’t have any righteousness of our own. So, God gave us His righteousness through Christ. Sometimes people will say, “I’m not ready to have a relationship with God yet. I’m too worldly, too angry, too sinful, or too this or that…” Maybe they think they are enjoying themselves by doing all the things that pleasure their senses, but we were not created to live that way. We were created to walk in God’s Spirit! Only Jesus Christ can fill our cups and give us joy.

It’s a myth that we can make ourselves “okay enough” to come to God. We can’t. None of us can do this. For instance, some that have an addiction to a substance might think they’ll come to God when they give up the drugs or alcohol, but in reality, they find that the struggle never ends. They keep disappointing themselves and can’t understand why they can’t stop. Others might be very unhappy with their lives because they struggle with insecurities, anxieties, and fears. Spending most of their lives feeling lost, it’s challenging for them to believe that God wants to have a relationship with them; that He loves them in their brokenness and wants to help them. Before we come to Christ, we are all broken and in desperate need of God’s saving grace. We need to be cleansed by the blood of the lamb. We desperately need the new life that Jesus Christ offers us, and God wants to help us. All we have to do is come to Him and invite Him into our hearts.

You must be born again
In John 3:3(NLT), Jesus Christ had a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. He told him, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Just as we are birthed from our mother’s womb and have our biological father’s seed, when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Savior, we are spiritually born again. In order to be a child of God, we must be born physically, and we must be born spiritually. Accepting God’s love through Jesus Christ causes a spiritual consummation. We receive God’s seed by faith, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. So, to be saved is to be born-again. It is to come alive to God spiritually as His child.

Faith is not magic, and magic doesn’t come from God. It’s not about a ‘kid in a candy store’ attitude, where God gives us anything we want. Faith is believing that God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save all of us, and it is believing that our all-powerful, awesome God can do anything and through His resurrection power, He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Believing this truth, repenting from our sins, and asking God for forgiveness transfers us from eternal death to eternal life in Christ.

We’re on this earth to decide who we are going to be for the rest of eternity, and if we choose God, we must remain committed to Him. We must apologize for the sins we have committed, because sin is an offense to Him. The first Adam sinned and everyone after him sinned as well. As God’s children, we must reject Adam’s disobedience and surrender ourselves to God to be guided and led by Him.

In John 14:6(NLT), Jesus Christ declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” The world would like us to believe that there are many paths to get to God. Well, it’s true that there are many paths, but they lead to destruction and idolatry. Jesus Christ is the only path to our Heavenly Father, the One True Living God. If we miss this, we’ve missed life entirely. Christ is the Prince of Life and through him, we can live an eternity with God. Ask Heavenly Father to forgive you for your sins. Ask Him to come into your life and accept His love in your heart by believing in what He has done for you through Jesus Christ. Confess your belief that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for your sins, and that God resurrected him from the dead. Once you do this, you are saved and your spiritual journey in Christ has begun! ■

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.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

“How Do I Become Born Again”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

April 13, 2022
When You Least Expect It

One sunny summer day, my sisters’ and I had spent the afternoon shopping. Our hands were filled with bags as we were getting in our car. My oldest sister was driving and had just gotten behind the wheel. My middle sister, the most notable shopaholic among us, was finagling bags to try and open the passenger-side door. Out of nowhere, a complete stranger approached her. He offered to help my sister, and with her permission, he opened the door, and then closed it after she was seated. Our mouths were agape as we watched him very gentlemanly assist her, and then wish us all a good afternoon. We were like, “What just happened?” Although this kindness occurred quite a number of years ago, the impact of it strikes me even today.

Whenever I mention this occurrence to others, particularly women, the comments range from, “You’ll never see that happening today…” to “Hope your bags were intact.” Isn’t it something that in the face of such a simple and beautiful act of kindness, many of us suspect the worse? It’s sad, because as daughters of our Heavenly Father, it is His desire that such kindnesses are heaped on us every day of our lives. Many of us have gone through such heartbreak and disrespect from prior relationships that we no longer expect this kind of chivalry from a man, and some of us have never experienced it to any significant degree.

And of course, there are some that ask if we ever saw him again. We didn’t, but it was enough to know that such a man exists, and he’s not the only one of his kind. I’m reminded of the record in the Old Testament, when Elijah complained to God that there were so few within His people, the children of Israel, that were faithful to God’s covenant. Elijah was in deep despair over their sinful behavior and betrayal. He knew the tremendous blessings that God had given them, and they repaid God’s kindness and grace with arrogance and sin. Elijah was weary of their shenanigans, and he tried to use their disobedience as an excuse to throw his hands up and retreat. He didn’t want to be bothered with them anymore and thought they were a useless cause. Many of God’s people had forsaken Him, and Elijah could hardly stomach seeing them ruin and run down things that they should have held sacred in their hearts and minds.

Elijah complained to God in 1Kings 19:14(NLT), “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” Many of us can relate somewhat to how Elijah felt. If you’ve been traveling in the ‘single’s lane’ a while, it can feel very much like no one truly understands what you’re about. They can’t match your capacity to love and don’t have the depth to walk with you through life. You might feel like Elijah, that the bottom of the barrow is what’s left, and there’s no sea of which a treasure can be found.

God told Elijah in 1Kings 19:18 that He had preserved 7,000 of His people that had not bowed to the idol, baal, or served him. Elijah made an incorrect assumption that underestimated God’s power, intelligence, and provision. Many single believers have done the same thing. God doesn’t punish us when we think this way, He helps us, but will we allow ourselves to be helped? 2Chronicles 16:9(NLT) says, “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” He’s searching the entire earth, looking for a certain characteristic in our hearts, and it is the humility to trust His Word and become fully committed to our relationships with Him. When we do this, we will no longer doubt His willingness or ability to bless us.

When we allow ourselves to believe that God has not provided for us in the way His Word says He has, we not only run the risk of not pleasing God, but we are injuring our faith. We stop it from performing because it isn’t mixed with our believing. The most faithful in God are often hidden, like the gentleman who came out of nowhere to inspire our faith and to be a conduit of God’s love. God knows those that belong to Him, and He knows exactly where they are. He sees what we cannot see, and we should never underestimate His power, love, and provision. When our faith is firmly anchored in His goodness, God will strengthen our hearts. Never allow negativity to cause you to underestimate what God can and will do for your life. He will exceed your expectations, and a beautiful blessing might occur when you least expect 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.

“When You Least Expect It”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

April 6, 2022
Well Worth the Wait

My children, like most I imagine, are very inquisitive little creatures. No matter where we go, I can always count on this one question, “Where are we going?” They ask it even before they can buckle their seatbelts and then ask it while I’m driving. If they think the destination is close, they’ll ask, “How much longer before we get there?” I get a kick out of this sometimes. I like piquing their curiosity and surprising them with an unexpected destination. Our life’s journey is similar in some ways. A lot of us are asking God these same questions, but unlike our kids, many of us have lost a sense of wonder. We don’t like the unexpected, especially when it comes to waiting on the right person for our lives. We want God to give us all the details of the destination before the journey begins.

My conversation with a Christian woman the other day made me examine the relationship between our destiny and expectations more carefully. She had many expectations of God, but one of the most puzzling questions on her mind is why she hasn’t met a quality man. She has faith that God answers prayer, and she believes she’ll meet a good man one day, but the ‘when’ weighs heavily on her mind. I understand this because I had been in her shoes at one point in my life—it can feel as though you’re stranded in the Sahara Desert with no rain for years. At least, that’s how I personally felt.

Our Heavenly Father isn’t governed by our time-clock, thank goodness. His promises are built on HIS perfect timing. Psalm 84:11(NKJV) says, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Heavenly Father doesn’t withhold blessings. He delights in blessing His people. Each of us has a destiny in His Will and Plan, but sometimes our choices and decisions prolong the time it takes us to reach our destination.

You may have a full tank of gas in the car but if you don’t turn the key, you won’t move in any direction. The same applies to your life. We have the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, our spiritual tanks are full, but if you don’t apply God’s Word to your life, you are not turning the key. How far and how long will it take you to reach your destiny if that’s your approach? The answer to this question is that we can’t get anywhere or fulfill our destinies without saturating our hearts with God’s Word. His Word works! This means if you pray for God to bless you to meet a good man, He has already put a plan in motion for your marriage. It means that the door of blessing is right in front of us, but we have a responsibility to turn the key.

There’s one thing about us human beings that Jesus Christ makes very plain, and it is the reality that we can’t focus on faith and fear at the same time. We can’t focus on having faith in God’s goodness and blessings, and at the same time focus on the fear of being lonely longer than we’d like. To focus on God’s goodness, we must keep our eyes continually on Jesus Christ. In Philippians 3:14(NLT), through the Apostle Paul, God gives us a very important component to moving ahead. He said, “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” This is a race that God has called us to run, and there are things that we were purposed by Him to do in this race. It is very important for us to seek God and ask Him what He requires.

When it comes to what God requires of His children, people fall into one of three categories. First, there are those they actually haven’t prayed and haven’t taken the time to ask Him what He requires. Typically, these individuals take their purpose in God’s Plan very lightly, and they may not even believe they have one. So, their vision of who they are in Christ is not on point. They are not walking in their sonship rights and true identity as a joint heir with Christ, because they don’t believe they are. If we believe in something, we will pursue it. So, not pursuing our purpose in the Plan of God is a sure indication that we don’t have faith in it. If we don’t have faith in our purpose in God’s Plan, how can we have faith in His plan for our lives when it comes to marriage?

Another category is people who have asked God what He requires of them, but they are stuck in neutral, waiting for a big event to take place. They have not demonstrated a full commitment because they become easily distracted and impatient. They stop and start repeatedly, they’re inconsistent with believing God’s Word, and they don’t realize that it’s the choices we make daily to become more like Christ that lead us continually on the path to purpose. In other words, the engine needs to be moving, and we’re are the ones to kick it in high gear. We need to open our eyes to the reality that pressing into God, clinging to His Word, and staying in continual communication with Him through prayer is the way to go. God needs to see this commitment from us.

The last category is comprised of people that are walking in their purpose within God’s Plan but might be feeling as they are losing momentum and stamina on this journey. You thought things would turn out differently. You thought you would be married, with two kids and a dog by now. But what if God is still training you for what lies ahead in your future? What if you have a few more lessons to learn? Are you going to give up on believing in His Plan for your life? Will you be patient, trust that He knows best, and have faith that He will never let you down?

Instead of letting your hope dwindle, press your foot to the ground and floor it! Recognize once and for all that you are not in charge of the race, you are responsible for running it. God is going to bless you, but don’t let your motivation and focus be determined by what you desire from Him. Let your heart be filled with the desire to please God. Keep seeking Him and keep asking Him to show you what He requires. Your unwavering commitment to do this demonstrates your love and faith, and at His appointed time, you will receive the blessing you desire. It will be well worth the wait.■

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.

“Well Worth the Wait”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

March 30, 2022
The Spark We’re Missing

My family and I were watching a movie about the story of Moses. There were many scenes in the movie that were not aligned scripturally, but we continued watching. After the movie ended, we began to discuss it and talked about when Moses met his wife, Zipporah, at the well. I was reminded of the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from Jacob’s well, and Jesus asked her for a drink. She was surprised that he asked this of her, because he was Jewish, and customarily, Jews in Jesus’s time despised the Samaritans. The Samaritans were thought to have muddied the laws of Moses by mixing them with all kind of superstitions; they watered down what the Jews held sacred. In John 4:9, she asked Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” What happened next not only demonstrates the Master’s tremendous compassion and love for all, but it shows us that when the right question is asked, it can be answered in the most phenomenal way.

It cannot be lost on us that throughout his life, Jesus Christ continually received revelation knowledge from Heavenly Father. Jesus sought the Will of God, and God kept him completely informed of it. Jesus knew those that would be saved and transformed when they had no idea of it themselves. We sometimes incorrectly assume that he didn’t have a plan, or didn’t move strategically, but his steps were perfectly ordered by God, and when you and I move in Christ, so are ours. It was no coincidence that Jesus was at this well, and it was no coincidence that the Samaritan woman was there too. It was all according to God’s Will and Plan. Heavenly Father had written the Samaritan woman’s destiny. He appointed the time of her birth so that her life would be changed that day with Jesus at the well.

Something within the Samaritan woman’s spiritual DNA was triggered when she crossed paths with the Master. Make no mistake, we all have the spiritual DNA of our purpose operating within. No doubt when this woman left her home to fetch water for her family, she considered it a day like any other. There was probably no deviation from her usual routine, but Heavenly Father can take even the most mundane things in life and flip them into the miraculous. We often go on about the business of our days, not considering at all that the unveiling of our destinies will rock our worlds in an amazing way. Many of us stopped believing in this a long time ago because the enemy tricks us through distractions and disappointments, but we must understand that there’s a fuse inside us just waiting to be ignited.

After the woman inquired why he had asked her, of all people, for a drink of water, Jesus Christ replied in John 4:10(NLT), “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” Imagine meeting someone you’ve never met before, and this person offers you something you’ve never had before. You might not know quite how to respond, and you might also relegate it to the “too good to be true” category. Even so, whenever we hear someone speak of something promising, somewhere in our hearts, wheels start turning. This is what happened to the woman at the well. The thought of having a kind of water that would prevent the daily toil of fetching and carrying it back to the village would have been a game changer for her. Even without the slightest scrutiny, she entertained that it could be possible.

What about us? What if someone said to you, “I have a friend that wants to meet you very much. He’s saved, financially stable, intelligent, compassionate, loving, hard-working, loyal, and handsome.” Even if you think there’s no way a man with a package containing all those characteristics is about to step into your life that easily, you can’t help but to entertain it. Odds are that your next step is to dig a little deeper. Even though a big part of you isn’t buying in, you still want to question the person who proposed this introduction. You want to find out if there’s even the slightest chance that the person making the introduction is on the up-and-up, and if the man they described is the answer to your prayers.

We are wired by God, our Creator, to trust in the wonderful. The challenges and tribulations of life sometimes shroud it, but underneath the pain of the disappointments that we’ve suffered is still the willingness to believe in the extraordinary. Many of us have been tricked before, especially those who have endured the hurt of broken relationships and have fallen for men that have not held up their end of the bargain. The thing is, we thought they had living water, and we refused to hold ourselves accountable for trying to drink from an empty well.

Jesus Christ doesn’t offer us empty promises. He’s the Real Deal! The living water that he gives us will quench our thirst for an entire eternity. Have we responded to this magnanimous gift with the same zeal as the possibility of meeting a new man? The record of the woman at the well begs us to examine ourselves, because the spark we’re missing can’t be ignited by a new beau or boo. Sure, we might be happy for a few weeks or months, but that excitement, like all things in the world, soon wanes. Of course, Heavenly Father wants to bless every person that desires to be married with a loving and supportive spouse. He wants this more for us than we want it for ourselves, but just as Jesus Christ knew everything about the woman and her promiscuous past, He knows about our past as well. He knows when deep in our hearts, we are not treasuring and honoring the things of God the way we should. We’re not as excited about His living water as we are about other things.

John 4:23-26(NLT) lets us in on the conversation that continued between our Lord and Savior and the Samaritan woman. This passage says, “23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus told her, “I AM the Messiah!”” Here was a woman that saw sin as her ticket to happiness, and yet our Lord and Savior had compassion and revealed his identity to her. Initially, she asked why he had chosen her to ask for a drink, and the answer is revealed to all of us in God’s Word. Jesus wants us to recognize that our greatest need isn’t marriage or a relationship with a significant person. It is to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It’s to worship God in Spirit and in truth, and to realize that only He can fill our cups with living water. ■

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 Spark We’re Missing” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

March 16, 2022
The Promise, Process, And Presentation

A young Christian woman asked me, “I’m so scared to make a mistake in allowing the wrong person in my life, how will I know I’m making the right decision?” No doubt this young woman has seen the consequences many women have faced after they’ve made a wrong choice. Their relationships ended so badly and left these women in such a predicament that their faith was shaken. These setbacks caused them to feel depleted, lost, and insecure. If they had known more of God’s Word and walked in greater wisdom, surely the devil would not have had an opportunity to steal from them in such a brutal way. “How did they not know?” the young woman asked. It is a fair question when it comes to fully grown adults. How are we bamboozled by another human being to such an extent that we lose so much of ourselves in the process? This is a worthy question to explore, because the stability of our lives can be so damaged by a wrong choice that we’re fearful and others who see our pain become fearful too.

I explained to this young woman that when it comes to receiving anything in life, if it isn’t a presentation from God, then it needs to go back where it came from. Whether it’s a job, a new relationship or even financial increases, you want to make sure that anything and everything that’s new in your life, is not of your own doing, but is completely orchestrated by Heavenly Father. You may think that’s going a bit overboard, but really when it comes to your life, you can’t afford to make mistakes that will repeatedly set you back on this Christian journey; the wrong decisions can be very costly. Not just financially, but mentally, emotionally and particularly spiritually. It takes time and effort to regain what we’ve lost. So, to avoid losing time, momentum, and stamina, we should make sure that something we think is a blessing really is one.

Making Sure It’s from God
Particularly in the arena of dating, you might hear the statement, “waiting on a presentation from God” quite often. Some might get the impression that God suddenly brings a person out of nowhere and ‘boom!’, there he is. Heavenly Father has given us patterns in His Word that will aid our understanding of how He moves. Receiving the promise of what God wants to do specifically in our lives is only the first step. Sometimes, God will give us a dream, a vision, or a revelation from His Word through the Holy Spirit, and this affirms that He has heard our prayers and that the answer to our prayers is not only in alignment with His Will, but it’s on its way. The only way to make sure that God approves and that we are in partnership with His Will is to receive it first from the Holy Spirit. This is the pattern of Christ.

Jesus Christ said in John 8:29(NLT), “And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” Jesus Christ ONLY did those things that pleased God. He did nothing else. His practice was that of staying continually in prayer, getting up early in the mornings to pray, and during these times he would receive direction first, and then guidance from the Holy Spirit for his day. He never went off on his own, doing his own thing. He said in John 5:19(NLT), “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” This is the level of obedience and fellowship with God through Christ that the Father expects to see in us. We receive the promise, walk through the process, and then we’re prepared for the presentation.

Spiritual Preparation
Spiritual preparation is God’s process to get us ready for the presentation. Think of the span of time between God speaking His plans to those He employed, and then them actually receiving the promise. The distance between God’s spoken promise and the fruition of it was spiritual preparation. In Deuteronomy 11:8-9(NLT), He told His people, “8 Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter. 9 If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey!”

In order to go in and possess the promise, the people had to have spiritual strength. They had to obey God’s commandment and continue to pursue Him. In truth, not only did they have to receive God’s promise to know what HE wanted, they had to increase in spiritual strength, so they’d be able to take possession. Then, in order to enjoy the blessing, their continued obedience was necessary. We can see throughout the Old Testament that whenever and wherever God’s people failed to honor Him and His Word, their blessings were stolen and destroyed by the devil.

Heavenly Father doesn’t want our blessings to be stolen and destroyed by the enemy. He helps us tremendously so we can not only avoid this, but we can receive His guidance before we take the wrong actions. Many of us look at ourselves today and think we’re fully stocked and ready to rock. But the way to truly know we’re ready is to receive the promise supernaturally, put our hands in God’s hands, and let Him walk us through spiritual preparation for the presentation.

Psalms 37:5(NLT) tells us “Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.” God never makes a mistake. He is a God of order and perfection. We do not have to be fearful of making a horrible mistake when we have confidence that comes from receiving the promise directly from the Holy Spirit that indwells us. If we will be obedient, humble, and patient to walk with God through His process, the way many before us have done, we will be prepared for the presentation, and know that it’s one God, Himself, is making. ■

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 Promise, Process, And Presentation” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

March 2, 2022
God Will Help You Overcome the Challenges of Being Single

I read a study this week that said that single people between the ages of 21-34 are still struggling to find what they consider a compatible partner. For many of them, living together is a more common option than marriage and it’s becoming increasingly prevalent. These studies suggest that those women who do marry typically find their marital partners at the age of 25, and men around the age of 28. These are moving targets of course, particularly with the climbing divorce rates, which might mean that some of these young marriages are not lasting long. Finding love seems to get harder for those that are older and single. It’s common for many older men to prefer a living-together arrangement, and most older women prefer marriage. As you can see, the statistics don’t paint the rosiest of pictures, but this is often the case when faith in God’s provision is left out of the equation.

Not only have many people conveniently forgotten God’s standard when it comes to marriage, but it appears they’ve decided that He needs some help in this area. And we know that’s not the case. So, in the interest of addressing some of the attitudes and opinions about how God’s Word applies to modern relationships, I decided to bring this up as I conversed with a group of Christian sisters who were willing to share their opinions. One of them believed that many singles today are very career-minded and desire to focus on establishing themselves financially before thinking about a spouse. Someone added that this is also a time when people opt for physical connections without any commitment ties.

Some, but not all, of the women I spoke to that are believers were committed to God’s Word and only want to be with the man that God has ordained for their lives. Others were candid about the complexity of maintaining the relationships they’re in and trying to do it without physical intimacy. They feel guilty, but don’t want to be without the companionship of the person they care about; so, they have given in to temptation, and feel it helps to preserve the relationship despite what God’s Word says.

We can’t be surprised that some of our greatest temptations will show up in our significant relationships, because the devil wants us to be one of the negative statistics; and he wants us to make choices that prioritize other people and things over God. This grieves the Holy Spirit, and in the long run, it will devastate our lives.

A temptation is a presentation of a choice. God taught us this in Genesis. Adam and Eve were presented with a tempting choice by the devil. They didn’t have to disobey God, but they did it because they chose to believe the devil’s word over God’s Word. This behavior is rampant in the world we live in, even among believers. We are still tempted by the devil to make decisions that signify we believe the opposite of what God’s Word tells us. No, we’re not perfect. We’re going to make mistakes. We make poor choices and bad decisions sometimes, but Heavenly Father wants us to stop and think about what we’re doing. He wants us to make the process of “think before you act” a habit, so we don’t ruin the future that He desires to give us.

We make hundreds of decisions any given day. Some of great significance and some not so much. But when it comes to partnership and joining ourselves to another intimately, that’s a very significant decision, and it has a very significant impact on our lives. It is most certainly the truth that God will forgive us for all our sins. 1John 1:9(NLT) tells us, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” God throws our sins as far as the east is from the west, and He remembers them no more. But here’s the thing we’ve got to know, His forgiveness does not mean there will not be consequences for our poor choices and bad decisions. For every action there will be a reaction. That is law, and we cannot change it.

One of the reasons that the statistics for singles are troubling is because of the consequences for ignoring God’s Word and not obeying it. Our Heavenly Father cares about us and He cares about our happiness. He knows the challenges we face when it comes to patiently waiting for the right person, but we can’t think that our way is better for us than God’s way. Through Jesus Christ, God has given us a way to overcome the challenges of being single. In John 14:6(KJV), Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He’s the pathway to the Father. All the spiritual blessings of peace, joy, unity, love, and righteousness come through him.

Whether or not we believe this, and the extent to which we believe it, will always be tested by the devil. Many of us have terrific lip service. We praise, we sing, we confess, but in our hearts, do we believe that God’s truth will set us free? Do we believe that following God’s Word will bring us the life we desire? If we believe it, our actions will back-up our beliefs. If we don’t believe it, we will follow our own way instead of following God’s way.

Each of us has choices. What path are we going to walk? Because we can’t walk a different path from the one Jesus Christ made available and expect to receive what’s on his path. Understand that the choices you make now are building your tomorrow and your future. In Matthew 4:4(NKJV), Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and he faced each temptation and overcame it by telling the devil, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Living God’s Word and obeying it gives us access to God’s rewards, because His Word is life to us, and we are always and forever better off when we trust and obey God’s Word.

Heavenly Father has more concern for our care than we do. In turn, He asks us to be more concerned about His Will than we do about anything else. He is our sufficiency. He will take care of all our needs.

Jesus Christ provided a way for us to get out of sin so we can escape the consequences of it. He paid the ultimate price of dying on the cross for our transgressions. When we know this in the deepest part of our hearts, we will know that steering clear of sin is the way to win and not lose. Losing is falling for the devil’s tricks and temptations. Think about your decisions and choices long and hard. Always pray to God and ask for direction. Be confident that if you follow the pathway that Jesus Christ has given us, it will lead you to a marriage of peace, joy, unity, longevity, and love. ■

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.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“God Will Help You Overcome the Challenges of Being Single”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

February 1, 2022
Is It Worth It to Step Away from God’s Standard?

Heavenly Father first introduces us to the knowledge about the part of our souls called the ‘will’ in Genesis 1:27(NLT). This verse informs us, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We are created in God’s image. This means that we have an aspect of independence that allows us to make our own choices and decisions. Heavenly Father hopes that we will study His Word so it can guide us to make the very best choices and decisions. His Word will tell us about His expectations and commandments. It will tell us how we should act, think, feel, and speak. God hopes we will use our human-wills to partner with His Will, but often our wills fight against the very nature of God. This is the major problem we encounter in our desire for marriage, because what we think we want is often fighting against what God knows we need.

We live in a society that is getting further away from God’s standard. Many millennials believe His standard is outdated and that the Bible is not relevant to modern existence. Although this line of thinking is incredibly dangerous and dark, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who honor God, we need not worry. Proverbs 19:21(NLT) brings every attempt to subvert God’s Word to a screeching halt. It says, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.”

God tells us in Malachi 3:6(NLT), “I am the LORD, and I do not change.” Our Heavenly Father is brilliantly magnificent in every way imaginable. He is glorious beyond glory, intelligent beyond intelligence, and beautiful beyond beauty. He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present. He doesn’t need anything more to be who He is. Everything, and I do mean everything, exists solely for His pleasure. Hebrews 13:8(NLT) declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” So, God’s Word will never change. It is life to the hearer and doer of it, and its standard will forever be the judge of whether a life is lived poorly or well.

When it comes to our wills and the way we want to live our lives, even some believers will ignore what God has commanded, and then expect Him to be okay with it. This is never more true than in the area of physical intimacy. Some Christian women believe that God is okay with it being a matter of personal choice regarding whether to entertain sexual sin or not. 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) has an altogether different approach to this matter. It tells us, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Heavenly Father is looking for His daughters to rise up and make the choice to honor Him with their temples. He doesn’t want them to allow anyone or anything to come between them and living righteously for their King. He wants us to have the kind of mind-set that no matter what temptation the devil throws our way, we will keep our bodies as the holy temple God has commanded them to be.

The first sentence in 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) asks the question, “Don’t you realize…” It is asked rhetorically, with the expectation that this knowledge is Basics-101 in the beginner’s manual of spiritual maturity. It is asked to produce an effect, not necessarily an answer. It should resonate with every single woman out there who desires to partner up with a good man, because its wisdom reverses the curse of not receiving the blessing we desire most.

The Word of God teaches us how to live so that we keep His blessings flowing our way. Over time, I’ve had many conversations with single women that have entertained circumstances designed to interrupt God’s plan for their lives. Instead of fighting to honor God’s Word, they fight to keep the man satisfied by giving him their bodies. Not one second will they stop to consider that their bodies belong to God. Many of them never repent of this sin. Even if you aren’t aware or paying attention to what’s going on around you, you should pay close attention to what is going on inside of you. Your body is the temple of God; it’s where His Spirit lives. Surely, we cannot defile the temple, and then think those actions will be rewarded.

It is never worth it to step away from God’s standard. We must fight is to keep our minds and hearts anchored in the blessings that honoring His standards through obedience will bring. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has a plan for our lives, and it is to give us a future and a hope in Jesus Christ, our Lord. God’s plan will prevail, it’s the plan that yields success and our very best well-being.

We can come up with all kinds of rationales and excuses for why we’re not getting closer to the treasures God has in store for us. Some of us even blame Him for not moving on our behaves. But the bottom line is that God always and forever knows what is best for us, and He will always hold us accountable for upholding His standard.

And the reality is that until we stop doing the things that hold us back and begin to do the things that propel us forward, we are not going to progress to a level that will be satisfactory to our hearts. Every ounce of our faith, believing, and being must be saturated in the truth that God has the best plan for our lives, and it is our utter and complete responsibility to align ourselves with it. Our bodies are the temple of God’s Holy Spirit, and we must not only recognize this, but we must honor it with all that we are. ■

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.

“Is It Worth It to Step Away from God’s Standard?” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

January 24, 2022
Live by His Power!

Ephesians 3:20(NLT) says, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” This verse is so extraordinarily wonderful that we can scarcely take it in. All praise to God, for He hasn’t kept this magnificent morsel of truth a secret! We can walk in God’s power, because it’s on the inside of born-again believers! This power unlocks the door to the kind of life that the Father wants to give us. Whether it’s a solution to a problem we’ve been having, a better job, a spouse, financial abundance, better relationships, or most importantly, spiritual growth in Christ; no matter the issue, God desires that we have a more than abundant life, and that we live it through the power of His Holy Spirit.

The beginning of Ephesians 3:20 says ‘all glory to God’. His glory is the foundation upon which all blessings rest. Our Heavenly Father is glorious! Everything He does is glorious, and He is deserving of all the glory there is. He created us as His children, and because of this, our lives should be to His glory as well. A very simple definition of the word ‘glory’ is highest honor. Glory is that which is brilliant, magnificent, and has unsurpassed radiance and beauty. This is a wonderful description of our Heavenly Father. And to think that He has empowered us through Jesus Christ so that our lives will be to His glory, this is just mind-boggling, but it is true. Through His mercy, grace, and Holy Spirit, God has empowered us to bring Him glory, and therefore be glorious ourselves. This is always the goal, and it is the key to living a blessed life.

God’s power is mighty, there is absolutely no question about this, and He tells us in Ephesians 3:20 that His mighty power is at work within us, His children. We must know that God can do exceedingly abundantly above anything that you or I can ask or think, but we must also know that He will not overstep our free-will in order to accomplish this. Heavenly Father works in us through His precious Holy Spirit, but sometimes, we refuse to be active in the work the Spirit is doing.

Jesus Christ said in John 16:13(NLT) that the Spirit that indwells us is the Spirit of Truth, and “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.” The Spirit of Truth cannot guide us in a lie, so wherever a lie is present, it must be confronted and dismantled so that it does not block our way. For many of us, this is the problem; we won’t dismantle the lie and allow the Spirit to lead us in the truth.

God wants to accomplish something powerful in your life. The fullest expression of God’s love and power is contained within obedience. As soon as Adam and Eve stepped outside obedience, they became slaves to darkness and the Holy Spirit could not abide with them any longer. Because of Christ, God has made our bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit abides within us. However, to see God’s power unleashed and activated in us through His Spirit, we must ask Him to remove the veil from our eyes so we can see. We must see the things that satan has done to keep us blinded, and we need to be praying to God to bring us out of any darkness, so we can see His power at work through His glorious light.

We can be empowered dynamically through God’s strength, so we can endure with great joy, and have faith in the victory He brings. This is His Will. Heavenly Father has made up His mind about us, but our minds need to be made up about Him. We need to fully participate in the light because our redemption was secured through Jesus Christ already. Any participation in darkness is an offense to our identity in Christ. If we’re still dabbling in those dark areas, we need to recognize it and make a change.

Paul said in Colossians 1:29 that he was laboring and striving according to the Spirit at work within him, and the Spirit was working in him mightily. We should be able to say the same thing. Paul also gives us danger signals about not seeking the truth, because if we fail to seek the truth, we cannot walk in the blessings of God in the way that God has ordained. One such warning is in Hebrew 2:1(NLT), where Paul says, “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.”

Obedience to God may seem difficult at times for some Christians, but if we know and trust the truth, we will not disobey. Many women have made the mistake of drifting away from God’s truth for the sake of a man’s companionship. This is a blocker that we need to remove; a lie that we need to dismantle. The consequence of putting anything before our relationship with God is so severe and nothing is worth the pain it brings. We will live far beneath our privilege if we go this route.

We serve such a loving Heavenly Father. He grants to us such grace and mercy, and He forgives us for our ignorance and unwillingness to seek Him first in all that we do. But He expects that we will eventually wake up to the reality that our destiny is to walk in His power so that our lives bring Him glory. Jesus Christ said about the Holy Spirit in John 16:14(NLT), “He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.” Hear what Jesus Christ is saying through his Spirit, so that he receives the glory. Be led of the Holy Spirit and do not lean on your own understanding. Continue to seek and pray that God’s Will is done in your life. He knows exactly what will bring Him glory, and if you commit to obedience, you will know it too.■

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.

“Live by His Power!” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

January 10, 2022
Who Do You Belong To?

A wonderful sister in Christ had her first date with someone that she’s known for a while, but he was never really on her radar. The date went rather well, and she felt really good about things. A few days after their date, she wondered whether it was a good idea for her to reach out and make contact, because she hadn’t heard anything from him since the date. When she asked for my opinion, I in turn asked her one question, “Who do you belong to?” She knew instantly what I meant. She affirmed it with a nod and replied “God!” My question had absolutely nothing to do with arrogance, and it has everything to do with faith. If you’ve been praying for God to bless you with your destiny partner, you must have confidence that when he meets you, he will know who you are.

Dating is one of the areas in life where a person can think they are walking by faith, but fear is the thing that motivates a lot of their actions. It is important for us to understand that faith does not respond to a whim. It’s not wishy washy, or ambiguous. You either have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or you don’t. It is impossible to operate by both faith and fear. We can’t serve two masters. We have to chose which one we’re going to stand on.

It is very common in a situation like my friend experienced for the woman to feel as though she might have said or done something to offend, or that perhaps the man was left with the impression she wasn’t interested. She might think, “Maybe I should give things a nudge.” The thoughtful creatures that many women are, we immediately go into ‘fix it’ mode. This isn’t going to be helpful towards your confidence or his.

What will be helpful is to take a closer examination of how faith operates. Mark 9 gives us the record of a Father that was desperately seeking help for his son. The boy was possessed by a demon, and the father had gone to some of the disciples to cast the demon out of the boy. They were not able to do it. A crowd had gathered around the disciples because of the spectacle of this father and son. Jesus approached them and asked what was happening. The boy’s father spoke up and explained the situation. He then said to Jesus in Mark 9:22(NKJV), “But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

“IF” is not strong enough to connect and move faith to manifest results, because “IF” does not equal the truth. 2Corinthians 1:20(NLT) says, “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” This is the mindset of a fully persuaded believer; it’s the mindset that our powerful Lord deserves. Jesus Christ didn’t abandon the boy’s father and leave him with his “IF”, he helped him to get his mind right. Jesus said to him in Mark 9:23(NKJV), “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The father then said, “Lord I believe, but I may need some help. Please help my unbelief.” Jesus then healed the boy and casted out the evil spirit.

The right man for you is never an “IF”. He’s a resounding “Yes!” Do you believe this? Amos 3:3(NIV) is the question that sets the stage for razor sharp wisdom. It says, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” No person can make or force an individual to give something they are not willing to give. As women, we must come into agreement with God’s order, purpose, and Will. We cannot second guess His staggering genius and intellect. He created men and women to respond to each other in a certain way, and He made sure that a man will recognize his spouse and will not stop until he has made this queen his wife. This is what all real men do.

You are not a defective product that needs repair, and neither is your future spouse. Want what God has for you and nothing less. Time expended on the wrong one is time better spent sharpening your faith for the right one. Have faith in God. He cannot fail and He never disappoints. ■

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.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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

“Who Do You Belong To?” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

January 3, 2022