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.

3 Questions You Must Answer

If the person you’re dating isn’t ready for a marital commitment and you are, what are you expecting to happen? Do you expect that he will change his mind? Are you assuming he’ll grow more in love with you or are you willing to simply continue with things as they are? It’s important to ask yourself these questions and to examine the answers with as much scrutiny as possible. The major reason for this is because the answers are a good indication of how you see yourself and how you see God responding to your desire for marriage.

1 Do you expect that he will change his mind?
Heavenly Father did not intend that relationships would be as challenging as they are. But this is the thing about us humans, we bring complexity and confusion into just about every arena of life. 1Corinthians 14:33 tells us undoubtedly that God is not the author of confusion, so our goal forever and always should be to let His peace abide with us. The only way to achieve this is to seek and understand His Will.

Genesis 1:26(NLT) tells us, “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” God created us in His image, and He also gives us our mission. It is to reign within the earth’s realm. This is God’s Will! He did not give any human being the right to reign over another person. We can’t see into another person’s heart, and we cannot control their minds. We are to have dominion and authority in our own lives. This means we cannot change how someone responds to us. The most that we can do is change how we respond to them.

2 Are you assuming he’ll grow more in love with you?
Love is a commitment, and it is a commitment we must honor through the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 15:13(NKJV), our Master Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” His example reveals that love isn’t consumed with what we receive, it is about the commitment we make to love and serve others through Christ. Again, humans complicate things way more than they need to be. We have taken the infallible treasure of love and tried to dice it up and split it in several different ways that suit our own agendas. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has demonstrated for us what love is and how it behaves, so we don’t get to put our spin on it. 1John 4:8 tells us that God is love, and if authentic love is our goal, it must be expressed through our faith in Him.

After God created Adam, He saw that Adam was lonely. Genesis 2:20-23(NLT) tells us: “20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. 23 “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” Adam had all dominion and authority in the earth. He was not weak or lacking because he was created from God’s glory to be perfect in every way. But Adam was without a companion, and it was always God’s plan to make Eve from Adam’s body, so he would have a perfectly suited spouse to love.

Because God loves us, just as He did for Adam and Eve, He will take care of our needs. If we are representing Christ in the way that God requires, we should never allow ourselves to be overly concerned about whether someone loves us back. Instead, loving God through the Lord Jesus Christ must be our main focus and concern. 2Corinthians 3:5 tells us that God is our Sufficiency. Another person cannot fulfill that role, and if we think they can, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment. Therefore, we can never, under any circumstances, try to make another person our source or sufficiency. God is our Source. We must be very careful that we’re not trying to make a person our everything or depend on them to be. If we do this, we’ve stepped away from God’s love and may be in jeopardy of idolatry and obsession.

Are you willing to simply continue with things as they are?
God wants us to have happy lives and happy marriages. He doesn’t want to make our pleasure any less but wants our joy to be full. To accomplish this, the love of Jesus Christ must be firmly anchored in our hearts. When it isn’t, God will help us if we want to be helped. As we accept God’s help and commit ourselves to be led by His Spirit, we must accept that change is inevitable.

Things do not stay the same, and life doesn’t afford us the opportunity to continue being the same person we’ve always been. Therefore, we should not expect that the person we love will go on being who they are either. Life supports growth, change, and evolution; and all of it hangs on God’s purposes. Proverbs 19:21(NLT) says, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” So, the wisest thing we can do is be patient as God shows us what He has planned. Then, we can make decisions and choices in alignment with His Will, because these will be the best decisions and choices we can make for our lives.■

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

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.

“3 Questions You Must Answer“, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

August 2, 2021
Show Me How to Love

As human beings, we crave love, and whether we’re willing to admit it or not, most would do almost anything to have it. Many people today are still searching for that special someone, and they hope this person will shower them with the love they’ve always wanted. It’s no secret that there are disproportionately more single women desiring a committed relationship than men. They hope to find a man that has qualities comparable to their own, and that this quest will ultimately lead to marriage. They also hope this will not be prolonged much longer. Most single believers desiring marriage recognize that having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to make it a reality. Every step that a person takes towards increasing their faith in Christ is impactful, and this is one of the reasons it’s so important to be led by the Spirit in all you do, especially when it comes to your desire for marriage.

The Apostle Paul said in 1Corinthians 13:11(NLT), “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” From the very beginning of our lives, as infants, we are comforted and become established in the unconditional love from our parents. Knowing that our parents or guardians will always be supportive and will never walk away from us should establish the first foundation of love in our hearts. For many, this expectation of love, care, and support is rooted in us from infancy, but as we grow, our expectations for and about love should change. As children, our parents were our lords—they were supposed to be our everything. But as Paul tells us in God’s Word, when we mature and develop into adults, it is necessary for us to let go of childish things.

We are not perfect, and neither are our parents. Sometimes the foundation that gets established in us doesn’t help us build faith, but in some areas work against our faith. We grow up holding on to and nurturing immaturity. Some generational stuff gets passed on, and we may have insecurities and fears that we’ve not confronted or owned. These immature tendencies block us from developing mature faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is crucial to handle this business of removing the blockers, and to do it before we’re in the most significant relationships of our lives. The person we’ll marry will be the individual we minister to most. They will be most impacted by our spiritual walk in Christ, and if we are not prepared to help them in the way that God has purposed, we’ve got a problem.

Discovering God’s love is transformative. He has shown us through Christ that love is about what we do and has very little to do with what we say. Our loving Lord and Savior paid the ultimate price for us. Because of his overwhelming love, he sacrificed his life as payment for our sins. He said in John 15:13(NLT), “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” When we accept the love of Christ in our hearts, we then must love as he loves, share as he shares, and give as he gives. This is the least we can do for all that he has done for us.

1 John 3:16(MSG) says, “This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.” We must understand that sacrifice is necessary in love; Jesus Christ has shown us this, and it is this sacrificial aspect of love that many people refuse to see. Meeting the person we will marry can’t be a desire born out of selfishness or self-agendas. If it is, the relationship won’t have a solid foundation. But when a relationship is built on the solid foundation of Christ, it will last. This means that, with our future spouses, we will come into the union with a measure of spiritual maturity that God has stamped “READY!”

Right now, we don’t yet know all the ways in which we’re missing the mark in the love of God in Christ, but God knows. He knows our every weakness, and He sees the problems and situations in our futures that we are not yet spiritually mature enough to handle. The psalmist prayed in Psalm 27:10-11(NLT), “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close. Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.” This must be our constant prayer. You have an enemy that seeks to keep you separated from our future spouse, but God will teach you how to love through Him and keep your union strong. He will show you how to love so that you fulfill the plan He has for you and your spouse. Be patient, and let the Spirit lead you along this right path. ■

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.

“Show Me How to Love”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

July 26, 2021
I Thought I heard from God

Genesis 1:27-28(MSG) tells us, “God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!” God is our Creator, and He has made us in His image. 1John 4:8 affirms that love is not just what God does, LOVE is who He is! Therefore, you and I can know resolutely that we were made from God’s love. And with His love, many things are woven into our beings. For instance, we know that one of the things God desires from all of us is an intimate relationship. So, it should come as no surprise that as children made in His likeness, a desire for relationships comes baked in our makeup. This desire is a product of God’s love. It shows us that love will always seek to expand and increase, and that our desire for partnership is very natural.

Because love is so important to us, sometimes we allow ourselves to be manipulated and mistreated in the pursuit of it. In Hosea 4:6, God tells us that His people are destroyed because of ignorance. This makes it clear that we can be severely harmed or taken out because of what we don’t know. It’s apparent why Heavenly Father tells us in Proverbs 4:7 that wisdom is the principal thing, and that we should make every effort to attain it, and to also get an understanding about how to apply this wisdom. Not prioritizing the attainment of wisdom over the pursuit of a relationship can be a very dangerous thing.

We must know that the enemy was once an angel of light, and he knows how to counterfeit light very well; it is something he uses to trick us so that we fall into one of his traps. The aim, of course, is to keep us blinded so that we focus our attention on the counterfeit and miss the true blessing that is meant for our lives. To get a visual of what this looks like, we don’t have to look too far. Most of us have heard these hurtful stories. We have seen it in our own families or have experienced it ourselves. We have a tremendous capacity to love, and with this comes the desire to cling to a relationship that is past it’s expiration date, and to keep on loving even when the other person no longer feels the same way.

A friend that did this said to me about the man she loves, “I know I heard God tell me he was the one.” In truth, she had already made an emotional investment in the man before she even thought about consulting the Lord. She had made up in her mind he was the one before seeking the wisdom to know for sure. After three years of dating, she’s devastated because she truly believed that the man she had been devoted to was in her words, “the man I’m meant to marry.” We must be careful not to betray our better judgment in this way. We must wait on God. If we ask for His guidance and wisdom, He is sure to give it.

Love is an area of life where we desperately need wisdom. God doesn’t make mistakes. His first priority is our spiritual growth in Christ. Therefore, partnership with God through the Lord Jesus Christ will always come first with Him. It would be out of His divine order to give us a treasure of another person, when we are not even handling ourselves righteously before Him. Jesus Christ warns us not to be so consumed with getting that we are not able to respond to God’s giving. He tells us in Matthew 6:33 to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first, and all the other blessings will be added to our lives.

If we desire a wonderful relationship, but don’t have the proven spiritual strength, wisdom, and maturity to handle it right now, Heavenly Father doesn’t tell us ‘no’. He helps us develop well-formed love so that we are able to handle the thing we desire most. We don’t have to be perfect, but we do have to demonstrate that we will always and forever put God first, no matter who comes into our lives. God is the glue that holds everything together, and we must wake up to this truth, otherwise, we’ll keep going down the wrong path and continue the cycle of making the wrong kinds of decisions. Heavenly Father doesn’t want this for us. He wants us to be wise, spiritually strong, and confident in His love, and when we are, we’ll be prepared for the treasures He’ll send our way. ■

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

“I Thought I heard from God”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

July 19, 2021
Stop Mourning What Could Have Been

One of the things we do when we’re in a relationship is reshuffle our lives to make room for the new man. Most of us see this as a welcomed change, and we’re happy to do it, but when the relationship doesn’t go as expected, it can be very challenging. On top of the heartache we’re experiencing, we must do even more reshuffling. We have to acclimate ourselves to the reality of our disappointment while trying not to miss a beat with the other important things in our lives. Even though most of us will try to smooth over the gaps that were left vacant by the absence of this person, things can’t go back to the way they were. Try as we might to get back to that place, we just can’t. This can be very difficult for us to accept, especially when we’re facing the holidays.

For most of us, the holiday season comes with both its share of joys and stresses. There are increased demands on our time with family and work gatherings, and not only this, there’s the pressure of gift giving on our finances. Of course, the joys far exceed the angst. It’s a beautiful season that reminds us of warm coziness, closeness with those we love, and most importantly, remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All of us want it to be a celebratory time that we share with that special someone, but not having this person in our lives shouldn’t be a game changer.

There are some truths that we as believers must accept, and one of them is that everything, every detail, from the smallest to the greatest, happens for a reason. Heavenly Father created us in such a way that we change, evolve, and grow through knowledge and experiences. He tells us in Ephesians 4:23(NIV), “to be made new in the attitude of your minds;” In Romans 12:2(NIV), He said, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This means that we ought to learn lessons of wisdom from our mistakes and change our thoughts and attitudes so that we’re better from our breakups and not worse. Our goal through every success and disappointment should be to excel in Christ, because as we learn more about him, we are transformed into the person God created us to be.

This doesn’t happen all at once. After we’re born-again through Christ, our spiritual journey in him begins. It’s never a backward regression. In the realm of God, there is only one trajectory, forward and upward. As we walk in the Holy Spirit and allow him to teach us about Jesus Christ, we’ll go higher and higher. It is awesomely important that we trust this truth, because it will help to build our faith. It will help us to be anchored in the truth that although things didn’t turn out the way we wanted, God’s plan for us is not deterred. He will cause all things to work together for our good.

Some of us are very tempted to let a breakup send us backwards, but our faith in God ought to be anchored in what He’s doing now and what He will do in the future. We want to go back to who we used to be, or we want the man back in our lives so things will be as they were. We should never want to go back because there’s too much to look forward to.

The children of Israel living in Old Testament times are an example of the wrong attitude and mindset. In Numbers 14:22-23(NIV), God said, “Not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.” God’s people were forbidden to see the Promised Land because they refused to believe that their latter days would be better than their former days. They wouldn’t trust that God would increase them as they pursued His Will and promises in faith. Instead, they cowered in fear and doubt, complained, and wandered around in the wilderness. We should never allow this to be said of us.

John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. He gifted to all of us the most precious offering He could make. At God’s appointed time, something new and extraordinarily wonderful came into the world. This is the God we serve, and it is something to celebrate every day. We’re not the same person we were, and that’s nothing to be sad about. We learned how flexible and strong we are when we have to be. Don’t constantly make a memorial of your past at the expense of your future. With God, all things are possible, and when we make Him the focus, we can stop mourning what could have been and prepare to embrace the newness of what will be.■

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

“Stop Mourning What Could Have Been”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

July 6, 2021
Do I Stay or Do I Go?

Eloise was approaching a milestone birthday and was planning for it a month in advance. She was excited because this year, she had someone new in her life. Eloise had been single way longer than she wanted to be, and she had done what many singles do, and that’s put certain aspects of their lives on hold until marriage. She didn’t go to certain functions because she didn’t like not having someone by her side, and there were also vacation spots, like Hawaii, that she put on hold so she could share them with her future spouse. She even put off purchasing a home, because again, in her mind this is something you do with your husband. Wanting and waiting to share special memories with a spouse is beautiful, but living life to the fullest is something we should do whether we’re married or not.

As the days grew closer to her birthday, Eloise noticed that the man in her life hadn’t mentioned any plans. She hoped this was because he had been planning to surprise her. She looked for subtle hints in their conversations, but nothing surfaced, and she began to get nervous. Finally, a couple of days before her big day, he called during her lunch break at work. Before their conversation ended, she casually reminded him of her birthday and asked if they’d be doing anything together. In a very matter of fact manner, he replied, “It’s up to you. If you want to go out, we can.” Not quite the response she was looking for.

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one aspect of our lives that you and I have to get right is the commitment and action of love. One day, an expert in Jewish law asked Jesus Christ which of the commandments is most important. In Mark 12:30-31(NLT), Jesus responded, “30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Not only is it important that we love in the way that Christ has commanded, but it is important that we love ourselves this way as well. When we love ourselves, there are certain things we simply won’t accept. This increases our faith and causes the same quality self-love to boomerang back to us.

Romans 5:8(NLT) tells us, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” This verse tells us of God’s unconditional, unlimited love. When we become born-again, and receive the Spirit of Christ, we then have God’s love deposited within. The more we learn about Heavenly Father, the more we are able to love like Christ. This is God’s goal for each of us. He wants us to love Him, to love others, and to love ourselves through the love of Jesus Christ.

So, God doesn’t just tell us to love Him and others, through Jesus Christ, He actually showed us how to get this done. He sent His only begotten Son to earth to show us the way. As women who love God, many of us have taken this and ran with it. We are committed to continue learning to love like Christ. We practice this in our relationships, because we love like we want to be loved. We’re thoughtful and considerate, and we go out of our way to make sure the special person in our lives feels appreciated. If we’re not getting this back, that should be a wake-up call.

You see, Heavenly Father knows that when we are confident in our understanding of the love of Christ, we are then better able to set boundaries and wisely define our expectations. We understand our worth to God, and therefore, we won’t accept treatment that isn’t in alignment with God’s love for us. This isn’t about ego. When you are confident in your own ability to love like Christ, you can then recognize and look for the exit sign when someone isn’t loving you that way in return.

Eloise shared with her boyfriend from the very beginning that her desire was to be married. He didn’t run from it, but he hadn’t done anything to lead her to believe he wanted marriage as well. When her birthday finally arrived, her boyfriend took her out for a nice dinner. After dinning, she told him how much she enjoyed their evening. She also said she hoped it was the start of their future together. His response was, “I hear what you’re saying, but you don’t have to constantly remind me!”

She was crushed by his words. She hadn’t nagged him, but sometimes the tension of desperation doesn’t need to be spoken in order to be felt. It was clear that he wouldn’t be as thrilled to share those special moments with her as she had always dreamed. So, the question she found herself facing was should she stay in the relationship and continue to hope, or does she cut all ties and move on with her life, committed to live it to the fullest.

It takes some of us a while to learn that seeking and pursuing God’s Will first is the best way to love ourselves and to live a fulfilling life. A caring and supportive spouse is one of God’s sweet rewards, but just because a man is interested, it doesn’t mean he’s the reward. We must continue to have faith and trust in Heavenly Father that the right one will come. God knows what is best, and at the end of the day, we should only want what He wants for us. It will be a person who mirrors His love and adds to the fullness we already have in Christ.■

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.

“Do I Stay or Do I Go?” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

May 4, 2021
God Sees the Best in You

When Lisa met her boyfriend Ryan, she was the heaviest she’d ever been. She was always a plus-size woman, but she thought that if she trimmed down, maybe Ryan would find her more attractive. Men are notoriously visual creatures, and some are attracted only by physical appearance, but not all men are this way. Ryan wasn’t focused on Lisa’s waistline, as a matter of fact, he thought she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met. Lisa’s self-esteem was so affected by how she had been treated in other relationships, that she didn’t have confidence in herself or her relationship with Ryan. She thought if he knew about her battle with self-esteem and weight, he might find her less attractive. She was shocked when she learned the truth about how he really felt.

Our struggles with self-esteem cannot help but spill over into our relationships with the significant man in our lives. Insecurities can manifest in all sorts of ways in a relationship—ways that you and I can never predict. Insecurities can show up as jealousy, apathy, obsession, and distrust. Sometimes these things drive a wedge that ultimately result in the demise of the relationship. It’s a fear of not being good enough the way we are. All of us should do things to improve our health and well-being, but we should do it because we love and appreciate ourselves, not because we’re trying to please someone else.

If we pray and have faith, the Lord Jesus Christ will help us manage the journey to wholeness and feeling good about ourselves, but we should know that it is indeed a journey. For some, it takes longer than others to get to a place of self-acceptance; and as we travel to this place, we still have to keep growing spiritually and fulfilling our obligations to the faith. Dealing with insecurities, while also maintaining a relationship you hope will lead to marriage, takes an unwavering commitment to be guided by the Lord. He desires that you have someone in your life that is understanding and will support you through the process of learning to appreciate yourself.

Many of us pay a lot of attention to the way we look. We’ll go the extra mile to ensure we’re keeping up with the latest trends in fashion and beauty, because we want to look our best. I believe Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy looking and feeling as good as we can, however, like anything in life, some of us take it to the extreme. We either become too hard on ourselves about our appearance, or we obsess about looking perfect. The danger is that whenever anything consumes too much of our energy, it subtracts from the energy we should be expending on our spiritual growth and relationship with God.

In Hebrews 12:1(NLT), the Apostle Paul said, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Nothing comes before our destiny in Christ, and nothing should come before carrying forth the purpose for which we were born. Every believer has a race to run, and it is important to God that we be about the business of running it.

When God tells us to strip off the sin that weighs us down, insecurities and obsessions are very definitely included in the stuff we need to get rid of. God knows our past, present, and future; this is something that must always be in the forefront of our minds. When relationships fall apart, or when you meet someone you dig and he doesn’t dig you, if you remember that God’s objective is for you to fulfill your destiny, you won’t sweat the small stuff. You’ll be confident that things didn’t work out because this person isn’t meant to journey forward with you.

Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created human beings in His own image. If we look a little deeper, Psalm 8:5-6(NLT) says, “5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—”This is how Heavenly Father sees us. When He looks upon our lives, He doesn’t see our flaws. He sees the Christ in us; therefore, He sees the best in us. He knows that you’re on the way to becoming who He’s destined you to be.

He presents us with a person that will help us—a person that will help to strengthen our strengths and diminish our weaknesses. This is who Ryan was to Lisa. God presented her with someone that wouldn’t run when he saw parts of her that she didn’t want anyone to see. About six months into their relationship, he said “I’ve noticed you’ve lost weight lately; is there a particular reason why? I’m only asking because I want you to know that I love you—I loved you before you lost the weight and I love you if you never lose a pound. You’re beautiful either way to me.”

The words that Ryan spoke were incredibly healing to her soul. This is what God means when He commands the man to love His wife as Jesus Christ loves the church. It’s an unconditional love that strengthens and helps us fulfill the Will of God for our lives. We should never doubt that when we’re patient and committed to pray and seek God’s Will, He’ll send a person across our paths that will mirror His love for us. It’s someone who helps us on our journey towards healing and wholeness. And it’s also someone who’s love will remind us continually that God wants the best for us, and He’s faithful to honor His promises.■

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.

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

“God Sees the Best in You”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

April 26, 2021
Our Unlimited Treasure

In his parable in Matthew 13:44(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.” Can you imagine going out into a field and stumbling on a hidden treasure? If you’re a person of great wealth already, you might not be as thrilled to find this treasure as someone that is living paycheck to paycheck. But imagine that this treasure is more than monetary or financial blessings. It’s the treasure of your greatest heart’s desire. Perhaps it’s the spouse you’ve been waiting to meet, or the friends you’d like to have in your life. Maybe it’s good health or restoration of something precious that you’ve lost. Whatever the treasure is, it is beyond valuable to you, so much so that when you find it in a field, you’re beside yourself with joy. You can’t take this treasure with you because it’s too vast for your arms to carry, so you make sure it’s hidden away in the field, so that it’s well kept until you come back for it.

A parable is a simple story that is used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, and Jesus Christ often used them. They were easy to understand for those who were not quite able to grasp the deeper spiritual meaning. It was relatable and easy for people to envision someone being overjoyed about finding a treasure, because most of us would be ecstatic about this. But this parable requires us to go a little deeper than whats on the surface. In order to grasp what Jesus conveyed through first, the treasure; second, the fields; and third, what it took to secure them, we must seek to have a greater understanding, particularly for those who desire to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In another verse, Matthew 6:21, Jesus Christ talked about treasure as well. He tells us that wherever our treasure is, our hearts will be there with it. This means that you and I go after what we treasure most. If we treasure material riches, we’ll pursue that. If we treasure relationships with others, we’ll pursue those. Jesus is pointing out to us that the Father sees us according to our hearts; this is what speaks the truth about who we are. In other words, God knows what we value most by what we treasure in our hearts.

In Matthew 13:44, Jesus very clearly tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure. In truth, the Kingdom of Heaven is far greater than any treasure you and I can imagine, because the Kingdom of Heaven can’t be limited by our human understanding. However, so that we can comprehend on some level the enormous and unlimited value of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus tells us it is LIKE a treasure. It is a treasure that has no equal, so when a man finds it in the field, he has stumbled upon something for which his excitement is unbridled.

The question for us is whether we have this level of excitement for the things of the Kingdom, because God expects to see it. He tells us in 2Chronicles 16:9(NLT), “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” The eyes of God continually and consistently probe the earth, looking to land on the person who has a heart that is loyal and committed to Him. When He finds a person with this kind of heart, His strength and power is unleashed on this person’s behalf.

So many of us are wondering why we’re not witnessing a mighty move of God in our circumstances, yet, we get up every morning with a pessimistic view of our lives and everything in it. We’re complaining about one thing or another, and excitement about being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven is the furthest thing from our minds. So, when His eyes land upon us, He doesn’t see unbridled gratitude and excitement about being His child. Instead, for many of us He sees our choice to let dissatisfaction, worry, resentment, phobias, fears, grief, loneliness, and doubt consume our souls.

1Corinthians 4:20(NLT) tells us, “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” Many of us don’t get excited because we lack faith that God has empowered us to live with His power. We have the wrong vision of ourselves; and therefore, since we have the wrong vision of ourselves, we have the wrong vision of God. We must understand the impact of our feelings and thoughts; we must comprehend the colors they paint on the portrait of our faith.

The Kingdom of Heaven is our unlimited treasure, and it is worth losing everything we own to obtain it. Understand that it isn’t enough to say that we think we know this; the evidence is at the very core of who we are. The way we truly feel about God’s Kingdom is evidenced in everything we do, think, feel, and say; there’s no faking this. So every day, you and I should make a commitment to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help us in this area. We must grow in our understanding of the treasure we have within through our relationship with God through Christ. We must invite the Holy Spirit to do a work within, so we have a greater revelation of what God has given us, and a greater level of gratitude and excitement for being the recipients of His unlimited treasure.

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.

“Our Unlimited Treasure” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

March 22, 2021
Forgetting the Things of the Past

We should never judge a book by its cover. This is one of those golden rules, and it truly is one to live by. Judging something solely on the basis of what appears externally can be a costly mistake, and many single women can testify to this. A person can be pleasing to the eye, but what’s going on inside of them can tell a completely different story. When you’re dating someone like this, it can be the most disappointing thing. The person looked to have it all together, but after getting to know them a little better, something just isn’t quite right. Regardless of how a person looks, when there’s an incompatibility between souls, it leads to all kinds of complications. This is a lesson that should prompt us to look in the mirror, because many of us look the part of a woman that’s got it going on, but on the inside, we’re burdened and suffering. Many of us never stop to think that our refusal to let some things go may be blocking us from the blessings we are destined to receive.

We all know women who hide behind their pain. Marilyn is one of them. The odd thing is that she’s someone that no one would ever suspect is unhappy. She’s 39 years old and married with two children. She’s been a high school teacher for many years, and all her students love her. Her husband adores her as well, and she is a very loving mother, but Marilyn is also a very sad woman on the inside. Her bathroom shower is her place of solace, and there she cries her heart out just about every night. She is very tired of feeling sad but doesn’t trust that anything can make it better.

Thoughts of her past are tormenting. She copes with it during the day by keeping as busy as possible, but at night the memories come flooding back in. Something happened years ago that shook her to her core, and she refuses to allow anyone to see her pain, not even her husband of fourteen years.

It is shocking to think that a person can function with this much pain and do everything within their power to keep it from everyone else. The truth is that many of us do this because we’ve never learned how not to do it. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14(NLT), “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Whether we know it or not, God is giving us a strategy for handling a troubling past, and Paul proved that it works, because if anyone had a troubling past, it was him. Paul trusted Christ, and through God’s grace, he put his past behind him.

He tells us that we have to focus, and this focus comes in two steps: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. Both of these work together, but sometimes we make a habit of looking back. The fear of looking forward has tripped many of us because we think we might be disappointed if we get our hopes up. It’s just like meeting a very attractive person and discovering they have a really yucky personality. It’s a let-down, but that doesn’t mean that every attractive person is this way. There are some people that are beautiful on the outside and inside. So, something horrible may have happened in the past, but we shouldn’t give the past so much power that it shapes and molds our futures.

In 1Corinthians 3:10, Paul said that God had given him the grace to be a wise master builder, and because of this empowerment, he had laid a foundation. This is what you and I must do as well. We must build on the foundation laid by Jesus Christ, and the way to do this is to have faith that he will bless us and keep us surrounded in his safety. In John 10:10, Jesus Christ said that he left the throne of God and came to earth to make a more than abundant life available to us. It is up to you and I to walk in faith and manifest this abundance. We can have fulfillment, liberty, and love in our lives through Christ, and we must be sold out on the truth of this. We can do it, because God said it can be done. We don’t have to get stuck in the past because we are afraid to be happy in the present, but this is what Marilyn did. She was afraid of so many things, and she worried all the time. Nothing made her happy, and she expected to always be disappointed, no matter the situation. She would not allow her heart to trust Jesus Christ.

Trusting Jesus Christ with our pain is the solution! We don’t have to walk around with a bad attitude and allow pain to paint our hearts with darkness and fear. We can choose to forget the past! Jesus Christ instructs us in Matthew 11:28-30(NIV), “28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The rest that Jesus Christ gives us is spiritual. It’s supernatural, which means it bypasses our understanding. Our only responsibility is to simply surrender to his care.

Meeting the special person that God has ordained for our lives is truly a blessing. We want them to be compatible with us, but we should honor the reality that they will want the same thing. Meeting someone that is one thing on the outside but something completely different on the inside isn’t anyone’s ideal soulmate, so we should do everything in our power not to be someone like that. Wear the love of Jesus Christ by accepting it totally and letting it saturate your heart. Don’t cling to the past, cling to him, because you can’t do both. Release your burdens to him, and trust in the blessings that God has in store for your life. You can do it because Jesus Christ says you can. Focus on trusting him and you’ll be amazed at the difference it will make in 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.

“Forgetting the Things of the Past” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

March 15, 2021
You Will Have It All Again!

There is little in life that is more emotionally painful than going through divorce. For many people, it’s a tremendous loss. God tells us a little bit about how He deals with our losses in the encouragement of Joel 2:25-26(NLT). In this passage He said, “25 I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you. 26 Once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the LORD your God, who does these miracles for you. Never again will my people be disgraced.” The locusts in the verse are symbolic of the devil, for he is a thief who steals ruthlessly, taking all and leaving nothing behind. The latter part of verse 25, where God says that He sent the great destroying army, God is speaking from the perspective of His Permissive Will. We need to know what this means for us, so that new opportunities for love are greeted with a faith that isn’t held back by lingering remnants of fear.

The first five words of this passage are “I will give you back…” This suggests to us that indeed something can be taken away. Loss is a terrible feeling, but there are times in life where we will experience it, and sometimes we wonder why. Why does God allow so much to be taken from us—things that are very important to our sense of well-being? We can become very resentful about this because we’re so sad and hurt. The truth is that when a marriage results in divorce, there were challenges within the marriage that we were not spiritually mature enough to handle. God didn’t fail us. We simply lacked the spiritual strength and knowledge to face our fears and overcome them through faith.

God doesn’t want us to have a pity party and go into self-condemnation about what has transpired in our past. He wants to help us prepare for what is in our futures. The passage in 1Corinthians 13:4-8(NLT) tells us, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” Fear will tell us that this is a standard we can’t meet, but the mind of Christ will press us to breach the walls of our comfort zones to love in greater ways. This is the lesson we should all learn from our previous relationships.

Divorce is often an indication of how much the devil was able to use fear as a weapon against us. Sometimes people will say things like, “My Ex was too selfish…” or “We just weren’t ready for that kind of commitment.” We will even blame the other person. Time passes, the pain of the breakup subsides, and we begin to pray for new love. This is wonderful, but if we didn’t examine ourselves in an effort to make sure what happened in the past doesn’t happen in the future, we may lack the humility and growth to enter marriage again.

2Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear; He’s given us a spirit of love, power, and sound mind. These are not just mere words; the spirit of love, power, and sound mind are eternal treasures on which the foundation of any relationship should be built. God has given us these spiritual goodies and we need to grow in them, because the devil will constantly test us to see if fear is present.

Fear belongs to the devil. If it is present in our hearts and we act upon it, it gives the enemy a way to invade our marriages legally. Heavenly Father’s Permissive Will allows these attacks because His provision through Jesus Christ has already given us the armor to stand strong no matter what we face. He commands us to put on ALL the spiritual armor He has provided and keep it on. We must have the courage to ask God if we are fortified in the places we weren’t before. If we aren’t, He will let us know, and He will help strengthen us so that everything we lost in divorce, we can have it all again. ■

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.

“You Will Have It All Again” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

February 28, 2021
Out of Darkness and into The Light

Jesus Christ said in Mark 4:22(NIV), “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.” In this verse, our blessed Lord and Savior is teaching about the Kingdom of God, because he wants us to know what the Kingdom of God is like. It’s all light, and as God’s children, we share in this light. Our Heavenly Father is fully transparent. Everything with Him is out in the open. God doesn’t do things in the dark, but the devil is the exact opposite; he does evil deeds in the dark, and so do some people. They don’t want anyone to know or see these things, but as children of the light, we can’t operate that way.

In Mark 4:21, Jesus asked, “Should a candle be brought into a place to be put under a basket or under a bed and not to be set on a candlestick?” Of course not! We should never hide the glory of the Lord that is in our hearts. No one having right mind would hide a burning candle under anything. A candle is meant to illuminate and bring light so that things hidden are exposed and so that darkness is dispelled. Such a bright and glorious thing as light is never meant to be hidden, but rather it is placed out in the open so that others may see the glory of it and come into the light themselves.

When I was a kid, like many youngsters, I didn’t like being in the dark at bedtime. So much so, that I would ask my older sister to sing me a song so that I would hurry off to sleep and not have to face the darkness. I was afraid as a little girl that anything could happen. The fact that I couldn’t physically see in the dark, couldn’t stop whatever was out to get me, and couldn’t defend myself against it just overwhelmed my young mind. I understood, even at a young age, that ultimately, darkness is powerlessness.

In darkness, what isn’t there can be just as painful as what is. It is a terrible place to be and many people are hurting because they don’t realize that our God has a life-changing solution for darkness and powerlessness through the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not just those who are lost and don’t know Jesus Christ that are feeling the torment of darkness. Many believers that have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior are suffering in torment as well. They feel as though no one understands their pain. They are looking for something real and desperately want to experience the joy of the light of Christ in their lives. Jesus wants to shed his light in our dark places. He stands at the door of our hearts and continually knocks. The question before all of us is “will we let him in?”

Darkness represents the absence of light. In Mark 4:22, Jesus Christ said the thing that is hidden is meant to be disclosed. Nothing can be hidden from our Heavenly Father. He knows everything, and He knows the deep things of our hearts. One of the reasons why we experience so much pain is that we want hidden things to remain that way, but healing comes when these things are exposed to the love of God. Jesus Christ said in John 8:12(NLT), “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” Our blessed Lord isn’t going to put us on blast, that isn’t what he means when he tells us that hidden things will come to light. He is really extending an invitation for us to allow his light access to every part of our being, because he knows exactly what we need, and he wants us to be the lights God has made us to be.

1Thessalonians 5:5(NLT) says, “For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.” We are not without responsibility and duty as sons and daughters of God. We have an obligation as children of the light to walk in the light. When you walk in the sunshine on a beautiful sunny day, you allow yourself to soak it up and take it in. It is exactly the same with the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Mark 4:23-24, he tells us how to soak in his light. He commands us to listen and pay close attention to what we hear from him, because the closer we listen, the more understanding we’ll be given. In verse 25, he said that for those that are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. So, listening to God’s Word with an intention and attention to hear and understand is an important part of letting God’s love and light in our hearts.

Colossians 1:13 tells us that God rescued us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. We have already been rescued from darkness. No more wandering around, not knowing where to go or what to do. We serve a living God and a risen Savior, and his Spirit lives on the inside of us. Philippians 2:15(NLT) tells us to “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” God would not tell us to do something that He didn’t equip us to do. We have to see ourselves as bright lights shining in a world of darkness and continue to follow God’s Word so that our lights never dim.■

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.

“Out of Darkness and into The Light” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

February 16, 2021