Find A Christian Man

Tag: Growing in the Holy Spirit

  • Please Help Me Remain Obedient to Your Will

    Please Help Me Remain Obedient to Your Will

    Dear Heavenly Father,

    Thank You for loving me and for always wanting what is best for me. Thank You for Your Word that gives me wisdom, and for the Holy Spirit who lives inside me and helps me when I don’t know what to do. Thank You for the people You place in my life who love me enough to tell me the truth and remind me of what Your Word says. You have been so faithful to me, Father. When I look back over my life, I can see so many times when Your way was better than mine. You knew what I needed, You knew what I didn’t need, and You were looking out for me even when I didn’t understand what You were doing.

    Please forgive me for the times I’ve known what was right and still struggled to do it. Forgive me for allowing my feelings to become stronger than my good judgment, and for the times I’ve wanted something so badly that I tried to reason around what I knew in my heart. Sometimes I can get ahead of You. Sometimes I don’t want to wait. And sometimes, Father, I simply want what I want. Please forgive me for those times when I’ve allowed a person, a relationship, or something I desire to take up more room in my heart than it should. I never want anyone or anything to have the place that belongs to You. Your Word tells me to seek You first, and I want my life and my choices to show that I really believe this.

    Father, please help me remain obedient to Your Will. Give me wisdom about the decisions and choices I make, especially when my emotions are involved. Help me not to overlook what You are trying to show me because I like someone or because I’m afraid of losing something I want. If something isn’t right for me, give me the courage to accept it. If I need to wait, help me wait. If I need to walk away, help me walk away. And when You bless me with something good, help me enjoy it without ever making the blessing more important than the One who gave it. I want to be loving and kind to the people in my life, but I want to do it according to Your loving standards and not my own. Holy Spirit, please keep me sensitive to Your voice and strong enough to follow Your leading.

    Lord Jesus, please help me follow Your example. You are the way, the truth, and the life, and I know I will never go wrong putting You first. I don’t know everything that is ahead of me, but You do, and that is why I can trust You. Help me become the kind of woman who doesn’t just know Your Word, but obeys it—even when obedience is hard, even when my feelings are pulling me in another direction, and even when I don’t understand why You are asking something of me. I want to trust that Your wisdom is greater than mine and that Your Will for my life is good.

    Thank You, Holy and Glorious Heavenly Father, for being patient with me while I grow. Thank You for correcting me, protecting me, and never leaving me to figure life out on my own. Thank You for every blessing You have given me and even for the things You have kept away from me that I may never know about. All blessings flow from You, and I want my life to please You. Please continue to help me walk in wisdom, remain obedient to Your Word, and trust You with every part of my life. In the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

    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.

    “Please Help Me Remain Obedient to Your Will”, written for FindChristianMan.com©2026.  All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

  • Happy in the Lord

    Happy in the Lord

    Dear Heavenly Father,

    Thank You for loving me exactly as You created me. Thank You for giving me life, for knowing everything about me, and for still calling me Your own. Most of all, thank You for giving me Jesus Christ. You gave me Your very best when You gave Your Son, and because of Him, my life has meaning, purpose, hope, and a future. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who lives inside me and reminds me that I am never alone. Father, when I stop and think about all You have given me and all You have done for me, I have so many reasons to be grateful. You have been better to me than I could ever deserve.

    Please forgive me for the times I’ve looked to other people to make me happy or make me feel good about myself. Forgive me for looking in the mirror and finding fault with what You created. There are times when I compare myself to other women, focus too much on what I don’t have, or allow being single to make me feel as though something is missing from my life. And sometimes, if I’m honest, I want someone to come along and make those feelings go away. Father, forgive me for expecting another person to do what only You can do. No man should have the responsibility of making me whole, making me feel worthy, or convincing me that I am enough. You have already told me who I am, and I want to believe You.

    Please help me find my happiness and contentment in You. Your Word says that I am Your masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus, and I want to see myself the way You see me. Help me take care of myself, appreciate the woman You’ve made me, and stop tearing myself down in my own thoughts. At the same time, keep me humble. I don’t want confidence that comes from thinking I’m better than someone else. I want the kind of confidence that comes from knowing Jesus Christ and knowing that I belong to You. Help me love myself with a Christ-kind of love, and let that same love overflow into the way I treat other people.

    Father, I don’t want to enter a relationship looking for a man to fill an empty place in me. I don’t want loneliness, insecurity, or the need to be wanted making decisions for me. Please make me wise enough to recognize when those feelings are trying to lead me. Help me seek You first, just as Jesus teaches me in Matthew 6:33. I want any relationship You bring into my life to be something I can receive from a place of strength in You—not something I grab hold of because I’m afraid of being alone. Put Christ in the driver’s seat of my life. Help me trust Your timing, Your wisdom, and Your plans for me, and teach me how to enjoy the life You’ve given me right now.

    Thank You, Heavenly Father, for reminding me that my joy doesn’t have to wait for something else to happen. Thank You that I can laugh, live, grow, love, dream, and enjoy my life because You are with me. Thank You for every blessing I have today and for every blessing that is still to come. I don’t know everything You have planned for my future, but I know the One who holds it, and that gives my heart peace. Let me find my happiness in You, Lord, so that my joy may be full. Thank You for my Blessed Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and thank You for the precious gift of the Holy Spirit. In the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

    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.

    “Happy in the Lord”, written for FindChristianMan.com©2026.  All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

  • When Love Turns Sour

    When Love Turns Sour

    One of the lessons that we quickly learn as adults is that relationships require work, and sometimes lots of it. Most of us conclude that we grossly underestimated just how much work it takes to make a relationship last. When we’re dating, we might find ourselves being the one that makes an ample investment into the man’s life, and sometimes that investment isn’t equally reciprocated. Thinking about walking away is very challenging, but we must be clear that mishandling things at this vulnerable juncture is never wise. The love we had for this man can sour and turn to bitterness. When that happens, our own fellowship with God is in jeopardy. We lose the heart and authority to be an effective witness of Christ in the life of someone that we could have influenced and impacted profoundly for God’s Kingdom. This is dangerous, and we really need to think things through.

    In Luke 17:1-4(NLT), Jesus Christ taught the disciples, “1There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. 3 So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. 4 Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”

    In this passage, “one of these little ones” is a person that God has predestined as one of His own. Some believe that he is referring to young children only, but Jesus is referring to all God’s children, especially those that are just getting started  in the Word and learning the Way. All of us are offended at some point, this is true, but Jesus warns that woe is the fate of someone that causes spiritual infants to become so offended in the faith that they fall into sin.

    Many of us claim to have our eyes so steadfastly fixed upon the Master, but when a man comes into our lives, some of us forget who we are. Meeting someone new and having a relationship with him is not a time to let our stand on the solid rock to slip, especially when we’re not clear about what we’re working with while dating. Our eyes must be fixed upon Jesus Christ no matter who is in our lives or what our agendas may be. God commands us in 1Corinthians 16:13(NKJV) to “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” We can never let our guards down in a relationship. The love of Christ should be our first priority, and it must be the lasting witness we leave on anyone we meet.

    James 1:22(NLT) tells us, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” We can be sure of one thing; the love of God in Christ never sours. If we’re unsure about that truth, we’re fooling ourselves. We’re obligated by Christ to love others with his brand of love, not our own. 1Corinthians 13:4 tells us that his love—real, true, authentic love—is forgiving, kind, keeps no record of being wronged and doesn’t demand its own way. If this isn’t the love we’re prepared to give to the man we desire, it isn’t the love we should expect to receive.

    It’s entirely possible that “One of these little ones” is the person we’re dating, and if we place our agenda ahead of God’s agenda for their lives, we’re not behaving like doers of the Word but deceiving ourselves. It’s our responsibility as believers to guard our hearts so that we don’t get out of pocket and change the trajectory of a man’s relationship with God. We must pray for this not to happen so that we are the kind of witnesses God is pleased with.

    Ephesians 6:11(NKJV) tells us, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” It would be naïve of us to think that the enemy will not try to make our hearts, or the hearts of our boyfriends, sour in our relationships. We should know that this is his target, and if we allow him to win in one relationship, we will most likely do it in others. God offers us a better way and it is to put on the whole armor that He provides. We must be diligent to renew our minds and put on the mind of Christ, so that if our hearts grow sour in any relationship we are blessed to cultivate, we will turn them to the sweetness of Christ through forgiveness, patience, and a desire to always put God first. ■

    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.

    “When Love Turns Sour”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

  • Out with the Old and In with the New

    Out with the Old and In with the New

    Isaiah 43:19(NLT)
    “For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?”

    My conversation with a dear sister in Christ led me to really draw nearer to this verse of scripture in Isaiah 43. My sister-friend recently had a breakup with her significant other, and she was feeling the sting of his absence in her life. I knew she was hurting, and I counseled her as best any good Christian friend would – with the love of Christ and with truth.  I told her not to dwell in that space of hurt for too long and try not to be in touch with her ex if possible.

    There is never going to be a set time on how long it takes for someone to get over a breakup. It may take a few weeks, a few months and for some, it may take much longer; it is also why the verse in Isaiah 43 resonates so much with me, and I pray it does with you. Through His prophet, God told His people, “For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” When He told His people this, they were in one of the worst tribulation experiences that any human have. They were in bondage. They had lost their prominence, their possessions, and their place of dwelling. Their eyes were so closed to possibility that all they could see was the gloom of their situation. God was telling them to open their eyes to His power, because His masterful plan for them was already turning things around. This is the same eye-opening hope and faith that you and I must have in God.

    God lets us know without any shadow of doubt that He does a new thing in our lives daily. Not just once a month or once a year, but every single day of our lives. Even when it comes down to the sinful behavior we may commit while in our relationships, God is quick to blot them out as soon as we ask for His forgiveness. He remembers our sins no more, and He told His people in Isaiah 43:25(NLT), “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.”  He lets us know so lovingly that He is not like us. He doesn’t look at us through the same lens as others or even the way we look at ourselves. God sees the Christ in us and never looks on the impurities of our sinful souls. He wants us to also see ourselves in this way—as brand new!  

    The Apostle Paul said in Galatian 6:14-15(MSG), “For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!” When we’re brand new, we don’t give up hope because of something that went wrong in the past. Instead, we celebrate newness because we have faith that God is always up to something good, and He is always doing something new for, with, and in us. Our attitude should continually be ‘out with the old and in with the new!’

    I’m sure many of us wish we could just wake up one morning and every hurtful circumstance or bad behavior would just vamoose out of our memory completely. But it doesn’t matter to God how many bad memories we have or how many wrong choices in men we’ve made, Heavenly Father’s love for us is infinitely higher than we could ever imagine. He wants us to be forever fulfilled with an abundance of love and happiness, this is what is most important to Him. He is greater than any mistake we can make, and His love will heal our hearts and cause us to be better than we ever imagined.

    Sometimes we need a little help to understand that before we can embrace something new, we may need to let go of some of our old patterns and behaviors. I recently went through my closet and got rid of some clothes and shoes that I no longer needed and wasn’t wearing. It instantly hit me that this is what many single people should do in their personal lives. Get rid of what you don’t need, those emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes that do not help you increase in faith and love. Refuse to wear those things any longer! The point is to make room for something new. You just never know what God has working in the background. Don’t miss what He has for you by focusing on what has passed. Shift your attention and focus to the new that God is bringing into your life and trust Him to guide you to 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.

    Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

    “Out with the Old and In with the New”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

  • Jesus Christ Can Provide the Rest You Need

    Jesus Christ Can Provide the Rest You Need

    In Matthew 11:28-30(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “28 Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” ‘Weary and heavy burdened’ is the way many single women would describe how they’ve been feeling lately. This passage in Matthew 11:28-30 demonstrates that our Lord and Savior knows our pain, and He offers us comfort. Not having a significant person in their lives during the pandemic has impacted single believers in ways they couldn’t have anticipated, and some single women are more emotionally exhausted than they’ve ever been. They desperately desire rest and would like to feel it in the security and companionship of a compatible partner.

    Our precious Lord and Savior knows what it is to be truly alone. He was abandoned by even his closest friends, but we don’t see anywhere in God’s Word where Jesus Christ allowed feelings of loneliness to keep him from pursuing God’s purpose. In truth, he 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.” There were many situations where Jesus Christ could have given into feelings of sadness, loneliness, and disappointment, but he never did. He took authority over his emotions because he knew his identity; he knew who he was, and he knew his mission. He told the disciples in John 16:32(NIV), “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.” We must keep in mind that when the Savior said this, he knew the suffering of the cross was near, yet his confidence was firmly anchored in God. When it comes to our own spiritual preparation for God’s blessings, we must demonstrate Christ authority as well.

    Jesus Christ is our rest and our encouragement. He makes it extremely clear that developing the same level of confidence, strength, and love in our relationship with Heavenly Father as he did is a must. There is no question that many of us have grown weary of facing life’s challenges without a partner by our sides. We’ve had our share of ups and downs, and the emotional battles that come with loneliness, but God’s grace never runs out. Just as God was with Christ, He is with you, and rest assured that He is preparing you for the blessing you seek. But the truth remains that we cannot neglect or cast aside the lessons about God’s love that every unmarried person is required to learn.

    These have been without a doubt very challenging times, and the reality that you may have had to go through them without a partner should reveal to you something very important. It means that you were provided the opportunity to cling to God as never before and to increase the intimacy in your relationship with Him. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that it will require a greater walk of faith. It will require us to have a level of courage, trust, and strength in the Lord that sustains us come what may. Often, this fortress of spiritual depth is what God is building in our inner man so that we have what it takes to maintain the blessings He has in store.

    God is perfect and His plan for our lives is perfect too. The question we have to ask ourselves is if we really appreciate what God is doing for us. He has showered us in His blessings, and we really do have to examine whether we have taken the time to appreciate how His blessings have literally shaped and molded our lives. He has brought us this far. He alone has preserved us. Because of this, our trust in His plan should be unwavering. We should have a posture of rest as He prepares us and as He prepares our future spouses as well.

    1John 4:12(NLT) tells us, “No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.” Remain focused on the reality continually that God’s love must come to full bloom in your heart. It’s not about your brand of love. Only HIS love is real and true. Without the knowledge and commitment to love through Jesus Christ, we have no foundation. We have no foundation without God’s Will. We have no foundation without God’s Word. As a single person preparing to receive one of God’s treasures, you must be anchored in God’s foundation. This isn’t negotiable. It is a must. God is love, and we must abide in Him and rest in Him through Jesus Christ. Then, when it’s our season to bloom, we will manifest His 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.

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

    “Jesus Christ Can Provide the Rest You Need”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

  • Only One Person Gets the Prize

    Only One Person Gets the Prize

    1Corinthians 9:24(NIV) says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” All good athletes are disciplined when it comes to their training. One of the defining characteristics about an athlete is they all know they need to train. And they understand that they are not just training for nothing; they are training to win the prize. Even if they only achieve silver medal status, with everything in them, they are training to win the gold. This must be our approach as believers. The eyes of God are upon us, and we should do everything to the best of our ability to please Him. We are on this earth to win the gold, which is highest calling of Jesus Christ. So regardless of what you are believing God to receive, there are elements that He has laid out in 1Corinthians 9:24 that are pivotal to the mindset of pleasing Him and achieving victory in any area of our lives.

    Strict Training
    As we look around at what is happening in our world today, it doesn’t really give us warm, cozy feelings of sweetness; its hardcore stuff going down. As victorious sons and daughters of God, this should serve as a reminder to us that life is not a game. It’s nothing to take lightly. Spiritual warfare is real, and it is taking place before our very eyes. But even with the backdrop of chaos and confusion, God will keep us if we want to be kept. He will protect us, provide for us, and keep us in His perfect peace. He will place a hedge around us if we are faithful to His Word.

    In 1Corinthians 9:25(NIV), the Apostle Paul said, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” The earth is training ground for the child of God. This is STRICT training down here! It’s for an everlasting crown, so there’s no foolery tolerated. If a person makes the choice not to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and they refuse to obey God’s Word, their lives are in serious danger. Some people leave this earth prematurely, and it is because they will not recognize that strict equates to diligence, and a diligent commitment is something God requires.

    Losing focus loses the race
    Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:8(NLT), “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” When you pray repeatedly to cross paths with your future husband, and you pray that your future hubby will spiritually recognize you as his future wife, you must know that God heard you the first time you prayed. You are not praying repeatedly for the same request because you think God is hard of hearing. You are praying repeatedly to demonstrate your diligence and to get your own mind and heart lined up with the blessing you are asking to receive. God knows what we need before we even recognize the need ourselves. He doesn’t need to make any adjustments to give you what you’ve prayed to receive. We are the ones that must adjust.  

    Paul said in 1Corinthians 9:25(NIV), “Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.” A boxer who beats the air never lands a punch towards his or her target. This is what happens when we’re not focusing on God by living the example of Christ. Your focus cannot be the man, it must always be God. Some women are only going through the motions of spiritual discipline to appease God temporarily, thinking this is how they will get what they want. Their hearts are far from Him, and He knows their true motives. The prize will forever and always be a life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rewards and blessings come from honoring God for the true prize of living forever in Christ.

    Hebrews 11:6(NLT) tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Your mind and heart must be committed to God. This is what the training is all about. It’s learning to become like Christ; this is always the goal. As we grow in one area, another area where growth is needed will come into view. We must be diligent to recognize when we have erred in our feelings, attitudes, and behaviors. Then we must repent and pray to the Father to help us be better. This is diligence, and it must be a habit pattern.

    Don’t be disqualified
    The Apostle Paul understood what it takes to run the race God has set before each of us and win it. He knew that it is God who fights our external battles. Our mission is to stand, believe, and trust Him, so that when He tells us to move, we know exactly what to do and how to do it. You are the one to fight the internal battle in your mind and heart. You must fight to trust God, and this means that you might have to give up some things. You might have to leave some things behind. Letting go of some relationships, people, and other things in our comfort zones will back our faith. It demonstrates that you wholeheartedly believe that the blessing you will receive infinitely outweighs what you have let go.

    You may have a vision of how your relationship should be. You might have a picture in your mind of how the man will look, but every detail of your agenda must be swapped out for God’s agenda. He knows what is best, and your faith in this is non-negotiable. Don’t disqualify yourself from the race by putting limits on God. Don’t yield to your flesh because you think the person is the right fit. Yield to God with humility and a commitment to do what He asks of you. He is in charge of the prize. He has told us how to receive it, and it is guaranteed when we run in such a way as to receive it. ■

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

    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.

    “Only One Person Gets the Prize”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

  • Consistent and Unwavering

    Consistent and Unwavering

    I don’t know if any of you have ever had a conversation with someone that is truly disappointed with life, but I have. I know a person that has lost everything in life that was important. This woman became jobless, then homeless and car-less, then her children were taken away. As a single mom, she struggled to hold it together for as long as she could, but her every turn was met with more trouble, and without a firm foundation of faith, she gave up. It never occurred to her that God has a plan for her life. She wrongly believed that He was punishing her for a reason she couldn’t understand. Her mind had become so entrenched in this negative way of believing, that she would not even attempt to trust God. Instead, she was bitter and grew comfortable with a mind and heart of doubt.

    Jesus Christ said of himself in Revelations 3:8 that when he opens a door for us, no one can close it. By the same working of his mighty power, we must also understand that the door he closes, no one can open. The door he has closed for us was the one to darkness, fear, and doubt. We must reconcile in our minds and hearts that if Christ has closed it, and he has, we have no business trying to open it. If we do, we will not like what we find.

    In the preceding verse, Revelations 3:7, our Lord and Master tells us that he is the One that is holy and true. He’s the perfect One, our high priest that makes intercession for us before the Father’s throne. Jesus Christ tells us that he holds the key of David. This key reveals his sovereignty as a King of a Kingdom that has no end. He is the ruler of the universe, and ultimately every knee will bow before him. Hebrews 7:26(NLT) tells us, “He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.”

    Our Lord is holy and set apart. He deserves glory and honor. He accomplished for us what we could not accomplish for ourselves, and he is able to do in us what no other can. He simply asks that we trust him, that we surrender our doubt, fear, and worry, and give all our burdens to him. He tells us in Matthew 11:29(NLT), “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” This is who our loving Savior is. Compassion and caring are his nature. To meet him at this humble place of surrender, our faith is required.

    When our desires and the blessings we expect in life are delayed or destroyed, some people will wall themselves off from having faith in Jesus Christ. This is extremely detrimental. It keeps our faith stagnant; it can plant seeds of arrogance in our hearts, and it conveys that we have a sense of entitlement rather than gratitude. Trouble comes from the devil, but it doesn’t last always. Trouble can be incredibly uncomfortable, but it is also a sign that promotion is near. It is an indicator that we must grow spiritually to achieve the level of maturity that God is calling us to. So, the question isn’t so much about how long trouble will last. The question that we should be asking is how we can get to the door that Jesus Christ has opened for us.

    Human beings are not that complicated, and life can be very simple when we put it in the context of God’s Word. There are only two lanes we can travel in life, one inside the Will of God and the other, outside of it. Jesus Christ said in Mark 3:35(NLT) “Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Furthermore, God tell us in Romans 12:2 that we must not be conformed to the culture and traditions of this world, but instead we are to be transformed by changing the way we think, then we will prove God’s Will. Often in life, our problems are on repeat because we haven’t lined up our thinking to the mind of Christ, so we lack the faith to prove God’s perfect Will. Our thinking patterns need to be changed, but we’re too stubborn to do it. We won’t ask God what we need to change, we won’t listen to His answer, and some of us have no intention of actually changing our ways.

    God is in the blessing business. 2Chronicles 16:9 says that His eyes search to and fro throughout the whole earth. He is looking for people who have hearts that are committed to Him, because this is the kind of heart that allows the strength of His power to do the miraculous. We don’t have to be perfect, but we must be consistent in our humility towards God, and we must have a desire to grow in an unwavering faith in Him. It’s not about all the things we want. It’s about trusting in God’s goodness and having confidence that He cannot fail. We know that the devil will throw many darts, but we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ, and God has well equipped us to handle any trick or plot. It is not nearly as complicated as we make it. When we humble ourselves in faith and thankfulness, we’ll see that the door has already been opened for us by Christ, and all we have to do is walk through it.■

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

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

  • God’s Plan for You Won’t Fail

    God’s Plan for You Won’t Fail

    “Why do grown folks always have to spoil everything?!!!” As a teenager dating my high school sweetheart, this is what I thought to myself every time my mother commented on my future plans for marrying him. I was absolutely sure of our feelings for one another, and you couldn’t tell me anything different. Daydreaming about us, I’d write the both of our names on a piece of paper, envisioning it one day on a wedding invitation. My plans seemed just perfect, and in my mind, love was all you needed, but my mother knew this wasn’t the case. She had the wisdom of love’s mistakes and successes, and my seventeen-year-old self couldn’t imagine that she had ever been in love the way that I was at the time. My mother saw the way I’d look at him. I smiled cheek to cheek every time we were together. I was in a daze, and she’d say to me, “Girl, you better get your head out of the clouds.”

    The thing that my mother knew, and that I didn’t have a clue about, is that I didn’t have a foundation. I hadn’t thought about all the ways in which life could give you a good spanking if you hadn’t prepared for its ups and downs. Thank goodness for time, maturity, and life experiences, but most importantly, thank God for ordering my steps and leading me according to His wisdom. I was young, immature, and very vulnerable emotionally. As I look back to where I was then, I realize what a drastic mistake I would have made had I been allowed to do what I wanted.

    There are young women I went to school with that married the guys they dated in high school. Some of them are together to this day, but there are others that I’ve spoken to that have said they’d do things differently. Given the chance all over again, they would have been more patient to see what God had in store for them. This is a lesson that none of us should want to learn the hard way.

    Romans 12:2(MSG) tells us, “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” God instructs us to fix our attention on Him, and this is a skill that we become better and better at through practice. Relationships take a tremendous amount of focus and effort, but when we have developed spiritual, mental, and emotional maturity, we are able to handle the rigors of a relationship in such a way that it doesn’t detract from our relationship with God.

    Keeping our relationship with God on point will keep everything else in our lives on point. We must never lose sight of the reality that we are products of God’s love. He tells us to flush our thoughts with His truth so that we wear His love like a uniform. Heavenly Father has commanded us to love through Jesus Christ, because the love of Christ is a fully developed, never ending love. Only the love of God in Christ has the glue to hold a relationship together.

    Many of us allow our emotions to rule our choices and decisions, but God desires that the wisdom of His Word becomes the foundation on which we build our lives. His Word should govern our choices. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11(NIV), “For I know the plans I have for you. Declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We serve a sovereign God! There’s none like Him. No one compares, and no one can take His place. He created the universe and all that we see. It would be nonsensical to speculate for one tenth of one second that we can formulate a plan that is anywhere near as profitable and beneficial as the plan He has for us. God always knows best. The psalmist said in Psalm 40:5(NLT), “O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.”

    Although many of us grow up and mature in every other way, sometimes our emotions get stuck. We are reminded of those days when butterflies churned in our bellies, and attachments were both sweet and all-consuming. Many of us carry those emotional impulses and responses of our younger years into our adult relationships. This means that we might make relationship choices from this same place of emotional immaturity. Instead of choosing someone who responds to our strength and confidence in Christ, many of us choose someone that responds to that part of us that isn’t as emotionally developed as it should be.

    God knows we’re not perfect. He knows exactly where and how we need to grow so that we’re transforming into the men and women He desires us to be. This is one of the reasons He instructs us to let Jesus Christ guide us when it comes to choosing the person that is right for our lives. In Colossians 3:16, God commands us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. We are to let the message of Christ sink into us so that we have the full vocabulary of God’s love. Then, our conversations will lead to peace and the Lordship of Christ will cause us to respond to our future spouses, and them to us, in the most loving way. God has this all figured out, and we must trust His plan for us because it will not fail. If we allow ourselves to be led of God, He will present a man that will strengthen the places where we’re weak. God knows this very moment the man that will minister and bless our lives the most. This is what He wants for us, and we should want this as well.■

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

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

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

    “God’s Plan for You Won’t Fail” written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

  • Remember, God is Watching

    Remember, God is Watching

    Why do two people decide to get married? I will venture to say that most of us will choose to utter those profound two little words, “I Do!”, because we believe we’ve met someone we don’t want to live without. Our wise mothers and grandmothers will school us on this topic. They will tell us that saying the words “I Do!” is the easiest part about marriage. They’d want us to realize that the decision regarding who we choose to walk with us through life is one we must be very careful about making. We don’t always understand that the person to whom we say those two little words will change, and so will we. Only God knows how and the extent to which we both will change. And Most importantly, only the Lord knows if we have actually chosen someone that is in our best interest, someone that He wants us to unite with. This piece of knowledge should make us see that we need God’s help, and we should seek it way before we begin planning that walk down the aisle.

    Jesus Christ said in Matthew 16:19(NLT), “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” All of us should realize that the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are no small thing. This is a huge gift the Master has given us. In this verse, Jesus Christ tells us a little bit about these keys. He tells us that they both lock up and unlock some doors. He’s placed these powerful keys in our hands. This means that we decide which doors they will unlock and lock. We need look no further than our own lives to recognize that if we want to unlock a wrong door, the Lord will allow it. He placed the keys in our hands, and He will not take them back. But if we are patient and seek Him diligently, He will show us the right doors to open as well as those that need to remain locked.

    You might be asking, “Well what’s the point of giving me the keys if I have to go through all this work of finding the right door? Why doesn’t God do this for me?” God has given us the gift of free-will. How we use it is up to us, but His greatest hope is that we will partner with Him in everything that we do. 1John 4:8 tells us that God is love. As we study His Word, we learn that His love never fails, and God’s love doesn’t restrict our choices. Just as He didn’t remove the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from the Garden of Eden, He doesn’t hinder, remove, or alter our ability to make our own choices. Love gives freedom, and we decide what we will do, who we will be, and how we will respond to the enormous gifts that God has given us.

    We decide the degree to which we will honor God with our choices. We choose whether we will trust in His Word, be led of His Spirit, and lean not on our own understanding, or we can make choices based on our own agendas. It’s up to us, but we will never get away from the reality that responsibility and accountability will always come with freedom.

    Galatians 3:22(NLT) tells us, “But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.” Believing and trusting God is a choice, and He’s placed us here on this earth to make it. Sin will always be a trap that satan lays for the believer. Freedom is what we have in Christ when we believe with everything in us that choosing God’s love is always the best choice. Choosing God’s love is freedom! And therein lies the reality of free-will choice. Our choice to do what pleases God backs up our faith. James 2:26 tells us that faith without works is dead. Making the decision to commit ourselves to please God demonstrates our faith in His Word, and this faith will bring into fruition the promise of all He has for us.

    2Chronicles 16:9 tells us that the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth. What is He searching for? He’s searching to find those who have a heart that is fully committed to Him. He has made it clear in His Word that we don’t have to be perfect to have a heart that is fully committed to God, but we must be humble before Him. We must be committed to surrender to His sovereignty. So, God is watching us. He is looking to see what we do with this extraordinary gift of free-will choice. He’s looking at what we do with the responsibility that comes with it.

    From the very beginning, in the Book of Genesis, God told us about the first couple. He chose the union of marriage between a man and a woman to begin our understanding of His plan. This shows us that one of the most important responsibilities of free-will choice is caring for another person’s heart. 1John 3:18(NLT) says, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” So many of us are complaining about the wait, but we must remember that God is watching. Your willingness to patiently endure, to grow in Christ and increase your faith means that you understand the heft of what you’re asking for. Thank God that Christ has given you the keys, now let the Lord lead you to the right door.■

    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.

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

  • When You Least Expect It, It Shows Up

    When You Least Expect It, It Shows Up

    How many couples do you know that say they met their husband or wife at a time in their lives when they weren’t expecting it? I’ve heard it said many times. Some would argue that it doesn’t matter if a person is looking for love or not. What matters is that when they find love, they are able to keep it. There’s some merit in that school of thought as well, but we can’t overlook the reality that when we have stepped away from being consumed with finding love, love finds us. At some point it has to dawn on us that there’s a spiritual principle in the notion of meeting someone when our attention isn’t on it. This principle shows us that there’s more to meeting the right person than what we’ve thought, and it reveals most assuredly that what’s going on in our hearts and minds plays a very important part.

    Jeremiah 17:7-8(NLT) gives us the basis for understanding how important the mind and heart are when it comes to proving our faith in God. It says, “7 But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” At the time God delivered these words to those living in Old Testament times, the sins of His people were notoriously disobedient. They had evil in their hearts, so much so that they made evil a part of their worship. They were so entrenched in their own kind of righteousness that they could no longer see their evil for what it was. It could be said that the women had turned their eyes and hearts from God and worshiped their men instead. They looked upon men as though they were their everything.

    The same could be said of the men. They looked to their human rulers for leadership and guidance, and they totally abandoned the ways of God. Heavenly Father said in Jeremiah 17:5(NLT), “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.” Because of the idolatrous practices of His people, God told them that the wonderful blessing He had reserved for them would slip through their hands. God had blessed His people with great wealth and prosperity, but instead of being thankful and more sincere in their worship, they became self-righteous and were blind to the true righteousness of God. The same can be said about many of us.

    The luxury of modern living that we’ve been so blessed to experience has blinded our eyes. We can’t see the extent to which we’ve turned from God and began to depend on people and the systems they maneuver to make life more convenient. When we operate this way, the blessings we want most can potentially slip through our hands, and like God’s people living in earlier biblical times, we’re blinded to how far our minds and hearts have turned from God. If there’s even the slightest, most remote possibility that this has happened to you, don’t delay. Offer God your most sincere and deepest apology and repent. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. Our hearts can and do deceive us. Our circumstances will tell the story about where our hearts are, and what we’re harboring in them. As challenging as it can be, we must acknowledge our errors and repent so that our blessings are no longer blocked.

    Heavenly Father rebuked those that had refused to acknowledge that all blessings come from Him. Then, in Jeremiah 17:7-8, He gave this wonderful blessed Word to those that placed their trust in Him. He said they had made HIM their hope and confidence. What does it mean to make God our hope and confidence? It means that we have emptied ourselves of all other negative thoughts, especially those that might be idolatrous, and the only thing remaining in our hearts and minds is our hope and confidence in God. Those who received His blessing had honored Him with their faith, and this is what He saw when He looked upon them; He saw their faith. He saw them as trees that were planted by the river.

    When something is planted and rooted in the ground, it doesn’t move from one place to the next. It stays put and is totally dependent on the Creator for everything it needs. Like a tree that is continually nourished by the river’s water, we are totally dependent on God for everything. He has all power in His hands, and He has incredible love for us all, yet many of us love sin more than we love being committed to Him. Jeremiah was God’s mouthpiece, and he delivered harsh words to God’s people because they had strayed from Heavenly Father. It broke Jeremiah’s heart to speak to them that way, but it had to be done. The people called him a traitor because they didn’t want to hear the truth.

    It is the same with many of us. We only want to hear words that tickle our ears, but we will not witness the mighty power of God if we refuse to hear His truth. Ephesians 3:20(NIV) declares, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” God is able and willing to do infinitely above anything we can imagine, but the buck stops with us. He moves according to our willingness to allow His Spirit to be at work within us. The Spirit moves where God’s Word is honored and believed. If we truly understand this, we can see why the most marvelous things can happen when we least expect them. When our confidence is anchored in God, we go on about our Father’s business, and stop worrying about things He has promised to provide.

    We must remember that our sins are not forgotten until they are forgiven. Repentance comes with a heart that is humble and eager to please God and change from those things that don’t please Him. If we are ever unsure about our sin, we need only ask God for a revelation of it. He will reveal how we’ve grieved the Holy Spirit through our wrong actions. We must be ever so careful that our hearts are right with God, and that we’re not putting anything ahead of our relationship with Him. In Genesis 15:1, God came to Abraham in a vision and said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Abraham, I am your shield and I will protect you. I am your exceeding great reward.” Oh, how important this is for us to know. God is the Great I Am! He is our exceeding great reward! If this is how we truly feel about our God, we will have proven our commitment to Him. When we have made God our hope and confidence by living by the example of Christ, not only will He bless us when we least expect it, but He will make sure we are ready for the blessing He will present.■

    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.

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