Find A Christian Man

Tag: Release the Past

  • After the Fall

    God tells us in 1Corinthians 4:20 (NLT), “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” Heavenly Father has to remind us of a few things in His Word, because sometimes we allow life to get in the way. We forget that He’s given us access to an extreme level of power through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. No matter what you’re facing or what you’re going through, you will always have the opportunity to become stronger through Christ. He is the true example of strength. Hebrews 4:15(NIV) tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” He faced it all, and in God’s Word, He tells us how we can rise again, no matter how many times we fall.

    Sometimes, we fall really far off the path of righteousness because we’ve made a wrong choice or bad decision. We do something that nowhere resembles the kind of person we know we should be. As a Christian, it’s natural to feel really sorry about what we’ve done. We should seek God’s forgiveness in the most earnest way that we can. 1John 1:19(NIV) tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Only God can purify us. We can’t do this ourselves. One of the greatest lessons that our mistakes teach us is that we need to depend and trust in God’s power, because He’s working in us.

    We can become very discouraged when it looks like we just can’t overcome a certain sin. Maybe we’re struggling with sadness or feelings of unworthiness from a failed relationship, or we’re dealing with shame from losing a job or home. Some of us are not where we thought we’d be in life, and it seems that people don’t respect us because of it. In these times, God wants us to remember that Jesus Christ has done for us what no other could do. Because of his sacrifice and resurrection, we have victory no matter what our situation looks like. We are going through, and if we keep the faith, we will always come out on the other side better than we ever could have imagined.

    Through the Apostle Paul, God tells us in Romans 6:6-8(NIV), “6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” It isn’t the beating ourselves up and feeling bad that gets us in line. The thing that causes us to become stronger spiritually is growing in our knowledge of Christ and believing in what he accomplished for us on the cross.

    Through Jesus Christ we have the power to overcome any obstacle or sin, because God’s Word declares that we are no longer slaves to sin. He says that we are to be humble like little children; and like little children, sometimes we fall and get scraped up or have a bruise here and there; we may even cry about it.  But this hurt or pain we feel from falling is never meant to last. It helps to remind us of the things that don’t work, and most importantly, it reminds us that we have a loving Heavenly Father that cares about us deeply.

    The heart of God is that nothing stands between us and our relationship with Him, that is why He’s dealt with the sin issue through Jesus Christ. When we fall down through some of the mistakes, missteps, and mishaps that happen in life, we have a choice. We can either wallow in self-doubt or self-condemnation, or we can enjoy what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, and be thankful to God for His enduring mercy and grace.■

    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.

    “After the Fall”, written for findchristianman.com©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

  • Down on One Knee

    When a man decides to go down on one knee and ask a woman to be his wife, it means he’s seen something within her that has touched his heart profoundly. He’s determined that his search is over, because he’s discovered in her what could not be found in others. This is a choice that he’s made in every way; mentally, emotionally, physically, and most importantly spiritually. It’s a choice that signals heaven above, and everything beneath it, that he intends to spiritually join so tightly with a woman that the two become one. This is what many single women are hoping and praying will soon happen to them.

    Going down on one knee is a significant gesture. We see a form of this in the Word of God. Regarding the judgment seat of Christ, Romans 14:11(NLT) tells us, “As surely as I live,’ says the LORD, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.’” Philippians 2:9-11(NLT) says, “9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Every knee will bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is truth! It will happen, of this we can be sure.

    From this truth, we have an inkling of what is necessary to demonstrate extreme reverence, honor, and respect. Anything glorious deserves glory. Anything respectful deserves respect. To bow before Jesus Christ is not only an incredible privilege, it is also acknowledgement of our understanding of who he is. In His Word, God teaches us that actions convey what is in our hearts, and when those actions match the truth of God’s love and majesty, the jewels of commitment and unity are revealed. And so it is with a man’s understanding of the blessing of a wife. His reverence to God, to the institution of marriage, and his respect for the commitment he is aiming to make; all of this is evident when he goes down on one knee.

    Love’s barometer
    Ephesians 5:25(KJV) is God’s requirement to husbands. It says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” This verse is a ‘LOVE’ barometer for every woman. It gives us the exact point of reference needed to measure our own expectations, and to also measure a man’s capacity to love. If the Lord has commanded a man to love his wife in the same way that Christ loves the church, then the man must be capable of doing so. It would be a huge affront and infraction to believe that a man lacks the capacity to love this way, for God has mandated that he must, and therefore can.

    As a woman believing to marry the person God has ordained to walk with you through life, you must have a firm grasp of God’s standard of how you should be respected as a Daughter of Zion. You must also make sure you are respecting yourself as God’s precious one, and that your mind and heart are full of hope and faith. We don’t have to strive and struggle. Heavenly Father has got this! He will see to it that we are loved in a way that pleases Him IF we are committed to seek His Will in all we do. If for one second, your beliefs run counter to this, you are hurting yourself. Our wrong beliefs are a buffer between us and the blessings we seek. Wrong believing is doubt, and doubt does not come from the Kingdom of God, but from the kingdom of satan. There should be no place for doubt in the heart of a believing Daughter of Zion, because doubt repels love and doesn’t attract it. Do yourself a favor, trust in what God has for you!

    Sow on good ground
    1 John 3:18 (NLT) teaches us, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” It’s been said time and time again that getting married and saying “I Do” is the easy part; it’s staying together that snags people up. Sometimes people marry before they’ve given themselves time to find out if it’s a divine presentation. Their chief motivation is physical rather than spiritual. To sow is to invest, and when we invest our hearts into a person, and do so in a way that doesn’t please God, we’ve not invested wisely. We’ve not shown the truth by our actions, because we’re not acting in God’s love, but perhaps we’re acting out of lust or desperation; both are beneath our privilege as God’s beloveds. A better way is to get tight with God so that we’re confident our motives are pure and based on the love of Christ. Best practice is to inspect before we invest. We need to hear from God as to whether we’re sowing on good ground.

    Worth the wait
    When a man bows on one knee to ask for his queen’s hand in marriage, it symbolizes his willingness to submit all that he has in service, love, and support of her. He’s willing to decrease so that they can increase together as they stand before God in Christ. It’s an awesome aspect of God’s plan of unity. As women of God, we should never try to force a man to honor us in this way. The grace of God we exhibit will compel him to do so. This is an honor that is always going to be worth the wait. 

    God has called us to be His Holy Daughters, to be women of great love, compassion, and care. The light of our hope will forever be in the promises of God. We should be confident that Heavenly Father never disappoints, but loves us unconditionally. His greatest delight is to see us happy and blessed. So, let your confidence in your future marriage and spouse be anchored in your faith in the goodness of God. Remain positive in thought and mind, because God is swelling the well of gratitude in your soul, so that you can know the depth of honor you’re receiving when your future husband goes down on one knee. ■

    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.

    “Down on One Knee”, written for findchristianman.com©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

  • Lesson #5, Never Look Back!

    In Genesis 19, we learn more about the biblical record of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. After the death of Lot’s father, he went to live with his uncle, and Abraham loved him tremendously. Lot became prosperous just like Abraham, and when the Lord commanded Abraham to move to Bethel, Lot tagged along; but their households were too big for the one area. It was necessary for them to split. Lot ended up settling near the city of Sodom, and at first glance it seemed like a nice place. It was well-watered and the land had fertile soil, which was very suitable to maintain his crops and livestock, but as this notorious record in Genesis 19 bears out, all was not as it seemed in Sodom and its nearby city, Gomorrah. One of the greatest and most wise lessons that we must learn, particularly as single Christian women, is that you can never judge a book by its cover. This is lesson number one.

    The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were filled with wickedness, so evil in fact that these cities had to be destroyed. When the Lord told Abraham this, he was distraught, because he was afraid of what would happen to Lot, his nephew, but our God will not abandon those with a righteous heart towards Him, and this is undoubtedly lesson number two.

    It cannot be ignored that with the vile wickedness of these two cities, there was only one good man living among the inhabitants, and it was Lot. Genesis 19:1 tells us that when the two angels sent by God came to the entrance of Sodom, Lot was sitting there and stood up to greet them. Then he welcomed them by bowing. Lesson number three, humility is always the dominant characteristic of a good man.

    These angels must have looked like men, but it isn’t too much of a stretch to assume that Lot may have discerned something angelic and divine about them. He offered to wash their feet, and extended generous hospitality. Genesis 19:4-5(NLT) says, “4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!” Lot stepped outside and pleaded with the men of Sodom to stop their wicked intentions. He even offered his own virgin daughters in exchange for the protection of these men. This willingness on the part of Lot to make such an extreme sacrifice for these messengers of God reveals the true nature of Lot’s heart. Lesson number four, acts of kindness and sacrifice will set you up for epic blessings.

    The angels were surely more powerful than Lot could have imagined, but the kind intention to protect them was returned to him and his family. They told Lot, his wife, and his two daughters in Genesis 19:17(NLT), “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” The Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah and everything was utterly destroyed, even the vegetation. As they were escaping this terrible destruction, verse 26 tells us that Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind, and turned into a pillar of salt. Lesson number five, never look back!

    When we look back and focus our attention on the past instead of leaving it behind, we may not turn into a pillar of salt, but like Lot’s wife, giving in to the temptation will invite the bitterness of sin to again put a hold on our lives. We don’t want this. There are many lessons that we can learn from this record in Genesis 19, but the tragic loss of time, momentum, and stamina by trying to erect a monument to our past—to who we used to be and what we used to do, this is paralyzing to the newness of all Christ has made available to us.

    In Ephesians 4:22, God tells us to put off our former way of life, and put on the newness that Christ offers, because this is the way we grow and become strong in the Lord. It’s how we stop giving the enemy opportunities to pull us down. It takes spiritual strength to live long and strong in this dark and evil world, and our responsibility and privilege is to reach towards Christ with every ounce of strength we have. We cannot give in to the temptation of doubt and unbelief as Lot’s wife did. She was closely related to righteousness, for Lot by all accounts truly was, but close is not enough. We have to walk this walk ourselves, and if we are truly sold out for Jesus Christ, we will never look back. ■

    Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. 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.

    “Lesson #5, Never Look Back!”, written for findchristianman.com©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!