All Her Days – Chapter 4

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” Proverbs 31:10-12

 

Women of high standing with God are rarely seen today, just like true rubies are hard to find. The rubies we see in most everyday jewelry stores are not pure rubies and therefore very affordable. But not so with a genuine Proverbs 31 woman, she is worth far more than the purest ruby; no man can afford her. If a godly man wants a godly wife he will have to go to God for her because God is protecting her worth and honor; saving her for the right man.

 

Is this true of how your husband sees you? “I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.” Song of Songs 8:10

 

Woman is perfectly suited for man. If a man’s wife is noble in character she sees the good in him. She helps him to look good and to do good. She prays for God’s good to come to him all the days of his life.

 

There are legitimate expectations we have when we enter marriage that need to be fulfilled. When there is no one expecting anything from us we will naturally live for ourselves like little babies do. Living for yourself makes you a miserable person. We were created to help and serve each other; this is how we grow in love, but there are just some things we need in this life that only God can meet. To expect your husband to do for you what only God can do for you, is a false expectation that will burden down your relationship with your husband, and visa-versa with the false expectations a man has with his wife.

 

Does your husband trust you? How do you reveal him to other people? Do you genuinely listen when he talks to you about his job? Do you pray for him every morning and throughout the day when he comes to mind? Do you let him have the last word when you disagree? Do you go to God (His Word) to understand your husband? Are his children honoring him by the way they see you honor him? Do you humbly serve him when he needs something from you or needs you to do something for him?

 

A wife needs to understand and agree with God that her husband has every right to call her to account on any issue. I need my husband to hold me accountable for what I say and do. My husband needs me to do the same for him. We are called to the unity of love and truth.

 

Women are more given to meddle in people’s lives, and it is the husband’s responsibility to call his wife to account on it because meddling ruins households. A man is a coward and enabler who ignores his wife’s meddling in the lives of others that she has no right to. A wife who resists/opposes/defies her husband’s good correction – is disobeying God and bringing her Father’s shame upon herself.

 

King Solomon wore hundreds of ‘wedding’ crowns throughout his life, but none of his wives were women of virtue. They all dressed like queens and performed like queens but none understood the true value and purpose of a queen. So then, why did Solomon marry all these foreign gals that eventually ruined Solomon’s life? Why would he disobey God’s law about marriage? Was it simply to keep peaceful borders with other kings? Was he continually looking for a wife he could trust? Can you imagine all the meddling that went on between all these women?! The Scripture brings out:

 

“Was it not because of marriages like these that King Solomon sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.” (Nehemiah 13:25-26)

 

Foreign women worshipped all kinds of false gods. They used sex and charm to get what they wanted from Solomon, who gave in to them all – to keep the peace. What seems somewhat duplicitous is that while Solomon was working hard to keep the peace in Israel – there was great turmoil inside his own house with all his hundreds of wives. Now that can drive a man to drink! No wonder his mother warned him about women and wine.

 

An unhappy and discontent woman will ruin her marriage and family if she doesn’t learn to go to God for the wisdom she needs to be content and secure with her Father God. We need to take our secret desires, anger, confusion, hurts and resentments to our Father God and then obey His Word.

 

Unlike women of the past, there is very little strength in women today (American women especially) by which they can endure hard and difficult things as women of the past did. What has changed is how they have been taught to think about themselves, what to believe they deserve, and who they should depend on.

 

Women have fought and worked for equal rights instead of working on their marriage to be right with God. I’m not saying that women are not “equal in importance,” just that God has made the man and the woman very different with distinct roles. Wisdom knows how to complete. Wickedness strives to compete.

 

Nothing good has come out of the evolving of the “feminist movement” in America. There is an annual “Women’s March” and if you watched this last one (2017) you would have to agree that women are becoming proud to be shameful and all the more destructive to the family as God designed.

 

There is a false teaching in the churches that a husband is a wife’s helpmate just as a wife is the husband’s helpmate. Yes, we are to lovingly serve and help one another, but God did not give that role of helpmate to the man for what God has given the family to do on the earth.

 

The Holy Spirit defines the wife as being a valuable helpmate suited for her husband. She is capable of either doing him harm or good. Women have done more harm by trying to take over what doesn’t belong to them; what God has never given them charge of.

 

When God told Eve that her desire would be for her husband; that he should rule over her, God was not trying to limit or oppress women. He was establishing a guard and strength for her weakness. Women don’t like to think of themselves as having a weakness, and they are out to prove they can do what any man can do, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is the weaker vessel.

 

Women don’t need to act like men; men do. Women don’t need to go to war; men do. Women don’t need to wrestle men and compete with men in sports. Women don’t need to go after the presidency; men do. I know these statements won’t be very well accepted by self-serving women, or by cowardly men, but it’s still the truth. AND….the truth will set you free!

 

When a woman strives to have the headship that God has given to men she begins to think and act like a man. Then she becomes convinced there is no difference between men and women. The work of Satan’s subtle role reversal has destroyed the foundation of marriage and family. The devil gets this done by suppressing the truth with marketing of lies, and this is why we are to live out the truth and speak the truths of God’s Word.

 

This is the will and wisdom of God: “Man is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. Man did not come from woman, but woman came from man; neither was man created FOR woman, but rather, woman was created FOR man. The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. In the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” 1 Corinthians 11:7, 3, 11-12

American Eagle

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

I began to think about what was written on Facebook about President Trump, the government shut down and some of the issues that we are faced with in the 21st century. First, knowing that the eagle is the American symbol; for the eagle to soar it must have two wings that are balanced and working in perfect order. So, it is with the American Republic; we need two wings, or rather two parties, to keep America balanced in what she is to do for the good. However, both parties must be working for ‘the good’ and not for ‘the party.’

 

It would seem that the Democratic Party has become high-jacked and it is not the same as what I grew up with. It is not the same Party as when other past presidents such as Truman and Kennedy were in the White House. The Democrat Party has been high-jacked wanting to move ‘progressively’ towards a one world government where the ‘elite,’ or so-called “chosen ones” will govern worldwide and eventually tell us all what to believe, and what truth really is.

 

As a Christian I have to look at things from the Holy Scripture, what God’s Word is talking about, because I believe that within Scripture we learn the truth and how to govern ourselves rightly. I know that there are many who will not believe this way, and that’s their choice. We can choose to live any way we want, believe what we want and say what we want. There will be consequences in all that we choose to believe, say and do, and we must take personal responsibility and blame for the choices that we make. So, my advice is to “choose wisely.”

 

When it comes to the progressive movement of the Democratic Party with their open borders and big government, etc. we need to go back and look at history, especially ‘biblical’ history and see if there is something that we can learn. In so doing this takes me back to Genesis 11 where there was a one world government led by a dictator: Nimrod. Here we learn that they had one language, one culture, etc. What happened and what can we learn for our day?

 

First, we find that man naturally does NOT move towards God, but against God. Man’s nature is on a steady downward course and this is why out of 6000 years of our world’s recorded history there has been very few years of relative peace. Man has been at war. There are a number of reasons for this that we will look at later. However, back to Nimrod in Genesis 11 as to what we find God doing as the result of that condition.

 

God saw that man’s heart was evil and so He stepped in and divided the people into different languages, families, ethnic groups and scattered them throughout the earth to slow down the progression of evil on the earth. We read later on in Acts: “…and He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Acts 17:26-28

 

Because of the downward nature of man the result has been war and the result of war has been the mixing of these different ethnic groups having to flee – which is causing some of the problems that we have today.

 

After WW2 France and England came and divided the Middle East into different countries and lumping together these different ethnic groups. To keep peace this has given rise to dictatorship, because it takes a strong force to keep countries composed. One example of this is the former Yugoslavia. Under the strong rule of Tito he kept the country calm, but once he was gone we see the conflicts that broke out in the 20th century and now the country is divided into different ethnic groups.

 

This is one of the main problems in the Middle East with the different ethnic groups wanting their own identity, language, culture, etc. For example: the Kurds. This is the largest ethnic group in the world (at least 25 million) that has no country or boundaries of their own. They are scattered in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq – holding on to their ethnicity.

 

Some countries have been divided among religious orientation. We see this with India when it became independent from England. The Muslims with their religion wanted their own country and so a line was drawn on the western side of the subcontinent of India and it was called West Pakistan and one thousand miles away on the East side of the sub-continent another line was drawn called East Pakistan. In so doing this, families were oppressed and displaced. The result was a massive slaughter that took place. Read the book called FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT.

 

There is an ethnic difference between West and East Pakistan that eventually brought about a war in the early 70’s of the 20th century when ten million people were displaced and three million died, but then a new country was born called Bangladesh. Right now we find a group of people called Rohingya (over 600,000 Muslims) being persecuted in Myanmar (Burma) and moving into Cox Bazar, Bangladesh.

 

We can see what is happening in Europe at the moment with so many displaced people having moved into Europe, and still moving in, from the Middle East as well as from Africa. They are coming in with their own language, culture, etc. and not being simulated into the home country. Eventually the country becomes what we call “Balkanized,” and this naturally brings about disputes and rivalries.

 

Yes, it’s noble when we ‘open our arms’ to the poor, the tired, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and the wretched refuse of what other nations call the people that they cast out, the homeless among us, etc. (As it was later inscribed at the base of our Statue of Liberty; she who holds the lamp beside the golden door). And millions have come in from all over the world, but when they came in legally they eagerly learned the nation’s language and willingly adjusted into the culture of the country; they learned the Constitution (our nation’s laws and principles) by which to live by as an American. They became “Americans.” Now we see how this has progressively changed with: African Americans, Spanish or Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, etc. bringing in their own languages and cultures – causing disputes and upsets.

 

My wife is European, and when she came to America she already knew the language, but she went to school to learn the Constitution, true history of America and so became an “American” citizen.

 

Yes, we need “two wings” (two parties) in our Republic. Yes, we need to compromise but do what is best for the true citizens of America. We especially need to learn wisdom from history so we make right decisions for the good of America’s future and those who choose to be Americans.

The Gospel – Part 3

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.”

 

To me one of the great signs of His coming is the worldwide preaching of the gospel of His Kingdom. However, it is interesting to note that it is talking about the gospel of His Kingdom. Reformation will bring us back to the truth and reality of Christ’s Kingdom.

 

Many have been duped by a cheap salvation, a salvation which excludes the suffering of a cross that bids us to come and also die.  It has been a gospel where Christ has come to save us from our troubles rather than from our sinful lives.  Perhaps this is why so few persevere and go on in their Christian life, or why there is not much difference today between those in the church and those who are on the outside.

 

When we come to Christ we find that we are not delivered from troubles, but just the opposite. Our lives are full of troubles, and all the more when we find that this fallen world is against us. Because we do not understand what to expect as journey with Jesus, and we have not been trained properly in how to stand up and faithfully face all kinds of difficulties, we fall away and lose out on what we could’ve had with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Being born-again is the beginning of a great journey toward the full maturity that God is wanting for His children. For the church to go on to maturity it must begin with the message. Our message is a message of hope, for it is a call to battle with the promise of victory as we persevere with maturing faith. It is a message that the rightful King is coming to take over. To be saved by the revelation of this glorious Kingdom is an enlistment into the army of the coming King. How does one “enlist” and then refuse needed training?

 

The preaching of the gospel today seems to be as if the Christian is doing the Lord a favor whenever someone accepts the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. But, the preaching of the gospel is more than forgiveness; it’s seeing Christ’s Kingdom, bowing before Him in full submission and ready for the battle before us, trained and prepared. According to Matthew 24:14 we are to be preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.

 

It is interesting to note the pattern in Scripture. In Genesis we see the power of God. In Exodus we have not only the power of God being revealed in bringing His people (Israel) out of bondage or slavery, but we see the holiness of God in the giving of His Law, and then the love of God in the Tabernacle of how God dwells with us.

 

This is something that we are missing today in the presentation of the true gospel. We bring out the love of God – how we see it – but not all the truth about the power and holiness of God. Presenting the Lord’s gospel is like a three-legged stool and with any one leg missing will not hold up anyone who sits on it.

 

I think it is interesting that when Paul speaks to the man without the Bible Paul starts with the wrath of God. Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness.” Paul is following the order and reasoning God laid out in Scripture.

 

Jesus did not come to just be our Savior, but our King. Reformation will bring us back to this truth.

Woman of Excellence – Chapter 3

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

Most women don’t understand how critical their role of motherhood is – not only to the family but to the world. Every great leader has a great mother.

 

Good mothers see their children as their ministry. I remember talking to God about our four ‘married’ children. The Lord said, “You aren’t done raising them yet.” No matter how old your children are they still need the wise counsel and prayers of mothers and fathers, and grandparents too.

 

As wives and mothers who are “in Christ” we should understand what the Lord’s people will be doing when He returns for His thousand year reign on earth so that we will make, not only ourselves ready for the Lord, but our children ready for the Lord too; ready for our positions with Him in His millennial kingdom. Knowing this, how should we think and live NOW?

 

It is said that Solomon’s mother nick-named him Lemuel which means “devoted to God.” The name Solomon means “consecrated to God.” This implies she was a humble praying woman; a woman who listened to God’s Spirit and trusted in God’s promises for her children. God highly favors a faithful woman’s prayer life and the wisdom behind the teaching she gives to her children – because she sees GREATNESS in each of her children, just as her God does.

 

What makes a woman – a woman of “excellence?”  She has a heart after God’s. She sees herself as God sees her. She conducts herself as one who has worth and advantage from God. She takes her God-given responsibilities seriously. She doesn’t do anything half-hearted because (as my husband says), “If it’s worth doing – it’s worth doing right.” She works to bring out the best in people, especially her family. She does not overlook little things or consider small things insignificant. She is reluctant to give over her duties as a wife and mother to others because her husband, children and home all reflect who she is, and she reflects God’s household. In all she does – she strives for excellence.

 

It will take God’s most-excellent women to raise up their children to be honorable men and women that are prepared and ready to reign with Christ Jesus. When we look out over our chaotic sin-diseased world we should be compelled and highly motivated as wives and mothers to get back to living as the Word of God commands us to live. A marriage, a church or a nation’s blessings from God will only be received by adhering to God’s ways and rules. His standard has never changed because God has never changed.

 

To be a woman of excellence takes courage, and especially in today’s world. Without confidence in God and in His Kingdom a woman will not achieve her true potential of womanhood.  Years ago I had a hotel maid return to my room with a necklace she had worn to work that day, not knowing why she felt the great urge to wear it but sensing that God wanted her to wear it that day for some reason. She had never worn it to work before. As she made up my room and I worked on my computer – we got to chatting and found out that we were both in love with Jesus. She returned an hour later after cleaning my room with the necklace she had worn to work that day. She told me that God told her to give me her “courage necklace.” She was so thrilled to give that special necklace of hers to me. It was hard for me to accept it. As she put it around my neck I wondered what God was telling me in this ‘obvious’ divine moment.

 

This was a time in my life when I was trying to fit in with what the Pastor’s wife wanted me to do for her ministry to the women in the church. There is nothing wrong with helping the pastor’s wife minister to the women in your church, but it is wrong to ‘not’ ask the Lord what He would have you do with the gifts and talents that He gave you to serve HIM with.

 

It takes courage to tell a pastor that you can’t do what they would like you do in the church. It takes courage to do what God wants you to do while everyone else is doing something else. It takes courage to speak the truth in a time or place where truth is no longer important. It takes courage to remain in your anointed place of serving God while being regarded as a divisive person or rebuked for being out of touch with reality. It takes courage to stand on God’s Word and what He says to you personally – no matter what people think of you. God was telling me to “be courageous” with His purpose in my life.

 

If I had brought it to my husband for his thought, approval and direction as to what the pastor’s wife was inviting me to do with her ministry, my time there might have turned out differently.  We are all Eve’s daughters and we all need to understand that the devil has plans with subtle schemes that are not for us but against us.

 

What other people want you to do with them or for them because of the excellent gifts and talents they see in you is normal, but it can keep you from serving God’s most excellence purpose for why He gave you those gifts and talents. It can prevent you from becoming a woman of excellence, and from raising children in the same way.

 

Marriage Covenant – Chapter 2

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

Women are ‘capable’ of many things and all throughout history we’ve seen that truth manifested with both good as well as evil. When men and women are living according to God’s design and order the family benefits, communities benefit and nations benefit.

 

Since the marriage covenant comes from God and not from man – we have no right to alter and change what God designs and institutes. God does not support and honor marriage between two men or two women because God did not design man, woman, marriage and family that way. The vow or covenant two men or two women make is not binding because it is rejected by God. He calls it an abomination and it needs to be treated that way because of its destructive power over children, societies and mankind as a whole.

 

Man may find temporary cures to the diseases that develop from acts of sexual immorality but the fact remains that he can not keep up with all the new strings of diseases that develop out of sexual perversions. The world does not get the connection; that God is warning us by all these diseases to get right with Him.

 

Anyone is capable of remaining faithful to their wife or husband because it’s a choice and God will supply what we lack in faith if we go to Him humbly. I don’t like the wedding vows that I’m hearing today between couples who are afraid to commit to each other right from the start. Clearly they do not like the old wedding vows that state “through better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health – till death do we part.” But this is what “marriage” is all about.

 

Marriage vows are made out of a hope both the man and woman have for their future together. Every marriage starts out confident in some way but very few couples see their hopes realized. Dreams don’t come true without the stick-to-it-work of serving, giving, trusting, honoring, protecting and sharing honestly and openly about the important things in life, and most of all – dreams won’t come true without them both learning how to die to their own pig-headed ways and nasty habits.

 

We don’t hear the words “to love and obey” from brides today like we did in the past. In fact, we hear them less and less as the spirit of jezebel has been overtaking women more and more. The ‘modern’ woman has no intention of letting her husband, or any man, tell her anything let alone lead her. The ‘modern’ man doesn’t want to be responsible for his wife and children to the point of doing what it takes to protect and provide for them; he wants his wife to work and his children put in the hands of hired help.

 

Your relationship should be tested before you get married and begin living together. Don’t fool yourself, sex before marriage is nothing more than self-gratification. You don’t need to see if you both are sexually compatible. Your commitment to each other makes you compatible in that area. Sexual gratification is not the priority in marriage; maturing love is and there is a huge difference between love and sex. The testing of a pre-marriage relationship is about beliefs and faith in God. When you are compatible this way – there’s nothing the two of you can’t overcome in life.

 

A woman whose hope is in God does not break her marriage covenant because her husband isn’t meeting her expectations. Nor when the wife isn’t meeting her husband’s expectations. She (and he) goes to God with it, over and over and over until God has done His wonderful work in the two of you.

 

False expectations will NEVER be met. God tells us in His Word what a husband is to do for His wife and children, and what the wife is to do for her husband and children, but that doesn’t mean we forget what God also says about judging ourselves first, and about forgiveness, patience and prayer. False expectations ruin your marriage and effect your children’s future.

 

To keep secret expectations within the marriage could lead you to break covenant with your spouse. What I mean by a “secret expectation” is something that you want from the marriage relationship and not for the marriage relationship. It would be best to get all known expectations out on the table before the wedding day. There are just some things we should never expect from another person that God says He alone is responsible for as our faithful gracious and generous heavenly Father.

 

Covenant breaking is very serious and will affect all other areas in your life where a commitment is needed from you. The Lord watches over our vows that we make with people because giving our ‘word’ on something to somebody is binding in God’s eyes. God’s word to us is binding and as His children He expects us to make good our word and promises too.

 

A man wants a wife he can trust and confide in. A woman wants a husband who will protect and appreciate her. God made men very different from women and for a very good reason. We would be wise and blessed to leave it alone and just be content with those wonderful differences.

 

God is holding men accountable for what happens to their marriage and family, and God will help any man who humbly comes to Him for strength and guidance. Godly wives and mothers will understand this and purposely do all they can to help their husband with his responsibility from God, especially hold him up in prayer each morning. This makes her a woman of great worth.

 

The Gospel – Part 2

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

2 Timothy 1:14 “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

 

First and second Timothy being part of what is known as the “Pastoral Epistles” or “Letters” has much that we should keep in mind as we serve our Lord and King. However, like the rest of the Word of God it is all written for our admonition. We should all keep in mind that if we have been born-again – we are part of the Body of Christ and all ministers with our gifts and callings from God; we are each part of His holy priesthood. (1 Peter 1:5)

 

One of the admonitions of Paul to Timothy, and I believe to us as well, is to guard the gospel so that we do not water it down or pervert it by the way we live and speak. Sadly, we do not see the Gospel of Jesus Christ as powerful today like Paul expressed in Romans 1.

 

How should we guard the gospel? Our text tells us that we guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit that lives in us. But what does this mean in practical terms? I would like to offer several things in this connection:

 

  1. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:16 “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” There is no better way to guard the gospel than to see the gospel being demonstrated in one’s life. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only.”  When Jesus spoke it was often said that the people were amazed because He spoke with authority. When we speak His words they should have authority as well. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:13 “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.” What does this mean? Paul knew that what he believed was real because of how it was working in his life, and because of that – he could speak with authority. A question that we could ask ourselves: Is the gospel really real in my life? Has it made an obvious difference? Paul said to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test?” WE GUARD THE GOSPEL WITH OUR LIVES. One of the reasons why the gospel does not have much of an impact is because those who profess to have been saved by the gospel do not live much differently from those who are ignorant of the gospel.
  2. We are to guard the gospel by our suffering. 2 Timothy 1:8 “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”  I think it is interesting to see that suffering for the gospel will certainly come if we guard it with our life. For many of our brothers and sisters in certain countries there is real suffering for the gospel to the point of death. However, for those of us in the West it might be more like a suffering of embarrassment. People will try to shame us for sharing the gospel, but we must rise above this and not cower from sharing our testimony of Jesus Christ. I believe Paul faced this because he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:23 “…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” Here in our sophisticated West culture Christians seem to be ashamed to boldly speak in support of the simple pure gospel; more afraid to suffer the embarrassment when made to feel foolish or unwise. But, like Paul says, we do not come with the wisdom of man, but with the simplicity of the gospel that can change a man’s life and destiny.

 

Reformation will bring us back to the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 31 Woman – Chapter 1- Like Mother Like Son

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

In Proverbs chapter 31, the first 9 verses are a queen mother’s words of wisdom to her son. In this endearing memorable dialogue we receive the warnings and instruction for raising our own sons to be the head of their family and leaders in society.

 

As children of the King, we are royalty, no matter what physical condition we are in. Christ’s kingdom is seeded in me the moment I turned my heart and life over to Christ my Savior. The kingdom of the world will become the Kingdom of our Lord, and everything will be handed over to His saints, the true sons and daughters of God. (Daniel 7:27, Revelation 11:15, Galatians 5:19-21, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:11) This is what we make ourselves and our children ready for, to reign with Jesus Christ.

 

This noble mother (King David’s queen) gives her royal son 2 instructions with her wisdom behind them. “Do not spend your strength on women; your vigor on those who ruin kings.” “It is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.” (Proverbs 31:3-5)

 

Women and drunkenness will strip a man of his God-given authority and honor.

 

King Solomon had many wives for many reasons. As I consider what his queen mother meant by “do not spend your strength on women who ruin kings,” I believe she was referring to him not letting his wife/wives influence and lead him, but rather that he be fully responsible for his anointed responsibilities from God. It is a fact that the hundreds of wives that Solomon had were his downfall, but even one wife can bring down a man from fulfilling his purpose. We have Eve with her husband Adam to see this truth.

 

The queen tells her crowned son that there are others who would benefit more from beer and wine. “Give it to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.” (Proverbs 31:6-7) “….because anguish, poverty and misery are not your future, my son!”

 

The life of a true servant of God, whether he is a husband and father, teacher, preacher, doctor, police officer, pilot, developer, organizer, author, law maker, judge, soldier, president or king – is to: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are needy in any way. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)

 

I have a plaque that I was given after my grandmother died. It was hers and I believe the Lord wanted me to have it instead of my sisters. The words of this poem are so true because godly mothers raise godly children: “Remember the world will be quick with its blame – if shadow or stain ever darken your name. ‘Like mother, like son’ is a saying so true. The world will judge largely of ‘Mother’ by you.” (Unknown author)

Will You Believe?

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

There is no other God, there never has been and there never will be. I, am the LORD, and there is no other Savior. No one can snatch My children out of My hand, because My children are precious to Me.

 

When My children go through deep waters – I will be with them. When they go through rivers of difficulty – they will not drown. When they walk through the fire of oppression – they will not be burned up. Therefore My children, do not be afraid for I have chosen you to know Me, and to believe in Me, and to fully understand that I alone am God.

 

But, some of My children have grown tired of Me, and have burdened me with their sin of unbelief. Their eyes are closed to My truth, and they cannot see My presence around them. Their minds are shut to My wisdom, and their meditation is on the things of the world around them. These poor, deluded fools trust in what can not help them. Oh how this grieves Me!

 

My children, I alone am the only One who can save you and blot out sins so I never think of them again. Life is a choice which path will you choose? Will you continue to choose the world, or come to your senses and choose your only Savior and hope for a bright and blessed future. My Son has paid the price for you to be free? Will you keep putting it off till you’re out of time?

 

Because I love you more than you will ever know – I will keep coming to you, over and over, while you still have time. It’s not My desire or will that anyone should perish in their own sins!

The Gospel

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

THE GOSPEL

 

2 Timothy 1:14 “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

 

I believe that reformation will bring us back to the real gospel and what the real gospel can do. Paul said in Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

 

Do we, like Paul, believe that this gospel is powerful, REALLY powerful? Do we believe that it can enter into a man’s heart and change him (or her), changing even the outcome of his (or her) life? Or do we believe that something ‘else’ is needed to bring about the change in a person? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

 

It seems that a new gospel has snuck into the church that is being preached today. A gospel where Jesus does all of the dying; a gospel where there is no personal sacrifice, no giving up of worthless things, no dying to self so that Christ can live out His life through our bodies; a gospel where basically – Jesus is absent.

 

I am reminded of the passage in Scripture when Jesus was 12 years of age and he went with his parents to the temple in Jerusalem. After two days on their way back they thought that Jesus was with them, but He wasn’t. He was back in the temple doing His heavenly Father’s business. (Luke 2:41-49) For two days Mary and Joseph did not know that Jesus was absent from them. In the same way the church is not aware that Jesus is absent because of this “new gospel” being preached today.

 

The gospel that Paul was talking about in 1 & 2 Timothy was a radical gospel which called a man or woman to come and then die. Like Paul, the early church realized that this gospel delivered them from their empty self-life. 2 Corinthians 5:15 “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

 

When the gospel came into a man’s life he realized several things:

  1. That he was not his own; he had been bought with a price. 1 Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.”
  2. That there was a new Lord or Master in his life. Romans 14:9 “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” Self who had been in control has now been replaced by a new King: King Jesus.
  3. That there was a new beginning and direction in his life. “He is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
  4. That this gospel was ‘free,’ but it was not cheap. It cost more to God, but it must cost us for it to be real and lasting. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

It was this gospel that went out and changed the course of history in the first century. In the first 60 years the gospel had gone forth throughout the Roman Empire, when churches were planted and lives had been changed with the new hope that had pervaded the world. The world would never be the same.

 

It was this gospel that changed a man by the name of Martin Luther and ushered in the reformation five hundred years ago which changed Western Civilization. It is this gospel that we need to come back to in our preaching and everyday living.

 

From God

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

There is no other God, there never has been and there never will be. I am the LORD and there is no other Savior.

 

No one can snatch My children out of My hand, because My children are precious to Me. When My children go through deep waters – I will be with them. When they go through rivers of difficulty – they will not drown. When they walk through the fire of oppression – they will not be burned up. Therefore My children, do not be afraid for I have chosen you to know Me, and to believe in Me, and to fully understand that I alone am your God.

 

But, some of My children have grown tired of Me, and have burdened Me with their sin of unbelief. Their eyes are closed to My truth, and they cannot see My presence around them. Their minds are shut to My wisdom, and their meditation is on the things of the world around them. These poor, deluded fools trust in what can not help them. Oh how this grieves Me!

 

My children, I alone am the only One who can save you and blot out sins so I never think of them again. Life is a choice so which path will you choose? Will you continue to choose the world, or come to your senses and choose your only Savior and hope for a bright and blessed future. My Son has paid the price for you to be free? Will you keep putting it off till you’re out of time?

 

Because I love you more than you will ever know – I will keep coming to you, over and over, while you still have time. It’s not My desire or will that anyone should perish in their own sins!