Marriage: Adultery - Disclose to Defend con't...

NOTE: For my unknown readers/followers: With this post and any other post that I write related to marriage I am NOT talking about my marriage, unless I specifically say. I wouldn't do that to my wife. Besides, the Internet is not the place nor the audience for that. We have a great marriage and operate via faith just like any other Christian marriage. My objective here is simply what it has always been- to share with you what the Lord propels me to write.

Yesterday, I was minding my own business and the Lord began to share something, similar to a word of wisdom, with me about some people my wife and I had been praying for. As clear as I sit and type this, the Lord said that He was going to "uphold a spouse because of their honesty". Allow me to put the main idea of this statement into a few bullets. Of course, this can benefit singles as well. Please be aware that these next few statements concerning marriage are fairly straightforward and serious. The same tone taken in scripture about marriage underlies what's written. Here goes...

• Honesty is truth.
• You will never have any real or long-term peace without truth.
• There is no real freedom without truth.
• Be 100% truthful with God at all times. He knows anyway.
• Be 100% truthful with yourself at all times.
• Be 100% truthful with your spouse at all times.
• Being honest with your spouse will prevent the enemy from gaining ground in your marriage through deceit.
• Do not allow too much time to pass from an unseen offense or marital violation until the time you come clean. Tell the truth. God sees all, yet we still must confess our sins (1 John 1:9)
• At the base level, adultery is having sex with someone other than your spouse. However, New Testament (NT) scripture says that if we look on someone with lust- adultery of the heart has already been committed (Matt. 5:28). Therefore, NT scripture takes adultery a step further. You don't have to sexually touch a person. Don't be deceived by the enemy into thinking that just because you hadn't had sex with a person other than your spouse that you hadn't committed adultery. Further, do not allow ANY unhealthy communications or interactions with the opposite sex. What's 'unhealthy' you say? Whatever communications and interactions you know that your spouse would be uncomfortable with. It is in your power to keep distrust, confusion, and strife away from your marriage.
• If you have committed adultery on your spouse, confess it to God immediately and be prayerful. Both God and your spouse have been violated. You have robbed your spouse of what only belongs to them. Counseling also may be necessary at this point to help with the recovery efforts between you and your spouse. Either way, if you want to repair the breach (e.g. hole produced by the adultery) in your marriage, you'll speak up and repent to God. If not, expect more frustration and difficulty than planned for your life and marriage.
• CORRECT THE ADULTERY - Stop it and close all adulterous access points!
• Be prayerful for your spouse that you've committed adultey on. Open and honest confession will open a door to healing for the relationship (See James 5:16). Your spouse needs you to build a track record of telling the truth even when it hurts. For the years to come, they must know that you'll tell them the truth. This will bring long-standing firm security to the other spouse and you too.
• Anything withheld from your spouse that you should communicate creates a breach. This breach becomes a spiritual opening for the devil. Only God and the devil knows what's next then. You, your spouse, your children, your finances, etc. - all are vulnerable now.
• Whenever you withhold what's necessary from your spouse, you keep things from God withheld from you and your marriage. Remember, the two of you are now one in the eyes of God. God will chatise the spouse who knowingly causes the other to lack information.
• The spouse that withholds will suffer the most. Remember, God can chatise spouses individually. See Adam and Eve.
• Partial truth is dishonesty.
• Late truth is dishonesty.
• Do not expect a marriage that you're continuing to violate to be successful. It may last, but it won't successfully last. There will be a degree of misery due to unconfessed marital violations. Don't help the enemy attack you and your marriage. He doesn't need any assistance in destroying you or your marriage. He already hates you, your spouse, and your marriage.
• There will never be 100% trust, without 100% honesty. Don't expect it. Fear will remain in the area of your untruthfulness, filtering over into other areas. If you are fearful that your spouse will violate your marriage, is it because you have in some way?
• The honesty ball is always in your court regardless of what your spouses actions or responses are. You're held accountable for you, not them. God is looking at you. Don't try to get Him to look at them. He's looking to you to come up to His standard of honesty.
• Marriage is serious to God. So are the violations of it.
• Marriage is a covenant not an agreement. All violations of it, particularly adultery, is a covenant violation.
• Give your marriage the blessing of truthfulness til death. Amen.

Folks, please stay tuned. Initially, I planned for this blog series to be only two parts, however I'm compelled to continue on. There are some other necessary items up next for discussion about marriage. Additionally, I will be posting a series of scriptures related to each marriage topic. The related scriptures will be posted on a stand alone blog post. Until next time, feel free to comment. Shalom!

Marriage: Adultery - Disclose to Defend

Greetings folks,

Up to this point I haven't blogged on anything related to marriage. Although, I have tweeted and retweeted on the subject [@Wordman138 and @Wordman137 on Twitter]. Of course, prior to my own marriage I didn't necessarily feel propelled to do so. However, the time has come. I'm excited!

Let's get started...First, we'll quickly look at dating.

Dating
Usually people date before they commit to marrying someone. Some date one person, some date a few people, and some date many people. Moreover, some just casually have sex (e.g. fornicate), but wouldn't exactly call those relationships dating relationships. Whatever the case, to God, and to most people, those relationships wouldn't be considered marriages. Of course, if you lived in Biblical times or live in a region that observes similar Biblical customs, you'd probably never date. You'd just select one person or have someone selected for you to marry and eventually get married. That's it. Interestingly enough, dating is really not acknowledged in scripture. This is not to suggest that dating does not matter to God, because it does matter. People matter and what they do and whom they do it with seriously matters to Him. He's a God of purpose and we are people of purpose whether we know it or not. Think about it: Everyone has a purpose and "purposed-people" they're suppose to interact with. Besides, there can be some negative long term effects from our dating decisions. Some of which, impact our lives significantly. Therefore, we need not down play dating as immaterial, especially if sex is involved. To put it frankly- to God, before marrying, anyone that haves sex with someone is considered a whore. Man or woman. Biblically, the emphasis is not so much on the number of sex partners that makes them a whore, but the fact that it's sex outside of marriage. Even if the sex partners plan on marrying each other- it's fornication which is whoredom. So if you're a person that attempts to make others feel bad because of the number of their sex partners, think again- evaluating yourself carefully in light of the scripture. Besides, we ALL have things that we need to repent of...TODAY!

Now, although very important, dating is not a covenant nor covenant-producing arrangement designed by God. There are no legal vows or documents involved. God does not directly sanction such relationships from the throne of Heaven. Additionally, dating does not spiritually represent anything in God's grand scheme.

Marriage
Marriage, on the other hand, does have spiritual representations and significations. It's a covenant relationship, including vows and is legally binding on earth and in the court of Heaven. This covenant relationship was created, designed, and introduced by God beginning with the first humans, Adam and Eve. From God's perspective, it is the most serious covenant relationship that mankind can enter. As a matter of fact, it's not only the first covenant relationship of mankind, it's the first human relationship of any kind. Friendship, parenthood, church affiliation, etc. all came after this relationship. Therefore, marriage is clearly God's idea. It's His institution- He owns it. It's His covenant arrangement for male and female reproduction. It's His tangible display of the covenant between Himself and the church. It's a covenant and it is law.

Con't in next blog post...

Race Relations: The Kingdom Approach I

Greetings Kingdom citizens,

As a side study to our 52 Weeks of Praise, I feel compelled to speak on race relations within the body of Christ. To begin, allow me to bring up a few scriptures. You're going to want to grab your Bible for this. Also, be sure to chime in on the discussion by leaving comments.

                                                                               - SCRIPTURES -
Galatians 6:10 - As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Proverbs 3:27 - Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
Acts 17:26 - And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.
Galatians 3:8 - And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Revelation 5:9 - And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Revelation 7:9 - After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.
Revelation 21:24 - And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
Romans 5:18 - Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Romans 12:17-18 - Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
1 Corinthians 15:39 - All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 - And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.
1 Timothy 2:1 - I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.
1 Timothy 2:4 - Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 4:10 - For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1 Peter 2:17 - Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Now that we've reviewed some scriptures, allow me to take a deeper look at some biblical precepts to further set the stage for this discussion. Keep your Bible near. We'll come back to elaborate on these scriptures.

Notwithstanding, from just reading them we can derive a good idea of what our attitude and behavior should be as we interact with other believers/citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, regardless of race. As citizens of Heaven, but believers on Earth we represent God. He is seen or manifested to others through our obedient actions. Therefore, it is clear that we should interact, engage, and respond to people as our Heavenly Father would in order to represent Him properly. In other words, it is Heaven's culture that we should shew forth on the earth among men. As it is in Heaven so should we be, execute, and demonstrate consistently on Earth. We are on the earth but not [spiritually] from the earth. Moreover, we are in the world but not of the world (John 17:14,16). Our original spiritual citizenship/birthplace was (and is) Heaven because that's where our human spirit was created in the first place (Genesis 1:26-27). It is only our physical bodies, which house/encompass our human spirits, that were made on and from the earth. So when we were born again, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (e.g. The Holy Trinity) took up residence inside our human spirit NOT our physical bodies. Therefore our connection link to Heaven, our country of origin, is our redeemed human spirit. Why is this important? Because the kingdom principles (Bible standards/laws) that we are to follow have a Heavenly origin just like our human spirits. Therefore, since we originated from Heaven we should adhere to the principles of Heaven. Heavenly principles will produce Heavenly results and wordly principles will produce wordly results. Heavenly results are God's results and God's results are His willed or intended outcomes.

So God's system is established: His principles lead to His intended outcomes or results and His outcomes are the best outcomes. Therefore, His believers should live for and to His outcomes or results. In the mouth of a committed kingdom citizen it would sound something like this:

"Father God in Heaven, I recognize that my life, my purpose, and all I'm to be and do originates from you. I submit to your will (plans and processes) and willed outcomes (results) for my life and through my life to others. As I now set my heart to obey you and follow your heavenly principles, your willed outcomes (results) will be executed to your glory. Help me to hear and adhere to you forever. In Jesus' name, Amen."

So if anyone is really interested in being all that God wants them to be or having all that God wants them to have, then praying a prayer as such is a must.

Now, with the spiritual stage being set for this discussion, what exactly is God's or Heaven's attitude about race relations among believers? First of all we must understand that God is not against or for any one race in particular. He created all of the races and loves them all equally. In other words, God loves every human equally. No more, no less! His love is all-inclusive- universally and comprehensively. There's nothing a human can do to increase His love for them or decrease His love for them. If we review the creation account of mankind in Genesis 1:26-27 we'll quickly find that ALL mankind, that is every race or nationality, was created in His image. For all races were represented in the first man, Adam. Now after all these ages certainly God would not reduce the value on His own image, especially after going through the trouble [so to speak] of creating us in it. Besides, John 3:16 tells us that God was moved with such love for those created in His image (mankind) that He gave His only Son for them. So God is certainly not pro-white and against the other races. Nor is He pro-black and against the other races. He's equally for all because He created all. This idea is actually fairly familiar to us humans. Just think about how a parent that has multiple children loves them equally. Unless they were born at the same time, each child physically looks different, acts different, and has differing personalities and temperaments. Yet, it is no question that that parent loves each of them because they birthed them. If this be true with humans and their children how much more with God and His offspring?

In part II let's review each scripture shown above individually...

Announcing 52 Weeks of Praise!

Greetings everyone,

I am pleased to announce my upcoming blog series - "52 Weeks of Praise" beginning January 2011. I've had this in my heart to do for a few months and determined to start it in the New Year. Praise God, that time has finally come and I'm super excited! This blog series will seek to rediscover and highlight some of the wonderful attributes of the great God that we serve. Oh' how awesome it is to acknowledge His worthiness of continual honor, praise, and adoration. This is sure to be an awesome growing experience in the Word. Please don't forget to contribute with your comments. Your interaction increases the power of what we share! Also, feel free to spread the word via email or social media network (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) as we celebrate the King. Also, as the weeks go along you’ll be able to find previous blog segments within this series in the Archives. Finally, please follow this blog on Twitter at Wordtime Exposure @ Wordman137 as we spread the gospel together.

In His service,
Min. Draper Wright

NOTE: This series has been moved to publication. Stay tuned for updates.

Love Thinks

Hello good people, this past Sunday morning the Lord woke me up around 4:30 and I began to meditate on how LOVE does not take account or keep records of wrongs. As I laid in the bed I determined, when I got fully up, to locate the scripture and take a deeper look at it. Allow me to share what the Lord shared with me. Here we go...
The Apostle Paul begins his discussion on the exercising of your ministry giftedness through love in I Corinthians 13. Most of us immediately recognize this chapter as the "Love" chapter. It's refreshing because, for a quick evaluation of your love walk, you can start here anytime! Thank God for such a powerful written "love" road map! Besides, as Kingdom citizens, we should be performing scriptural self-evaluations on a consistent basis.

Now, first Corinthians, chapter thirteen (13); verse five (5) says this:

LOVE...doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, or thinketh no evil;

What the Lord showed me revolves around the last portion of the scripture - "thinketh no evil". On the surface, this portion of the scripture suggests that love doesn't spend countless hours studying or meditating on evil ideas, wrongs done, bad treatment, offences, and such like. This is a great start for anyone! In other words, it's a complete waste or abuse rather, of time, energy, and capacity to focus much on evil ideas and how you've been mistreated. Candidly, if the truth be told we haven't always treated others especially well either. Sometimes harvest returns to us in unfamiliar places (Galatians 6:7). Nevertheless, this is not the central idea of this verse.

Upon further review of the verse, particularly in the original Greek language, the phrase "thinketh no evil" is rendered "take not account or not impute evil". The word "thinketh" means to take an inventory, estimate, reason or conclude. Therefore Paul is saying that love, specifically the agape love of God (which all believers possess - Romans 5:5) does NOT:  (1) take inventory of wrongs done, bad treatment, or offences similar to how retail stores do when restocking merchandise. Nor does it (2) estimate, reason, infer, or conclude evil motives/actions in a situation where all facts are clearly unknown. Therefore, allowing for the benefit of the doubt (believeth all things - verse 7) is the natural spiritual progression.

So the main idea is this: love ACTUALLY DOES think, take inventory, and/or concludes (as the original Greek language suggest), but NOT OF EVIL, but OF GOOD. Love, being God Himself, takes account of, records, concludes, on the good done. This is exactly how God interacts with us even though we're imperfect. His thoughts towards us are continually good, even when we sin (Jeremiah 29:11). His focus is never consistently on where we've erred but on what we've done well (Psalms 103:12). Therefore since God is the creator and master of love, He is our prime example! Plan to implement His loving approach toward others and continually reevaluate how you're doing.

Begin reflecting on the good done for and toward you. Thank God and someone again today, even if it's been years since they did good towards you! It has been said that people don't have to be nice, but when they do; be grateful for more than a minute. No man is an island to himself, nor is that man on an island with just God! God is indeed great to us personally and through the aid of people!

"Kingdom Entrance: Grace Let Us In" - Part One

GRACE — favor or kindness extended without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves. Grace is one of the key attributes of God. "The Lord God is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth" (Ex. 34:6). Grace is always associated with love, mercy, compassion, and patience.

"It is because of God's love that grace was (and is) extended toward us."

In the Old Testament, a supreme example of the grace of God was the redemption of the Hebrew people (Israel) from Egypt and their establishment in the Promised Land (Canaan). This did not happen because of any merit or righteousness on Israel’s part, but in spite of their unrighteousness.

(Deut. 7:7-8) - The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

(Deut. 9:5–6) - Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

Now in the New Testament, the grace of God was fully revealed and given in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the very embodiment of God's grace (John 1:14), bringing it to mankind for salvation (Titus 2:11). By His death and resurrection, Jesus made possible the restoration of the broken relationship (sonship) between God and His offspring (mankind). This is salvation. So the only way for any person to have a 'restored relationship' with God is "through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15:11). It was therefore Jesus which brought the "gospel of grace" fully into the world (John 1:17). Thank you Jesus!

"God is love, and in this dispensation He has extended His grace to all mankind in the person of Jesus Christ."

The theme of grace is especially prominent in the letters of the apostle Paul. He sets grace radically over against the law and the works of the law (Rom. 3:24, 28). Paul makes it abundantly clear that salvation is not something that can be earned; it can only be received by grace (Rom. 4:4, Eph 2:8-9).

{Reference: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary}

To be continued.....in the meantime, if you haven't already - check out the scriptures mentioned above and take a look at the story of Nicodemus in John 3:1-8.

DSW

"Love Never Fails" (I Corinthians 13:8)

Kingdom of God Citizens,

I was recently meditating on the following three scriptures. Take a look.

"MATTHEW 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. MATTHEW 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

"HEBREWS 13:1 Let brotherly love continue."

By leaving a comment - please share your thoughts, insight/revelation, experiences, ideas, etc. relative to these scriptures?

"Your words (inspired by the Holy Spirit) have
the power to heal and build someone up!"

As Bishop always says it: "Love is an action, born out of a sense of responsibility - toward God and your fellow man."

In His Service,

Min. Draper S. Wright

P.S. - After leaving comments on this blog, take a look at Min. Joshua Harvey's comments regarding love on my blog entitled: "Doeth It Not"