For some reason I was too weak to go to church on Sunday, I decided to spend time with Dan Foster on Praise & Inspiration on inspiration FM and I got to hear these testimonies.
Two young people fell in love and got married and within one year of their marriage, God blessed them; wife got pregnant with a set of twins, and they had nine months of blissful journey carrying the baby and then at delivery, one of the babies died and then some days later, the wife also died. And this man called in to praise God and asked Him for forgiveness about three weeks after.
Another Lady called in to say she heard God lead her out of a relationship, to marry a person and within six month of marriage she found out her husband had another child outside of marriage and she was heart broken but life then goes on.
Another lady called in to talk about the miscarriage she had within one year of marriage that left her bitter but she’s now encouraged to bless God!
I asked myself what can prepare a person for times like this? This man got married looking forward to a life time of Joy, Peace, Love and Accomplishments and now he is experiencing this?
What could have prepared a person for such emotional swing; joy one moment and the next what seems like an endless pit of sadness?
Only God and God alone!
I was also listening to some analysis of a new book about the unknown prophet over the weekend and one of the things she mention about this present times is that the enemy is attacking Christian marriages; Leading people to choose wrongly and even when they choose rightly distract them with challenges of life to keep them from working for the kingdom. So that you hear some people say they are so beaten they feel they have nothing to offer. Let me tell about the Wounded Healer! By His stripes you are healed! The stripes of Jesus did not keep him from being a healer rather it confirmed his being a healer. All your scars are for the healing of others.
I never knew the kind of joys and sorrows I have experienced since being married could ever exist. I never knew I could come this far almost scar less but you know what I am here today more resolved than ever before not to waste any of my pain and joy. And so I have decided to write after every pain or joy.
We have been talking about the perquisites to marriage for sometime now and I have come to the conclusion that no long list will answer the question. The one and only thing you need before you proceed and while on this journey of marriage is God. Quit playing church and get real with God. Get into the Bible and study the word, make it food for your soul. Learn to be a Christian by reading about the life of Christ. Understand the grace and new life you have been called to by reading the New Testament thoroughly. Study the Old to understanding how the journey began and appreciate the kind of God you worship. Stop toying with sin; the wages of sin is death!
The only reason we fall apart is because God is not the one holding our very core together. A solid relationship with God will walk you through every storm or success in life.
Get and Remain Connected to God!
Shalom!
omolola ezeifeoma
I will start from the questions we had to answer from the last post.
Do you know your calling?
If you do, what are you doing about it?
And if not, are you on your way to discovering purpose?
The Bible tells us that we have been called out of darkness to show forth the glory of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
I will love for us to understand what this passage means. If God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light then there must be a process. There is a process we must go through to be able to radiate that light!
After we have given our lives to Christ we must go through this process before we can ever attain any level of maturity.
The first priority of a young Christian should be building a relationship with God, learning to understand his leading, coveting the position of becoming God’s Sheep. Jesus said in John 10:27 (MSG) ‘My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me’. This means a lot of things; first as God’s Sheep you should be able to recognize His voice, know when he is speaking to you and when your flesh is speaking to you. It will be easier for you to know God is okaying your choice of partner is if you are able to hear him speak to you and can adequately recognize his voice. Secondly God must acknowledge you as His own; we all know God knows those who are His. As much as we often say only God knows who is His, in order to avoid judging another person, we also are able by the Spirit of God within us to know who is of God. So before you decide to make a choice, you need to be able to first know that you are God’s, that is, your spirit bears witness that you belong to God and His Spirit is living with you. By so doing, you can know if the Spirit of God resides in another person.
And finally the third part of the scripture: God’s sheep follow Him; so if you and I are the Christian we claim to be we should do His will at all times. Behave like Jesus would in any situation. Go back to the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and learn about the person of Christ.
In Christianity, no one may ever get to the height but the truth is that we know when we have stepped up, we know when we are no longer who we used to be. Something happens inside of us. The chances that you will be able to identify a real Christian when you meet one is completely based on your being a true one.
The first priority for any new Christian has to be perfecting this new found relationship with God Almighty.
A product of our growing relationship with God is our purpose. For many people who know their purpose and are pursuing it today, discovery of purpose did not come by sitting in a corner and expecting it. It usually comes by doing the things God says you should do per time. From there you discover it’s either your God given purpose to do the things He told you to do or that they are essential to what God has called you to actually do.
If you have been blessed with knowledge of what your purpose is, it means you know the master. He knows you and you are able to identify his voice. The next question is this, are you following the Shepherd? Are you constantly in touch with heaven for direction on what path to follow to destiny? Have you written down the vision, made it plain to see? A person armed with purpose is the most dangerous person for the pit of hell, hence a major target of the enemy. So you have to be aware of where you stand. Your active pursuit of purpose will distract people from or attract people to you. It will help a person considering you for a choice of life partner reconsider and ask questions like – can I cope with this lifestyle? It will also guide you in knowing who will fit into your future so that you can say like Adam, this is the bone of my bone…
By His grace next post we will be looking at pointers to readiness for relationship.
God Bless you.
omolola ezeifeoma
It is interesting today what the parameters of choosing a life partner is for a Christian. I believe we have gotten so much information and we are lost as to how to apply them to our lives. Recently, I was going through my life and how I chose to marry my husband, I learnt a few lessons and I want to share some of them you.
After God created man, He prepared the Garden of Eden and placed Adam there. He gave him the task of dressing and keeping the garden. He also gave him a commandment to keep. He then took a second look at the Adam and said it is not good for him to remain alone, so God went to work on finding a mate fit, while Adam was busy fulfilling God’s task for him. Then God put Adam to sleep and created from Adam, Eve. Adam woke up to find a mate carved every inch to his specs, and exclaimed ‘The Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh’. Genesis 2:7-25
Before I go any further I want us to have this in mind, God is a God of order, He has standards, as much as the spirit can move us to do things, they must be in line with God’s order of doing things.
After God created Adam, He gave him accommodation; a source of food; He prepared an office for him to operate and placed him there. Adam had a clear knowledge of his calling, he understood what he was supposed to be doing and he was doing it. He was not complaining of being lonely or making excuses for why he could not do what God had called him to do.
How do we relate this to us as modern day Christians?
Bible says that every born again person is a new creature, like a baby, in its rawest form, that need to learn to eat, smile, hold up his neck, seat, talk, crawl, walk, run, jump, read, write, reason etc. This reminds me of when I had my son; he was so delicate and depended on me for everything, even his immunity. It took six months for his digestive tracts to be ready for what I call food. This really describes us when we newly give our lives to Christ.
When we give our lives to Christ we are like a new born babe, open to a new world, a new order of doing things and so we need to learn the principles of our new world and God’s standards of doing things by renewing our mind with the word of God (Rom12:1-2). Studying to show ourselves approved (2Tim 2:15). Associating with a set of people (born again children of God) in order to learn how to live the life. It’s unfortunate that today we have very few genuine Christians to associate with and that’s why we have a community like Christ Lifeline.
As we grow in faith, one of the things God does, is show us the purpose of our calling as we seek Him. Just like Adam, it is essential we know what our calling is before going into marriage.
Why? Knowledge of your calling is essential to discovering yourself, and ability to know who your mate should be. Adam did not have to ask God what Eve was meant for when she was presented to him. He knew. When we know God’s call upon our life we get direction.
A lot of Christian courtship is in trouble today because both parties have not identified what their calling is, hence don’t know why God brought them together and so the best they can do when their together is look into each other’s eyes, admire their bodies and fall into sin so easily. The attraction was just physical, no destiny in mind.
I have some questions that I want to leave with you (single or married) today –
Do you know your calling?
If you do, what are you doing about it?
And if not, are you on your way to discovering purpose?
There’s still so much to say but I will leave it here for now.
We will continue this discussion in the next post.
Love you,
omolola ezeifeoma
